the process of bringing together cantus and musica in treatises that would form the basis
of subsequent musical thought. Many anonymous texts originating sometime between
late antiquity and the Carolingian period lie behind these first treatises with named
authors, and much terminology found therein seems to be drawn from the same sources
as Musica enchiriadis.
One of France’s most important contributions to the development of musical theory
during the Middle Ages is found in the tonary. An important link between the cantus and
musica traditions, the tonary presented a collection of antiphons, and often other chants,
of the Office and Mass ordered according to the eight tones for singing the psalms. The
fundamental bases for subsequent theoretical discus
Musica points to the three Boethian
levels of music: Musica mundana,
Musica humana, and Musica
instrumentalis. MS Pluteo 29, I, facing
fol. 1. Courtesy of Biblioteca Mediceo-
Laurenziana, Florence.
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