Phillipe De Vitry's Use Of Notation

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His new system called Franconian Notation was broken into four parts for single notes called the double long, long, breve, and semibreve. The breaking of the system into parts allowed for its followers to gain a much deeper understanding of each and every aspect of it so as to come to a better understanding of the system as a whole, which, of course, lead to a much more broad appreciation for it and brought much more relevance to the system. The notation as a whole was based on ternary groupings (groupings of three) of the tempus. Three tempora equal a perfection, which constitutes a measure of three beats. The new form of notation allowed composers more rhythmic freedom and variety, which in turn lead to more variety in the overall collection of music throughout the world. This new form of motet is sometimes referred to as Franconian Motet. Adam de …show more content…

Also known as the “inventor of new art,” Vitry made two new innovations to the preexisting rhythmic notation. One of his great works that included this change was called In arboris/Tuba sacre fidei/Virgo sum which excellently utilized Vitry’s new innovations. This piece became very central to the ideas and changes that he instilled in the idea of Notation. The first change he made was to allow duple, or “imperfect,” divisions of note values on top of the traditional triple, or “perfect,” divisions of note values. The second innovation was to allow for the smallest note value, the “semibreve,” to be divided into even smaller increments called “minims.” These changes translate to the modern time signatures of 9/4 (perfect tempus) and 6/4 (imperfect tempus). This permitted much more rhythm flexibility which encouraged the development of things including syncopation. There were even later developments of “mensuration signs,” which were symbols that are essentially the equivalent of modern day time

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