Guillame De Vitry: Ars Nova

Ars Nova is a style of polyphony from that was first seen in Philippe de Vitry’s works in the 1310s that continued through the 1370s in France. It is characterized by the innovation of a new system of rhythmic notation that allowed duple or triple division of note values, division of the semibreve into minims, syncopation, and greater rhythmic flexibility. These allowed for rhythmic specificity that had not been able to be replicated before. Ars Subtilior is a style of polyphony from the late fourteenth or very early fifteenth centuries that primarily took place in southern France and northern Italy. It is distinguished by intense complexity in both rhythm and notation, hence signaling the fact that it was intended for sophisticated audiences.
There are many people who were significant in the development of the Ars Nova. Philippe de vitry wrote the treatise titled Ars Nova that represented his teachings. Jehan des Murs introduced mensuration signs, ancestors of time signatures, in his treatises relating to Ars Nova. Guillame de Machaut is one of the most important composer and poet of the Ars Nova period. The Ars Subtilior flourished in the Avignon papal court and other courts in southern France and northern Italy. The term Ars Subtilior was derived from a treatise on notation attributed to Philippus de Caserta who

The mass is in four voices; the tenor and contratenor provide a foundation for the motetus (duplum) and triplum. The Gloria is representative of the Ars Nova period in its polyphony and complex rhythmic relationships, and is syllabic and homophonic. It is partially paraphrased from a Gloria chant, which is in mode 4 and cadences on E at the end of nearly every phrase. However, Machaut alters it so that the strongest cadences occur on D, the new modal center. The piece contains four main sections that correspond to the four main units of the Gloria