A number of unusual signs appear in the notation of west European polyphonic musicin manuscripts from the first seventy-five years of the fifteenth century. Though theyresemble mensuration signs, these signs behave as signatures, and are used to indicateproportions and other tempo relationships in music. Beginning with an examinationof ‘double s…[Read more]

Certain unusual figures in the notation of Senleches’s music have determinate relative duration. Their forms were based on French, not Italian, principles. The figures are context dependent, being directly linked with the mensuration in effect. Senleches’s notation shares some characteristics with that of Rodericus, which suggests that there was a…[Read more]