Most measured music (musique mesurés) was written such that a note of long duration was exactly equal to two notes of short duration, however some musical humanists thought that any time values could be used, providing that short notes were always kept shorter that longs (Yates,1947,p.54).
It is important to note that musique mesurés was typically written so that four vocal parts would sing the verse(there are five vocal parts in Le Balet Comique de la Reine ). This represents a deliberate departure from the imitation of ancient music which, in the context of Greek drama, was written for one voice. The academicians did not want to sacrifice the inclusion of harmony, which they felt was an advance on ancient music (p.56).
Measured verse and music were coordinated in the following manner: Each individual syllable was sung by all voices simultaneously. This was the academicians' method of reviving the classical emphasis on rhythm, while retaining the harmonic effects. This invention had extraordinary effects on the listeners. When listening to four independent vocal parts sung together, one voice is typically counter-balanced by the others and blended with the ensemble so that there is no dominant rhythm, but a blending of diverse rhythms. Measured music, however, has the opposite affect. It has a clear and augmented ensemble rhythm that increases the audibility of each sung syllable (p.57).
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