Petrus de Amalfia

Petrus de Amalfia, also known as Petrus Capuanus, was an Italian music theorist whose activity is placed in the second half of the fourteenth century. His date of birth is not known with precision, although he is said to have come from Amalfi. He probably belonged to the local nobility, since a Petrus Capuanus de Amalfia appears as a cardinal in the thirteenth century.

His treatise, entitled Compendium artis motectorum Marchecti, sets out to summarise the mensural theory of Marchetto da Padova. Yet the work describes an Italian notation with a strong French influence. It proposes a system of three mensurations: tempus perfectum or duodenarium, in which each breve is divided into twelve minims; tempus imperfectum or octonarium, with eight minims; and tempus imperfectissimum or quaternarium, with four minims.