queen of heaven

Du Fay's last mass, the ultimate masterpiece of the Middle Ages, announcing the Renaissance, both dazzling apotheosis and promising dawn, in honor of the Virgin Mary.

Guillaume Du Fay is one of the great representatives of French musical genius, one of the most important composers in our history and the Missa Ave Regina Celorum is his ultimate masterpiece. He reaches heights of expressiveness, a confusing mastery of counterpoint and brilliant sonorities that hint at a touching and refined humanism. For the last and most important work of his life, the Cambrésian master will deploy all his talents in an immense musical architecture, with impressive rhythmic complexities, always at the service of devotion and beauty. Du Fay achieves the tour de force of making perfectly audible the melody of the Gregorian antiphon which he used to compose his mass, enveloped in a dense and extremely brilliant polyphony. This mass therefore marks the spectacular flowering of the Middle Ages and already hints at the stylistic evolutions slowly leading towards the Renaissance. The Ordinary of the Mass will also be highlighted by plainsong pieces and other compositions by Guillaume Du Fay dedicated to the Virgin, placing us back at the heart of the Marian and musical devotion of a great cathedral in the 15th century. .