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2 - Subtilitas and the ars nova

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2018

Karen Desmond
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Chapter 2 analyses the core aesthetic of the French ars nova—its subtilitas (subtlety). Through a close reading of two popular fourteenth-century motets that were cited as examples in theory treatises (Tribum/Quoniam, probably written in the late 1310s, and Apta/Flos, of c. 1350), chapter 2 reveals the distinctions that mid-fourteenth-century writers and musicians made between the subtle art of the moderns and the crude or unrefined manner of the older style. They draw on a long history of writings that characterise subtilitas—some sharply negative, some glowingly positive. Probably the best known in the medieval period were the criticisms of John of Salisbury (c. 1120-1180), who inveighed on the logical subtleties practised by his younger contemporaries. Jacobus echoes the moralising tone of John of Salisbury’s rhetoric. The moderni who were the target of Jacobus’s critique appear to have sought out the aesthetic of subtilitas and the novelties that Des Murs’s new methods for notating duration enabled. The moderni explicitly positioned the delicate subtlety of their compositions against the crudity of the ars antiqua.
Type
Chapter
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Music and the moderni, 1300–1350
The a<I>rs nova </I>in Theory and Practice
, pp. 35 - 69
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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  • Subtilitas and the ars nova
  • Karen Desmond, Brandeis University, Massachusetts
  • Book: Music and the <I>moderni,</I> 1300–1350
  • Online publication: 01 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316711545.002
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  • Subtilitas and the ars nova
  • Karen Desmond, Brandeis University, Massachusetts
  • Book: Music and the <I>moderni,</I> 1300–1350
  • Online publication: 01 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316711545.002
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Subtilitas and the ars nova
  • Karen Desmond, Brandeis University, Massachusetts
  • Book: Music and the <I>moderni,</I> 1300–1350
  • Online publication: 01 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316711545.002
Available formats
×