Wiedergeburt der Ars subtilior?

Kennzeichnend für die Ars subtilior im späten 14. Jahrhundert sind die im Vergleich zur Ars nova größere Bandbreite an verschiedenen Notenwerten, die Gleichzeitigkeit verschiedener Mensuren in den einzelnen Stimmen und die damit in engem Zusammenhang stehende manierierte Notation. In der rhythmischen Konstruktion der Étude pour piano Nr. 2 - <Cordes Vides> von György Ligeti entsteht durch die vielfältige Kombination einfacher Konfliktrhythhmen ein hohes Maß an Komplexität, wobei die Möglichkeiten einer Rezeption der Techniken der Ars subtilior sichtbar werden. Die Notierung verschiedener Mensuren in den beiden Händen im traditionellen Notationssystem erlaubt es, die Gleichzeitigkeit verschiedener Geschwindig-keitsschichten für einen einzelnen Interpreten spielbar zu machen.

The Return of Ars subtilior?

This chapter explores different medieval techniques of organizing rhythmic parameters to illuminate the ancestry of many purportedly novel techniques popularized in later twentieth-century works. Three categories of structural medievalism—evocation, adaptation, and assimilation—delineate the types of organizing parameters used by composers separated in time by six centuries. The process of defining this far-reaching ancestry unfolds in the context of a broad range of contemporary repertory that is often distinct in sound from its medieval antecedents but exhibits tangible conceptual connections. Further interest lies in the dichotomy between the apparent complexity of notation in the works of the Ars subtilior, similar to that found in many contemporary scores, and a rather simpler notion of aiming to achieve emancipated polyphonic lines that can readily stand in contrast and juxtaposition to one another when rhythmically distinct.

Old, New, and Newer Still in Book 7 of the Speculum musice

In chapter 27 of the last book of his Speculum musice, Jacobus faults an unnamed theorist for misattributing some ars nova doctrine to the ars antiqua; he then excuses the offense by explaining that the oldest ars nova theory might already seem old to current practitioners. This passage and several others suggest that Jacobus was writing at a time when the ars nova was hardly new. And yet the earliest ars nova theory dates from 1319, while the completion of the Speculum musice is often placed in the mid-1320s or ca. 1330. Since the Speculum cites a range of ars nova treatises that in turn cite a repertoire of motets, Jacobus's comments serve as a terminus ante quem for the ars nova writ large. This study reconsiders the date of completion for the last, seventh book of the Speculum musice. It is clear that Jacobus was older than the moderni and finished his treatise as an old man, but he also reveals that he wrote over a long span of time and revised his work repeatedly. His notational proclivities are those of a musician who came of age in a post-Franconian idiom prevalent until ca. 1320, but the latest notational developments he mentions include semiminims, dragmas, and even note shapes otherwise associated with the so-called ars subtilior. In light of this, I suggest that the Speculum musice could have been finished as late as the 1350s by an author in his mid- to late seventies. This redating, in turn, invites broad reconsideration of the transition between ars antiqua and ars nova.

The Legacy of the “Cyprus Codex” (MS. Torino J.II.9): Creating New Technologies and Compositions through a Collaborative Process

MS. J.II.9 (also known as the “Cyprus Codex”) is an anonymous Codex composed in the court of Nicosia in the first part of the 15th century during Cyprus’s Frankish period and the Lusignan Dynasty. It is the only known Codex of Western music in the region and one of the few exclusively French codices known from that time. Its style lies in the threshold between Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior with unique features. Composer Evis Sammoutis, violinist Peter Sheppard Skaerved and Music technology professor Timothy Hsu have built a collaboration inspired by the legacy of MS. J.II.9. This resulted in the creation of new bows and techniques of performing the violin and the creation of new compositions based both on the material from MS. J.II.9 and technological advancements.

Philosophical and cultural context of the Ars subtilior style

Tasks of scientific research:– to characterize the Ars subtilior style;– to determine the philosophical and cultural prerequisites for the emer-gence of the Ars subtilior style;– to describe their impact on the musical art of that time.The methodology of the research is based on the use of historical andtheoretical methods.Conclusions: Composers of Ars subtilior style tried to achieve absolutepossibilities in music: the complexity of rhythm, visual representation andlyrical content, the variety of ways to fix it, and, to a lesser extent, the matterof harmony. Like their contemporaries in the domain of logic, composersaccepted simple logical puzzles and deliberately made them as difficult aspossible. It looked like this: the composers of Ars subtilior took simplemelodic lines and decorated them in various ways, as if competing amongthemselves, just for the sake of the complexity of the experiment. Followingthe example of their predecessors, Ars subtilior composers focused onexpanding the boundaries of rhythm and notation more than on other musicalcomponents (for example, harmony and melody). However, they did this morefor the sake of curiosity, not seeking to improve or clarify the rhythm andnotation.Experiments in the development of rhythmics went in parallel with thedevelopment of other medieval sciences. Especially close and obvious contactcan be traced with the philosophy of the same time. The 13th century inWestern Europe became a period of its rapid development. There werecreated philosophical schools, particularly in England, France, Italy. Thelargest European philosophical center was created at Oxford University.

Augustinian networks and the Chicago music theory manuscript

ABSTRACTThe manuscript Chicago, Newberry Library 54.1, copied in Pavia in 1391 by an English friar, has been the object of attention of scholars for some time now. Because of the presence of Senleches's song La harpe de melodie (famously notated in the shape of a harp), and of the earliest known dated copy of the Tractatus figurarum (which reflects late fourteenth-century developments in the notation of complex rhythms), the Chicago manuscript has often been cited in support of the historiographical hypothesis which sees the Visconti court of Pavia–Milan as the main centre of production of Ars subtilior repertory in Italy. In the absence of records on the scribe ‘G de Anglia’ and the context in which he worked, it has been almost inevitable thus far to associate the compilation of the manuscript with the Visconti court and the city university (founded and supported by the Visconti). A recently identified document, however, provides some clues to the identity of the scribe of Chicago 54.1, who can now be identified as an Augustinian Hermit. This is confirmed by various elements in the manuscript that also indicate Augustinian connections, placing the compilation of the manuscript in the context of the Augustinian house of Pavia. These elements help to shift the focus of attention to other cultural contexts that may have played a role in the compilation of the manuscript, and invite a reassessment of the hitherto assumed connections with the Visconti court and secular university.