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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 September 2012
Taking the Boethian understanding of the relation between the musicus and cantor as his point of departure, Jacobus – the author of the Speculum musicae – develops this relation in light of new ecclesiastical realities and the Aristotelian understanding of the relation between theory and practice. Without entirely abandoning an allegiance to the priority of theory over practice and the corresponding embodiments of these categories in the musicus and cantor, Jacobus redefines these terms to create a new threefold taxonomy: the Boethian musicus who understands but does not perform or compose, the practicus musicus who both understands and practises within an ecclesiastical context (and is the equivalent of the peritus cantor), and the cantor who sings without understanding. These developments within the Speculum musicae follow attempts by earlier authors to negotiate the relation between the heritage of antiquity and the cantus tradition of musical practice within liturgical contexts. Jacobus's solution also differs from solutions offered by contemporary and later authors.
1 Concerning the authorship of the Speculum musicae and the identity of its author, see Desmond, Karen's, ‘New Light on Jacobus, Author of Speculum musicae’, Plainsong & Medieval Music, 9/1 (2000), 19–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The Prohemium and chapters 45–48 to of the seventh book of the Speculum indicate the tone and approach of Jacobus's treatment of the Ars Nova.
2 A preliminary survey of such studies would include: Haas, Max, ‘Studien zur mittelalterlichen Musiklehre I: Eine Übersicht über die Musiklehre im Kontext der Philosophie des 13. und frühen 14. Jahrhunderts’; Forum musicologicum, 3 (1982), 403–8, 411–13Google Scholar. Tanay, Dorit, Noting Music, Marking Culture: The Intellectual Context of Rhythmic Notation, 1250–1400 (Holzgerlingen, 1999)Google Scholar; Aertsen, Jan A., ‘“Speculum musicae” als Spiegel der Philosophie’, in Musik – und die Geschichte der Philosophie und Naturwissenschaften im Mittelalter: Fragen zur Wechselwirkung von ‘musica’ und ‘philosophia’ im Mittelalter, ed. Hentschel, Frank (Leiden, 1998), 305–21Google Scholar; Hentschel, Frank, Sinnlichkeit und Vernunft in der mittelalterlichen Musiktheorie: Strategien der Konsonanzwertung und der Gegenstand der musica sonora um 1300 (Stuttgart, 2000)Google Scholar; George Harne, ‘Theory and Practice in the Speculum musicae’, Ph.D. diss., Princeton University (2008); Karen Desmond, ‘Behind the Mirror: Revealing the Contexts of Jacobus's Speculum musicae’, Ph.D. diss., New York University (2009); Harne, George, ‘The Ends of Theory and Practice in the Speculum musicae’, Musica disciplina, 55 (2010), 5–32Google Scholar.
3 The earliest extant use of the term cantor in this context may be found in the seventh chapter of the Musica disciplina by Aurelian of Réôme (fl. ?840–50). See Aurelian of Réôme, , Aureliani Reomensis musica disciplina, ed. Gushee, Lawrence A., Corpus scriptorum de musica (henceforth abbreviated as: CSM) 21 (Rome, 1975), 77–8Google Scholar. See also Gushee, , ‘Questions of Genre in Medieval Treatises on Music’, in Gattungen der Musik in Einzeldarstellungen, Gedenkschrift Leo Schrade, ed. Arlt, Wulf et al. (Berne and Munich, 1973), 365–433, at 393–4Google Scholar. For the most extensive studies of the relationship between musicus and cantor to date, see Reimer, Erich, ‘Musicus und Cantor. Zur Sozialgeschichte eines musikalischen Lehrstücks’, Archiv fur Musikwissenschaft, 35/1 (1978), 1–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and idem, ‘musicus-cantor’ in Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie, ed. Riethmüller, Albrecht (Stuttgart, 1978), 4:1–13Google Scholar. See also Fassler, Margot E., ‘The Office of the Cantor in Early Western Monastic Rules and Customaries: A Preliminary Investigation’, in Early Music History, 5 (1985), 29–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Isidore of Seville, , Isidori Hispalensis episcopi Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX, ed. Lindsay, William M. (Oxford, 1911), 7.12.26–8Google Scholar; and Christian Berktold, ‘cantor’, in Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi: Wörterbuch der lateinischen Musikterminologie des Mittelalters bis zum Ausgang des 15. Jahrhunderts, fascicle 4 (Munich, 2004), col. 332–42.
