Johannes de Muris on time signature in mensural music ars nova
This article contains an explanatory statement of a fragment from Johannes de Muris’s treatise Notitia artis musicae (1319/1321), in which Muris defines metric measures of mensural music. Generalizing on the French ars nova rhythmic practice, de Muris introduces into the mensural music theory a new category of multilevel time signature, calling it tempus. Scientific apparatus for the theoretical analysis of this important new formation in the field of musical rhythm is based on Aristotle’s philosophy constituting the basis of the scientific paradigm of the late Middle Ages.