Historical Dictionary of Renaissance

DUNSTABLE, JOHN

(ca. 1385-1453)
The outstanding English composer of the first half of the 15th century, famous not only in England but in Italy and elsewhere. He was a married layman but was closely linked to the great monastery at St. Albans and through it, to Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, younger brother of King Henry V and an important early English patron ofhumanists, both English and Italian. Most of his surviving music (more than 70 pieces) is liturgical and was originally intended solely for vocal performance. The sweetness of the music composed by Dunstable and his English contemporaries was greatly admired by contemporaries.

  1. dunstable, john—c. England December Composer who is most frequently cited in continental music theory as the one responsible for bringing the English sound to European polyphonystron...Historical dictionary of sacred music