4 Sed Boethius speculationem magis insequitur, Guido praxim. Haec, quantum ad suam theoriam, musicum efficit, quantum ad suam praxim, cantorem. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.16 (56). Cf. Franco of Cologne, Ars cantus mensurabilis musicae, ed. Gilbert Reaney and André Gilles, CSM, 18 (Rome, 1974), 23. For analogous distinctions within philosophy, see Augustine, , Civitas Dei, 8.4, English translation: The City of God Against the Pagans, trans. Greene, William Chase, Wiesen, David S. et al. (Cambridge, MA, 1968), 16–19Google Scholar.
5 Concerning Boethius's debts to Nicomachus and the ancients, see Heilmann, Anja, Boethius’ Musiktheorie und das Quadrivium. Eine Einführung in den neuplatonischen Hintergrund von ‘De institutione musica’ (Göttingen, 2007)Google Scholar.
6 Boethius, De institutione musica, ed. Gottfried Friedlein (Leipzig, 1867), 1.34 (223–5); English translation: Fundamentals of Music, trans. Calvin Bower, 50–1. Cf. Taliaferro, Robert Catesby, ed. and trans., ‘On Music (De musica)’, in Writings of Saint Augustine (New York, 1947), 2–1.2 (171–5), 2.1.4–6 (176–87)Google Scholar.
7 Barker, Andrew, ed. and trans., ‘The Plutarchian treatise On Music’, in Greek Musical Writings: Volume I, The Musician and His Art (New York, 1984), 220 (§15)Google Scholar.
8 Ibid., 233 (§27). See also 236–38 (§30–1), 244–48 (§38–42), 291–2 (§195).
9 Aristotle, , Politics, in The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, vol. 2, trans. Jowett, Benjamin (Oxford, 1999), 1259b21–1260a14Google Scholar. Concerning Aristotle's treatment of natural slavery, see Fortenbaugh, William W., ‘Aristotle on Slaves and Women’, in Articles on Aristotle 2: Ethics and Politics, ed. Barnes, Jonathan, Schofield, Malcolm and Sorabji, Richard (New York, 1978), 135–9Google Scholar; Smith, Nicholas D., ‘Aristotle's Theory of Natural Slavery’, Phoenix 37 (1983), 109–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Williams, Bernard, ‘Necessary Identities’, in idem, Shame and Necessity (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1993), 103–29Google Scholar. For a brief account of slavery in late antiquity, see C. Richard Whittaker and Oleg Grabar, ‘Slavery’, and Garnsey, Peter D., ‘Slaves’, both in Late Antiquity, ed. Bowerstock, Glen et al. (Cambridge, MA, 1999), 689–700Google Scholar. See also Lobkowicz, Nicholas, Theory and Practice: History of a Concept (Notre Dame, IN, 1967), 9–10, 29 and 56–7Google Scholar; and Aristotle, Politics, 7.3 (1325b 14–33).
10 For an illustration of the association of musical performance with slaves and the assumed superiority of the philosopher to the musical performer, see the excerpt from Xenophon's Symposium in Barker, Andrew, Greek Musical Writings: Volume I (Cambridge, 1989), 117–23Google Scholar. Cf. ibid., 263–4, 273–5, 279–81. Cf. also Plato, Protagoras, 347c–347e; Symposium, 176e–177a, 212d–212e; The Republic, 495e.
11 Cooper, John M., Introduction to Ion, in idem (ed.), Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis, 1997), 937Google Scholar.
