<I>Tactus</I>, Mensuration and Rhythm in Renaissance Music

Abstract

Ruth DeFord&amp;apos;s book explores how tactus, mensuration, and rhythm were employed to articulate form and shape in the period from c.1420 to c.1600. Divided into two parts, the book examines the theory and practice of rhythm in relation to each other to offer new interpretations of the writings of Renaissance music theorists. In the first part, DeFord presents the theoretical evidence, introduces the manuscript sources and explains the contradictions and ambiguities in tactus theory. The second part uses theory to analyse some of the best known repertories of Renaissance music, including works by Du Fay, Ockeghem, Busnoys, Josquin, Isaac, Palestrina, and Rore, and to shed light on composers&amp;apos; formal and expressive uses of rhythm. DeFord&amp;apos;s conclusions have important implications for our understanding of rhythm and for the analysis, editing, and performance of music during the Renaissance period.

The Butterfly Schema in the Classical Instrumental Style: A Product of the Tendency for Congruence

“…While middle‐ and high‐level textural non‐UC might characterise many contrapuntal textures of the Baroque period (and also many styles of the Renaissance period, as can be understood from Berry and DeFord ), other genres of this period perhaps more closely satisfy the generalised notions of metrical well‐formedness of generative theories. Some textural and metrical profiles of Baroque dance suites more closely conform to the generative archetype of well‐formed grids, although others depart from them in a number of ways too.…”

Review of Megan Kaes Long,Hearing Homophony: Tonal Expectation at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century(Oxford University Press, 2020)

“…[3] The significance of Long's close look at such examples of schematic text-se ing-a term from Ruth DeFord (2015) that describes the priority of the text's structure, as opposed to its emotions, images, and meanings (see Long, 63)-proves vital to our understanding of the relationship between music and text. Partsong composers took poetry from three different languages and hammered it into balanced phrases supported by cadences that establish an underlying tonicdominant polarity.…”