Dunstable, John
People > Dunstable, John
John Dunstable (Dunstaple) (c1385-1453) was a musician, astronomer and mathematician and probable native of Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Almost nothing is known of his life but he was famous all over Europe as one of the earliest musicians who laid the foundations for the great schools of music in the sixteenth century.
It has been suggested that he was in the service of the Duke of Bedford who was regent of France from 1422-1435 and a military opponent of Joan of Arc.
One of the earliest references to him is by Johannes Tinctoris (1445-1511) who said that the origin of music took place in England where Dunstable was the chief musician.
Dunstable left some sixty works (some still disputed) including secular songs, religious works and motets (choral compositions on sacred texts).
Dunstable died in 1453 and was buried in St. Stephens, Walbrook, which was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. In an epitaph preserved in John Weever's 'Ancient Funerall Monuments' it is recorded that he was described as "an astrologian, a mathematician, a musician and what not".
It is not known if he married.
Sources:
John Dunstable, by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2005
Page last updated: 24th January 2014