12 Ibid., 937–49; and Barker, Greek Musical Writings, 1:124–7.
13 Marenbon, John, Boethius (New York, 2003), 9CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Concerning Boethius's patrician status and its consequences for his thought, see Reimer, ‘Musicus und Cantor’, 6–12; Page, Christopher, ‘Musicus and cantor’, in Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music, ed. Knighton, Tess and Fallows, David (New York, 1992), 74–8Google Scholar; The Summa Musice: A Thirteenth-century Manual for Singers, ed. and trans. Page, Christopher (Cambridge, 1991), 54 n. 30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
14 At ubi aurem praebuit suasori et conditoris praeceptum neglexit attendere, exul effectus, terram iussus excolere atque a paradisi sinu seclusus in ignotis partibus sui generis posteritatem trasposuit atque poenam quam ipse primus homo praevaricationis reus exceperat generando transmisit in posteros. Boethius's De Fide Catholica, in Boethius, Tractates [and] The Consolation of Philosophy, 58–9.
15 Concerning Boethius's Neoplatonic heritage, see Marenbon, Boethius, 10–6, 19–20, 154–63; Chadwick, Henry, Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology and Philosophy (New York, 1981), 15–22, 78–101 and 228–9Google Scholar.
16 Plotinus, , Porphyry on the Life of Plotinus. Enneads 1, trans. Armstrong, Arthur H. (Cambridge, MA, 1978), 2–3Google Scholar. Boethius's Christian view of the body was shaped by both the doctrine of the incarnation and the doctrine of bodily resurrection. See Boethius, De Fide Catholica, in Tractates, 56–7, 70–1. Cf. the Introductory note in the Loeb edition to Plotinus, 's ‘Against the Gnostics’ (II.9) in Plotinus, Ennead II, trans. Armstrong, A[rthur] H. (Cambridge, MA, 1966), 221–2Google Scholar. See also Colish, Marcia, Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400–1400 (New Haven, 1997), 70–1Google Scholar; and Wilken, Robert Louis, ‘Bodies Are Not Ornaments’, in The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (New Haven, 2003), 158–61Google Scholar.
17 Plotinus, Porphyry on the Life of Plotinus. Enneads 1, 2–3. It has been argued that this Neoplatonic pessimism regarding the body has been exaggerated by some scholars. Concerning this exaggeration and a corrective, see Fortin, Ernest L., ‘Augustine's De quantitate animae’, in The Birth of Philosophic Christianity: Studies in Early Christian and Medieval Thought, Collected Essays, vol. 1, ed. Benestad, J. Brian (Lanham, Maryland, 1996.), 55–6Google Scholar. See also Flannery, Kevin, ‘Plato and Platonism’, in The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, ed. Hastings, Adrian, Mason, Alistair, and Pyper, Hugh (Oxford, 2000), 542–3Google Scholar: ‘Plotinus’ asceticism had more to do with charity than with fasting and flagellation.’
18 Chadwick, Boethius, 86.
19 Qui autem naturalibus utuntur instrumentis quibus vox formatur, usu quodam consonantias proferre scientes, musicales causas illarum ignorantes, inter illas sufficienter distinguere nescientes, non illarum proprietates, non numerales proportiones cognoscentes, quare hae bonae, meliores illae, et illae optimae, hae consonae, hae dissonae, hae ecmeles, tales cantores dicuntur. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.3 (17). Later in the first book (1.19 (63)), Jacobus described the many cantors ‘who from a single use know how to sing and produce consonances, and likewise many entertainers who play instruments’ (sunt multi cantores, qui ex solo usu cantare et consonantias exprimere sciunt, similiter et multi in instrumentis lusores).
