Feragut Beltrame, also known as Feragu, Feraguti, Feragutius, Ferracuti, Ferracutius Bertrand, OSA, French or Provençal composer. He was active in the first half of the 15th century in Italy and probably came from Avignon. From 1425 to 1430 he was a singer and the maestro di cappella at the cathedral in Milan; in 1439 he was a singer at the churches of Santa Maria del Fiore and San Giovanni in Florence; and in 1449–50 he was a member of the court chapel of King René in Sicily. He may also have stayed in Vicenza. His compositions, comprising four three-voice sections of the Ordinarium (Gloria, two Credo, Sanctus) with one or two instrumental parts; two three-voice motet-songs (Ave Maria gratia plena, Franconum nobilitate and Excelsa civitas Vincencia, written in 1409 on the occasion of the enthronement of Bishop Pietro Emiliani of Vicenza) with only the upper voice texted; a hymn; a Magnificat; and the three-voice rondeau De yre et de dueyl, have survived exclusively in Italian manuscripts and represent the traditions of the French ars nova. The three-voice hymn Lucis creator optime and the three-voice Magnificat show the use of fauxbourdon. Stylistically, Feragut’s compositions belong to the early period of Dufay.
Literature: J.F.R. and C. Steiner Dufay and his Contemporaries, London 1898, repr. Amsterdam 1963; H. Besseler Bourdon und Fauxbourdon, Leipzig 1950, 2nd ed. 1974; C. Sartori Matteo da Perugia e Beltrame Feragut, i due primi maestri di cappella del duomo di Milano, “Acta Musicologica” XXVIII, 1956; F.A. D’Accone The Singers of S. Giovanni in Florence During the 15th Century, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” XVI, 1961.
