John Howell wrote:
But since Guido appropriated the very neumatic shapes that had been in
use for a couple of centuries previously, and simply regularized them
graphically, I don't really see why there would have been much
ambiguity. In fact the whole point of his innovations was to remove
ambiguity so that something composed in Arezzo and copied in Milano
could be accurately read in Munich!
Well, can we not say much the same thing about five line common-practice
notation from the late Renaissance, until, of course, we come to the
edge of the topic of "musica ficta"? My point is that there are almost
certainly differences between modern square notation conventions, and
the conventions used by Hildegard, and the scribes and copyists who
preserved her music. At present I am not informed either as to the
details of extent of the differences, but I am certain they exist, and
that this fact should be kept in mind if Hildegard's surviving music is
such that it seems clear in modern square notation. I don't know for
sure that there is a direct parallel in square notation to musica ficta
in common practice notation of the Renaissance, but just as importantly,
I am not sufficiently informed to say there was not, either, and I am
more inclined to think there probably were differences, even if small,
which had some significance.
ns
ns
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