''Scolica enchiriadis'' is an

anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

ninth-century

music theory 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 "Elements of music, ...

treatise and commentary on its companion work, the '' Musica enchiriadis''. These treatises were once attributed to Hucbald, but this is no longer accepted.Hoppin, Richard H. ''Medieval Music''. Norton, 1978, pp.188-193. . The ''Scolica enchiriadis'' is written as a tripartite dialogue, and despite being a commentary on the ''Musica enchiriadis'', it is nearly three times as long.Erickson, Raymond. "Musica enchiriadis, Scholia enchiriadis". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. London: Macmillan, 2001. Much of the theory discussed by the treatise is indebted to Augustinian conceptions of music, especially its affirmations of the importance of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

to music as kindred disciplines of the ''

quadrivium From the time of Plato through the Middle Ages, the ''quadrivium'' (plural: quadrivia) was a grouping of four subjects or arts—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—that formed a second curricular stage following preparatory work in th ...

''. Later sections draw heavily on the music theory of

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

and

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

, two early medieval authors whose works on music were widely read and circulated hundreds of years after their death. The treatise makes use of the

monochord A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string ( chord). The term ''monochord'' is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument ...

to explain interval relations. The treatise also discusses singing technique, ornamentation of plainchant, and

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

in the style of

organum ''Organum'' () is, in general, a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a supporting bass line (or '' bourdon'') may be sung on the sam ...

. The scale used in the work, which is based on a system of

tetrachord In music theory, a tetrachord (; ) is a series of four notes separated by three interval (music), intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion (approx. 498 cent (m ...

s, appears to have been created solely for use in the work itself rather than taken from actual musical practice. The treatise also uses a very rare system of notation, known as Daseian notation. This notation has a number of figures which are rotated ninety degrees to represent different pitches. A critical edition of the treatises was published in 1981, and an English translation by Raymond Erickson in 1995.

References

External links

* * Link t
colour images of the MS of the text (V-CVbav pal. lat. 1342)
available via the University of Heidelberg's site. * Link t
colour images of the MS of the text (D-Msb Clm 14372)
available via the Bavarian State Library. {{Authority control 9th-century books Music theory Musical scales Works of unknown authorship Medieval music manuscript sources

See also

References

External links