Ars subtilior
Encyclopedia
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic and notational
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
complexity, centered around Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, also in northern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
at the end of the fourteenth century. The style also is found in the French Cypriot repertory. Often the term is used in contrast with ars nova
Ars nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
, which applies to the musical style of the preceding period from about 1310 to about 1370; though some scholars prefer to consider the ars subtilior a subcategory of the earlier style. Primary sources for the ars subtilior are the Chantilly Codex
Chantilly Codex
The Chantilly Codex is a manuscript of medieval music containing pieces from the style known as the Ars subtilior. It is held in the museum at the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise....
, the Modena Codex (Mod A M 5.24), and the Turin Manuscript (Torino J.II.9).
Overview and history
Musically, the productions of the ars subtilior are highly refined, complex, difficult to sing, and probably were produced, sung and enjoyed by a small audience of specialists and connoisseurs. Hoppin suggests the superlative ars subtilissima, saying, "not until the twentieth century did music again reach the most subtle refinements and rhythmic complexities of the manneristic style." They are almost exclusively secular songsSecular music
Secular music is non-religious music. "Secular" means being separate from religion.In the West, secular music developed in the Medieval period and was used in the Renaissance. Swaying authority from the Church that focused more on Common Law influenced all aspects of Medieval life, including music...
, and have as their subject matter love, war, chivalry, and stories from classical antiquity. there are even some song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s written in praise of public figures (for example Antipope Clement VII
Antipope Clement VII
Robert of Geneva was elected to the papacy as Pope Clement VII by the French cardinals who opposed Urban VI, and was the first Avignon antipope of the Western Schism.-Biography:...
). Daniel Albright compares avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
and modernist music of the 20th century
20th century classical music
20th century classical music was without a dominant style and highly diverse.-Introduction:At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late Romantic in style. Composers such as Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius were pushing the bounds of Post-Romantic Symphonic writing...
's "emphasis on generating music through technical experiment" to the precedent set by the ars subtilior movement's "autonomous delight in extending the kingdom of sound." He cites Baude Cordier's perpetual canon Tout par compas (All by compass am I composed), notated on a circular staff.
Albright contrasts this motivation with "expressive urgency" and "obedience to rules of craft" and, indeed, ars subtilior was coined by musicologist Ursula Günther in 1960 to avoid the negative connotations of the terms manneristic style and mannered notation. (Günther's coinage was based on references in Tractatus de diversis figuris, attributed to Philippus de Caserta
Philippus de Caserta
Philippus de Caserta, also Philipoctus or Filipoctus was a medieval music theorist and composer associated with the style known as ars subtilior....
, to composers moving to a style "post modum subtiliorem comparantes" and developing an "artem magis subtiliter".)
One of the centers of activity of the style was Avignon at the end of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy and during the Great Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
(1378–1417), the time during which the Western Church had a pope both in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and in Avignon. The town on the Rhône
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
had developed into an active cultural center, and produced the most significant surviving body of secular song of the late fourteenth century.
The style spread into northern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and as far as Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
(which was a French cultural outpost at the time). French, Flemish, Spanish and Italian composers used the style.
Notational characteristics
One of the techniques of the ars subtilior involved using red notes, or "coloration", where the red notes indicate an alteration of note values by one third.Manuscripts of works in the ars subtilior occasionally were themselves in unusual and expressive shapes, as a form of eye music
Eye music
Eye music describes graphical features of scores that when performed are unnoticeable by the listener.-Difficulties in defining eye music:...
. As well as Baude Cordier
Baude Cordier
Baude Cordier was a French composer from Rheims; it has been suggested that Cordier was the nom de plume of Baude Fresnel. Cordier's works are considered among the prime examples of ars subtilior...
's circular canon and the heart-shaped score shown above, Jacob Senleches
Jacob Senleches
Jacob Senleches was a Franco-Flemish composer and harpist of the late Middle Ages. He composed in a style commonly known as the ars subtilior....
's La Harpe de melodie
La harpe de melodie
One of the outstanding examples of the period called Ars Subtilior not only in its musical aspects is Jacob Senleches' composition La Harpe de Melodie which has been transmitted via two sources....
is written in the shape of a harp.
Composers in ars subtilior style
- Anthonello de Caserta
- Philippus da Caserta, De ma doulour (Mod, f.26v)
- Johannes CiconiaJohannes CiconiaJohannes Ciconia was a late medieval composer and music theorist who worked most of his adult life in Italy, particularly in the service of the Papal Chapels and at the cathedral of Padua....
, La flamma del to amor (Lucca, f.54v) - Baude CordierBaude CordierBaude Cordier was a French composer from Rheims; it has been suggested that Cordier was the nom de plume of Baude Fresnel. Cordier's works are considered among the prime examples of ars subtilior...
, Tout par compas (Rondeau-canon) - Martinus FabriMartinus FabriMartinus Fabri was a North Netherlandish composer of the late 14th century.Fabri was probably either from Flanders or the Netherlands, and lived near the end of the Middle Ages. The surname "Fabri" was probably a Latinization of the name "Smeets" or perhaps "Le Fèvre" . Little is known about his...
- Paolo da FirenzePaolo da FirenzePaolo da Firenze was an Italian composer and music theorist of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the transition from the musical Medieval era to the Renaissance...