20 Comparans autem Boethius musicam theoricam ad talem practicam dicit quod ‘omnis ars atque disciplina honoribiliorem naturaliter habet rationem quam artificium, quod manu atque opere artificis exercetur. Multo enim maius atque auctius est scire, quid quisque faciat, quam ipsum illud efficere quod sciat; etenim artificium corporale quasi serviens famulatur; ratio vero, quasi domina imperat. Et nisi manus, secudum id quod ratio sancit, efficiant, frustratur’. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.19 (63–5). English translation quoted after Fundamentals of Music, trans. Calvin M. Bower, 1.34 (50).
21 Tanto igitur praeclarior est scientia musicae in <cognitione> rationis quam in usu operis, quanto anima corpore praeclarior, sine qua nec corpus se regere nec moveri potest. Et, secundum hoc, prima de secunda iudicat et ipsam regit, quia secunda non rationem, sed nudum opus inspicit. Ad hoc prima est liberior, nobilior, honorabilior, purior, tutior, generalior, verior, specialior et perfectior, et prima musicum facit simpliciter, secunda cantorem vel instrumentorum talium vel talium lusorem, ut <buccinatorem>, organizatorem, citharoedam, et sic de aliis distinctis instrumentis, vel dictatorem quoad rythmicam, <versificatorem> vel poetam, quoad metricam. Comparatur autem cantor solum usum habens ad verum musicum, secundum aliquos, ut bestia ad hominem; unde illud: bestia non cantor, qui non canit arte sed usu, non vox cantorem facit artis sed documentum. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.19 (64). The concluding clause of this passage (‘bestia non cantor … documentum’) will be treated below. See also Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Ia q. 14 a. 16 s.c. Concerning the cantor as beast, see d'Arezzo, Guido's Regule, ed. and trans. Pesce, Dolores (Ottowa, 1999), 330–3Google Scholar.
22 Cf. Peter John Slemon, ‘Adam von Fulda on Musica Plana and Compositio. De Musica, Book II: A Translation and Commentary’, Ph.D. diss., University of British Columbia (1994), 2.6 (188).
23 Cum discantus, ut visum est, ex quibuscumque consonantiis confici non debeat, qua fronte audent discantare et discantus componere qui parum aut nihil de natura noverunt consonantiarum,… Heu pro dolor! his temporibus aliqui suum defectum inepto proverbio colorare moliuntur: ‘Iste est’, inquiunt, ‘novus discantandi modus’, novis scilicet uti consonantiis…. O incongruum proverbium! ô mala coloratio, irrationabilis excusatio! ô magnus abusus, magna ruditas, magna bestialitas, ut asinus sumatur pro homine, capra pro leone, ovis pro pisce, serpens pro salmone!… O si antiqui periti musicae doctores tales audissent discantores, quid dixissent, quid fecissent? Sic discantantem increparent et dicerent: … ‘Non cantum unum, idest concordantem, cum me facis.… Mihi non congruis; mihi adversarius, scandalum tu mihi es. Utinam taceres!’ Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 7.9 (22–3). Cf. Cotto, Johannes, ‘De musica’ in Hucbald, Guido and John on Music, trans. Babb, Warren (New Haven, 1978), 129–33Google Scholar; Page, Summa musice 114–7, 192–5; Page, Christopher, ‘A Treatise on Musicians from ?c.1400: The Tractatulus de differentiis et gradibus cantorum by Arnulf de St. Ghislain’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association 117 (1992), 1–21, at 4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
24 Sunt autem aliqui qui, etsi aliqualiter discantare noverint per usum, modum tamen non observant bonum…. Horum aliqui nimis hoketant … et in locis inopportunis saltant, hurcant, iupant et, ad modum canis, hawant, latrant et, quasi amentes. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 7.9 (23).
25 Comparatur autem cantor solum usum habens ad verum musicum, secundum aliquos, ut bestia ad hominem. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.19 (64).
26 Ibid. – The maxim ‘bestia non cantor, qui non canit arte sed usu, non vox cantorem facit artis sed documentum’ (and its variations) may be found in numerous treatises (including Lambertus). For a sample of these sources, see Rausch, Alexander, ed., Opusculum de musica ex traditione Iohannis Hollandrini: A Commentary, Critical Edition and Translation (Ottawa, 1997), 32 (cap. 5, lines 15–16, with sources listed on 33)Google Scholar.
