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How To Play Barless Renaissance Music
By Frances Demoretcky
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My fascination with Renaissance music began in 2005 when my recorder quartet acquired Amherst Early Music’s second edition of Ottaviano Petrucci’s Harmonice Musices Odhecaton (1501). Playing these pieces, we were captivated by their mysterious sound and returned to them repeatedly, searching for deeper understanding. At the time, this scholarly edition included modern barlines. Only recently have I explored the pleasure of playing Renaissance polyphony as originally conceived—without barlines.
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The Case for Reading from Barless Parts
The period from 1400 to 1600 was one of the most transformative eras in Western music, laying the groundwork for many fundamental aspects of notation and composition that endure today. Composers refined the five-line staff, established clefs, and expanded rhythmic notation, creating a system capable of capturing both pitch and duration with unprecedented clarity. Mensural notation made rhythmic precision possible, while advances in polyphony deepened musical complexity. The evolution of modes led toward the tonal structures that shaped later centuries, and the advent of printed music ensured that these innovations could spread across Europe, influencing generations of musicians. And amid all these developments emerged some of the greatest music ever written—works of stunning beauty, depth, and ingenuity. Within this flourishing musical landscape, barless notation remained integral to Renaissance polyphony, preserving the fluid, expressive motion inherent in independent melodic lines. Whether singing or playing, musicians who immerse themselves in barless notation uncover new layers of musical expression, bridging Renaissance tradition with contemporary performance. By embracing barless notation, modern performers engage with Renaissance music as its composers intended-- as a living, interwoven tapestry of sound.
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Renaissance music lacked modern barlines and time signatures, relying instead on tactus (pulse) and mensuration signs to indicate what note value gets the tactus. One of the most fundamental aspects of composition during this period was the practice of composing in separate parts rather than in a full score. Polyphonic composition was not conceived in terms of vertical harmonies or barlines but rather as interwoven melodic lines. Renaissance composers shaped music through these independent lines, each with its own expressive contour. Adding barlines forces rhythms into predictable patterns that can obscure the composer’s intent and disrupt phrasing. Reading from barless notation shifts focus away from beats within a measure toward dynamic voice relationships. Without metric constraints, musicians listen more closely to harmonic shifts, cadences, and evolving textures, fostering rhythmic flexibility and a deeper connection to the polyphony.
| While Renaissance music notation evolved throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, the later period from c.1550 to 1600 represents a turning point where rhythmic complexity and proportional notation began to simplify. Earlier Renaissance compositions often employed complex mensural signs and irregular rhythmic structures that challenged even contemporary performers. However, by the mid-to-late 16th century, notation had stabilized into a form more accessible to modern musicians, making this era particularly well-suited for exploring barless transcriptions for recorders. | |
Surprisingly, musical manuscripts during this period by the composers Palestrina, Lasso, Byrd, and Morley, among others, do not look significantly different from our modern systems. Although early music may look unusual written without barlines, by the middle and late Renaissance, rhythmic notation evolved to resemble our modern whole, half, quarter and dotted notes and their corresponding rests while still incorporating older forms like the double whole note and longa.
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Other issues to consider when playing barless music
Of primary importance at this time was the concept of tactus or how musical time was measured. It is described as a steady pulse, neither speeding up nor slowing down, felt with some part of the body such as tapping the front of the foot keeping the heel still in an up down motion. Unlike modern time signatures, Renaissance mensuration signs dictated proportional relationships rather than fixed metric frameworks. Signs such as “C” indicates a duple meter with the whole note getting the pulse; "¢" indicated a livelier duple meter (alla breve) with whole note getting the pulse; and O signified a tactus divided by three.
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Tempo was an elusive subject and difficult to determine. Generally speaking, sacred music maintained moderate tempos for clarity of text, while secular works allowed greater flexibility.
Accidentals in Renaissance notation applied only to intended notes. Composers often left some accidentals implied, expecting performers to recognize what was appropriate—a practice known as musica ficta. Editors usually include these accidentals which appear over intended notes, usually at cadences.
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Playing My Barless Transcription: Lasso’s Duet #1, Beatus Vir
Renaissance polyphony demands specialized skills, particularly a sense of independence in entrances. Small missteps can disrupt an entire section, and recovering within the complex interplay of voices is often challenging. These challenges were not unknown in the 16th century. Orlando di Lasso recognized these difficulties and, at the height of his career, composed a set of 12 duets to help students develop fluency in polyphonic singing and playing. Known as bicinia (from Latin bis—"twice" and canare—"to sing or play"), these duets introduced students to his harmonic and rhythmic nuances. First published in 1577 as Novae aliquot, ad duas voces cantiones, bicinia became widely used in Germany from 1540 onward, with Georg Rhau’s early collections making them accessible to musicians of all skill levels. Their adaptability—allowing practice without a director—made them an essential pedagogical tool.
| | Facsimiles (as shown above) of the parts for Lasso’s Duet #1 that I used for my barless transcription can be found here. | |
My transcription reflects original pitch, note values and mensuration sign, though clefs have been modernized. While I provide a score for reference, I strongly encourage players to read from individual parts.
Note: as a member benefit, accessing the ARS Online Music Libraries requires members to log in.
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Practice Tips for Barless Renaissance Music
Establishing Pulse and Tempo: Beating a steady tactus—down-up, down-up (1-2, 1-2)—with the foot aids internalizing pulse. Renaissance paintings depict musicians using numerous physical means to maintain the tactus, underscoring its importance in ensemble playing. Tempo of the tactus was an elusive subject during this period, so I’ve included tempo suggestions in my transcription as a place to start.
Articulation: Renaissance notation lacks explicit articulation markings, requiring performers to shape phrasing guided by the natural flow of the text using the punctuation as a guide where to end a phrase or begin a new one.
Phrasing: Note values are double what most instrumentalists are used to and the tactus, or pulse, is usually based on the whole note. A double whole note, as in the beginning of Beatus Vir, is equal to 2 whole notes. Notes at the end of compositions are not necessarily held their complete values.
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Play-Along MP3s for Practice
To assist players interested in learning to play Renaissance music from barless parts, I’ve created three play-along MP3s for Lasso’s Beatus Vir duet #1. One is of the score where the tactus is based on the whole note with whole=40bpm and has a 4 whole notes click track introduction. There is also an MP3 of the score minus the soprano and another minus the alto.
Additionally, listening to Ensemble l’Echelle’s performance (below) can provide interpretative guidance.
My transcriptions and MP3s, including this duet, can be found in the ARS Online Music Libraries here and by typing "barless" into the Keyword search box.
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Frances Demoretcky holds a Master’s degree in flute performance from the Manhattan School of Music. A former member of the Sarasota ARS Chapter and a current member and presenter with the Carolina Mountain Recorder Society, she has performed Early Music with mixed consorts and recorder ensembles, and has participated in many early music workshops.
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