At 2:21 PM +0100 1/15/11, Eric Fiedler wrote:
John,
They couldn't. ;-) Somewhere in my readings I came across the remark
by a theoretician of Philippe de Vitry's generation to the effect
that "the ancients" (by which he means the Notre Dame and
"Petronian" composers) "used to spend hours arguing about whether a
note should be sung long or short"(!) In other words: although
having the advantage of knowing the style of the music, they were
not seldom just as stumped as we are today by the broken patterns of
modal notation.
Eric
Certainly true in part, since folks like Franco found it necessary to
"improve" the system. But don't forget that in "Ars Nova" Philippe
was doing a sales job for the new notational ideas he supported (and
used), and that his generation was separated from the Notre Dame
composers by over a century. (Although if Philippe really was the
editor of the 1316 "Roman de Fauvel" it's obvious that he really did
know the "ancient" repertoire very well indeed.)
But you are exactly right to mention the "broken patterns." As long
as a given rhythmic mode remained in effect, everything was
straightforward and could indeed be sightread. But when they broke
the mode--most often as they approached a major cadence--it became a
free-for-all! And many historians (and more theorists) tend to pass
over the enormous influence the rhythmic modes had for many
generations, including those of Franco, Petrus, Philippe and even
Machaut. The conservative reaction to the introduction of
"imperfect" (i.e. duple) time was quite vitriolic.
And of course one has to assume that the Parisians didn't invent the
rhythmic modes just as a theoretical exercise, but because they were
already singing some music rhythmically but had no means to notate
it. Composition and notation have leapfrogged each other throughout
history.
All the best,
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:john.how...@vt.edu)
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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