JEAN DES MURS AND THE RETURN TO BOETHIUS ON MUSIC (original) (raw)
• Illo Humphrey | Ph. D. (2004) | HDR (2014) | Mediaevalist | Musicologist | Proto-Philologist | Université de Paris X-Nanterre • • Boethius: Powerful Hyphen between Antiquity and the Middle Ages • • Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius (*ca. 480 – †524) was indeed the powerful hyphen between Antiquity and the Middle Ages; he can be considered the Father of western mediæval scientific–philosophical thought. Indeed, Boethius, in his De arithmetica I,2, De substantia numeri, declares: “Omnia quæcunque a primæva rerum natura constructa sunt• numerorum uidentur ratione formata• Hoc enim fuit principale in animo conditoris exemplar• Hinc enim quattuor elementorum multitudo mutuata est• Hinc temporum uices• Hinc motus astrorum caelique conuersio• Quae cum ita sint• cumque omnium status numerorum colligatione fungatur• eum quoque numerum necesse• est• in propria semper sese habentem aequaliter substantia permanere…"; ed. G. Friedlein, p. 12; J.-Y. Guillaumin, p. 11, I. Humphrey, Section 2, p. 33 (f. 4v°: 16-24) • • This extraordinary concept, instructive in all respects, is at the very basis of Epistemology, and is indeed one of the conducting threads of the long Tradition of Knowledge between Plato's Timaios (¶35, ¶36) and the treatise Boethii De arithmetica • • In the fully evolving post-Roman civilisation, the teachings of Boethius do not solve all the problems from a pedagogical and scientific–philosophical standpoint, neither in the realm of the philosophy of numbers and proportions, neither in the realm of the philosophy of the formation of musical intervals, neither in the realm of acoustics (phthongos • sonorum doctrina) neither in the realm of the faculty of the senses (sensorium), sense perception (perceptio sensuum) and the cognitive process (cognitio) • • Notwithstanding, Boethius allows us to have direct access to the great scientific–philosophical Tradition of Knowledge, already a millennium old in his day, and to understand better the conceptual unity between ἡ ἐπιστήμη (res scientifica) and ἡ ϕιλοσοϕία(res philosophica) through the study of what Νικόμαχος ὁ Γερασηνός [Nikómachos o Gerasinós, ca. a. D. 100] calls αἰ τέσσαρες μέθοδοι(Ἀριθμητικὴ εἰσαγωγή Aʹ, γʹ: Ϛ’–ζʹ [Arithmitikì eisagogí I,3: 6-7]), translated by Boethius firstly, and literally, as “quattuor matheseos disciplinae” (Boethii De institutione arithmetica, see end of Prolog, ed. G. Friedlein, p. 5: 6; J.-Y. Guillaumin, p. 3: 9; I. Humphrey, Section 2, p. p. 26 [f. 2: 2 – 4]), then figuratively as “quadruvium”: ars arithmetica • ars musica • ars geometrica • ars astronomica (Boethii De arithmetica, I,1; ed. G. Friedlein, p. 7: 25, p. 9: 28; J.-Y. Guillaumin, p. 6: 7, p. 8: 15; I. Humphrey, Section 2, p. 26 [f. 2: 24], and p. 29 [f. 3: 26 – f. 3v: 4]) • • The main objective of this study is to make visual the influence of the scientific–philosophical teachings of the Platonist Boethius not only on musical theory, but also on general culture in the Carolingian period as of the beginning of the 9th c. Indeed, in studying attentively certain Carolingian masters of the first half of the 9th c., one observes that not only the mathematicus • musicus • geometres • astronomus received basic scientific–philosophical training, but also all scholars, regardless of the finality of their studies, having been privileged to attend the monastic and cathedral schools, especially those belonging to the royal network of the “Ordo palatii” in the territory of Neustria (J. Heuclin, “Les abbés des monastères neustriens 650-850”, in La Neustrie. Les pays du nord de la Loire de 650 à 850, ed. H. Atsma, Sigmaringen, 1989, Vol. I, p. 331, 334, 335, 337), as of the year 782. This monastic and Episcopal network was firstly centered around the schools of Saint-Amand, Corbie, Laon, Saint-Denis, and, a fortiori causa, the Schola palatina at “Urbs Aquensis urbs