Guillaume Dufay in the context of Carlo I Malatesta

A virelai is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is one of the three formes fixes (the others were the ballade and the rondeau) and was one of the most common verse forms set to music in Europe from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.

One of the most famous composers of virelai is Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300–1377), who also wrote his own verse; 33 separate compositions in the form survive by him. Other composers of virelai include Jehannot de l'Escurel, one of the earliest (d. 1304), and Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400–1474), one of the latest.

The Burgundian School was a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now northern and eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centered on the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. The school inaugurated the music of Burgundy.

The main names associated with this school are Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois and (as an influence), the English composer John Dunstaple. The Burgundian School was the first phase of activity of the Franco-Flemish School, the central musical practice of the Renaissance in Europe.

In music, a cantus firmus ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.

The plural of this Latin term is cantus firmi, although the corrupt form canti firmi (resulting from the grammatically incorrect treatment of cantus as a second- rather than a fourth-declension noun) can also be found. The Italian is often used instead: canto fermo (and the plural in Italian is canti fermi).

Burgundy became a major centre for musical development during the Renaissance era. Among the dances Burgundy has produced are the elegant, energetic basse danse and the bransle which was associated with the lower classes in the Middle Ages while the upper class likely danced pavanes and galliards. Modern Burgundy is home to music festivals like the Ainey International Music Festival.

The Burgundian School was a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centred on the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. The main names associated with this school are Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and Antoine Busnois. For a time in the early 15th century, the court of Burgundy was the musical centre of gravity of Europe, eclipsing even Rome, the seat of the Papacy, and Avignon, the home of the Antipopes. By late in the 15th century the Burgundian style was subsumed into the larger stream of Franco-Flemish music.