The Medieval Ensemble Of London

Ars subtilior is a late–14th‑century style of Franco‑Flemish and southern French/Iberian court music noted for its extreme rhythmic, notational, and contrapuntal sophistication. It refines the innovations of the Ars nova into music of dazzling subtlety: complex syncopations, multiple simultaneous meters, proportion signs, coloration (red/black notation) that alters rhythmic values, and isorhythmic devices. Composers often wrote in the French formes fixes (ballade, rondeau, virelai) and in elaborate motets, sometimes presenting pieces in fanciful shapes (hearts, circles) to mirror their poetic conceits. The sound world is courtly and intricate: interlocking lines in three or four parts, refined dissonance control, and virtuosic rhythms that challenge performers while serving refined, often allegorical texts.

Ars nova is a 14th‑century European musical style that originated in France and spread to Italy, marking a decisive break from the earlier Ars antiqua. It is distinguished by innovations in rhythmic and mensural notation that allowed composers to write complex, syncopated, and independently moving parts. Typical genres and forms include the isorhythmic motet, mass movements, and secular chansons in the formes fixes (ballade, virelai, and rondeau). Textures are primarily vocal and polyphonic (often three to four voices), with techniques such as isorhythm (talea and color), hocket, and frequent use of mensural proportions. Its French wing coalesced around the theories and works of Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut, while the Italian Trecento (often considered an Italian Ars nova) cultivated parallel secular song forms and characteristic cadences (e.g., the Landini cadence).