The Golden Section in Three Byzantine Motets of Dufay

Abstract

During much of Dufay's life the Byzantine Empire was engaged in a desperate struggle with the Turks. Many western rulers realized the political importance of supporting Byzantium as an eastern fortress against the conquering enemy, yet they were distracted by the immediacy of troublesome affairs in their own countries. The eastern and western churches furthermore had been divided since the eleventh century when each had excommunicated the other over differences in the interpretation of the progression of the Holy Spirit-whether it came from the Father or from the Father and the Son. As the Turkish threat became more and more dangerous, the Latin and Greek churches tried to resolve their differences. Byzantine rulers made tours of European courts to raise funds for defense. Latin popes and Byzantine emperors sent messages, gifts and representatives to each other. Marriages were arranged between great princely families of the east and west. Councils were held, and Pope Pius II tried vainly to organize another crusade. At least three motets of Dufay were commissioned for events surrounding this state of affairs. The earliest of the group, Vasilissa, ergo gaude, celebrates the marriage around 1420 of Cleophe Malatesta and Theodore Paleologus, son of the Byzantine emperor.' The second motet, Balsamus et munda, was composed for the first distribution of