27 Nec tamen sic theoricam extollere volumus, ut nimis practicam deprimamus, quae non caret laudibus, ut tactum prius est de Commendatione Musicae. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.19 (64). See also the statement in 7.2 (7): ‘I have delighted from my youth in song and singers, music and musicians’ (Cantum, cantores, musicam et musicos ab aetate dilexi iuvenili).
28 The ‘Commendation’ to which Jacobus referred is ‘Musicae commendatio et eius utilitas’, Speculum musicae, 1.5 (22–5).
29 Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.5 (25). Cf. Isidore of Seville, , Isidori Hispalensis episcopi Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX, vol. 1, ed. Lindsay, William (Oxford, 1911), 3.22Google Scholar.
30 Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.5 (22–3).
31 Ibid., 1.5 (24).
32 Ibid., 7.9 (23).
33 Sunt et his temporibus multi boni et valentes musici cantores et discantatores non modo per usum, sed per artem discantare scientes, discantus multos pulchros facientes. Ibid., 7.9 (23–4).
34 Puto etiam, quod cantus moderni et cantores longe perfectiores sunt, quam essent illi antiqui. Ibid., 1.18 (62).
35 ‘doctus cantor’ (ibid., 6.18 [49]), a quotation from the Quaestiones in Musica: Die Quaestiones in musica: Ein Choraltraktat des zentralen Mittelalters und ihr mutmasslicher Verfasser Rudolf von St. Trond (1070–1138), ed. Rudolph Steglich (Leipzig, 1911), 22; ‘bonis cantoribus’ (4.6 [12]), ‘bonus cantor’ (6.37 [93]); ‘sagaces cantores’ (6.104 [294]), ‘valens cantor, Petrus de Cruce’ (7.17 [36]).
36 Is vero est musicus, qui ratione perpensa canendi scientiam non servitio operis sed imperio speculationis adsumpsit.’ Boethius, De institutione musica, 1.34 (224). Translation quoted from Boethius, Fundamentals of Music, trans. Calvin M. Bower, 51.
37 See Reimer's account of the ‘bemerkenswerte Akzentverschiebung’ (striking shift of emphasis) between the first and second parts of 1.34 of Boethius's De institutione musica (i.e. ‘Quid sit musicus–’). Reimer, Musicus und Cantor, 6–12. Other details of this chapter suggest the understanding of a practice informed by reason that would develop later: ‘Unless the hand acts according to the will of reason, it acts in vain … [M]anual works are nothing unless they are guided by reason’ (Et nisi manus secundum id, quod ratio sancit, efficiat, frustra sit.… manuum vero opera nulla sint, nisi ratione ducantur) (emphasis mine). The dual appearances of ‘unless’ in this quotation suggest that it might be possible to engage in manual labour that is guided by reason.
38 Boethius's judgement was not, of course, received into a cultural vacuum: within the sphere of music, a living cantus tradition existed and was supported by a broader cultural tradition of skilled physical labour. See Calvin Bower, ‘The Transmission of Ancient Music Theory into the Middle Ages’, 151, 153–59; idem, ‘“Adhuc ex parte et in enigmate cernimus …” Reflections on the Closing Chapters of Musica Enchiriadis’, 21–44; Erickson, Raymond, trans. ‘Scolica enchiriadis’, in Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis (New Haven, 1995), 33 n. 2Google Scholar; Phillips, Nancy, ‘Classical and Late Latin Sources’, in Music Theory and Its Sources: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. Barbera, André, Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, 1 (Notre Dame, IN, 1990), 100, 134–5Google Scholar; Vitruvius, On Architecture, ed. and trans. Frank Granger (Cambridge, MA, 1931), vol. 2, xiii–iv and vol. 1, 1.1 with n. 2–3 (6–9), 2.1 with n. 2 (78–9), 2.1 (82–5, sec. 6), 3.pref. (152–3, section 1).
