Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The Fourteenth Century: 1300-1400 Adding Layers - The "Ars Nova"
The Fourteenth Century: 1300-1400 Adding Layers - The "Ars Nova"
1) How did the social economic conditions in the 14th century differ from that of the 13th century?
A time of Disruption and Turmoil
Famine 1315-1322 caused by floods (northwestern Europe)
The Black Death 1347-1350 (across Europe)
Frequent wars
The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between France and England
Rebellions in France, England, Flanders (Belgium), Germany, Italy and Spain
Church in crisis: the authority and supremacy of the pope was widely questioned
The Babylonian Captivity of the papacy 1309-1377
The Rise of Science and Secularism
Science separated from religion: invention of eyeglasses, the magnetic compass, and mechanical clocks
Preferences were given to “experience of the senseS” (instead of reason) and “natural explanations” (instead of supernatural)
Such preferences spilled over to arts
Literature: to entertain, rather than to elevate the reader
Visual Arts: seeking naturalistic representation
Music: focus on secular music
2) How did the new conditions influence the musical style of the time?
Ars Nova (1310s-1370s): The New Musical Style in France
Definition: The new french musical style inaugurated by Vitry in the 1310s and continued through the 1370s
Phillippe de Vitry (1291-1361)
French composer, poet, church canon administrator
Believed to be the author of the treatise titled Ars Nova
What's "Nova"?
Allowed duple (imperfect) division of note values
Adopted division of the semibreve into minims
Key concepts: mode, time, prolation, mensuration signs
Results
For the first time, notation was specific and unambiguous as fixed and permanent representation of sound
Offered new meters, allowed much greater rhythmic flexibility, including syncopation
1, 2, (skip 3), 4
Ars Nova Notation
A short note is called Breve: Time
Time is a division of Breve
Time = O (circle)
Semibreve: Prolation
Prolation is a division of Semibreve
Prolation = * (dot)
Isorhythm (only refers to tenor)
Tenor laid out in segments of identical rhythm
Extends 13th century clausulae practice: longer, more complex rhythmic patterns
Tenor moves slowly; provides foundational structure
Recurring elements
Talea: repeating rhythmic
Color: recurring segment of melody
Hocket: two voices alternate in rapid succession, each resting while the other sings
3) Who are the representative figures of the new style?
Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)
One of the first known and Most significant composer and poet in 14th century
Wrote mass setting as 1 composition
He used isorhythmic structure and discant style
Won’t be tested on Mass setting
Wrote sacred and especially secular works!
Chansons!
Polyphonic French songs during 14th-16th centuries, featuring treble-dominated style
Characteristics:
The upper voice (cantus, or treble) carries the text
Tenor: slower-moving w/o text
1 or 2 other un-texted voices may be added
Mostly in the form of a ballade or rondeau