251 Notes Feb 19- From Gabby McHarg
2/25/2014 6:39:00
AM
2/19/14- 13th-c Notation
Review of Rhythmic Modes (forms of performance practice largely associated
with Notre Dame) (imposition of rhythm on repertory was performance
practice- not written)
 Mode 1- trochaic (long-short)
 Mode 2- iambic (short-long)
 Mode 3- dactylic (long-short-long)
 Mode 4- anapestic (short-short-long)
 Mode 5-spondaic (long-long-long)
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Mode 6-tribrachic (short-short-short)
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Everything is in 3 which is often in part due to the trinity- 3 is a
divine number and 2 is an earthly number
Franconian Notation
 Named for Franco of Cologne (in Germany)- a German Music
Theorist; was first to propose that the duration of a note should
relate to its appearance on the page (by its shape and not just the
context) (could represent some aspect of rhythm or meter in
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notation)
Ars Cantus Mensurabilis (the art of singing mensural (reflects
rhythm and meter in notation) music/measured music)– famous
book by Franco- a practical guide for musicians with musical
examples- very direct
Covered in Ars Cantus Mensurabilis- organum, discant (rhythm
indication in all voices), polyphony, conductus (one voice carries
rhythm and chant voice is not rhythmcized), clausulae (excerpts
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from chant), all compositional techniques of 13th century in Notre
Dame school. Rhythmic modes are in detail
Rhythm is represented in writing rather than being performance
practice- that’s kind of a huge idea to come up for the first time;
Franco says rhythms can be conveyed by shape
The performance practice system stayed in place for a good while,
but gradually over time music theory went in the direction of the
Franconian system
Consensus date of most medieval music theory scholars on the ars
cantus mesurabilis is about 1250 (know this)- there’s a lot going on
in music theory right now
Franconian Notation pictures on her page; double long is an
indication of rhythm (kind of a double square with a stem) a long
(half as big with stem), breve (no stem; just one stem), semibreve
(diamond shape) these are Franco’s 4 rhythm values however they
can mean different things and are based on context; breve is the
primary note of measure
Basic unit of time is tempus plural=tempora
Tempus is represented by the breve
a “perfect” long is 3 breves and an “imperfect” long is 2
breves/tempora (perfection is about the heavens and the holy
trinity and imperfect is not)
a double long is always imperfect (two longs)
breve is almost always one tempus, but under certain conditions
can be two tempora rather than one and in this case is called an
“altered” breve (this would be gotten from the context/performance
practice)
semibreves can be a lesser semibreve (1/3 value of tempus) or
greater semibreve (2/3 value of tempus); two semibreves will
never equal a breve in the 13th century
no ties across the bar line- you have to complete a unit within a
tempus
the table is converted to modern notation and is just good for this
table- a long is not always going to be a dotted half note
so in order to fit it all in the tempus/a perfection, perfect and
imperfect and altered things happen (so, based on context) and the
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chart shows how these changes happen based on the number of
breves
know- Franco of Cologne devised a system using shapes of notes on
a page to show rhythm that worked with rhythmic modes to provide
instructions to singers about how to sing polyphony
notes related by groupings of 3- triple groupings
After Franco, Petrus de Cruce of France- worked in Paris and was part of the
Notre Dame circle of composers, singers, theorists
 Goes to the University of Paris- where there are classes in music
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theory; his title magister indicates his probable education
Probably was Franco’s student
Mensural notation means you can tell something about rhythm in
the piece
By 1280s, tripla (plural for triplum) moved more rapidly and
independently than before- became more rhythmically active and
the chant voices were becoming less so (lowest voice becomes
slower and not really participate as much and the uppermost voice
to be more rapid and the voice that drives the counterpoint) more
differentiation of voices and at the same time
the notational practice did not involve scoring up the voices
because that’s a waste of sheepskin and ink for a tenor voice that
would be note and then lots and lots of space before next note; so
each voice was written out on a different part of the page. So you
need rhythmic notation so you can put the voices together in
performance
Petrus was innovative and sometimes divided his breves into as
many as 7 semibreves- wanted smaller note values to play with in
his compositions and he wanted to not have just one interpretation
of groupings of 3
So he introduced the dot of division- which meant in Petronian
notation that the division comes between two notes- a dot is used
to indicate that a perfection need to end there
Perfection= grouping of 3
Petronian innovation chart on page- compare how this looks to how
Franconian notation would have interpreted the same 3 shapes- the
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dot shows which are imperfect; however, the dots are often
redundant- information you knew already based on Franconian
notation- but not always
This has huge implications for musical style because it gave
composers more control over rhythm over pieces and took a lot of
that control away from the singers
Tripla start to become more important and tenors start to become
less important; and tempus started to become a more rapid unit of
time (so rather than the tenor notes dictating the time for the
piece, the tripulum started to take on that role)