39 Though exceptional, there were patricians, popes, bishops, abbots and other men of indisputable learning who were singers and creators of chant, see Page, , The Christian West and its Singers (New Haven, 2010), 175–95, 355–7, 384–9, 394–5, 400, 403–4, 407, 476–82Google Scholar.
40 See Pomerius, Julianus, The Contemplative Life, trans. SisterSuelzer, Mary Josephine (Westminster, Maryland, 1947), 1.12 (31–2), 1.13 (34), 3.28 (156)Google Scholar; Brockett, Clyde W., ed., De modorum formulis et tonarius (Neuhausen, 1997), 120Google Scholar; Augustine, The City of God Against the Pagans, 19.19, 8.4; Reimer, ‘Musicus und Cantor’, 17–9; Lobkowicz, , ‘On the History of Theory and Practice’, trans. Surber, Jere Paul, in Political Theory and Praxis: New Perspectives, ed. Ball, Terence (Minneapolis, Minn., 1977), 20–1Google Scholar.
41 Constable, Giles, Three Studies in Medieval and Religious Social Thought: The Interpretation of Mary and Martha; The Ideal of the Imitation of Christ; The Orders of Society (New York, 1995), 40, 84CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lobkowicz, , Theory and Practice: History of a Concept (Notre Dame, IN, 1967), 8 and 59–74Google Scholar; Fulgentius, , Fulgentius the Mythographer, trans. Whitbread, Leslie George (Columbus, 1971) 2.1 (64)Google Scholar.
42 Christopher Page, ‘A Treatise on Musicians from ?c.1400’, 4. Cf. Page, ‘Musicus and Cantor’, 74–78. Regarding the elevation of musical performance through its association with the liturgy, consider Commemoratio brevis de tonis et psalmis modulandis, ed. and trans. Bailey, Terrence (Ottawa, 1979), 26–7Google Scholar; John of Affligem (Cotto), ‘De musica,’ 104; Richard Joseph Wingell, ‘Anonymous XI (CS III): An Edition, Translation, and Commentary’, Ph.D. diss., University of Southern California (1973), 1:1 and 2:174; Page, Summa musice, 57–60, 147–9. Concerning the value of musical–liturgical performance as physical labour, see Colish, Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400–1400, 54–5.
43 The process through which these taxonomies (and their respective traditions) were combined was not without conflict. Calvin Bower describes the ‘discord’ between ancient musical thought (represented by Boethius) and the ‘enchiriadis tradition’ as a musical suspension: ‘As in the resolution of a suspension, the preparation [i.e. the ancient tradition] remained essentially unchanged, while the dissonance [i.e. the cantus or enchiriadis tradition] resolved to the nearest position from which it could itself persevere in consonance with the prior element. Ultimately both elements were transformed by the resolution.’ Calvin Bower, ‘The Transmission of Ancient Music Theory into the Middle Ages’, 158–9.
44 Santosuosso, Alma Colk, ‘A musicus versus cantor Debate in an Early 11th-century Norman Poem’, in Essays on Music and Culture in Honor of Herbert Kellman, ed. Haggh, Barbara (Paris, 2001), 1–16Google Scholar. Cf. Page, Summa musice, 22–3.
45 Bernhard, Michael, ed., ‘Regino Prumiensis de harmonica institutione’, in idem, Clavis Gerberti: Eine Revision von Martin Gerberts Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum (St. Blasien 1784), part 1 (Munich, 1989), 72 (no. 24)Google Scholar; Luminita Florea Aluas, ‘The Quatuor Principalia Musicae: A Critical Edition and Translation, with Introduction and Commentary’, Ph.D. diss, Indiana University (1996), 4.2.44 (524, 749); Page, The Summa musice, 55–56, 145–46; Anonymus, De musica mensurabili, ed. Cecily Sweeney; Anonymus, De semibrevibus caudatis, ed. Gilles, André and Sweeney, Cecily, CSM, 13 (Rome, 1971), 29Google Scholar. Concerning Jacobus's cognitive understanding of musica theorica and musica practica, see Harne, ‘Theory and Practice in the Speculum musicae’, 17–55.
