Prolation Prolation Prolation is a term used in the theory of the mensural notation of medieval and Renaissance music to describe its rhythmic structure on a small scale, as opposed to "tempus", which described a larger scale. The term "prolation" is derived from the Latin "prolatio", first used by Philippe de Vitry in describing Ars Nova, a musical style that came about in 14th-century France. Prolation, together with tempus, corresponds roughly to the concept of time signature in modern music. Prolation describes whether a semibreve (whole note) is equal in length to two minims (half notes) ("minor prolation" or "imperfect prolation";
Two hundred fifty-sixth note (1800), to notate rapid scales. Another example is in Mozart's Variations on "Je suis Lindor" (1778), where four of them are used in the slow ("molto adagio") twelfth variation. A further example occurs ("Grave.Adagio non troppo") in Jan Ladislav Dussek's (1760–1812) Fifth Piano Sonata, Op. 10 No. 2. They also occur ("Largo") in Vivaldi's (1678–1741) Concerto, RV 444, and in bar 15 of François Couperin's "Second Prelude" from "L'art de toucher le clavecin" (1716). The next note value shorter than the two hundred fifty-sixth note is the five hundred twelfth note with seven flags or beams; it is half as