Description
Solmization (the act of solfaing) table explaining the Gamut, with musical notation on staves. The medieval Gamut – the whole series of recognized musical notes (a six-note series) – is the ancestor of our modern system of note names. The oldest system of solmization – designating musical notes by syllable names – is attributed to Guido d'Arezzo, early in the eleventh century, who is said to have taken the names ut–re–mi–fa–so–la from the initial syllables of the lines of a Latin hymn to St. John the Baptist, beginning "Ut queant laxis".
Bibliography
- Christopher Hohler, 'Reflections on Some Manuscripts Containing 13th-century Polyphony', Journal of the Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society, 1 (1978), 2-38 (pp. 2-19).
- Gilbert Reaney (ed.), Manuscripts of Polyphonic Music: 11th - Early 14th Century, Répertoire international des sources musicales, BIV 1 (Munich: Henle, 1966), pp. 505-08.
- Nicolas Bell, Music in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2001), pp. 27, 39-40, pl. on p. 27.