regalis” (Aquisgranum, Aquis Grana, Aquae Grani, Aquensis urbs, D–52062-52080 Aachen, Germany, Land: North Rhine-Westphalia, Administrative Seat: Cologne, in French, Aix-la-Chapelle), then secondly, as of the year 796, those of Saint-Martin of Tours, and shortly afterwards in Fleury, Ferrières, Auxerre, Reichenau, Lorsch, Fulda, etc. Thanks to the keen pedagogical insight of Alcuinus Euboricensis (Alcuin of York, ca. 730 - † 804), whom Eginhardus (ca. 770 – ca. 840) lauded as being “uir undecumque doctissimus” (“a man in all respects altogether learned”, Eginhardi Vita Karoli Magni § XXV), the fusion between the ancient platonic scientific–philosophical Tradition of Knowledge and the new Carolingian branch became reality. Alcuin of York, who was the Præceptor of the schola palatina at Urbs Aquensis from 782 to 796 and the Abbot of Saint-Martin of Tours from 796 to his death in 804, played a vital roll in reshaping the education and general culture of the Carolingian and the post-Carolingian school systems • • After the death of Alcuin of York in the year 804, one of the very first written testimonies attesting to the direct scientific–philosophical influence of Boethius is found surprisingly not in a scientific–philosophical treatise but in a literary treatise on liturgy written by Amalarius Symphosius Metensis (Amalarius Symphosius of Metz, ca. 775 - † ca. 850), one of the last pupils of Alcuin at Saint-Martin of Tours. Indeed, it was Amalarius who, for the first time since Cassiodorus it seems, mentions and cites pertinent passages from the Boethii De institutione arithmetica libri duo: I, 7 et I, 14 in his treatise Canonis missae interpretatio dated from 814 (Amalarii episcopi opera liturgica omnia, ed. I. M. Hanssens, vol. I, Città del Vaticano, 1948, p. 297, 299: § 17-20), and, around the year 823, from the Boethii De institutione musica libri quinque: I,1 in the first edition of his treatise Liber Officialis, III, 11: 15-16 (ibidem, ed. I. M. Hanssens, vol. 2, p. 296-297; cf. Patrologiae. Cursus completus series latina, vol. 105, col. 1120 ) • • Now, in descending progressively towards the period of Gerbertus Aureliacensis (Gerbert of Aurillac, ca. 930 - † 1003), one observes that certain literary, scientific, religious and political leaders, such as : Paschasius Radbertus (786 - † Corbie ca. 860 : cf. De vita Adalhardi Corbiensis abbatis, cf. Patrologiae. Cursus completus series latina, vol. 120, col. 1527: §34) • Iohannes Scottus Eriugena (John Scot Eriugena, ca. 810 - † ca. 877), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetae latitni.., vol. III, ed. L. Traube, 1886, Carmen VIII, p. 538, 13-27; cf. Patrologiae., vol. 122, col. 1221-1240, Versus VIII [“De verbo incarnato”] : 13-27) • Regino Prumensis [seu Prumiensis] (Reginon of Prüm, † ca. 905, cf. Epistola de harmonica. Institutione Missa ad Rathbodum archiepiscopum Treverensem [883-915] a Regino presbytero, ed. M. Gerbert, Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum, vol. I, St.-Blasien, 1784 / Hildesheim, 1963, p. 230-247 ; cf. Patrologiae, vol. 132, col. 483-502) • Hrosvitha [Hrotsuitha] Gandersheimensis (*Hroswitha of Gandersheim, 935 - †ca. 973, cf. Paphnutius, ed. P. Winterfeld, 1902, K. Strecker, Leipzig, 1930, H. Homeyer, München, 1970; M. Goullet, Paris, 1999 • Abo Floriacensis (Abbon of Fleury, †1004, cf. Abbonis abbatis commentum super calculo Victorii, Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Class. 