Four-line music Manuscript

Place of OriginItaly

Dateabout 1400

Dimensions10 5/8 x 15 in.

Mediumvellum

ClassificationManuscripts

Object number

1923.3125

Not on View

Label TextIn 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.Published ReferencesGwara, Scott, Otto Ege's Manuscripts: a Study of Ege's Manuscript Collections, Portfolios, and Retail Trade with a Comprehensive Handlist of Manuscripts Collected or Sold, Cayce, SC, De Brailes Publishing, 2013, fig. 28, p. 207, repr. p. 240.