DUNSTABLE, JOHN. – Composer and astronomer, born perhaps at Dunstable in Bedfordshire around 1370 and died at Walbrooke on 24 December 1453. He was buried in the church of S. Stefano in London. Little is known of his life: it is known that he was in the service of Duke Giovanni of Bedford, and it is supposed that he followed him to Paris when the duke went there as representative of Enrico V and regent of France.
The hypothesis of a stay in Italy deserves credence, corroborated by the fact that he lived almost always outside his own country and by the presence of most of his works in Italian codices (Bologna, Modena, Trento), whereas only one English codex, the Old Hall ms., gives us one of his compositions, Veni Sancte Spiritus for four voices; according to Van Den Boren, this Italian sojourn could be placed between 1425 and 1440, the period when Dufay was a singer in the papal chapel. Speaking of him, his contemporary Martin Franc says that Dufay and Binchois were his followers. He fused melody and harmony in a marvelous synthesis, giving, especially to the former, a rare expressive plasticity, whose immediate source lies in the Ars nova italiana del sec. XIV.
Of his 54 compositions known to date, those that have been printed constitute only a small part. The Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich contain works by him in vols. VII, XXVII, XXXI, and L (Lipsia 1913 ff.). The complete list of the
DUNSTABLE JOHN – DUPANLOUP FÉLIX-ANTOINE-PHILIBERT
his works known to date, together with their sources, is found in C. Steiner, D. and various settings of O Rosa Bella (Sammelbände der Internat. Musikgesellschaft, 2 [1900], p. 1 ff.; this list is completed by M. Bukofzer, Über Leben u. Werke von D. in Acta musicologica, 8 [1936], p. 111 ff.