jan 1, 1300 - Montpellier Codex

Description:

important source of 13th-century French polyphony. The Codex contains 336 polyphonic works probably composed c. 1250–1300, and was likely compiled c. 1300.[1] It is believed to originate from Paris.

A particularly significant contributor to this codex is Petrus de Cruce (also Pierre de la Croix), who was active as a cleric, composer and theorist in the late part of the 13th century. His main contribution was to the notational system.

The “Petronian” Motet
1. One of the later sections of the Montpellier Codex includes more complex
notation than seen in previous parts.
2. The theorist Petrus de Cruce used even faster note values.
3. With these changes, the connection to poetic meters is severed and the
rhythmic modes fall out of use (end of Ars Antiqua).

ISORHYTHM: (from the Greek for "the same rhythm") is a musical technique using a repeating rhythmic pattern, called a talea, in at least one voice part throughout a composition. Taleae are typically applied to one or more melodic patterns of pitches or colores, which may be of the same or a different length from the talea. Isorhythms first appear in French motets of the 13th century, such as in the Montpellier Codex.

Isorhythm is a logical outgrowth of the rhythmic modes that governed most late medieval polyphony. Discarding modal-rhythmic limitations, isorhythm became a significant organizing principle of much of 14th-century French polyphony by extending the talea of an initial section to the entire composition in conjunction with variation of a corresponding color

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