53 : 10th-11th c., cf. Patrologiae. Series latina., vol. 139, col. 569-572: Preface only; G. R. Evans et A. Peden, “Natural Science and the Liberal Arts in Abbo of Fleury’s Commentary on the Calculus of Victorius of Aquitaine”, Viator, n° 16, 1985, p. 109-127; A. Peden, Abbo of Fleury and Ramsey: Commentary on Calculus of Victorius of Aquitaine, Oxford University Press, 2003 (Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi, XV), LIV - 160 pages) • and, of course, Gerbertus Aureliacensis (Gerbert of Aurillac: Pope Sylvester II, 999, †1003, cf. Gerberti opera mathematica, ed. N. Bubnov, Berlin 1899, Hildesheim, Olms, 1963), p. 29-31 ; cf. Patrologiae. Cursus completus series latina, vol. 139, col. 85-169), were all perfectly well versed in the teachings of Boethius. The terminus ad quem of this study, a. D. 1003, marks both the end of a long period of five centuries of intellectual, scientific, philosophical, and proto-philological evolution, and the beginning of a new era which starts with the career of Fulbertus Carnotensis (Fulbert of Chartres), born between 952 et 962 - †ca. 1029 • • As for the scientific-philosophical Greek tradition passed on to the Persian civilisation, it was transmitted directly from Byzantium to the Middle-East in the 6th century, thanks to the benevolence of King Khusro I Anoshirvan (528-579), who welcomed 7 Greek Masters following the Edict of Justinian in 529 which ordered the closing down of all the Neo-Platonic schools; I. Hadot, Le problème du néoplatonisme alexandrin: Hiéroclès et Simplicius, Paris, 1978, 22-25 • • The specificity of this research resides, firstly, in the choice of its sources of the period in question, namely the 9th c. glosses often annotated in Latin stenography (“tironian notes”), accompanied by an elaborate system of cross-reference signs, cf. Paris, BnF, Fonds Latin: 14064, f. 1-84, 7183, f. 1-15v, 7186, f. 1-41, containing the oldest copies of the text Boethii De arithmetica, as well as the oldest copies of the abundant glosses with cross-reference signs, 80% of which are annotated in Latin stenography, and secondly, in a new reading and a new analysis of the Carolingian iconographical tradition of the same era, based on the Boethian principle of the “substantia numeri” (Boethii De arithmetica I,2, etc.), cf. Paris, BnF, Fonds Latin 1, f. 215v (9th c., ca. 844-846, Saint-Martin of Tours), the first Bible of Charles II “the Bald” (†877), dated 844 - †851 • Explicit • • Illo Humphrey, Ph. D. • • http://sorbonne.academia.edu/IlloHumphrey/Books • • IH | ih | Ph. D. | HDR | Explicit •
Behind the mirror: Revealing the contexts of Jacobus's Speculum musicae
2010
This study addresses the general question of how medieval music theory participated in the discourse of the related disciplines of philosophy, natural science and theology. I focus on a specific instance of scientific inquiry: the fourteenth-century music treatise Speculum musicae , written by an author known to us as Jacobus. A detailed analysis of Speculum musicae reveals an aesthetic system whose elements are assigned meaning and value through the anagogical relationships that the author posits (either explicitly or implicitly) with systems articulated in philosophical and theological treatises at the turn of the fourteenth century. My central concerns are uncovering the impetus behind the production of this treatise, determining where Jacobus's philosophies fit within particular schools of medieval thought, as revealed through his vocabulary choices, supporting sources, and methods of reasoning, and then extrapolating from these philosophies which rationale (ratio ) most informs his positions on particular issues, such as his classification of music, or his defense of the ancient art of singing against the modern art. I hope to present a fresh perspective on one of the most important yet one of the most mysterious ages in the history of music. The turn of the fourteenth century was a fascinating time for music: we find musical systems in a pronounced state of flux with various theoretical solutions proposed in response to the problems of notating this increasingly complex music. Analyzing the background of these theoretical formulations, and assessing the various judgments of "good" practice, and the kinds of arguments used to bolster these judgments, will uncover reasons for the overturning of musical systems and go some way toward explaining the nature of musical change.
