Pierre de la Croix

There are almost no exact biographical data on Pierre. It is believed that he was born into a noble family in Amiens . Around 1260 he moved to Paris, where he studied at the Sorbonne as a member of the Picardy community, and received a master's degree upon graduation. Since the seventh notebook of the famous Montpellier manuscript codex is opened with his two motets, it is believed that even before 1290 he achieved fame as a composer. In 1298, commissioned by King Philip, he composed music for Offisia (hystoria) in honor of the recently deceased Saint Louis (Ludovicus decus regnancium). In 1301-02 worked in the palace of the bishop of Amiens. In the 1320s Robert de Handlo and Jacob Liege mention Pierre among the conservative composers who adhered to the “old style” (ars vetus). The latter fact is dated 1347, in which church bookkeeping mentions a collection of polyphonic music, bequeathed by Pierre to the Amiens Cathedral .

Despite the fact that only a few motets of Pierre de La Croix have survived (all with 3 voices and 3 texts), they stand out from the group of other Ars antiqua motets so much that musicologists speak of a special “Petrine” style ( German: Petrus de Cruce -Stil ) ^{[Comm 1]} . Pierre's stylistic innovations relate primarily to musical rhythm .

Developing the rhythmic teachings of Franco Cologne, Pierre admitted further (outside the standard Franconian division into 2 and 3 semibrevis) breaking the brevis into 4, 5, 6 and 7 components. In modern transcription, the rhythmic delights of Pierre de la Croix have to be noted with trioli, quintols, septoles, etc. (see. Special types of rhythmic division ):

Such a small fragmentation of brevis (as already noted by ancient connoisseurs of Pierre's art) due to purely performing problems led to a general slowdown in pace. The performance of Pierre de la Croix motets to this day is a rarity, since the Petrine parlando (also with goket inserts) requires vocalists to have an impeccable recitation and good sense of rhythm.

To simplify the visual identification of such a complex group, Pierre introduced a new musical notation - punctum divisionis (lat. “Separation point”). The point that the composer set to the right of the last semibrevis of this rhythmic group (sometimes also to the left of the first semibrevis of the same group), in appearance resembles the known (according to the current school notation) point of rhythmic lengthening ^{[Comm 2]} . This innovation was soon picked up in the theory of (menstrual) rhythm in the era of Ars nova , in Italy.

Pierre wrote A Tractatus on Tones ( Tractatus de tonis , c. 1290), devoted to cantus planus . He was also credited with “A Brief Compilation of Motet Technique” by Pyotr Picardy and an anonymous treatise “Technique of Menusual Music by Franco ”; in none of these scientific works is there a hint of the sophisticated musical rhythm that Pierre-composer became famous for ^{[Comm 3]} .

Pierre de la Croix, in all probability, was well known in France and neighboring lands. Jacob Liège (possibly a student of Pierre de la Croix) described him as “a worthy practicing musician who wrote a lot of beautiful and sound polyphonic music, following the teachings of Franco” ^[1] . For Guido from Saint-Denis ( “Tractatus de tonis” , beginning of the 14th century), he was “a master, a refined practicing musician who followed the traditions of the Amiens church” ^[2] .

• Petrus de Cruce Ambianensis. Tractatus de tonis, ed. D. Harbinson // Corpus scriptorum de musica 29. - [Rome], 1976.
• Petrus Picardus Ars motettorum compilata breviter, ed. FAGallo // Corpus scriptorum de musica 15. - [Rome], 1971. - p.16-24.
• Ars musicae mensurabilis secundum Franconem, ed. FAGallo // Corpus scriptorum de musica 15. - [Rome], 1971. - 31−57. ( Incipit : Mensurabilis musica est cantus ...)

Note. The numbering of motets in parentheses is according to the Montpellier Code (G. Tischler's publication ^[3] ). Old French spelling is unstable (incipients from manuscript to manuscript may vary)

• S'amours eust point de poer / Au renouveler du joli tans / Ecce (No. 253)
• Aucun ont trouvé chant / Lonc tans me sui tenu / Annuntiantes (No. 254)

Dubia

• Aucuns vont souvent / Amor qui cor / Kyrie eleison (No. 264)
• Amours qui se me maistrie / Solem iustitie / Solem (No. 289)
• Pour chou que j'aim / Li jolis tans / Kirieleison (No. 298)
• Lonc tans ai atendu / Tant ai souffert / Surrexit (No. 299)
• Aucun qui ne sevent / Iure tuis / Maria (No. 317)
• Je cuidoie bien meter / Se j'ai folement / Solem (No. 332)

• Besseler H. Die Motettenkomposition von Petrus de Cruce bis Philipp von Vitry. Habilitationsschrift. - Freiburg, 1925.
• Apel W. Franconische Notation. Die Neuerungen des Petrus de Cruce. In: Apel W. Die Notation der polyphonen Musik. - Leipzig, 1981. - S. 352−359.
• Ristory h . Post-franconische Theorie und Früh-Trecento: die Petrus de Cruce Neuerungen und ihre Bedeutung für die italienische Mensuralnotenschrift zu Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts. - Frankfurt, 1988.
• Johnson GP Aspects of late medieval music at the Cathedral of Amiens. Diss. - Yale University, 1991.

• Motet No. 289 "Amours qui se me maistrie" (audio recording; Hilliard Ensemble)
• Motet No. 254 "Aucun ont troveit" (audio recording; ens. "Sequence")
• Montpellier Codex Registry of Musical Compositions
• Ars musicae mensurabilis secundum Franconem (digital edition of the treatise)
• Ars motettorum compilata breviter (digital edition of the treatise)
• Tractatus de tonis (digital edition of the treatise)