DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

102 FRANCO FKANCO
Perfect ; but, when a longer note was preceded
or followed by a shorter one, the longer note
was Imperfect, the time of the shorter one being
needed to cornjilete its Perfection. Nevertheless,
an Imperfect Long, or Breve, could be rendered
Perfect, by means of the sign called a Tractulus,
the effect of which, when used in this way, was
precisely similar to that of the comparatively
modern Point of Augmentation.
Longs, Breves, and Semilii'eves, were grouped
together in certain combinations called iloods,'
of which Franco admits five only, though he
says that other JIusicians used six, or even seven
—a clear sign that he did not invent them. Of
these Moods, the First consisted of Longs only,
or of a Long followed Ijy a Breve ; the Second,
of a Breve followed by a Long ; the Third, of
a Long and two Breves ; the Fourth, of two
Breves and a Long ; and the Fifth, of Breves
and Seniibreves. From which it follows, that
the First Mood e.xpressed the rhythm of the
Spondee, or Trochee ; the Second, that of the
Iambus ; the Third, that of the Dactyl ; and
the Fourth, that of the Anapcest ; the entire
series performing the functions allotted to the
Mood, Time, and Prolation of a later period.^
The Third Chapter of the MS. treats of Liga-
''
tures ; and the Fourth Chapter, of Rests, of
wliich he gives some complicated examples, all
reducible, however, to the simple form sho\vn
in the article Notation. In connection with
these, Franco also describes the Finis Punctorum,
drawn across all the lines, and serving to divide
the phrases of a melody, precisely after the
manner of the bar, or double -bar, of modern
music, of which it is the evident homologue.
It is interesting to observe—though we believe
no one has hitherto called attention to the
fact—that the system of notation here described
is precisely that employed in the Reading Rota,
' Sumer is icumen in,' in which the melody, in
Mode XIII. transposed, is phrased in Franco's
First Mood, each Long being Perfect when followed
by another Long, and Imperfect when
followed by a Breve. Moreover, the Reading
Rota is wTitten upon a stave precisely similar
in principle to that employed by Franco, who
always uses the exact number of lines and spaces
needed to include the entire range of his vocal
parts. *
The Compendium de Discantu, second only
in interest to the Ars Oantits MensuraMlis, de-
scribes a form of Discant immeasurably superior
to the Diaphonia taught, less than half a century
earlier, by Guide d'Arezzo, in his Micro-
logus.* Unhappily, in the Oxford MS.— first
described by Burney— the examples are lamentably
incomplete ; the staves, in every case, being
1 Wehivebere followt^fi, for thes.ikeof cleaniesB. the plan adopted
by our c.'irly English w-ritor^, of tran.slathig the word Modus .as
Mood, when it rel.ites to rhythm, and Mode when it refers to the
Ecclesla-Htieal .Scales.
2 See Mood. Notation, Pp.olation. and Timk.
3 See LioATUBE.
* See the facainiile in the article SuMER is ICUMEN IN.
6 See GuiDO d'Arezzo.
duly prepared for their reception, while the
notes themselves are wanting. Dr. Burney,
after long and patient study of the text, was
able to restore the following passage, in a form
which he believed to be ' nearly ' complete.
JJ
Virgo Dei.
^^
ii4i#3
L:^4_4_J_-
Making every allowance for the jaunty modern
air communicated to this little composition by
Dr. Burney's employment of ordinary 18th century
notation, it must be admitted, that, with
the sole exception of the unison on the eightli
note, and the hidden octaves between the last
crotchet in the tenor and the last note but two
in the bass, as indicated by the asterisks, tlie
rules of Strict Counterpoint, as practised in the
16th centur}', are observed in the disposition of
every note, even to the formation of the Clau-
sula vera at the end. The apparently gross consecutive
octaves between the last two phrases
offer no exception to the rule ; since the interposition
of the Finis Punctorum between them
invests the hrst note of the concluding phrase
with the importance of a new beginning. If,
therefore, the learned historian's penetration
should ever be justified by the discovery of a
more perfect copy of the MS., we shall be furnished
with a clear proof that Magister Franco
was on the high road towards the discovery of
Strict Couiiterpoint, in its pjresent form. It is,
however, only fair to say that Kiesewetter disputes
both the correctness of Burney's example,
and the existence of the rules upon which he
bases it. w. s. E.
[A pjassage from an anonymous treatise printed
in Coussemaker's Scriptores, i. 342, has often
been quoted as evidence of the existence of two
Francos. The writer is describing the choralbooks
of Pcrotin, and says that the style of
notation in which they were written was generally
followed ' usque in tempus Magistri Franconis
Primi et alterius Magistri Franconis de
Colonia, qui inceperunt in suis libris aliter pro
parte notare ; qua de causa alias regulas jiroprias
suis libris apropriatas tradiderunt ' ('down to
the time of blaster Franco' the First and the
second ^Master Franco of Cologne, who began in
their books to use a somewhat different notation,
and for that reason haiided down different rules
suited to their own books '). This, however,
may refer to oral tradition only. It is possible
that the Franconian system was for many years
handed down orally from teacher to teacher,
each of whom incorporated the improvements
of his day, and that it was not committed to