Four-line music Manuscript
Date: about 1400
Dimensions:
10 5/8 x 15 in.
Medium: vellum
Place of Origin: Italy
Classification: Manuscripts
Object number: 1923.3125
Label Text:In the 11th century Guido d’ Arezzo, an Italian monk, created a new method of musical notation on a four-line staff. His innovation offered a more precise method of capturing the distance between pitches in a chanted melody. The five-line staff, similar to today’s modern staff, was introduced during the 16th century in France. This large manuscript leaf uses the four-line notation, written in a size that could be read by the choir from a distance.
Originally bound in a book, this page of the manuscript leaf was on the recto, or right side. The two indicators of this are the clean left edges that show where the book was previously bound and the sheet therefore untouched; and the smudged lower right corner, where the pages were turned. The small, discolored rectangular sections along the left and upper edges occurred after someone removed this manuscript from the book, and indicate remnants of tape residue used to prepare this leaf for a prior display.
Originally bound in a book, this page of the manuscript leaf was on the recto, or right side. The two indicators of this are the clean left edges that show where the book was previously bound and the sheet therefore untouched; and the smudged lower right corner, where the pages were turned. The small, discolored rectangular sections along the left and upper edges occurred after someone removed this manuscript from the book, and indicate remnants of tape residue used to prepare this leaf for a prior display.
Not on view
In Collection(s)