Franco of Cologne

Franco of Cologne(fl. mid to late 13th century;alsoFranco of Paris) was a Germanmusic theoristand possibly a composer. He was one of the most influential theorists of theLate Middle Ages,and was the first to propose an idea which was to transformmusical notationpermanently: that the duration of any note should be determined by its appearance on the page, and not from context alone. The result wasFranconian notation,described most famously in hisArs cantus mensurabilis.

Life

Some details are known about his life, and more can be inferred. In his own treatise he described himself as thepapalchaplain and the preceptor of theKnights Hospitallers of St. JohnatCologne,an extremely powerful position in northern Europe in the 13th century. Other documents of the time refer to him as "Franco of Paris" as well as "Franco teutonicus"; since his writing on music is intimately associated with theNotre Dame schoolofParis,and his Teutonic origin is mentioned in several sources, he was probably German, probably traveled between Cologne and Paris, which had close relations during that time, and probably had a musical position at Notre Dame at some point, perhaps as a teacher, composer or singing master.

Jacques of Liège,in his early 14th centurySpeculum musice,a passionate defense of the 13th centuryars antiquastyle against the new "dissolute and lascivious"ars novastyle, mentioned hearing a composition by Franco of Cologne, amotetin three voices. No music of Franco with reliable attribution has survived, although some works of the late 13th century, from Parisian sources but stylistically resembling German music of the time, have on occasion been attributed to him.

Writings

Franco's most famous work was hisArs cantus mensurabilis,a work which was widely circulated and copied, and remained influential for at least 200 years. Unlike many theoretical treatises of the 13th century, it was a practical guide, and entirely avoided metaphysical speculations; it was evidently written for musicians, and was full of musical examples for each point made in the text.

The topics covered in the treatise includeorganum,discant,polyphony,clausulae,conductus,and indeed all the compositional techniques of the 13th century Notre Dame school. Therhythmic modesare described in detail, although Franco has a different numbering scheme for the modes than does the anonymous treatiseDe mensurabili musicaon the rhythmic modes, written not long before. (This treatise was once attributed toJohannes de Garlandia,but scholarship beginning in the 1980s determined that Garlandia edited an anonymous manuscript late in the 13th century.)

The central part of Franco's treatise, and by far the most famous, is his suggestion that the notes themselves can define their own durations. Formerly, under the system of the rhythmic modes,rhythmswere based on context: a stream of similar-appearing notes on the page would be interpreted as a series of long and short values by a trained singer based on a complex series of learned rules. While the old system was to remain largely in place for decades longer, under Franco's method the notes acquired newshapesindicating their duration. From the evidence of the spread of his treatise and the writings of later scholars, this innovation seems to have been received well; then again Franco was a papal chaplain and a preceptor of a large body ofknights,and the acceptance of the method may have had little to do with democracy.

The consensus date of most medieval music theory scholars on theArs cantus mensurabilisis about 1250. TheDe mensurabili musicadates from about 1240, not long before; clearly the mid-13th century was a time of progress in music notation and theory, even if it were only catching up with the current state of composition and performance.

The composer who most notably followed Franco's treatise in his own music wasPetrus de Cruce,one of the most prominent composers of motets of the latears antiqua,and one of the few whose name has been preserved; many of the surviving works are anonymous.

The Franconian Motet

The Franconian Motet was named after Franco of Cologne. These motets, composed around 1250–1280, differed from the earlier Notre Dame motets in that they did not use the rhythmic modes, thetriplumwas more subdivided, and the multiple texts could also be in multiple languages. An example of a Franconian Motet isAmours mi font/En mai/Flos filius eius.

Editions

• Franco of Cologne (1974).Reaney, Gilbert;Gilles, André (eds.).Franconis de Colonia Ars cantus mensurabilis.Corpus mensurabilis musicae.Cambridge:American Institute of Musicology.OCLC55555076.volume 18
• —— (1998). "Franco of Cologne: Ars cantus mensurabilis". InMcKinnon, James(ed.).Source Readings in Music History.Vol.2:The early Christian period and the Latin Middle Ages. Translated byStrunk, Oliver.Revised byJames McKinnon.New York:W. W. Norton & Company.pp. 116–135.ISBN978-0-393-96695-4.

Sources

• Hughes, Andrew (2001)."Franco of Cologne".Grove Music Online.Oxford:Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.10138.ISBN978-1-56159-263-0.(subscription orUK public library membershiprequired)

Further reading

• Atkinson, Charles M. (1990). "Franco of Cologne on the Rhythm of Organum Purum".Early Music History.9.Cambridge University Press:1–26.doi:10.1017/S026112790000098X.JSTOR942439.S2CID190766671.
• Hoppin, Richard(1978).Medieval Music.The Norton Introduction to Music History (1st ed.). New York:W. W. Norton & Company.ISBN978-0-393-09090-1.
• M. Huglo: "La notation franconienne: antécédents et devenir",La notation des musiques polyphoniques aux XI–XIIIe siècles:Poitiers, 1986 (InCahiers de civilisation médiévale,xxxi/2 (1988)) (In French)
• Reaney, Gilbert (1964). "The Question of Authorship in the Medieval Treatises on Music".Musica Disciplina.18.American Institute of MusicologyVerlag Corpusmusicae, GmbH: 7–17.JSTOR20531977.

External links

• List of compositions by Franco of Cologneat theDigital Image Archive of Medieval Music