Transcript Ars Nova : Duple rhythms, Isorhythms, richer harmonies, and the rise of Secular Music (1250 – 1400) Jacopo da Bologna, Madrigal: Fenice fu, c.1350

Ars Nova :
Duple rhythms,
Isorhythms, richer
harmonies, and the rise
of Secular Music
(1250 – 1400)
Jacopo da Bologna,
Madrigal: Fenice fu, c.1350
Fourteenth
Century
Decline of feudal aristocracy
and rise of middle classes;
growth of cities;
 Relocation of Popes from
Rome to Avignon;
 Authority of Popes questioned
Initial separation of church and
state, and between religion and
science;
 Beginnings of Humanism and
Protestantism;
The Great Plague;
Hundred Years War;
 Dante’s Divine Comedy
 Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Source: History of Western Music (Miller and
Cockrell); Grout, 106, 107
Savonarola, Girolamo: Florence
Ars Nova Music
Paris and Italy
Use of duple rhythms in
addition to triple metres;
 Use of ‘isorhythms’
Highest voice had main
melody
Main melodies freshly
composed (not Gregorian
Chant)
Intervals of 3rd and 6th used
more than 4th (more modern
harmonic sound) – influence of
English composers such as
John Dunstable
John Dunstable, Motet: Quam pulchra es, c. 1430
Source: Grout, 108
Secular Song
More secular than sacred music
composed and notated during the 14th
Century;
 Gradual introduction of shorter
note values and rhythmic complexity;
The use of duple as well as triple
rhythms necessitated further
development of notation, with first
use of ‘white’ notes;
“Musica Ficta”: Chromatic and
dissonant notes added to pieces by
the performers for expression;
 French forms: Rondeau – strophic,
French, longer notes in lower part,
possibly played by instruments;
Ballade – aabC form, with melody in
top of the 3 voices
Italian Form: Madrigal: 2 parts,
simpler texture, duple & triple
metres, hocket;
Jacopo da Bologna,
Madrigal: Fenice fu, c.1350
Source: Grout, 118, 122, 126
Secular Song
Rondeau:
Rose, liz, printemps, verdure
by Guillaume Machaut (ca. 13001377)
 Triple meter of the dance from which it
is derived;
 Rondeau form includes much musical
repetition with different texts (strophic
form)
 Four vocal parts here are melodically
and rhythmically independent.
Machaut, the preeminent composer of
the day wrote both secular and sacred
music as is well known for his masses and
motets.
LIMBOURG BROTHERS detail from Novemebr,
from Les Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 14131416.
Sacred Music
 Most common forms:
 Mass
Motet (now a title for any nonliturgical piece);
 4 equal vocal parts
Use of Isorhythms: long repeated
rhythmic patterns (talea) - origins
in Indian classical music – ‘raga’
due to opening up of international
trade routes).
Messe de Notre Dame - Guillaume de
Machaut (c.1360) – The first known
“musically unified setting of the mass”
(Grout, 115)
Jamb Figures 1150-70 Chartres
Cathedral