Western Polyphony and the Comparison of a Dufay and des Prez Mass
... Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474) and Josquin des Prez (1440-1521) are two of the most important figures in the development of Western polyphony during this exciting time period. This essay will examine the similarities and differences composition styles and techniques as they are seen in Dufay’s Mass “Se La Face Ay Pale” and des Prez’s “Missa Pange Lingua.” While Dufay’s Mass is marked by graceful melodies and features the four-voice vocal texture which would become increasingly popular throughout the renaissance, des Prez’ influential contrapuntal experimentation and structural refinement gives his Mass a thicker texture and makes it a more complex musical work. Dufay is commonly associated with the Burgundian court, at the beginning of which there was no distinctive sacred style of musical composition and the Mass was composed in the chanson style. ... Josquin’s Mass also appears in a strophic form, whereas Dufay’s is through-composed. Although thematically there were some similarities in the five different movements of the Mass, Dufays form had not quite yet developed into the cyclical, cantus firmus Mass in which a single chant melody appears in all movements. Josquin, on the other hand, tied the different sections of his Mass together somewhatmore congruently by using the same tenor cantus throughout all movements of his Mass Dufay was not a musical innovator.