As an example of the sort of contemporary courtly chanson Du Fay’s hymn setting parodies, let us
consider one of his own (Ex. 11-25). What to call it is already a problem, since it exists in different
manuscript sources with two different texts, one in Italian and the other in French. The source containing
the Italian text, Quel fronte signorille (“That noble brow”), also contains the note “Rome composuit”
(composed in Rome), which would date it to Du Fay’s period of papal employment, between 1428 and
- There seems to be good reason, though, for believing that only the text was composed in Rome, and
perhaps not even by Du Fay.
EX. 11-25 Guillaume Du Fay, Craindre vous vueil