ABSTRACT
France in the early fourteenth century was in a state of musical ferment. French music of the fourteenth century also knew the possible extension of the old duplex longa to three longs. It became known as the maxima and its relation to the long maximodus or modus maximarum. A feature of the ars nova was the employment of red notes. Their use, described in a complex manner in the sources, can be reduced to two fundamental points; the imperfecting of a note or group of notes which would otherwise have been perfect; and the raising of a note by an octave. The following complete short work illustrates the simpler style of ars nova motet in the Roman de Fauvel. Tempus is assumed to be imperfect, and groups of more than two semibreves are interpreted according to the principles of Philippe de Vitry. The tenor is interesting.
