Philippe de Vitry

French writer and musician

• Born: October 31, 1291
• Birthplace: Vitry, Champagne, France
• Died: June 9, 1361
• Place of death: Meaux, France

Vitry, whose reputation as a musician and poet was well known among his contemporaries, is remembered as the author of the treatise Ars nova. Vitry proposed a solution to notational problems that was adopted in France and Italy in the fourteenth century.

Early Life

Philippe de Vitry (fee-leep deh vee-tree) was born in one of six towns named Vitry in the province of Champagne. His father was a member of the royal chancellery. In 1322, Vitry became an officer in the French royal household, where he served as clerk and secretary to Charles IV in Paris.

Before the twentieth century, it had been generally believed that Vitry was a musician and poet who had largely developed his skills through individual instruction and private study. Modern scholarship, however, suggests that Vitry studied at the Sorbonne and was one of the important intellectuals of his day, with interests ranging from music to mathematics. Petrarch, who met Vitry at the Avignonese court and who described him as an active seeker of truth and a great philosopher, was one among many prominent contemporaries who held Vitry in high esteem.

Life’s Work

Vitry maintained his connection with the royal court throughout his life; in addition to serving Charles IV, he served Philip VI and Duke Jean of Normandy in the capacity of secretary. His association with Duke Jean was to prove particularly helpful. While in his service, Vitry performed various functions and participated in at least one military campaign. He was in the service of the duke in 1350, when the duke became Jean II of France. Vitry made several diplomatic journeys to the papal court at Avignon on behalf of Jean II. In addition to his royal posts, Vitry held several ecclesiastical offices during his life; he was canon of Soissons and archbishop of Brie. In 1351, Pope Clement VI, acting on Jean II’s recommendation, appointed Vitry bishop of Meaux, a position he held until his death, in 1361.

Vitry’s most significant work is a treatise on music entitled Ars nova (1320; English translation, 1961). There is some disagreement about the exact date of the manuscript, but the most widely accepted date is 1320, which means that Vitry would have been twenty-nine years old at the time of its completion. His treatise, which proposed a new theory of mensural notation, was actually a response to the generally perceived shortcomings of the older Franconian notational system that was used in the late thirteenth century.

Composers during this time pushed the older system beyond its limits, as they began to compose music using shorter note values than could be accommodated by the old Franconian system. The common compositional practice in use at that time dictated that the old notational system be revised or a new one be devised to allow the composer greater rhythmic flexibility. Vitry’s system, as outlined in Ars nova, was not the only solution proposed, but it was the one that ultimately prevailed.

There are several innovative features in Vitry’s treatise. He recognized the minim as the newest and shortest note value and added it to the maxim, long, breve, and semibreve already found in the older Franconian system. Thus, it became possible to notate shorter note values in a systematic way. Also, the notation and usage of the minim in compositions exerted a strong influence on overall notational practice, for, as increased usage of the minim came to be realized, the tactus, or unit of beat, slowed down and rendered the larger note values, such as maxims and longs, impractical in actual use. Further, Vitry held that any note longer than the minim could be reduced to two or three shorter notes of equal value for the first time placing duple meter on an equal footing with triple meter.

Before the fourteenth century, triple meter was regarded as perfect, the number three being symbolic of the Trinity and thus constituting a perfection. Duple meter was regarded as imperfect and was used sparingly. That began to change in the early fourteenth century, and Vitry was actively involved in effecting this change.

The practical effect of Vitry’s system was to identify four commonly used mensurations. To assist the performer and to reduce the possibility of confusion as to which mensuration to apply, Vitry introduced the idea of time signatures to indicate mode the relationship between long and breve and time the relationship between breve and semibreve. Time signatures were not widely used until the last quarter of the fourteenth century. Vitry also describes coloration in his treatise, the practice of using red ink notes to indicate changes in mensuration or value from those designated by the standard black notes.

Vitry enjoyed a substantial reputation as a musician, particularly as a composer and most especially as a composer of motets. Fourteen motets are attributed to him. Five of the motets are found in the Roman de Fauvel (romance of Fauvel), a beautiful manuscript dating from around 1316 and containing thirty-three polyphonic motets. The other nine motets are found in the Ivrea codex, a manuscript containing a variety of sacred and secular compositions and dating from about 1360.

Vitry’s innovations are notable. His compositions reveal an extended range for the voices, and the added fourth voice to be found in the later motets reflects his increased interest in sonority. Vitry’s motets also reveal one of the first uses of isorhythm, an important fourteenth century technique of repeating the same rhythm with different notes.

