‘Stroke’ and ‘strene’ notation in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century equal-note cantus firmi

Abstract

Several writers, notably Dr Margaret Bent, have drawn attention to simple forms of notation that were occasionally used in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century English music in preference to ‘normal’ mensural notation. This study investigates the employment of these notations in plainsong-based cantus firmi that have, exclusively or predominantly, notes of a single value, and comments on the relationships between such notations and the more widely used notational systems of plainchant and polyphonic music.