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Musicology:
This elegant rondeau, with the reference in its title, is used as evidence that between 1423 - 1426 Dufay spent some happy years in Laon. The text nostalgically remembers the fine wines ("bons vins") and fair ladies of that place, bidding them a sad, reluctant farewell.
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Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys (rondeau, a3)Year: 1426
Genre: Chanson
Pr. Instrument: Chorus/Choir
Its musical significance is somewhat greater than that, as it is among the only works in Dufay's oeuvre that seems to clearly show the influence of Richard Loqueville, who has the special distinction of being described as Dufay's first composition teacher. Loqueville succeeded Nicolas Malin as choir master of Cambrai cathedral, where Dufay sang and studied in his youth, and spent almost the entire final two decades of his life. The influence is heard, as David Fallows reports, in "the chanson's melodic dictus, its melodic economy and its harmonic style." It bears considerable similarities to the elder's rondeau Pusique je suy amoureux, and is in many ways unlike anything else of Dufay's.
One of the devices Dufay uses to evoke the sense of nostalgia and regret is a recurrence of gently falling phrases in the top line, stylistically uncommon in French chansons of the period, making the delicate effect all the more poignant. Fascinating in Dufay's music however is the lack of real sentimentality. Unlike his contemporaries who cultivated sad expression in their music, and who sought to contrive emotional depth whenever possible, Dufay disregards fashion: even this private farewell, with its gently expressive, sad lines, radiates cheerfulness.
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