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{{Short description|French composer, poet and music theorist (1291–1361)}}
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<!--Do not re-add the image of a man with clerical clothing, File:Philippe de Vitry.jpg, it is an image of Isidore of Seville, not de Vitry-->

'''Philippe de Vitry''' (31 October 1291{{dash}}9 June 1361) was a French [[composer]]-poet, bishop and [[Music theory|music theorist]] in the {{lang|la|[[ars nova]]}} style of late [[medieval music]]. An accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, he was widely acknowledged as a leading musician of his day; the early [[Renaissance]] scholar [[Petrarch]] wrote a glowing tribute, calling him:  "... the keenest and most ardent seeker of truth, so great a philosopher of our age."<ref>Sanders, Vol. 20 p. 22</ref> The important music treatise ''[[Ars nova notandi]]'' (1322) is usually attributed to Vitry.

It is thought that few of Vitry's compositions survive; though he wrote [[secular music]], only his [[sacred music|sacred works]] are extant.

==Life and career==
Details of Philippe de Vitry's early life are vague.  While some [[medieval]] sources claim that he was born in the [[Champagne (province)|Champagne region]], modern researchers have found that he may have originated from [[Vitry-en-Artois]] near [[Arras]].{{sfn|Robertson|1998}}{{page needed|date=November 2024}}

Given that he is often referred to in documents as a [[Magister degree|Magister]], Vitry is thought likely to have studied at the [[University of Paris]]. Later he was prominent in the courts of [[Charles IV of France|Charles IV]], [[Philip VI of France|Philippe VI]] and [[John II of France|Jean II]], serving as a secretary and advisor. Perhaps aided by these [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] connections, he also held several [[Canon (title)|canonries]], including [[Clermont-Ferrand|Clermont]], [[Beauvais]] and Paris, also serving for a time in the [[papal]] retinue at [[Avignon Papacy|Avignon]] starting with [[Pope Clement VI|Clement VI]]. In addition to all this, he was a diplomat and a soldier, known to have served at the siege of [[Aiguillon, Lot-et-Garonne|Aiguillon]] in 1346.{{sfn|Bent|2018|loc=§1 "Life, position, reputation; literary works"}}

In 1351 Vitry became [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Meaux|Bishop of Meaux]], east of Paris. Moving in all the most important political, artistic and ecclesiastical circles, he was acquainted with many lights of the age, including the Italian scholar [[Petrarch]] and the mathematician, philosopher and music theorist [[Nicole Oresme]]. Vitry died in Paris on 9 June 1361.{{sfn|Bent|2018|loc=§1 "Life, position, reputation; literary works"}}

==Music==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2024}}
[[File:Philippe de Vitry - Heu Fortuna.jpg|thumb|{{lang|la|Heu Fortuna}}, ([[Bibliothèque nationale de France]])]]

Manuscript of Vitry's ''Aman novi/Heu Fortuna/Heu me, tristis est anima mea'' from F-Pnm Français 146, a version of the ''[[Roman de Fauvel]]''.

Vitry is most famous in music history for the [[treatise]] on music ''[[Ars nova notandi]]'' (1322), that lent its name to the music of the era. His authorship—and the very existence of—the treatise have come into question.

A few of Vitry's compositions have survived. They show the innovations in [[musical notation]], particularly [[mensural notation|mensural]] and [[rhythm]]ic, with which he was credited within a century of their inception. Such innovations as are exemplified in his stylistically-attributed [[motet]]s for the ''[[Roman de Fauvel]]'' were particularly important; they made possible the free and complex music of the next 100 years, which culminated in the [[Ars subtilior]].

Vitry is reputed to have written [[chanson]]s, but only some of his motets have survived.  Each is strikingly individual, exploiting a unique structural idea.  He is also often credited with developing the concept of [[isorhythm]]ic lines.{{refn|1=An isorhythmic line consists of repeating patterns of rhythms and pitches, but the patterns overlap rather than correspond; e.g., a line of 30 consecutive notes might contain five repetitions of a six-note melody or six repetitions of a five-note rhythm.{{cn|date=November 2024}}|group=note}} Five of his three-part motets have survived in the ''Roman de Fauvel''; an additional nine can be found in the [[Ivrea Codex]].

==Works==
While there is still debate about what Vitry did and did not compose, the first 16 works here, all motets, are widely considered to be his.{{sfn|Bent|2018|loc=§ "Works"}} Few of Vitry's compositions survive. He wrote [[secular music]], but only his [[sacred music|sacred works]] are extant.{{sfn|Wilkins|2001}}

;Attributed on strong historical evidence{{sfn|Bent|2018|loc=§ "Works"}}

# Aman novi / Heu Fortuna / Heu me, tristis est anima mea
# Cum statua / Hugo / Magister invidie
# Douce playsence / Garison / Neuma quinti toni
# Floret / Florens / Neuma
# Garrit gallus / In nova fert / Neuma
# Impudenter circuivi / Virtutibus / Contratenor / Tenor
# O canenda / Rex quem / Contratenor / Rex regum
# Petre clemens / Lugentium / Tenor
# Tribum / Quoniam secta / Merito hec patimur
# Tuba sacre fidei / In arboris / Virgo sum
# Vos quid admiramini / Gratissima / Contratenor / Gaude gloriosa

''Note:'' The motet ''Phi millies / O creator / Iacet granum / Quam sufflabit'' and the ballade ''De terre en grec Gaulle appellee'' are securely attributed to Vitry, but no music for the latter survives, whilst the former survives only fragmentarily (see Zayaruznaya, 2018).

