The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Ars nova style · 1310–1380

Ars subtilior takes Ars nova’s mensural song-and-motet craft and writes it at the limit: proportional signs, colored notes, conflicting mensurations, eye-music.

Influence

Ars subtilior

style · 1380–1420

Also called subtilior, mannered style

Kind of Medieval polyphony

Late-fourteenth-century French “more subtle art”: extreme mensural complication, colored notation, and courtly chanson as puzzle (Solage, Cordier, Caserta). It hears Ars nova for the mensural song-and-motet job it thickens. It already gives Renaissance polyphony that late court chanson the chapel generation thins. Trecento leftover as an Italian sibling dialect. Ciconia leftover as a person at the hinge. Chantilly and Modena leftover as source objects on this node. Empty extra Received is historically checked.

Listen

  1. Fumeux fume par fumée Solage (1380s) YouTube
  2. Belle, bonne, sage Baude Cordier (1400s) YouTube
  3. Tout par compas suy composés Baude Cordier (1400s) YouTube
  4. Le greygnour bien Matteo da Perugia (1400s) YouTube
  5. En attendant, Esperance conforte Philippus de Caserta (1380s)

Passed on

Renaissance polyphony style · 1420–1600

Renaissance chapel polyphony takes subtilior’s late-medieval chanson job and thins the proportional puzzle into a singing chapel style (Dufay).

Influence

Ars nova → Ars subtilior

rhythmform and structureperformance practicestrength: highscholarly consensus1380–1410notationpedagogypatronage

Mechanism

Ars subtilior takes Ars nova’s mensural song-and-motet craft and writes it at the limit: proportional signs, colored notes, conflicting mensurations, eye-music. Strength high. ars nova renaissance polyphony is the chapel exit; this hop is the late-fourteenth-century court avant-garde. Trecento leftover as an Italian sibling, not this French thickening.

Evidence

Chantilly and Modena books; Solage’s Fumeux fume; Cordier’s notational pictures; Grove, Hoppin, Taruskin on the named turn after Machaut.

Debate

Whether subtilior is still Ars nova. The corpus splits a named mannered style from Machaut-generation default practice.

Mediators

artist: Solage; artist: Baude Cordier

Ars subtilior → Renaissance polyphony

rhythmform and structureperformance practicestrength: mediumscholarly consensus1410–1440notationpedagogypatronage

Mechanism

Renaissance chapel polyphony takes subtilior’s late-medieval chanson job and thins the proportional puzzle into a singing chapel style (Dufay). Strength medium. ars nova renaissance polyphony is the longer mensural parent; this hop is the named mannered court style the chapel leaves. Ciconia leftover as a person at the hinge.

Evidence

Early Dufay against Chantilly-generation complication; Grove and Hoppin on the 1420s turn; Taruskin on chapel style after the mannered court.

Debate

Whether Dufay simply continues Ars nova. The corpus already has that long hop; this edge is the specific exit from named subtilior mannerism.

Mediators

artist: Guillaume Du Fay