On Apr 28, 2005, at 2:34 PM, John Howell wrote:
True, the ligatures had taken on rhythmic significance for a rather short time, in the rhythmic modal notation of the Parisian musicians in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, but from about the mid-13th century Franconian mensural notation (and its descendants) was used in polyphonic music and chant notation--without rhythmic significance (although modern scholars do not agree on this)--continued in use for free chant.
Untrue. After acquiring rhythmic significance in the 12th century, ligatures retained that significance until the adoption of black (modern) notation in the 17th c. Of course, by that time very few ligatures were in use simply because tempo inflation had lengthened the duration of the notes they contained. Very few pieces, after all, contain rows of whole and double-whole notes, which is, in effect, what ligatures are made out of.
All this is discussed in much, much more detail in Willi Apel's The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600.
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/
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