Ars antiqua is a medieval European musical style that flourished roughly from the late 12th century to the early 14th century, with its center of gravity in Paris and the Notre Dame Cathedral school.
It is defined by the consolidation of measured rhythm through the six rhythmic modes, the cultivation of polyphony in organum and discant styles, and the emergence of the early motet and conductus. Composers favored two to four vocal parts, with a chant-derived tenor forming the foundation and upper voices providing melismatic and texted counterpoint. Harmony emphasized perfect consonances (unisons, fourths, fifths, and octaves), with cadences carefully prepared.
Ars antiqua laid crucial groundwork for European notation (including Franconian mensural concepts), enabling more precise rhythmic coordination and setting the stage for the innovations of the later Ars nova.
Ars antiqua arose in late-12th-century France, especially at the Notre Dame school in Paris. Building on centuries of monophonic chant practice, musicians began to elaborate liturgical melodies with additional voices, first in organum purum (sustained-note tenor with melismatic upper voice) and then in discant (more coordinated note-against-note textures). The development of rhythmic modes provided a shared, repeatable set of patterns to synchronize parts.
In the 13th century, theorists such as Johannes de Garlandia and Franco of Cologne codified notation and rhythmic theory. Franconian mensural ideas allowed certain note shapes to carry distinct durational values, enabling more complex multi-voice writing. Within this environment, the conductus (newly-composed, often syllabic Latin song) and the motet (which evolved from discant clausulae) flourished. Composers increasingly set different texts in different voices (sometimes mixing sacred Latin and vernacular French), a hallmark of the 13th-century motet.
Ars antiqua repertoire includes organum duplum, triplum, and quadruplum (notably by LĂ©onin and PĂ©rotin), syllabic and melismatic conductus, and polytextual motets. The tenor voice frequently derives from chant, while upper voices explore modal rhythms and decorative counterpoint. Consonance is prioritized at structural points, and melodic motion often alternates between melismatic display and syllabic clarity.
By the early 14th century, the refinements of Ars antiqua paved the way for Ars nova, whose innovations (such as more flexible mensuration and isorhythm) built on these foundations. The Ars antiqua achievement—stable multi-voice coordination, standardized rhythmic practice, and a diverse sacred/secular polyphonic repertory—became the bedrock of later medieval and Renaissance polyphony.
