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'Ars subtilior' (more subtle art) is a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered around Paris and Avignon in southern France, also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century (Hoppin 1978, p.472-473). Thus it was right at the dividing-line between the musical Middle Ages and Renaissance. Often the term is used in contrast with ''ars nova'', which applies to the musical style of the preceding period from about 1310 to about 1370; though some scholars prefer to consider the ''ars subtilior'' a subcategory of the earlier style.
Musically the productions of the ''ars subtilior'' are highly refined, complex, difficult to sing, and probably were produced, sung and enjoyed by a small audience of specialists and connoisseurs. Hoppin suggests the superlative ''ars subtilissima'', saying, "not until the twentieth century did music again reach the most subtle refinements and rhythmic complexities of the manneristic style." They are almost exclusively secular songs, and have as their subject matter love, war, chivalry, and stories from classical antiquity; there are even some songs written in praise of public figures (for example Antipope Clement VII). Daniel Albright (2004, p.10) compares avant-garde and modernist music of the 20th century's "emphasis on generating music through technical experiment" to the precedent set by the ars subtilior movement's "autonomous delight in extending the kingdom of sound." He cites Baude Cordier's perpetual canon ''Tout par compas'' (All by compass am I composed), notated on a circular staff.
Albright contrasts this motivation with "expressive urgency" and "obedience to rules of craft" and, indeed, ''ars subtilior'' was coined by musicologist Ursula Günther in the 1960s to avoid the negative connotations of the terms '''manneristic style''' and '''mannered notation'''. However, many of the devices first used by the ''ars subtilior'' composers became standard compositional techniques in the Renaissance, indicating that some of their music must have been widely known and distributed, i.e. it was not merely a dead-end artistic movement, even though subsequent music sounds nothing like it.
The center of activity of the style was Avignon at the end of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy and during the Great Schism (1378–1417), the time during which the Western Church had a pope both in Rome and in Avignon. The town on the Rhône had developed into an active cultural center, and produced the most significant surviving body of secular song of the late fourteenth century. From Avignon the style spread into northern Spain and as far as Cyprus (which was a French cultural outpost at the time); in addition, a handful of Italian composers such as Zacara da Teramo composed in a manneristic style related to the ''ars subtilior''.
One of the techniques of the ''ars subtilior'' involved using red notes, or "coloration"; these red notes indicated a reduction of note values by one third. For instance, a three bar passage if written entirely in red notes would only be two bars long. If a "perfect" passage would be written in red notes it would become syncopated; this syncopation was considered a hemiola (see example 1). Triplets occurred when an "imperfect" passage was transcribed into red notes (see example 2).
★ Example 1: time signature of 3/4. If three dotted half notes were written as red notes, each of the notes would lose one quarter note, becoming a series of three half notes, therefore fitting into two bars. The quarter note on the third beat of the first bar would be tied to the quarter note on the first beat of bar two.
★ Example 2: time signature of 2/4. If three quarter notes were written as red notes, each one would become equivalent to 0.66 of a beat. [ 0.66 x 3 (three quarter notes) = 2 quarter notes ]
Composers in the ''ars subtilior'' style often wrote their manuscripts themselves in unusual and expressive shapes. In addition to the circular canon by Baude Cordier, a piece by Jacob Senleches, ''La Harpe de melodie'', is written in the shape of a harp; this and other examples of the unusual notational style of the ''ars subtilior'' are preserved in the Chantilly Codex, the primary source for this music, and also the Modena Codex.
★ Matteo da Perugia
★ Jacob Senleches
★ Anthonello de Caserta
★ Philippus da Caserta
★ Johannes Ciconia in at least one work
★ Baude Cordier
★ Solage
★ Grimace
★ Jacopo da Bologna
★ Paolo da Firenze
★ Martinus Fabri
★ Antonio Zacara da Teramo
★ Anonymous composers at the Nicosia court of King Janus of Cyprus
Many musicologists today relate the avant-garde styles of the 20th and 21st century to these early composers; for instance, Baude Cordier's perpetual canon, ''Tout par Compas,'' notated in a circle, is comparable to George Crumb's ''Star Child.''[1]
★ Richard H. Hoppin, ''Medieval Music''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6.
★ Albright, Daniel (2004). ''Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources''. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-01267-0.
