Je ne suy

Guillaume Dufay's Je ne suy is a secular French rondeau for three voices (soprano, alto, tenor). The text laments the singer's lost youth, beauty, and fortune, which have led to rejection by the ladies he once courted. He laments his age and worn-out state, bemoaning the loss of his youthful vigour and the money that once helped him. The rondeau form, with its recurring lines, reinforces the sense of unchanging regret and resignation. This is a poignant expression of aging and the fading of romantic prospects, characteristic of late medieval secular song.