1984 Articles

Concerning the Liturgical Usage of Dufay's Fragmentary Masses

Laor, Lia

The early liturgical work of Guillaume Dufay includes, among other compositions, twenty-eight fragmentary settings-single movements, pairs, and two missae breves-of the ordinary of the Mass. Most of these settings have been dated by Charles Hamm as far back as the 1430s; some, however, were composed later. It is well known that during this period Dufay also completed cycles of hymns and sequences for all the major feasts of the liturgical year. This paper is a preliminary attempt at identifying the liturgical usage of certain of those fragmentary mass settings by Dufay.