★ "Ars subtilior," "Ars nova" in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2.
★ Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, ''Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'' (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X.
| Contents |
| Overview and history |
| Notational characteristics |
| Composers in Ars Subtilior Style |
| Legacy |
| References |
| Further reading |
Overview and history
Musically the productions of the ''ars subtilior'' are highly refined, complex, difficult to sing, and probably were produced, sung and enjoyed by a small audience of specialists and connoisseurs. Hoppin suggests the superlative ''ars subtilissima'', saying, "not until the twentieth century did music again reach the most subtle refinements and rhythmic complexities of the manneristic style." They are almost exclusively secular songs, and have as their subject matter love, war, chivalry, and stories from classical antiquity; there are even some songs written in praise of public figures (for example Antipope Clement VII). Daniel Albright (2004, p.10) compares avant-garde and modernist music of the 20th century's "emphasis on generating music through technical experiment" to the precedent set by the ars subtilior movement's "autonomous delight in extending the kingdom of sound." He cites Baude Cordier's perpetual canon ''Tout par compas'' (All by compass am I composed), notated on a circular staff.
Albright contrasts this motivation with "expressive urgency" and "obedience to rules of craft" and, indeed, ''ars subtilior'' was coined by musicologist Ursula Günther in the 1960s to avoid the negative connotations of the terms '''manneristic style''' and '''mannered notation'''. However, many of the devices first used by the ''ars subtilior'' composers became standard compositional techniques in the Renaissance, indicating that some of their music must have been widely known and distributed, i.e. it was not merely a dead-end artistic movement, even though subsequent music sounds nothing like it.
The center of activity of the style was Avignon at the end of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy and during the Great Schism (1378–1417), the time during which the Western Church had a pope both in Rome and in Avignon. The town on the Rhône had developed into an active cultural center, and produced the most significant surviving body of secular song of the late fourteenth century. From Avignon the style spread into northern Spain and as far as Cyprus (which was a French cultural outpost at the time); in addition, a handful of Italian composers such as Zacara da Teramo composed in a manneristic style related to the ''ars subtilior''.
Notational characteristics
One of the techniques of the ''ars subtilior'' involved using red notes, or "coloration"; these red notes indicated a reduction of note values by one third. For instance, a three bar passage if written entirely in red notes would only be two bars long. If a "perfect" passage would be written in red notes it would become syncopated; this syncopation was considered a hemiola (see example 1). Triplets occurred when an "imperfect" passage was transcribed into red notes (see example 2).
★ Example 1: time signature of 3/4. If three dotted half notes were written as red notes, each of the notes would lose one quarter note, becoming a series of three half notes, therefore fitting into two bars. The quarter note on the third beat of the first bar would be tied to the quarter note on the first beat of bar two.
★ Example 2: time signature of 2/4. If three quarter notes were written as red notes, each one would become equivalent to 0.66 of a beat. [ 0.66 x 3 (three quarter notes) = 2 quarter notes ]
Composers in the ''ars subtilior'' style often wrote their manuscripts themselves in unusual and expressive shapes. In addition to the circular canon by Baude Cordier, a piece by Jacob Senleches, ''La Harpe de melodie'', is written in the shape of a harp; this and other examples of the unusual notational style of the ''ars subtilior'' are preserved in the Chantilly Codex, the primary source for this music, and also the Modena Codex.
Composers in Ars Subtilior Style
★ Matteo da Perugia
★ Jacob Senleches
★ Anthonello de Caserta
★ Philippus da Caserta
★ Johannes Ciconia in at least one work
★ Baude Cordier
★ Solage
★ Grimace
★ Jacopo da Bologna
★ Paolo da Firenze
★ Martinus Fabri
★ Antonio Zacara da Teramo
★ Anonymous composers at the Nicosia court of King Janus of Cyprus
Legacy
Many musicologists today relate the avant-garde styles of the 20th and 21st century to these early composers; for instance, Baude Cordier's perpetual canon, ''Tout par Compas,'' notated in a circle, is comparable to George Crumb's ''Star Child.''[1]
References
★ Richard H. Hoppin, ''Medieval Music''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6.
★ Albright, Daniel (2004). ''Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources''. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-01267-0.
Further reading
★ "Ars subtilior," "Ars nova" in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2.
★ Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, ''Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'' (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X.
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