Functions of Ligatures in Pre-Franconian Theory

Abstract

Ligatures were one of the central interests amongst thirteenth-century theorists. In particular, the doctrine established by Franco of Cologne (c. 1280) is believed to have been authoritative, in that most writings on mensural theory after c. 1280 largely depended on his rules of ligatures. Pre- Franconian theorists also enthusiastically discussed various principles of ligatures, but most of them
disappeared after Franco or were altered by him. Why did the pre-Franconian principles of ligatures decline, and how different are they from those proposed by Franco? In this study, I explore idiosyncratic functions of ligatures in pre-Franconian theory by focusing on the three rules which might make them distinct from Franco’s theory: proprietas and perfectio; the rule of reductio to a
three-note ligature (hereafter, reductio); and opposita proprietas. Additionally, I clarify how and to what extent the ligatures discussed by pre-Franconian theorists are applied to the manuscripts with compositions of those days.
With respect to the first point, the definitions of cum/sine proprietate and cum/sine perfectione proposed by Johannes de Garlandia (c. 1270?) influenced the later generation, including Franco, but the boundary between the concepts of sine proprietate and sine perfectione seems to have often been ambiguous in pre-Franconian theory and in the manuscripts with compositions in pre-Franconian notation. Regarding the second and third points, the St Emmeram Anonymous (1279) implies that the reductio and opposita proprietas are similar in that both concern ligatures including semibreves. However, opposita proprietas functions in both cum littera and sine littera settings, especially in the motet, but the reductio is designed mainly for sine littera such as upper voices of organum or caudae of conductus; new composition of these forms began to decrease in the late thirteenth century. In fact, the reductio is rarely seen in these compositions, because their dominant repertory is the motet. I therefore argue that the decline of the reductio reflects the shift in practice of mensural music around the 1270s.

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