Modena Codex

The Modena Codex (Modena, Biblioteca Estense, α.m.5,24) (sometimes known as Mod A) is a manuscript of medieval music. The manuscript is one of the most important sources of the ars subtilior style of music. It is held in the Biblioteca Estense library in Modena.

Most of the compositions in the Modena Codex date from ca. 1380-1420. The bulk of the pieces were compiled around 1410 in Pisa, with a number of later works by Matteo da Perugia being added later. There are 100 pieces total, mostly by French and Italian composers, and all of them employing polyphony. While the codex contains some religious works, including 12 mass movements, most of the material is secular in nature, including forms such as ballades, rondeaus, virelais, and ballatas. Most of the compositions display the intricate and complex rhythms that define ars subtilior.

The Modena Codex contains multiple works from the composers Matteo da Perugia, Antonello da Caserta, Antonio Zachara da Teramo, Philippus de Caserta, Jaquemin de Senleches, Guillaume de Machaut, Bartolino da Padova, Bartolomeo da Bologna, Johannes Ciconia, Conradus de Pistoria, Egardus, (Chantilly Codex composer), Johannes de Janua, Matheus de Sancto Johanne, and Andreas Servorum.

References and further reading

• Apel, Willi, ed., French Secular Compositions of the Fourteenth Century. American Institute of Musicology, 1970.
• Günther, Ursula (ed.). The Motets of the Manuscripts Chantilly, Musée condé, 564 (olim 1047) and Modena, Biblioteca Estense, a. M. 5, 24 (olim lat. 568). Corpus mensurabilis musicae 39. [n.p.]: American Institute of Musicology, 1965.
• Günther, Ursula. "Unusual Phenomena in the Transmission of Late Fourteenth-Century Polyphonic Music". Musica disciplina 38 (1984).
• Günther, Ursula. "Sources, MS, VII: French polyphony 1300–1420" in Grove Music Online (accessed July 15, 2012), (subscription access).
• Hoppin, Richard H. Medieval Music. The Norton Introduction to Music History. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6
• Plumley, Yolanda. "An 'Episode in the South'? Ars Subtilior and the Patronage of French Princes". Early Music History: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music 22 (2003): 103–68.
• Stone, Anne. The Manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Alpha.M.5.24: Critical Study and Facsimile Edition. Libreria Italiana Musicale, 2005.