Aaron Scotus (fl. late 10th century – 14 December 1052) was an Irish

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, .

Background

Aaron was an Irish

and

music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...

, the term ''Scotus'' at the time denoting Irish (person).

St. Martin's of Cologne

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

, Scotus was the abbot of St. Martin,

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the year 1042. He

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

aged in his youth to Colonia to the Gaelic-Irish

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

of St. Martin. He became abbot of the same in 1042. He was identified with Aaron, abbot of St. Pantaleon. Today historians reject this identification.

Work as a composer

It is believed that he first introduced the Gregorian evening service (''nocturns'') into Germany. He authored two historically important treaties: ''De utilitate cantus vocalis et de modo cantandi atque psallendi'' and ''De regulis tonorum et symphoniarum''. The library of St. Martin, Cologne conserves his work ''Tractatum de utilitate cantus vocalis et de modo cantandi atque psallendi''. He wrote three musical treatises, all of which have been lost. Aaron died on 14 December 1052.

Bibliography

* ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' �
online version
* Slonimsky, Nicolas (ed.): ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 7th edition, New York: 1984). . * Huglo, Michel: "Aaron Scotus",
Grove Music Online
'', ed. L. Macy, (subscription required; retrieved on 4 September 2007).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron Scotus Year of birth unknown 1052 deaths 11th-century German clergy 11th-century Irish writers 11th-century scholars 11th-century Irish abbots Irish expatriates in Germany Irish-language singers 11th-century writers in Latin Medieval European scribes Irish scribes Medieval Irish musicians

Background

St. Martin's of Cologne

Work as a composer

Bibliography

See also

References