Isorhythm involved the cantus prius factus, a previously made melody, and was initially associated with the tenor voice, where the previously made melody was usually found. It featured the separation of the two elements always associated with melody: the pitch sequence of a given melody, which was called the color, and the rhythm pattern superimposed on that melody, which was called a talea. Once having been viewed separately, it was then possible to combine the color and talea in a variety of configurations. The color and talea could coincide or the two could be placed in a ratio; for example, two statements of one would be made equal to three of the other. The technique was a means of providing coherence to the composition. While Vitry’s creation of this technique cannot be irrefutably documented, the procedure, which was a logical outgrowth of the old repeated rhythm patterns commonly found in the tenors of thirteenth century clausulae (or ornamented cadences), was quite frequently used by him, as it was by some of his contemporaries. The principle was extended and came to be applied to the other voices as well.

Another compositional device found in Vitry’s motets, but not unique to him, is the use of hocket. Hocket was quite popular with French composers of the late thirteenth and the fourteenth century. The device consisted of the rapid alternation of notes between a pair of voices, each voice sounding and resting in turn. The desired result was a hiccuping effect.

Significance

Vitry enjoyed a substantial reputation as a composer, theorist, poet, statesman, and ecclesiastic during his own lifetime. As a poet, he was as well known and respected for the excellence of the Latin and French texts of his motets as he was for the composition of the music itself.

The paucity of Vitry’s musical output remains a puzzle, particularly in view of the fact that most of the extant motets and treatises for which he is known were completed while he was still a young man. It appears that Vitry’s responsibilities and interests led him in other directions during the mature part of his life.

Even so, it is clear that his impact on the musical milieu of his time was significant, particularly with respect to the Ars nova treatise, which served to intensify the already long-standing concern about the proper use of music in church. Pope John XXII, in reaction to the treatise and the swelling tide of support for it, issued a bull in 1324 condemning the effect on sacred music of the new rhythmic procedures advocated by Vitry. While it would be a mistake to credit Vitry as the sole initiator and leader of the rhythmic and notational reform occurring in the fourteenth century, his was a prominent role.

Bibliography

Butterfield, Ardis. Poetry and Music in Medieval France: From Jean Renart to Guillaume de Machaut. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Explores the world of poets, musicians, and composers in the time of Vitry, looking at topics such as song combined with performance and poetry and the sources of songs. Includes an extensive bibliography and an index.

Faulkner, Quentin. Wiser than Despair: The Evolution of Ideas in the Relationship of Music and the Christian Church. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. A study of the Church’s powerful influence on the making of music, including in medieval Europe. Provides a chapter called “Ecclesiastical Authority in Theory and Practice,” and includes a bibliography and an index.

Fuller, Sarah. “A Phantom Treatise of the Fourteenth Century? The Ars Nova.” Journal of Musicology 4 (1985-1986): 23-50. Presents the original view that Vitry did not write a definitive treatise entitled Ars nova. The author questions whether certain manuscripts traditionally attributed to Vitry were actually his and suggests that colleagues and students actually created a teaching tradition based on Vitry’s concepts.

Hoppin, Richard. Medieval Music. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978. Provides an excellent survey of medieval music from chant to the music of the early fifteenth century. One chapter is devoted solely to the French Ars nova and the innovations of Vitry. Also contains a discussion of isorhythm and important manuscript sources.

Plantinga, Leon. “Philippe de Vitry’s Ars Nova: A Translation.” Journal of Music Theory 5, no. 2 (1961): 204-223. A translation from the single complete manuscript source of the Ars nova. Some variant readings have been used and are so noted.

Reaney, Gilbert. “Ars Nova in France.” In Ars Nova and the Renaissance, 1300-1540, Vol. 3 in The New Oxford History of Music, edited by Egon Wellesz. London: Oxford University Press, 1966. An excellent overview of the forms and composers of fourteenth century France. Contains information about major composers, such as Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut. Also contains some information about less-known composers of the period.

Sanders, Ernest Helmut. “The Early Motets of Philippe de Vitry.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 28, no. 1 (1975): 24-45. An identification and careful study of motets composed by Vitry as a young man.

Sanders, Ernest Helmut. “Philippe de Vitry.” In New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. 6th ed. Vol. 20. New York: Macmillan, 1980. Provides important biographical information. Vitry’s theoretical writings and compositions are carefully discussed. A listing of Vitry’s compositions is provided at the end; includes citations of sources in which the compositions are found, listings of modern editions containing the works cited, as well as some brief commentary. Excellent bibliography.