(fl mid-13th century). German theorist. Nothing is known of his life except that he was a papal chaplain and preceptor of an order of knights, and that he had some connection with Paris University. He wrote, probably c 1280 the treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis, which deals in a practical way with all the main issues and genres of 13th-century music, with apt and up-to-date illustrations. Its special importance lies in its treatment of notation, for it contains the first major statement of an idea that has been fundamental to Western notation ever since: that different durations should be represented by different note shapes (not merely by different contexts, as previously). The system he advocated held good, with some modifications, for the next two centuries. Franco is thus seen as the principal figure in the establishment of the standard system of musical notation.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.