The End of the Ars Subtilior

Abstract This chapter discusses the few remnants of songs and other compositions in rhythmically complex notation, arguing that they all belong to a single tradition, more or less lost from sight. Discussion begins with Je suy exent by Hugo de Lantins, putting it in the context of Dufay’s Resvelliés vous. It then passes to Ugolino d’Orvieto, whose work was surely known to Dufay and Hugo, and seems to have had its impact on the work of two English composers, Hothby and Bedyngham. A further trace is in the florid works of Gafori (lost but described) and Tinctoris. From here the style appears in works of Isaac and various English composers, culminating in Thomas Morley’s Christes crosse.