about the year 1190. But, since not a particle of trustworthy evidence has ever been adduced in favour of these fanciful theories, we shall do well, until more light can be thrown upon the subject, to believe, with Fétis, and our own Burney and Hawkins, that the tracts attributed to Franco were really written by the philosopher of Cologne, about the year 1060.
The musical tracts attributed to Franco are—
- Ars Magistri Franconis de Musica Mensurabili.
- Magistri Franconis Musica.
- Compendium de Discantu, tribus capitibus.
The earliest known copy of the first of these MSS. is said to be preserved at Lire, in Normandy. The second tract—in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford[1]—is an exact transcript of the first, under a different title; though the authors of the 'Hist. Litt. de la France' do not appear to have been aware of the fact. The third tract—also in the Bodleian Library[2]—contains the best account of Discant, immediately after the time of Guido, that we possess. Copies of the Ars Cantus mensurabilis are also to be found in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, in the Paris Library, and in the British Museum (No. 8866, a fine MS. of the 15th century, unknown to Burney.) Fétis discovered a copy of the Compendium de Discantu in the Paris Library; and another MS. copy was presented to the Vatican Library by Queen Christina of Sweden. The Compendium begins with the words, 'Ego Franco de Colonia,' the genuineness of which Kiesewetter disputes.
Franco's claim to the honour of having invented the Time-Table rests, partly, on the contents of the treatise 'De Musica Mensurabili,' and, partly, on the authority of MSS. of later date than his own.
Marchetto di Padova, in his 'Pomerium de Musica Mensurata,' written about 1283, mentions his as the inventor of the first four musical characters—i.e. the Long, the Double-Long, the Breve, and the Semibreve. Joannes de Muris, in a MS. written about 1330, and bequeathed by Christina, Queen of Sweden, to the Vatican Library[3], speaks of 'Magister Franco, qui invenit in Cantu Mensuram figurarum,' and his testimony is particularly valuable, since he himself was, for a long time, very generally regarded as the inventor of Measured Music. Franchinus Gafurius[4] twice mentions Franco as the inventor of the Time-Table. Morley[5] says, 'This Francho is the most antient of al those whose works of practical Musicke haue come to my handes'; after which, he proceeds to describe Franco's treatment of the Long, and the Breve. And Ravenscroft[6] also tells us that Franchinus (sic) de Colonia was the inventor of the 'four first simple notes of Mensurable Musicke.'
On the other hand, it is certain that Franco cannot lay claim to all the inventions mentioned in his 'Ars Cantus Mensurabilis,' since he himself says, in that very tract, 'Proponimus igitur ipsam Mensurabilem Musicam sub compendio declarare, benedictaque aliorum non recusabimus interponere, errores quoque destruere et fugare, et si quid novi a nobis inventum fuerit, bonis rationibus sustinere et probare.'
The four primary characters are described in the Second Chapter of the MS., where they are figured thus—
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The Perfect Long, he tells us, is equal to three Breves, 'quia a summa Trinitate, quæ vera est et pura perfectio, nomen sumpsit.' The Imperfect Long, represented by the same figure, is equal to two Breves only. The Breve was also Perfect, or Imperfect, under the same conditions. Two consecutive Longs, or Breves, were always 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 complete its Perfection. Nevertheless, an Imperfect Long, or Breve, could be rendered Perfect, by means of the sign called a Tractulus, the effect of which was precisely similar to that of the comparatively modern Point of Augmentation. A similar effect appears to have been produced by the Plica, added to the right side of the Long, or the left side of the Breve: but, Franco's remarks upon this sign are very obscure.
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Longs, Breves, and Semibreves, were grouped together in certain combinations called Moods,[7] of which Franco admits five only, though he says that other Musicians used six, or even seven—a clear sign that he did not invent them. Of these Moods, the First consisted of Longs only; 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 a Breve and a Semibreve. From which it follows, that the First Mood expressed the rhythm of the Spondee, or Molossus; the Second, that of the Iambus; the Third, that of the Dactyl; the Fourth, that of the Anapæst; and the Fifth, that of the Trochee; the entire series performing ihe functions allotted to the Mood, Time, and Prolation, of a later period.[8]
The Third Chapter of the MS. treats of Ligatures;[9] and the Fourth Chapter, of Rests, of which he gives some complicated examples, all reducible, however, to the simple form shown in our example in vol. ii. p. 471 b. In connecion with these, Franco also describes the Finis Punctorum, drawn across all the lines, and
- ↑ No. 842. f. 49.
- ↑ No. 2575, 60. 4.
- ↑ Compendium Joannis de Muribus; in Bibl. Vat. No. 1146.
- ↑ Practica Musicæ, Lib. ii. cap. 5.
- ↑ Plaine and Easie Introd., in the Annotations at the end of the volumen.
- ↑ Briefe Discourse of the true Use of charactering the Degrees in Mensurable Musicke, p. 1. (London, 1614.)
- ↑ We have here followed, for the sake of clearness, the plan adopted by our early English writers, of translating the word Modus as Mood, when it relates to rhythm, and Mode when it refers to the Ecclesiastical Scales.
- ↑ See Mode, Prolation, and Time, in vols. ii, iii, and iv.
- ↑ See Ligature, vol. ii.
