theoretical foundations for voice leading in simple (two-voice) and compound (three- and
four-voice) organum.
During the 10th and 11th centuries, with the renewed interest in Boethius and a
mathematically based tonal system repeating at the octave, the influence of Musica
enchiriadis waned. Yet the broad influence of the treatise may be seen in the negative
comments of such theorists as Herman the Lame and in the parallels between Musica
enchiriadis and Guido’s Micrologus.
Calvin M.Bower
[See also: MUSIC THEORY; ORGANUM]
Schmid, Hans, ed. Musica et scolica enchiriadis una cum aliquibus tractatulis adiunctis. Munich:
Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981.
Phillips, Nancy. “Musica” and “Scolica Enchiriadis”: The Literary, Theoretical, and Musical
Sources. 2 vols. Diss. New York University, 1984.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
. Although today we are accustomed to think of musical instruments mainly in terms of
concert or dance music, they played far more varied and important roles in earlier
centuries. Instruments served the nobility as the very symbol of their authority; they were
essential to the military; they were a frequent companion of the tellers of tales and
legends; and they served their traditional recreational purposes as accompaniment for
song and dance. Literary references like the following suggest that a sonic kaleidoscope
enlivened French villages, courts, and countryside throughout the Middle Ages:
The joglars began their tale, one took his instrument and played and the
other sang with his mouth.... Whoever knew new fiddle tunes, or cansos,
descorts, or lais, as best he could gave it a try.... One played harp, another
a fiddle; one a flute, the other a whistle; one played a giga, another the
rote; one said the words and another the notes; one [played] a pipe,
another a panpipe; one the bagpipe, the other a shawm; one the mandora,
and the other struck the psaltery with one string.... Two hundred joglars,
good fiddlers, got in tune with each other, two by two they sat scattered
about on the benches, and fiddled the dance, not missing a note...
[Flamenca, mid-13th c.].
When I see unfurled among the orchards banners of yellow, violet, and
blue, the neighing of the horses soothes me, and the songs the minstrels
sing as they go fiddling from tent to tent, and the trumpets and horns and
clarions clear; then I want to compose a sirventes for Count Richard to
hear [Bertran de Born (1140–1215)].Few musical instruments survive from the period. Our knowledge of them comes from
written and pictorial records, and we can only guess at what sounds they made.
Furthermore, their shapes and presumably their sounds changed over the centuries, as
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