In this paper the author looks at what Guillaume Dufay's music meant in terms of music history. The author starts with a
look at the Gregorian chant from Medieval times which was the main form of sacred music, how it
developed and what it gave to modern music. The paper continues with a look at the other forms of music that have developed over the years and contributed to the work of Guillaume Dufay. In particular the author highlights the development of church music in the Renaissance period which, as he points out was the basis for Dufay's music compositions. The author discusses the life and works of Dufay's music as a move towards a clearly defined tonal and functional harmonic structure. The author believes that this helped prepare one of the most important stylistic developments in music of the following century. In
conclusion the author reminds us that we are lucky to have the musical pieces that have been curated and restored. A number of Dufay's as well as other composers from that era had masterpieces destroyed because of the political climate. Outline: Table of Contents Introduction Gregorian Chant Motet Troubadour Influence The Development of Musical Notation Polyphony Machaut Guillaume Dufay a Biography Dufay's Music Dufay and Faux-bourdon Dufay's Motets Conclusion