The Rhythmic Revolution
Before the 15th century, musical notation was inexact. Scribes used marks called neumes that showed the general contour of a melody but failed to specify precise rhythm. This changed with the development of mensural notation, a system that assigned a specific time value to the shape of each note. The collections in Antwerp show the widespread adoption of "white mensural notation," a major change that appeared around 1450. This system used hollow, or white, note heads for longer durations like the breve and semibreve, and filled, black notes for shorter values.
This innovation was a direct response to a new musical style emerging from the region: polyphony. Composers of the Franco-Flemish School, active from about 1440 to 1550, were creating music with multiple, independent vocal lines. For this complex music to work, every singer had to know exactly how long to hold each note. Mensural notation provided the mathematical framework needed, allowing composers like Jacob Obrecht and Josquin des Prez, who were active in Antwerp, to create complex musical structures where voices could weave together in perfect time. This system is the basis for modern music notation.
Manuscripts and Masters
Many of these revolutionary musical ideas are preserved in expensive manuscripts now housed in Antwerp's museums, most notably the Museum Plantin-Moretus. The city, a major center of international trade in the 15th and 16th centuries, had the wealth to commission these expensive objects. Produced on parchment or high-quality paper, the choirbooks and chansonniers (songbooks) were often large enough for an entire choir to read from at once.
One of the most famous producers of these manuscripts was Petrus Alamire (c. 1470–1536), a German-born music copyist and musician who established a workshop in the Low Countries. His studio created dozens of illuminated manuscripts for the courts of Europe, containing the works of the greatest Franco-Flemish composers. These books were not functional, they were status symbols, decorated with elaborate calligraphy and miniature paintings.
Antwerp became a world leader in music printing. The workshop of Christophe Plantin, now the Museum Plantin-Moretus, was a major printing houses in history. Around 1574, Plantin employed a staff of more than fifty people. The museum's collection contains early printed music books like George de la Hèle’s Octo missae (1578), an enormous volume measuring 54.5 by 41.2 centimeters that required 111 separate woodblocks to print the decorative initials.