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Petrarch’s poem Vergene bella is a plea to the Virgin for help in a man’s struggle with his life; it would have been blasphemous to say so in Dufay’s lifetime, but the lyric is almost like a troubadour’s plea to his beloved and distant lady. The difference is that the singer trusts completely in the Virgin: ‘You have never turned away—hear my prayer.’

from notes by Catherine Bott © 2006