Maxima (music)
A maxima, duplex longa or octuple/duodecuple whole note is a rare musical note that is twice as long as a longa, four or six times as long as a breve, and eight or twelve times as long as a semibreve, that appears only historically in early music.
The duplex longa was called the maxima in the 14th century. As the name suggests, it was always equal to two longæ, never to three, though in the early Ars nova there was a corresponding modus maximarum which could be either imperfect (containing two longæ) or perfect (containing three longæ, or one longa plus one duplex longa) (Apel 1961, 328). In some early sources the duplex longa has twice the body of a longa, but more often there is no clear difference of shape and the presence of the duplex longa is instead merely suggested by a greater distance between the notes in the tenor (in score notation), caused by the greater number of notes in the upper parts (Apel 1961, 224, 245). See Mensural notation for examples.
References
- Apel, Willi. 1961. The Notation of Polyphonic Music 900–1600, fifth edition, revised and with commentary. The Medieval Academy of America Publication no. 38. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Medieval Academy of America.
