In the courts of the 15th century, music was a constant companion; the chanson was a daily pleasure, it was a vehicle for poetry, expressed passions, was a remedy for pain, and sublimated the richness of amorous relationships with its mastery and the refinement of its means. The chanson was perhaps the musical form in which Dufay, despite being a man of the Church, best expressed his immense talent. His 80 chansons show great diversity, enabling us to appreciate the constant evolution of the aesthetic of the genre. Throughout this evolution, Dufay was always seen as an absolute master among his peers, owing to the perfection of his writing and its intense expressivity, and enriched the history of music with a masterly oeuvre that went far beyond the stylistic boundaries of the time.
The Ensemble Gilles Binchois chose to record 20 of Dufay’s chansons in which courtly love finds its most beautiful expression and refinement. © Evidence Classics