Emily Zazulia
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- March 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780197551912
- eISBN:
- 9780197551943
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197551912.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Musical rhythm, in the sense we now mean it, is not a concept that any known medieval theorist or musician used. Of course, rhythm was a live element of music stretching back to before there was ...
More
Musical rhythm, in the sense we now mean it, is not a concept that any known medieval theorist or musician used. Of course, rhythm was a live element of music stretching back to before there was either the language or notation to describe it, but it was not understood in our terms. Today rhythm is understood in terms of notes that contain stable numbers of beats, but in the late middle ages this was not the case. Instead rhythm was conceptually based in a system of flexible and context-dependent symbols. This chapter demonstrates how mensural notation and its application encode a particular understanding of musical rhythm different from that of modern notation. It draws on music theoretical texts by Johannes de Muris and others to understand how late-medieval thinkers conceived of rhythm. A case study demonstrates how different forms of notation shape both composition and analysis.Less
Musical rhythm, in the sense we now mean it, is not a concept that any known medieval theorist or musician used. Of course, rhythm was a live element of music stretching back to before there was either the language or notation to describe it, but it was not understood in our terms. Today rhythm is understood in terms of notes that contain stable numbers of beats, but in the late middle ages this was not the case. Instead rhythm was conceptually based in a system of flexible and context-dependent symbols. This chapter demonstrates how mensural notation and its application encode a particular understanding of musical rhythm different from that of modern notation. It draws on music theoretical texts by Johannes de Muris and others to understand how late-medieval thinkers conceived of rhythm. A case study demonstrates how different forms of notation shape both composition and analysis.
C. Philipp E. Nothaft
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198799559
- eISBN:
- 9780191839818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198799559.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter focuses on the first serious effort made within the medieval Latin Church to correct the calculation of Easter by legislative means. This effort took place at the court of Pope Clement ...
More
This chapter focuses on the first serious effort made within the medieval Latin Church to correct the calculation of Easter by legislative means. This effort took place at the court of Pope Clement VI in Avignon, who invited skilled astronomers such as Jean des Murs and Firmin de Beauval to assist him in a planned reform of the Golden Number. The chapter explores the background to this papal initiative and the contributions made by its various protagonists, focusing in particular on a recently discovered Expositio kalendarii novi written by the monk Johannes de Termis in 1345. It also takes a closer look at the parallel discussions that took place in the Byzantine East, where the prospect of a calendar reform was first raised by Nicephorus Gregoras in 1324.Less
This chapter focuses on the first serious effort made within the medieval Latin Church to correct the calculation of Easter by legislative means. This effort took place at the court of Pope Clement VI in Avignon, who invited skilled astronomers such as Jean des Murs and Firmin de Beauval to assist him in a planned reform of the Golden Number. The chapter explores the background to this papal initiative and the contributions made by its various protagonists, focusing in particular on a recently discovered Expositio kalendarii novi written by the monk Johannes de Termis in 1345. It also takes a closer look at the parallel discussions that took place in the Byzantine East, where the prospect of a calendar reform was first raised by Nicephorus Gregoras in 1324.
