In 1451, while at Cambrai, Dufay received a letter from the court of Savoy. Louis, having had nominal control since 1434, was now the new Duke; his father Amadeus III had passed away. He was begging the eminent Dufay to come back to Savoy with all haste in order to take up the position of chapel-master. It seems an invitation Dufay was eager to accept; within the year he's found again within the borders of Savoy, and by 1452 he was again at the court in Chambéry. Already a remarkably favorable environment, he found that things musical at the court had changed for the better still, with an expanded choir and several new instrumentalists added the retinue.



Like at his previous stay in Savoy, Dufay was galvanized: over 20 of his 70 surviving chansons date from this visit, which lasted until 1458, and his first great cantus firmus masses seems to have been composed there as well, the Missa L'homme armé and the Missa Se la face ay pale.



The ballade that the latter was based on was almost certainly composed earlier in Savoy, in the late 30s, suggesting a remarkably consistent channel of inspiration. One of the features that may have brought Dufay back to use the piece may be the incredible clarity, and recognizableness won by its perfectly handled C tonality.



A joyful little chanson through and through, the rhyme scheme of the text itself is built on charming puns, such as on the words amer (to love), amer (bitter) la mer (the sea). Dufay ignores the ballade form of the text, composes instead one long through-composed stanza that repeats. It is the only known ballade setting of the 15th century to do so. In response perhaps to the banter of the puns, the music itself is a compact series of clear statements and counterstatements, making the punning play perfectly audible. There's a surprising six-bar melismatic tail at the end that drives the happy point home. Se la face ay pale may not be among the most beautiful of Dufay's works, but it is certainly mood-brightening; try humming it on the way to work.

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