The Polyphonic Music of the Medieval Monastery, Cathedral and University

Abstract

Through one of those inexplicable vagaries of historical preservation, what might have been regarded as nothing more than a rather eccentric treatise, Musica enchiriadis (‘A Musical Handbook’), is now known to every student of music history as the very source of a new concept in Western music — the simultaneous vertical combination of pitches in performance — which eventually led to the ultimate glory of Western art music: harmony. This treatise, presumed to be of northern European monastic origin from about ad 900, is the earliest extant European theoretical exposition of the basic craft of creating vertical combinations of sounds in vocal music. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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