;Attributed on a combination of weaker historical evidence and stylistic grounds{{sfn|Bent|2018|loc=§ "Works"}}

# Colla iugo / Bona condit / Libera me Domine
# Firmissime / Adesto / Alleluya, Benedictus
# Flos ortus / Celsa cedrus / Tenor
# Orbis orbatus / Vos pastores / Fur non venit (less widely accepted)
# Quid scire proderit / Dantur officia (less widely accepted)

;Attributed on stylistic grounds alone (not widely accepted){{sfn|Bent|2018|loc=§ "Works"}}

# Almifonis / Rosa / Tenor
# Amer / Durement / Dolor meus
# Apta caro / Flos / Alma redemptorisa mater
# In virtute / Decens carmen / Clamor meus / Contratenor
# O Philippe / O bone
# Per grama protho paret
# Scariotis / Jure
# Se cuers / Rex
# Se paour / Diex / Concupisco
# Servant regem / O Philippe / Rex regum

==Recordings==
2009 – ''En un gardin. Les quatre saisons de l'Ars Nova. Manuscrits de Stavelot, Mons, Utrecht, Leiden.'' [[Capilla Flamenca]]. MEW 0852. Contains recordings of "Vos quid admiramini virginem / Gratissima virginis / Gaude gloriosa" and "Adesto sancta trinitas / Firmissime fidem / Alleluia Benedicta" by Philippe de Vitry.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Bent  |first=Margaret |author-link=Margaret Bent |editor-last= |editor-first= |editor-link= |others=Revised by Andrew Wathey |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Vitry, Philippe de |trans-title= |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000029535 |access-date= |language= |edition= |date=2018 |orig-year=2001 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |series= |volume= |location=Oxford  |id= |isbn=978-1-56159-2-630  |issn= |oclc= |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.29535 |page= |pages= |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |quote= |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Anne Walters |editor1-last=Pesce |editor1-first=Dolores |title=Hearing the Motet: Essays on the Motet of the Middle Ages and Renaissance |date=1998 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York; Oxford |isbn=978-01953-5-165-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0ct5-2sQ9gC |chapter=Which Vitry? The Witness of the Trinity Motet from the ''Roman de Fauvel''"}}
* Sanders, Ernest H. "Philippe de Vitry". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie.  20 vol.  London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.  {{ISBN|1-56159-174-2}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Wilkins |first=Nigel |others=Revised by [[David Fallows]], [[Howard Mayer Brown]] and Richard Freedman |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Chanson |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40032 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040032 |access-date=20 June 2021 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Sarah |title=A Phantom Treatise of the Fourteenth Century? The ''Ars Nova'' |journal=[[The Journal of Musicology]] |date=1986 |volume=4 |issue=1  |pages=23{{ndash}}50 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/763721 |ref=none |series=|url-access=registration |publisher=University of California Press|doi=10.2307/763721 |jstor=763721 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hoppin |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Hoppin |year=1978 |title=Medieval Music |edition=1st |series=A Norton Introduction To Music History |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-393-09090-1 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Leech-Wilkinson |first1=Daniel |title=The Emergence of ''ars nova'' |journal=[[The Journal of Musicology]] |date=1995 |volume=13 |issue=3 |url-access=registration |pages=285{{ndash}}317 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/764132 |ref=none |publisher=University of California Press|doi=10.2307/764132 |jstor=764132 }}
<!-- * Schrade, Leo. "Philippe de Vitry: Some New Discoveries". ''The Musical Quarterly'' 42, no. 3 (July 1956): 330–354.
* Wathey, Andrew. "The Motets of Philippe de Vitry and the Fourteenth-Century Renaissance". ''Early Music History'' 12 (1993): 119–150.
* Zayaruznaya, Anna. "New voices for Vitry". ''Early Music'' 46 issue 3 (August 2018): 375–392.
* Wathey, Andrew. "Philippe de Vitry, Bishop of Meaux". ''Early Music History'' 38 (2019): 215–268. -->
* {{cite book |last=Zayaruznaya |first=Anna |year=2015 |title=The Monstrous New Art: Divided Forms in the Late Medieval Motet |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107039667 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COJwBwAAQBAJ |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{ChoralWiki}}
* {{DIAMM|pid=2754|pname=Philippe de Vitry}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Vitry, Philippe de}}
* [https://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/MMDB/composer/COM002.htm Works by Philippe de Vitry] in the Medieval Music Database from [[La Trobe University]]
* [https://www.arlima.net/mp/philippe_de_vitry.html Biographical and bibliographical information about Philippe de Vitry] from {{lang|fr|Archives de littérature du Moyen Âge}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef| before={{Ill|Jean de Meulan|fr}}}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Bishop of Meaux]] | years= 1351–1361 }}
{{s-aft | after=Jean Royer }}
{{s-end}}

{{Ars nova|state=collapsed}}
{{Medieval music}}
{{Portal bar|Classical music|Biography|Music|Poetry|Middle Ages}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitry, Philippe de}}
[[Category:14th-century French composers]]
[[Category:French music theorists]]
[[Category:French classical composers]]
[[Category:French male classical composers]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:Bishops of Meaux]]
[[Category:1291 births]]
[[Category:1361 deaths]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Medieval male composers]]
[[Category:14th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Ars nova composers]]
[[Category:Medieval music theorists]]