The Rhythm of cum littera Sections of Polyphonic Conductus in Mensural Sources

Abstract

OR MODERN TRANSCRIPTIONS of polyphonic conductus the square notation in central Notre Dame sources gives so little guidance for rhythmic interpretation of cum littera sections that any help gained from other sources is most welcome. We are fortunate that there survive a few polyphonic Notre Dame conductus in mensural notation, and for them a much more secure transcription of rhythmic values for cum littera sections is possible. From this basis of confidence, a crucial step in procedure must ascertain whether we may apply rhythms found in later mensural sources to the same pieces transmitted in square notation; and further, if constant rhythmic values bridging the two traditions can be verified, whether we may construct general principles from a few examples of conductus in mensural notation and apply them to a much wider range of works in various styles preserved in the central Notre Dame sources. Four mensural sources are available for such an investigation: a fragment preserved at Heidelberg (Heid), the Spanish source Las Huelgas (Hu), a fragment from Darmstadt (Da), and two pieces belatedly written in mensural notation in the central Notre Dame source at Florence