From: mccomt@aix.rpi.edu (Todd Michel McComb)
Subject: Vitry review
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 18:43:31 GMT


Philippe de Vitry (1291 - 1361) was one of the most prominent figures in
medieval music.  Not only do we know of his existence, but the dates of his
birth and death are relatively certain -- something which cannot be said
even for much more recent composers of some renown.  Vitry was the author
of an important music theory text, Ars Nova, which has been taken up as the
name of that entire period of music history.  In the Ars Nova, Vitry is
primarily concerned with expanding the rhythmic resources offered to
composers; he introduces new rhythmic schemes, along with a new mensural
notation which was to play an important role for more than a hundred years
after his death.  The main result of his innovations is that the different
lines of polyphony are given much greater independence than had been done
previously -- during the so-called Ars Antiqua.  These new rhythms included,
quite significantly, the emancipation of binary rhythm which was considered
not only "imperfect" but musically impossible until this time; for us, such
a situation is certainly hard to believe.  At any rate, Vitry was known as
one of the greatest intellectuals of his time and is credited with profound
knowledge in mathematics, philosophy, and rhetoric.

Vitry is credited with a large role in the development of the motet.  In
this regard, he prefigures Machaut in the use of iso-rhythm (a single rhythmic
element continually repeated by a voice), though his use of iso-rhythm is
more isolated in that it is used at certain points in the motet in order to
articulate phrases and structural elements, rather than a device which
permeates construction.  Vitry's use of rhythm occupies an intermediate place
between the older style exemplified by Perotin in which voices show little
rhythmic independence (instead operating as a kind of decorated monody in
which chordal progression give a kaleidoscopic effect), and the more modern
style of Machaut in which rhythmic devices are integral to a composition.
Ironically, Vitry's use of rhythmic relations between the voices is more
complex in itself than either of these two examples: Machaut returns to a
situation in which strict ratios (like 2:1) determine relationships between
voices, whereas Vitry uses more complex relationships (given in the New Grove
as algebraic equations) calculated to provided intersection and support of
lines at certain structural points of the motet.  In many ways, this more
complex mathematical construction presents a more simple musical situation in
that, at times, the voices are linked together and one is more in the
stylistic world of Perotin.  In Vitry's music, the tenor is no longer
constrained simply to hold long notes as a foundation to the music, but rather
is given a unifying structural role in the way that other voices relate (and
change in relation) to it; there is also a more convincing use of multiple
voices: at times up to four.  These last two points are original for music
on the continent, though there is some precedence in English motets of the
previous century as well as evidence that Vitry had connections with English
composers.  So, Vitry's music provides much of the new technical means (as
well as the specific written means in the Ars Nova) which would lead to the
increased melodic invention and cosmopolitan subtlety of the following
generations of composers, from Machaut to Dufay.

Though we do know something about Philippe de Vitry's life and his positions
at the French court, less is known about his actual compositions.  The only
surviving works (some with greater evidence of authenticity than others) are
motets.  These motets are primarily secular in nature -- though a few use
religious texts.  However, they are mostly on political rather than romantic
subjects.  Vitry also uses Latin for his secular works, rather than French
as had become standard (though Machaut returns to French in his chansons).
One sees him here as an intellectual, expressing the issues of his day in
musical form.  In addition, these motets use two simultaneous texts (as do
similar works of Machaut); this is one of their most interesting features.
Much of Vitry's skill in this regard is his ability to set both texts so that
they are comprehensible -- this is done by rests at important points, as well
as the structual integration previously described.  One finds a direct
sensitivity to the text in these works; the text is the primary determinate
of the form, and all the resources employed are devoted to articulation.  In
this regard, one finds more in common with the later madrigal than with the
motets of the early Renaissance.  Vitry was a singular genius who found new
modes of expression that would not be fully refined until many years after his
death.  Interestingly, the nature of the music suggests that his motivation
for the new style may well have been in rhetoric, rather than musical
expression per se.

At last, the subject of this review is a recording on Amon Ra 49 by the
Orlando Consort (four men), titled "Philippe de Vitry and the Ars Nova: 14th
century motets."  There are 19 motets on this disc -- some are known not to
be by Vitry, but are included in order to give a greater selection of music
from the time.  The recording is extremely clear and well done.  Complete
texts of all the motets are included; the playing time is about an hour.
Recommended.

T. M. McComb

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