RenaissanceJohn Dunstaple
John Dunstaple was an English musician who lived about six hundred years ago, during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England.
John Dunstaple’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1390👶 Birth
Born around 1390 in England
- 1415🏛️ Landmarkabout age 25
Battle of Agincourt
- 1422🎩 Careerabout age 32
In the service of John, Duke of Bedford, regent of France
- 1429🌍 Meanwhile
Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orléans
- 1435🎩 Careerabout age 45
After the duke’s death, serves Queen Joan of Navarre then Humphrey of Gloucester
- 1445🎼 Workabout age 55
His works are copied all over Europe, as far as Italy
- 1453🕯️ Deathabout age 63
Dies in London on 24 December
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
John Dunstaple was an English musician who lived about six hundred years ago, during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. He worked for an English prince who ruled part of France, and he probably lived for a while in Paris or Normandy.
His music has something special: it sounds soft and round. He liked chords that are pleasant to the ear, while music at the time was often spikier. French musicians were amazed and started copying him: people talked about “the English manner”.
Dunstaple was not only a composer: he also studied the stars and mathematics. And curiously, nearly all his music was found in Italy and Austria, not in his own country!
John Dunstaple’s instruments
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