Week Three

The Ars Nova

The fourteenth century was filled with events that tested the strength the Western world. The church was threatened by monarchs and secular culture. The Black Plague wiped out virtually the entire population at the time. The traditions of music were challenged and progress was made, especially in the development of measuring musical time. The liberal-arts educated theorist Philippe de Vitry led this movement with the writings in his treatise Ars nova (that subsequently gave a name to the whole movement). However, none of this happened without opposition (as is the human way). The music of this century was called Ars antiqua.

A large topic in the Ars nova was the dividing notes into two or three equal parts. The system of mensuration notation led to the development of a new musical style and technique with complex rhythmic combinations. The concept of numerical importance produced isorhythm, the organization of a line into repetitions of a fixed series of rhythmic values. Talea were the rhythmic groupings and the colors were the melodic grouping.

In de Vitry's motet In arboris/Tuba sacre fidei/Virgo sum, every time the breve was divided into two equal semibreves, the second was always twice as long as the first to maintain the number three- the 'perfect' division in music because of it's significance to the Trinity. Duple divisions were actually called 'imperfect' divisions. The piece is constructed based on the tenor (as were most pieces at this time), which consisted of two colors of the same chant phrase. Each of the chant is divided into taleae. This is only one of many examples of the numerical complexity in the music of the fourteenth century.

It was a time where intellectual thought began to challenge the long-standing traditions and beliefs of the church. This gave rise to the composition of more music being composed for pleasure, rather than only for the church.  One example of this is Machaut's composition Rose, liz, primtemps, verdue. Apparently this piece was a love song composed specifically for his young 'crush'. It is in four parts, but the triplum part is basically a decoration rather than a functional part in the piece, like had been common previously. While function was still a part of most music being composed at the time, Machaut leads the beginning of composing music for the sake of composing music. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds!