chap_ 5

aRS nova notation

The fo uneenth century in music history is characte rized as rhe A rs Nova

( new a n ). T he nam" was taken fro m t he title of a treatise by the composer-
lh w risr Ph il1i pe de Virri (c . 1290-136 1). It was use d by t heorists of th e day
to distinguish from the preced ing period (the A rs A Il tiqua) this time o f vigor-
o us act ivity, significant develo pment , and considerable refinement in both t he
notatio nal system a nd compositio nal practice.
As wc hax " se"", each slage in [he evo lut ion o f no ta tio n is a fu rth er refine-
ment of the devices and symbo ls us"d in pr ec"ding period s, with th e add itio n
of relatively fe w new ones. Alt ho ugh t he Ars Nova was no exceptio n to th is
phenom enon in in early stages, d uring the app ro xima tely 1 SO years in which
t his notat io n prevailed , there were introduced a fairly large number of mod ifi·
catio ns of old sy mbo ls and man y neW symbols. Th is resul ted in an extensive,
d isti nctive, and extre mely flexib le reso urce fo r compose rs and provided th e
prin cipal co mp one nts of ou r p rescn t no ta tio n.
A new valu e . the minima (a di am ond -shaped nOle with a vertical stem from
t he top po int of t he dia mond), was intro duced early in t he period and was
foll owed soon after by the semiminima (th e m in ima wit h a n ag added to th e
top of t he ste m ). Even sma ller values made thei r appeara nce late r in the pe-
riod (th e [usa and semI/ usa). bU I these will not be discussed here.
Essen ti ally t wo different fo rms of notatio n - t h e Fre nch and t he ltalian -
evolved fro m th e basic prin cip les of the Al'!i Nova during the fou rteent h cen -
tu ry. Th e Italian was relatively short-lived and had less o f a lasting impact on

61
62 An Nova No tation
notation al dc\'~lopmenrs. Con sequently , although our discussion will be pri-
marily conce rned wit h the basic principlcs of Ars Nova no tation , when a
choice must be made, the French practices will guide our decisions.
It h as be~n suggested in pr~ccding chapters thar over a period of several
hu ndred years . incr~ asingly small ~r not~ values assumed the uni t·o f-measure
functio n. Th is phenom enon re ~u lted from the grad ual introduct ion of smaller
values, clearly defined. into th e notational spectrum. In the Franconian sy s-
tern, th e breve bec ame the unit of measure as a result of the introd uctio n of
th e se m i hr~ ve ; in rhe Ars Nova syste m. the appearance o f rhe minim a caused
the semibreve to USUtp th e role hdd by the breve.
Du rin.g the perio d that led to the development and use of the Ars No va no '
tenon s, there was a rathe r rap id dissolution of the infl uence of the rhythmic
modes. T ime values were increasingly more sharply defined , and signa tures
began to appea r which identified the various possible combinations and rela-
tionships that had b een evolving between th e several not e values and metrical
patt~rn s. Exampl e S. l provid es a sum m..ry o f the note values being used and
their respective r~ l ui o nsh ip s to each o the r. The terms modus, tl?mpu s. and
pralMia which appea r in this example refer to th e divisions of the longa,
breve, and semibreve, respectively.

P~rfect , (0 .) • ••• (J JJ)

M"".< lmperfec. , (0) • .. (J J)

P....fect • (d) • ... (.I .1.1)

Tem pus<

lm p~ rf~ct • (d) •
•• (.1.1)

PerfeCI • (.I, • ,.. Cm)

ProlatiO<

Impedec. • (.I> • U (n)

Example S.1. Ar. Non Note Valu"" and Relarionship".
 Ars Nova Notation 63

The Four Prolations

Ph illipC' d ~ Vitri is cr~dit~d wit h having id~n!ifiC'd l h~ four principal rda-
tionships t hat p r..vailC'd during this period, These are tC'rm..d thC' four prola·
,i'ms because t hC'y rdlect four grouping. of minima (or, more accurately. di·
vided semibreves). ThC' four protations are shown in Example 5.2.
Note that reference to the tempus in Examp le 5.2 defines th e division of
th e breve inro !;Wo or th ru semibreve;, and prolatio ns refer to the division of
the sem ibreve into rwo nr lhreC' minima. T he resulting group of paree ms is re-
rerred ro as thC' fou r prolatiom, which are equivalent to modern metrical sig-
nat ures as ddin C'atC'd in this C'xample. Students sho uld also note that because
of rbe new role of th e sc:mibr~e, it, Tather than the breve, is transcribed a' a
quart er no tc , which acco unts for the meter signatures shown.

The I'our PraluiOlu

Sign.. u'e Tempu. Pc . f~ l um

• • •
Majo r
P,olat ion e .,. 0 ~~ . •H ~H U~

Minor
Pra lat ion e or 0 .~ .

Ternpu. l m ~ rfe c , u m

,
• •
.\\ajor
P' ol otion
.,.

Mino,
,
" .
Pro lu io n

Enmp le • .1. The I'o ur Prob t ion•. In ,h.. me t.....;gnatu ...., 'he ci,c1e< a nd half c ir-
cl.,. ,e1 a,e '0 th e tempuo, and !he number of dots defines the prala!ion.
64 A rs Nova Notation

Rests
Resrs in the Ars Nova period were almost identical to those introduced in
lhe !'rancon ia n pe rio d. The onl y d ifferences were rbose that naturally result-
ed from the addition of the new nOle values (i.e.. th e need for equ ivalen t
rests) and the aba ndo nmen t of th e major-minor dis tincrio n for the semibreve.
Ars Nova rests are sho wn in £xample S .3 with thei r modern equivalents (the
semib reve is co nsidered a quarter note).

I I , • •
~ t t,
• " 'm s-Mln

, , , •
1
t (qu~'er·no \e
bU U )
E"ample S.l. A", Nova Rest•.

P,\1 • Perfect Maxim. 11 • Breve

lM • Iml"'rfcCI Mu im. S8 · Semibreve
PL • ~rfecl Long. Min · Mi nima
IL · Im perfect Long. S-Min • Semiminima

Composers were qu ick to capitalize on the significan t increase in flexibility

provided by the no ta tio nal inno vatio ns, an d a wide atTay of new composi-
tio nal devices rap id ly gained favor_ Many of rhese will be discussed in the
chapters that follo w, bUI of particula r interest he re, because specific lIO la-
tio nal symbols are employed for its compositional use, is the de vice of synco-
pation.

Syncopation (Dotted and Colored Notes)

Syncopation , o r th e displace ment of anti cipated bea ts, was achieved by a
variety of means. Th e first and mos t familiar to us is the use of a dot follow-
ing a no te. T his do t (punt:rus add irionis), wh ich is still used tod ay, represen t-
ed the addition of half th e value o f the preceding not.. to the nnle folloW ing
it (.-.g. , a d oned Sl'm ibreve equ als the value of a semibreve followed by a min-
ima). This is o nc of the ma ny IlSO'S of the dot and the only o nc wilh which we
shall be co ncerned in this discussio n. Exarnpl.. 5.4 d emnnurateS the punctus
add it io nis in several possible rhythmic figures.
Th.. use o f syncopatio n was quite wid..sp read dur ing thi s period and may
justifiably be co nsidered a characterist ic techn iqu e in the music of the tim e.
 A rs Nova Notation 65

Una/terN Form Om 'N Form TfllnscribN Do".d Form

1 .' ~ ~ m
FI •• I )

•• • . .' ;.
E:<.ample ~.4 . n.roe Uses of the Punctu, Additio ni•.

Ano the r device that had a wide variety of uses (among them , rhyt hmic d is-
placement) was th e red note. T hese no tes were intro duced shortly befo~ the
Af'i. Nova and ap peared in manuscripts for appro ximately 100 years. An im-
portant contribution o f the U.'IC of coloration was the introd uct ion of the con-
c..pt bl'rniola ("one ~ n d one-half") or the replac..m..nt of tWO equ al v~lues by
th re.. equa l values. In mu ltiple-part writing, this would occasionally produce a
th ree-against-two relationship between two voices. In ea rly usage, red notes
never appeared in imperfect meters , but larer they were us..d as freely in
those as they were in perfect meters. Red note. had at least a ha.lf-dozen dif-
fere nt uses d uring th is period. We shall limit our discussion to t heir use a.
rhythm ic displacement, d escribed above a nd demonstrate d in Examp le ~ .5 .

• • ..I

E"ampl. ~.5 _ Coloration for Rhythmic Displacement_ Re<! note. are rep,..,..,nted
hete a. open nOle•.

Analytical Considerations
A wide u nge of devices was developed during the fourteent h century to
acccmmodare the rapidly evolving com posit ional u:chni ques. These included
means for identifying passages to be performed in augmentation and diminu-
66 A rs No va Notatio n
tion o f varying degrees; co mp licated rhyt hms; and pu zzle cano ns. The black,
white, and red notes discu ssed earlie r were used as well as suc h new devices as
bo llow red notes, half red and while not es, half red and black notes, and a
wide varie ty o f attachmen ts to the no reheads or stems. In his comiderarion
of th e no tation of th is period, Willi Ape l states:

Musicians, no longer sati sfied with the rhy thm ic sub tle ties of th e Ars NOM,
began to ind ulge in complicated rhythm ic tricks and in the invent ion of high-
ly involved methods of no tating th em. It is in this period that musical no ta-
tion far exceeds its namral limitations as a servant to music, but rather be-
co mes its master, a go al in itself and an are na for imellecrual soph istries. l

In lighl of Apel's remarks an d Ihe na.tu re of our cOllcern ill this stu dy, we
shall not involve o urselves in the co mplexities of wha t he refers to a.S "man-
nered" notati o·n. But to understand more adeq uately t he basic Ars Nova nora-
t;on, we shall consider a mon ophonic virelai b y Gu illaume de Machaut, c.
1300-1377 (see Exam ple 5 .6).
The manuscript from which this diplom atic facsimile was taken indicates
no tempus or ptolat ion marking . Conseq uentl y , it is nccessary to d etermine
these from the con text of th e music. Usu ally this rna.y bc accomplis hed by
sk"tch ing out the p" rfeer and impe rfec t interp retation s o f the note and reSt
values in the piece. Underst anding the flo w of the text is frequ entl y of greet
value in mak ing these judgments, but the mu sic will gene ral ly reveal its nature
apan from the text. How"vcr, it is unlikely that an auth oritati ve interpret a-
tion of this lite ratu re will result with ou t a thorough und erstanding o f the nat-
ural flow of the language. In Example 5.7 th e first line of the piece has been
sketc hed out rhy tllm ically according to a pe rfect and and imp"rfect interpre-
tation .
In the imp«fect setting, the note and rest values arc quite specific and
leave no room for in te rpretati on. BtH in th e perfect setti ng oth er arran ge-
meri ts o f the qu arter and do tt ed quarter notes (imperfec t and perfect semi-
b reves) arc possible. Problems arise if we att empt to carry the perfect o r th e
imperfect through the pie ce. In th e imperfect fo rm we have a series of synco-
pated phrases (unl ikely ), a missing rest (possible), or an ann acrusis (most like-
ly) , In th" perfect form, aside from the fact that th e teXI wou ld be awkward-
ly und erlaid (at best), by the tim e wc reach the cad ence in th e midd le of th e
th ird stave it is virtu ally imposs ible to make the values of th e notes and rests
con form to any reasonable rhy t hmic setting. Consequ cntly , our d ecision h ere
must be th at Wc a"" work ing with an impe rfect (m inor ) prolanon.
 Ars Nova Nota tion 67
I f we scan th e nore/rest patterns in th e grea rer po nion of the piece and ac-
cepr the minor prolation. we shall quickly sec that these parre rns fall into
groups of four (semibreve ) beats and Th ere is lirrle difficulty in carry ing these
through the piece (allo wing for an ann acrusis, as suggested ab o,·c) . Although
sevcral annacrusis possib ilities seem to exist , the natural flo w of the French

Refrain

• •
, •
C=t • • • •

Tu i t ro1 pen- -s er sent s ans ce s-- ser

c
En v ou s a--mer ho n -nor- -er • tres

doul ce
•
creu- c-ture . 1lon-ques mes yeux sa-

ou--le r de re--gar--d er et re - -mi~- - -er

vo gen---te vou r - t r a i - - - - - t ur e .
I!"aznpl~ ' .b. Vircl. i, Tu;' m i p~nS€r.
Cui ll,ume de .'I. eh,u t. Pori.. lIiblim hequ..
Nat ion ale , fr. 9221, rol. 161, .... eo rree . ..d by Carl h rri<h, Tbe NOM/;n" ,,{Med,'.
....,,/ M oSlc. W. W. No n on, New York, 19~7 , p. IS I.
68 A rs Nova No tation
text r(Csults in a minima fo llo wed hy two semibreves. It should be noted th at
thc rest at th e cnd o f the piece (o r o f a sect ion) will not compensate for th e
missing beats at th e beginning. as wc all: used to find ing in n otational prac-
tices o f mere recent vintage. No furth er difficulty shou ld be enco unte red in
transcribing th e p iece.
On th e basis of th e preceding discussion, Examp le S.8 dem onstrates th e
first line of the virelai transcribed into modern no tatio n.

• 7

Impcrlec, r
Example 5.7. Perfect and Im perfect Interpre'a,ions of Tuil ... i penu r.

pen - se r Bont s ans ces - ser

Example 5.8. Tu ;, ... i p "n Mr in Modern NoUtion.

Accidentals begin to b e fairly widd y used during this period b oth as key
signa' ures (several diffcrent OnCS appear) and as mom en tary alter:u ions. Th"
Ilae was used, from the very heginn ings of square no tation, 10 low,," th " p itch
a sem itone. Th" nat ural sig n was no t us"d, wh ich r"sultcd in twO interpreta-
lio ns o f the sha rp sign, canc c1ation of an ea rliu flat and raising a ",milD n"
Ihe piteh before wh ich it appeated . Signatures "mploy"d only flat s (sh arps do
nOI appear in signatu res un til ",veral centu ries later) , and pieces mighl have
two d iffe rent signatu res fo r separat e parts <C.g., no flats in o ne part and o ne
f1 al in another). These multiple signatures may be found th roughout th e lit·
crature of t he modal period and into th e sixteenth cen tury (and o nce again in
recen t years).
It shou ld he noted th"l th" serihes who p"' pa.red th ese manuscriptS oflen
did not place th" accid<-nral immed iately befo re th e no te it "ffe cted. Th is was
true in ea rlier no t" t ions, go ing back w plain song. and t he p ract ice sums to
have bC1' n to place the accidental in th e mo st co nvenient posit ion not too far
l>e fore the no te it affe cted. Th is might h a.~e resulted from ta king into account
th e space available ill r"lation to both the und" rlaying o f the te xt and th e
 IIrs No va Notat ion 69
amoun t of accessible parch ment . The lalte r eonsi de ruio n may seem serange
to us who live in a ti me when paper is abu ndan t. Du ring rhis perio d scarceness
of paper was, ar times, a severe limi tati o n, to the ex tent th at it actually influ-
enced the handw riting of the period (especial ly in the early Middle Ages).
The Machaut example we have bee n con si de ring is quire stra ightforward
and has no co mp licating devices such as do ts or red notes. Conside ring the
widesp read use o f these devices in rhe p..,riod durin g which this no tatio n
fl ourished , we wo uld be remiss in no t exami ning the simple uses o f these ele-
menu.
Two d ifferent uses of the dot a re presented in Examp les 5.9 and 5.10 -
tho: puncua addit;onis and the punctus d ivis;rm ;s. T he former, de mo nstrat ed
in Example 5. 9, is used to extend the value of a no te by o ne-half. in exaetly
the same m arm er as in modern notat ion. In th is example the dots fo llowing
the sem ibreves and late r the m inima are punctus ad ditionis rhat ap pear in eX'
actly the same position and have exactly the Same fu nction in the resulting
transcription (Example 5.1 0).

•
•
IEum ple ' .\'. u,e of the Pu nc, us Addition is. Lond.,o , Bri'ish Mu, eum. Egeno n
3307. rol. 72v. Note , he pre... nc. or ,h. me, ... 'igna'ure in .hi. mo.nu.",ipt.

Exam ple '.10. l Tansn ip,io n of Eumple ' .\'. The open minim., wh ich app e1lr in
the original in • ligh•• r (br<>wn ·to ne ) ink. have been in'erp reted he re u sem im ini_
ID'.

Example 5. 11 demo nstrates the p unc rus d ivi sionis as it was co mmonly
used in lralian no tat ion of the period. In th is example the dots fu nct ion as
ou r co ntempora ry bar line does and do not affect the ind ividual note values.
Two factors con tribute to the interpret ation of the dot in thi, examp le as
a punctus d ivisio nis rather than as a pu nctus additio n;s. F irst, even a cursory
glance at the <,xcerpl reveals the regular recu rrence of the dot , suggest ing th e
regular division of the piece into smalle r co nven ie nt grou pings. Seco nd, any
attempt to em ploy th e dots in the example as punct us addltionis produceS in-
 • •• • t ·
• t • t
••

p:# . t· • ti=FffE . • 11 , ...

•• •
•• • ~t • • •• . ...
I
• It
• •
Example 5.11. L' .. n f 'he Pune,... Divm oni•. Lo ndo n. British Mu.. um, Ad d.
2998 7. fol. lh. T hi..." am ple i. pr_ ntw acco'd ini' '0 the rlQt a,; onal praclices
presoo n.cd in this' ' ext rather th an as a diplomuk facsim ile of 'he original bua" ",,
the peculiari, ie, of Ital ian nou" on , hat i. enromp"'.... . rc ~yond ,he pu rview of
this stu dy.

congruous and frustrating results rhy thmin lly. In Exa mpl e S.1 2 a modern
transcr ipt ion of the: preceding exa mple is provided for comparison .
In Example 5. 13 the use of red no tes is demo nstrated. The: meter (given in
the manuscript) is an imperfect tempus with a major prolation (~). and the
natu ral values of each of the blac k notes shou ld b'" interpreted in accord ance
with Exa mpl" 5.1 . Th" red notes, on th e ot her ha nd . are to be transc ribed by
reversing the metrical inte rpreta tion to read perfe ct temp us and imp erfect
prol arion (l). Therefore, the f irst note in the upper voice of this e xcerpt (a
breve) shou ld be transcribed as a half note with the two fo llow ing minima in-
tcrpreted a~ eq ual eigh th notes On the final beat o f a three-beat measure. The
black notes t hat fo ll ow are then interpreted in te rms of their respecti v" val- *
u"s.
The midd le voice p resentS no p roblem if th e value of the bl ack notes ls
strictly interpreted in terms of the prevailing tempus and p rola tion. In the
~am e ma nner, the first fo u r nDles of the lower sco re should p resent n o prob-
lem whe n the simp le p roc edures are followed. The Ihree red no tes (numbers
 Ars N ova Notatio n 71

five. six, and seven in that line) confo rm to t he ;tpproach outli ned above and
1
prod u!.'e a measu re co nsisting of th ree eq ual semibreves.
The reverse proced ure is followed when one is confronted with a perfec t
tempus and a min or pro lat;o n, which occurs in mild fo ml in this piece a few
m ea~ur<:s fo llowing Ihe exce rpt provided in Examp le 5.1 3 . Once >gain , the
ch ange of meter is clearly de no ted in each voice part . In th is instance ( Exam-

E....mpl. S.Il. Tr anscrip,ion of Eumpl. S.I I.

Cl
• •
(
I
c •

Eumpl. 5.13 . On . U of R«I :-lot London. British M..... um . EgeMon 33 0 7.

fol. 9r. R.d no,.. app op.n not Punc nJl pe rfecti oni. have been o mitted
be cause , hey do not affec l t he meler .nd therdo'" d o no t concer n u' .
72 Ars Nova Notation
pl ~ 5 ,14}, th~ first not~ in each pan: is a red breve which , in thistempusJpro-
Iation setting, muSt be i nterp r~l ed as Ibe eq uivalent of a breve in (he reverse
mcrric;<l situ ation , i.e., a dm t ~d h;<lf note in transcrip tion . Both th is homo-
phon ic passag~ and the one shown in Example 5.13 a rc small excerpts fro m a
much longer and mo..., compl icat ~d piece includ ed in a subst antial manuscri pt
of the mid-fifteen th ce ntury.

a
a
11
• a
• • ~ ? •
• t:

a I!
F c f
t::::fftFF
•
Ci G;<;
" .... f
2
Eumplr 5.14 . Second U.., of Rod No,,,,,. Londo n, Brit ish Mus<:um , Eg<orwn H01,
fo l. 9r. Th e larg<! circle ;$ . chnll" of rempu",prolalion s.ign.

T hc red-note teChniqu e demonstrated in J,:xamples S.H an d 5.14 is rela-

tiv ely sim ple 10 work with if t he values of the respe ct ive tem pus/pro latio n re-
larionships arc inr..rpreted strictly. As indicated earlier, however, there arc a
variety of uses for r..d not..s that can introduce complcxiti..s nor consid..1"C'd
in rhis discussion, and studen ts should u ndersta nd that furth er study is essen-
tial before they can confidently attempt to tra nscribe an unfamiliar ma nU'
s"ip t. The use of this device presented he re should be ex plo red fully in stu-
den t co mpositions.