Early Music History, 2015
This article discusses a full-page schematic diagram contained in a twelfth-century manuscript of Boethius’ De institutione arithmetica and De institutione musica from Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury (Cambridge University Library MS Ii.3.12), which has not yet been the subject of any significant musicological study despite its remarkable scope and comprehensiveness. This diagrammatic tree, or arbor, maps the precepts of the first book of De institutione arithmetica into a unified whole, depicting the ways music and arithmetic are interrelated as sub-branches of the quadrivium. I suggest that this schematic diagram served not only as a conceptual and interpretative device for the scribe working through Boethius’ complex theoretical material, but also as a mnemonic guide to assist the medieval pedagogue wishing to instruct students in the mathematics of musica speculativa. The diagram constitutes a fully developed theoretical exercise in its own right, while also demonstrating the roles Boethian philosophy and mathematics played in twelfth- century musical scholarship.
2013
The theory of “music of the spheres” (musica mundana) introduced by Boethius in his treaty De institutione musica is an original contribution in development of the mediaeval theory of music. The idea of music of the spheres—as presented by the Pythagoreans—became one of the most influential cosmological concepts despite being criticized by Aristotle in his De caelo. The twelfth century is among the most important periods from the point of view of the reception of the discussed theory. It is often called the aetas Boethiana as it is distinguished by an increased interest in the works of Boethius, with special emphasis on his theological writings and Consolatio, which was very popular at the time. The reason behind this phenomenon was a growing specialization of issues relating to the theory of music, which finally led to its independence from other areas of knowledge; yet this is not the only cause for the subject of the harmony of the spheres to be again widely discussed in philosop...
2015
http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod\_id=IS-9780888441911-1 http://www.pims.ca/publications/new-and-recent-titles/publication/thierry-of-chartres-the-commentary-on-the-de-arithmetica-of-boethius Unlike the commentaries on Plato's Timaeus and on Boethius's Consolatio phlosophiae, medieval exegesis of Boethius's De arithmetica has seldom been subjected to comprehensive and systematic enquiry. Inhabiting the shifting boundary between philosophy and history of science, the De arithmetica itself has been neglected by most medievalists. Yet, from the Carolingian renaissance onward, when the scholarly curriculum came to be based on the seven liberal arts, Boethius's work soon became a canonical text for the study of arithmetic. Indeed, the growing interest in it during the twelfth century is attested by the large number of surviving commentaries in manuscript. The commentary on the De arithmetica preserved in Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod. math. 4° 33 and edited here for the first time can be securely attributed to Thierry of Chartres. It belongs to a phase when the Chartrian master's interests were mainly directed toward the liberal arts. We can also discern in Thierry's commentary on the De arithmetica themes and problems developed in his Tractatus de sex dierum operibus and more elaborately in his commentaries on Boethius's Opuscula sacra. Indeed, the discovery of this commentary on the De arithmetica might legitimately be said to clarify not only the more intractable passages in the theological writings but also to illuminate Thierry's philosophical project as a whole. At the heart of that vision is a developing trend in twelfth-century philosophy that places number and proportion at the heart of the physical cosmos. In this profoundly 'mathematical Platonism,' all things are based on number and follow the rule of number; or, to quote Thierry himself, “creatio numerorum, rerum est creatio.”