- Guido de Lange, Dieux gart (Rondeau)
- Jehan Simon de Haspre
- Matteo da PerugiaMatteo da PerugiaMatteo da Perugia was a Medieval Italian composer, presumably from Perugia. From 1402 to 1407 he was the first magister cappellae of the Milan Cathedral; his duties included being cantor and teaching three boys selected by the Cathedral deputies. Little is known about his life apart from this...
- Jacob SenlechesJacob SenlechesJacob Senleches was a Franco-Flemish composer and harpist of the late Middle Ages. He composed in a style commonly known as the ars subtilior....
, La harpe de mélodie (chic, f.10) - SolageSolageSolage was a French composer. He composed the most pieces in the Chantilly Codex, the principal source of music of the ars subtilior, the manneristic compositional school centered around Avignon at the end of the century.-Life:Nothing is known about his life, beyond what can be inferred from the...
, Fumeaux fume par fumée (Rondeau) - Antonio Zacara da TeramoZacara da TeramoAntonio Zacara da Teramo was an Italian composer, singer, and papal secretary of the late Trecento and early 15th century...
- Anonymous composers at the Nicosia court of King Janus of CyprusJanus of CyprusJanus of Cyprus was a King of Cyprus, King of Armenia and a Titular King of Jerusalem from 1398 to 1432.-Biography:He was born in Genoa where his father, King James I of Cyprus was a captive...
Examples
Sources
- Albright, Daniel. 2004. Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-01267-0.
- Günther, Ursula. 1960. "Die Anwendung der Diminution in der Handschrift Chantilly 1047". Arkiv für Musikwissenschaft 17:1–21.
- Hoppin, Richard H. 1978. Medieval Music. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6.
- Josephson, Nors S. 2001. "Ars Subtilior". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
Further reading
. "Ars subtilior," "Ars nova" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2.- Berger, Anna Maria Busse. 2002. "The Evolution of Rhythmic Notation". In The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory, edited by Thomas Street Christensen, 628-656. The Cambridge History of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521623715
- Gleason, Harold, and Warren Becker, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance Music Literature Outlines Series I. Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X.
- Günther, Ursula. 1963. "Das Ende der Ars Nova". Die Musikforschung 16:105–120.
- Günther, Ursula. 1964. "Zur Biographie einiger Komponisten der Ars Subtilior". Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 21:172–99.
- Günther, Ursula. 1991. "Die Ars subtilior". Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11: 277–88.
- Hentschel, Frank. 2001. "Der Streit um die Ars Nova: Nur ein Scherz?" Arkiv für Musikwissenschaft 58:110–30.
- Köhler, Laurie. 1990. Pythagoreisch-platonische Proportionen in Werken der ars nova und ars subtilior. 2 vols. Göttinger musikwissenschaftliche Arbeiten 12. Kassel and New York: Bärenreiter. ISBN 3761810148
- Leech-Wilkinson, Daniel. 1990. "Ars Antiqua—Ars Nova—Ars Subtilior". In Antiquity and the Middle Ages: From Ancient Greece to the Fifteenth Century, edited by James McKinnon, 218–40. Man & Music. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333510402 (cased) ISBN 0333530047 (pbk)
- Newes, Virginia Ervin. 1977. "Imitation in the Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior". Revue belge de musicologie/Belgisch tijdschrift voor muziekwetenschap. 31:38–59.
- Pirrotta, NinoNino PirrottaNino Pirrotta was an Italian musicologist of international renown who specialized in Italian music from the late medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque eras. In 1931 he earned a degree in art history from the University of Florence after having already earned a diploma in organ performance...
. 1966. "Ars Nova e stil novo". Rivista Italiana di Musicologia 1:3–19 - Plumley, Yolanda M. 1991. "Style and Structure in the Late 14th-Century Chanson". Ph.D. diss., University of Exeter.
- Plumley, Yolanda M. 1996. The Grammar of Fourteenth Century Melody: Tonal Organization and Compositional Process in the Chansons of Guillaume de Machaut and the Ars Subtilior. Outstanding Dissertations in Music from British Universities. New York: Garland. ISBN 0815320655
- Plumley, Yolanda M. 1999. "Citation and Allusion in the Late Ars Nova: The Case of 'Esperance' and the 'En attendant' songs". Early Music History 18:287–363.
- Smith, F. Joseph. 1964. "Ars Nova: A Re-Definition? (Observations in the Light of Speculum Musicae I by Jacques de Liège" Part 1. Musica Disciplina 18:19–35.
- Smith, F. Joseph. 1965. "Ars Nova: A Re-Definition?" Part 2. Musica Disciplina 19:83–97.
- Smith, F. Joseph. 1983. "Jacques de Liège's Criticism of the Notational Innovations of the Ars nova". The Journal of Musicological Research 4: 267–313
- Stone, Anne. 1996. "Che cosa c'è di più sottile riguardo l'ars subtilior?" Rivista Italiana di Musicologia 31:3–31.
- Tanay, Dorit. 1999. Noting Music, Making Culture: The Intellectual Context of Rhythmic Notation, 1250–1400. Musicological Studies and Documents 46. Holzgerlingen: American Institute of Musicology and Hänssler-Verlag. ISBN 3775131957