Modus (medieval music) "tempus" (corresponding to the modern concept of a measure or bar and referring to the division of "breves" into two or three "semibreves") and "prolatio" (the division of "semibreves" into two or three "minims"). The "modus longarum" was applied primarily to pieces based on a cantus firmus tenor part in long note values. An even longer temporal unit was the "modus maximarum", but it is of little practical importance outside of the 13th century . Modus (medieval music) In medieval music theory, the Latin term modus (meaning "a measure", "standard of measurement", "quantity", "size", "length", or, rendered in English, mode)
Concerti grossi, Op. 6 (Handel) seventh concerto is the only one for full orchestra: it has no solo episodes and all the movements are brief. The first movement is a "largo", ten bars long, which like an overture leads into the "allegro" fugue on a single note, that only a composer of Handel's stature would have dared to attempt. The theme of the fugue consists of the same note for three bars (two minims, four crotchets, eight quavers) followed by a bar of quaver figures, which with slight variants are used as thematic material for the entire movement, a work relying primarily on rhythm. The