Hucbald

Hucbald ( – 20 June 930; also Hucbaldus or Hubaldus) was a Benedictine monk active as a music theorist, poet, composer, teacher, and hagiographer. He was long associated with Saint-Amand Abbey, so is often known as Hucbald of St Amand. Deeply influenced by Boethius' '' De Institutione Musica'', Hucbald's (''De'') ''Musica'', formerly known as ''De harmonica institutione'', aims to reconcile ancient Greek music theory and the contemporary practice of Gregorian chant with the use of many notated examples. Among the leading music theorists of the Carolingian era, he was likely a near contemporary of Aurelian of Réôme, the unknown author of the '' Musica enchiriadis'', and the anonymous authors of other music theory texts ''Commemoratio brevis'', ''Alia musica'', and ''De modis''.

Life

Born in northern France, about 840 or 850, Hucbald studied at Elnone Abbey (later named Saint-Amand Abbey, after its 7th-century founder) where his uncle Milo was chief master of studies (''scholasticus''), in the diocese of Doornik. He made rapid progress in the sciences of the ''quadrivium'', including that of practical music, and, according to a laudatory 11th-century biographical account, at an early age composed a hymn in honour of St Andrew, which met with such success as to excite the jealousy of his uncle. It is said that Hucbald in consequence was compelled to leave Saint-Amand and to seek protection from the bishop of Nevers.

He was also a companion of studies of such future masters as Remigius of Auxerre and Heiric of Auxerre, perhaps as a disciple of the court philosopher Johannes Scottus Eriugena. In 872 he was back again at Saint-Amand as the successor in the headmastership of the monastery school of his uncle, to whom he would have been presumably reconciled. Between 883 and 900 Hucbald went on several missions to reform and reconstruct schools of music damaged or destroyed by the Norman, including those of St. Bertin and Rheims. In 900, however, he returned to Saint-Amand, where he remained until his death on 20 June 930.

Works

Music theory

The only theoretical work which can positively be ascribed to Hucbald is his ''Musica'' (formerly known as ''De harmonica institutione''), probably written about 880. The work shows considerable influence from the writings of Boethius, and by extension Ptolemy.

The '' Musica enchiriadis'', published with other writings of minor importance in Gerbert's ''Scriptores de Musica'', and containing a complete system of musical science as well as instructions regarding notation, has now been proved to have originated elsewhere about the same time and to have been the work of unknown writers belonging to the same intellectual ''milieu''. This work is celebrated chiefly for an essay on a new form of notation described today as Daseian notation and its readable transmission of the first record of Western polyphonic music.

Compositions

A few sacred compositions can be somewhat securely attributed to Hucbald, some are found in the Winchester Troper and Sarum antiphoner. Literary sources suggest that he wrote many other now lost works.

Other works

In addition to his musical works, Hucbald also wrote literary poetry intended to be read rather than sung. Two poems in classical Latin hexameters survive. One is the remarkable ''Ecloga de calvis'', a poem of 146 lines in praise of baldness, in which every word begins with the letter C (the first letter in the word ''calvus'', "bald"). The catalogue of illustrious bald men includes kings, generals, poets, doctors, and even the apostle Paul. Although the poem was probably written during the reign of Charles the Bald, there is no evidence to support the common assumption that it was dedicated to him, and a separate 54-line prefatory poem that precedes the work in the manuscripts explicitly dedicates it to Hatto, the archbishop of Mainz. The ''Ecloga de calvis'' circulated widely during the Renaissance: at least six printed editions are known from the first half of the 16th century, and Erasmus in one of his dialogues recommends recitation of its alliterative lines as a cure for stuttering.

The other hexameter work, ''De diebus Aegyptiacis'', is a short astrological poem listing the days of ill omen in each month of the year. Hucbald also wrote a number of prose saint's lives.Texts i
''Patrologia Latina'' 132

References

Sources

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* (In the series Monumenta Germaniae Historica.)
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Further reading

* McAlhany, J. ''Beards & Baldness in the Middle Ages: Three Texts''. Brooklyn, NY: Leverhill, 2024 (contains a translation of the ''Ecloga de calvis'', with notes, and brief overview of Hucbald's life and career)
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External links

musicologie.org
List of manuscripts, editions, and bibliography.


PDFs of Latin texts of Hucbald's works from Migne, ''Patrologia latina'' vol. 132.

''MGH Poetae'' 4,1
Digital version of P. von Winterfeld, ''Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini'' IV.1 from th
DigitalMGH project
Latin texts of the hexameter poems ''De calvis'' and ''De diebus Aegyptiacis'', together with two hymns in honor of St Theoderic.

Codex 169(468)
from the Abbey library of Saint Gall, including Hucbald's ''Musica''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hucbald
9th-century births
930 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Frankish Benedictines
Christian hagiographers
Dutch music theorists
Tonaries
Writers from the Carolingian Empire
Carolingian poets
9th-century writers in Latin
9th-century composers
10th-century composers