Theory of Rhythm in the Long Thirteenth-Century European Music

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K19943
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0101:Philosophy, art, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
• Principal Investigator: Inoue Kaho 東京藝術大学, 音楽学部, 研究員 (60908119)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 計量音楽 / 計量記譜法 / アルス・アンティクァ / 記譜法 / 音楽理論 / 13世紀

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although much scholarship has argued that mensural theory and notation originated in the first half or the middle of the thirteenth century, in this study, I hypothesise that they had not yet appeared or been systematised in the 1250s or the 1260s -- not only because one of the largest extant compilations of mensural repertories I-Fl Plut. 29.1, arguably edited between 1245 and 1255, is written in pre-mensural notation, but also because the treatises on early mensural theory that have survived today are dated to no earlier than circa 1270. Additionally, I conclude that the earliest form of mensural theory and notation, which is designated as ‘pre-Franconian’, seems to have been practised for only ten years due to the rapid dissemination of Franco of Cologne’s novel mensural principles after c. 1280, which had been influential until mensural music itself began to decline at the end of the sixteenth century.

Free Research Field

音楽学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術意義は「長い13世紀」（1160年頃-1330年頃）という西洋音楽史上の時代区分を日本国内に周知させ、この時代がヨーロッパ音楽史上の一つの大きな転換期であることを、計量音楽のリズム理論と計量記譜法の黎明という観点から強調することにある。また、本研究の社会的意義は、音楽という物質ではなく演奏を通して受け継がれる「知的遺産」の保護と振興を行うことで、現在はその伝統が失われてしまった長い13世紀のヨーロッパの音楽を一般の人のレベルで体験・継承する機会を設けることにある。