Ars Antiqua, Ars Nova

Ars Antiqua, Ars Nova (Latin, “ancient art, new art”), in early music, terms used retrospectively by some early 14th-century French theorists to distinguish the musical techniques of the preceding centuries from their own.

The Ars Antiqua strictly speaking follows the writings of three music theorists of the second half of the 13th century—Franco of Cologne, Magister Lambertus, and Petrus de Cruce—and covers the period in which the forms organum, conductus, motet, cantilena, and hocket were practised. It is also strongly distinguished from the Ars Nova by its notation: the use of long note values such as the long, breve, and semibreve; their division into “perfect” (that is, triple) units; and the use of six basic rhythm patterns known as the rhythmic modes. The term “Ars Antiqua” is often extended to refer to all polyphonic music of the late 12th and 13th centuries, covering in particular the Notre Dame School of c. 1160-1260 with its two famous composers Léonin and Pérotin, and the later period 1260-1320, after which the Ars Nova begins.

The term “Ars Nova” derives from Philippe de Vitry's treatise Ars Nova (c. 1325), but the writings of other theorists, in particular Jehan de Murs, suggest that there was a contemporary awareness of stylistic change in the early 14th century. Its original meaning suggests music in the new notation described by de Vitry, in particular the motets associated with the satirical poem Le Roman de Fauvel (c. 1310-1314); but it is often taken to include the work of Guillaume de Machaut, and hence all French polyphonic music of the 14th century. It may even include music from Italy and England, although the term “trecento” is often used to describe Italian music of the period, since this was stylistically and notationally entirely different from the French.

In France, advances in notation, in particular the breakdown of the rhythmic modes, made possible a whole new range of artistic expression. More complex rhythms were introduced which included duple as well as triple units, and shorter note values such as the minim and semiminim came to be used. Gradually a form of mensural (measured) notation was introduced, in which rhythm as well as pitch was precisely defined. This led to the development of secular forms such as the chanson, and the development of isorhythm in the composition of motets, with a consequent increase in their length.