Mensural notation - the basics

FOOTNOTES

1 [02:24] A detail which is lost in this presentation concerning the note values is that until ca. 1500 the stem direction played a role. For example, maxima and longa always had their stems down while minima and quicker values had their stem up. After ca. 1500 the stem directions were interchangeable.

2 [02:54] The ligature chart shown in the video is taken from Pietro Aaron, Thoscanello de la musica (Venice, 1523) [imslp], Cap. XL.

3 [03:50] The manuscript shown in the video is I F MS Pluteus 29.1, f. 131v. [link]. Those ligatures were originally based on Gregorian neumes.

4 [04:58] Selected treatises that teach ligatures by means of rules: Andreas Ornithoparchus, Musicae activae micrologus (1517) [imslp], Lib.2 Cap. 3; Adam Gumpelzhaimer, Compendium musicae (1591) [imslp], [pdf pp. 22-26]; Thomas Morley, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Musicke (1597) [imslp], p.10-12.

The rules may be summarized so:

• First note:
  - When descending with a downward stem on the left: Brevis
  - When descending without a stem: Longa
  - When ascending without a stem: Brevis
  - When ascending with a downward stem on the right: Longa

• Last note:
  - When descending: Longa. Unless it’s in an oblique form: then it’s a brevis.
  - When ascending: Brevis, unless it has a downward stem on the right, then it’s a longa.

• General rules:
  - In the case of ligatures with more than two notes, each note except the first and the last one is a Brevis,
  except if it has a downward stem on its right: then, it’s a Longa. If it’s very wide, it’s a Maxima.
  - When the first note of a ligature has an upward stem, it means the first two notes are both semibreves.
  This rule overrides other rules.

5 [07:50] Sometimes, the nature of the prolatio was described using maior and minor instead of perfect and imperfect, but the idea is the same: Perfect/major/greater is ternary, and imperfect/minor/lesser is binary.

6 [08:10] Pietro Aaron, Thoscanello de la musica (Venice, 1523) [imslp], Cap IX.

7 [11:20] In the mensural system, a dot could have various functions depending on its context, and many names were used to describe the dots and their various specific functions. But the functions of dots were two:

• The dot of perfection or division, which indicated the end or beginning of a perfect note or unit of notes under the current mensuration (a perfect Brevis under perfect tempus, or a perfect Semibreve under perfect prolatio, for instance). This could also be called a dot of syncopation, when the perfect unit following it began at an irregular part of the tactus.

• The dot of augmentation, or addition, which was placed after a value that could not be perfect, like a Brevis in imperfect tempus, a Minima in imperfect prolatio, or any smaller value, and its function is identical to that of the dot in modern notation.

8 [12:23] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensural_notation

9 [13:10] The pages shown on the video from left to right: Juan Bermudo, Declaratión de instrumentos musicales (1555) [imslp], p. 62; Thomas Morley, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Musicke (1597) [imslp, late edition] p. 38; Nicola Vicentino, L'antica musica ridotta alla prattica moderna (1555) [imslp], p. 75.

10 [13:32] The manuscript shown in the video is D-JU MS 32 f. 15v. To read more about this mass, see Ruth I. Deford, Tactus, Mensuration, and Rhythm in Renaissance Music (Cambridge university press, 2015), pp. 281-293.

11 [14:00] See our episode “Tactus and proportions around 1600” [link] - from 02:37 on there is a discussion of the C and cut-C in the 16th century.

12 [14:45] The manuscript shown in the video is D-JU MS 32 f. 17v. The original clef in this copy is C4, but in other sources (including Glaren) it is C2. The clef was corrected here to avoid confusion.

13 [15:00] Heinrich Glarean, Dodecachordon (Basel, 1547) [imslp], pp. 442-43.

14 [16:10] For example, see Pierre de la Rue, Missa L'homme armé, Agnus Dei II. The manuscript shown on the video is A-Wn, Cod. 1783: Missae partes decantari solitae: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus et Agnus Dei cum notis musicalibus, f. 240v [link]. An attempt to perform it was made by Ensemble Clément Janequin. A moving score, as well as more info and links is available here.

15 [16:30] Of course, music in ternary rhythm was still composed in the 16th century, often as a section of a larger piece in a binary mensuration. Such music was almost always set in triple (3/1) or sesquialtera (3/2) proportion, implying an underlying binary mensuration, even if it was an independent piece and not actually part of a binary piece.

16 [16:45] Pietro Aaron, Thoscanello de la musica (Venice, 1523) [imslp]; Giovanni Maria Lanfranco, Scintille di musica (Brescia, 1533) [imslp]; Heinrich Glaren, Dodecachordon (Basel, 1547) [imslp].

17 [17:00] Nicola, Vicentino, L'antica musica ridotta alla prattica moderna (Rome, 1555) [imslp]; Gioseffo Zarlino, Le Istitvtioni Harmoniche, (Venice, 1558) [imslp]; Orazio Tigrini, Il compendio della musica (Venice, 1588) [imslp].

18 [17:15] Gioseffo Zarlino, Le Istitvtioni Harmoniche, (Venice, 1558) [imslp], p. 279: ‘Essendo che allora la cosa era gia ridutta a tal fine, che la parte Speculativa della scienza, consisteva più tosto nella speculatione de simili accidenti, che nella consideratione delli Suoni, & delle Voci . . . Et di ciò fanno fede molti Libri composti da diversi autori, che non trattano se non di Circoli, et Semicircoli; puntati, et non puntati; interi, et tagliati non solo una volta, ma anco due; ne i quali si veggono tanti Punti, tante Pause, tanti Colori, tanti Cifere, tanti Segni, tanti Numeri contra numeri, et tante altre cose strane; che paiono alle volte Libri di uno intricato mercatante.’

19 [17:32] Gioseffo Zarlino, Le Istitvtioni Harmoniche, (Venice, 1558) [imslp], p. 279: ‘Concluderemo adunque da quello, che si è detto; che’l modo di comporre in tal maniera non solamente non sia utile: ma anco dannoso, per la perdita del tempo, che è più pretioso d’ogn’altra cosa; et che li Punti, le Linee, i Circoli, i Semicircoli, et altre cose simili, che si dipingono in carte, sono sottoposte al sentimento del Vedere, et non a quello dell’ Udito.’

Credits:

Created by Elam Rotem, Ozan Karagöz and Iason Marmaras, September 2020.

Special thanks to Veronique Daniels and Anne Smith.