46 d'Arezzo, Guido, Epistola ad Michahelem, ed. and trans. Pesce, Dolores (Ottowa, 1999), 530–1 (lines 385–8), 516–9, (lines 330–5)Google Scholar (cf. Micrologus, ‘Prologue’ (section 84); ch. 20 (section 229)); Anonymous St Emmeram, , De musica mensurata, ed. Yudkin, (Bloomington, IN, 1990), 264–5 (lines 5–8) and 66–7 (lines 43–46)Google Scholar. Cf. Franco of Cologne, Ars cantus mensurabilis, 23; Contractus, Hermannus, Musica Hermanni Contracti, ed. and trans. Ellinwood, Leonard (Rochester, NY, 1936), 66Google Scholar.
47 Fritz Reckow, Der Musiktraktat des Anonymus IV, Supplement to the Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, vol. 4 (Wiesbaden, 1967), 1:74–5.
48 Jacobus's practicus musicus will be treated below.
49 Tantum inter musicum distat et cantorem quantum inter grammaticum et simplicem lectorem et quantum inter corporale artificium et rationem. Aurelian of Réôme, Musica disciplina, 77–8; Bower, ‘The Transmission of Ancient Music Theory into the Middle Ages’, 151–2; Nancy Phillips, ‘Classical and Late Latin Sources’, 115; Page, The Christian West, 353–9.
50 Etenim in tantum distare videntur inter se musicus et cantor quantum magister et disciplus. Verbi gratia, is poematibus insistit; ille autem discernit: et quod ille diuturno labore quantulumcumque peragit, hic in hore unius momenti per sensus peritiam discutit atque evacuat. Et sicuti reus ante censorem, ita cantor ante musicum adstare videtur. Hoc melius nosse poterit qui ipsius musice vel perparvam habuerit quantulamcumque notitiam. Et sicuti iam in prefaciuncula premisimus, nobilissimi tamen inveniuntur cantores, sed ut fuerunt prisci, nusquam, ut arbitror, invenitur musicus. Aurelian of Réôme, Musica disciplina, 51. Translation quoted from Aurelian of Reóme, , The Discipline of Music (Musica Disciplina), trans. Ponte, Joseph (Colorado Springs, 1968), 20Google Scholar. See also Bernhard, Michael, ‘Glosses on Boethius's De institutione musica’, in Music Theory and Its Sources: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. Barbera, André, (Notre Dame, IN, 1990), 144Google Scholar.
51 Erich Reimer, Musicus und Cantor, 6–14. Cf. Anonymus, De musica mensurabili, ed. Sweeney, 29; Odo, Dialogus, in Gerbert, Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum , vol. 1, 251, 255; Bernhard, and Bower, , ed., Glossa maior in institutionem musicam Boethii (Munich, 1993), vol. 1, 349 (224, 1) [gloss to 1.34]Google Scholar; Marchetto of Padua, , The Lucidarium of Marchetto of Padua: A Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary, ed. and trans. Herlinger, Jan W. (Chicago, 1985), 16.1 (548–9)Google Scholar; Page, The Summa musice, 14–16.
52 Raymond Erickson, trans., Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis, li; Augiensis, Berno, ‘Musica seu Prologus in Tonarium’, in Gerbert, , ed., Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum (Hildeshiem, 1963), 2:74–7Google Scholar; de Moravia, Hieronymus, Tractatus de musica, ed. Cserba, S. M. (Regensburg, 1935), 4–5Google Scholar.
53 The reader, upon encountering the designation ‘nobilissimi valde cantores’ – in a treatise (or ‘collection of texts’) dedicated to ‘Bernard, the archsinger’ (archicantori) – from the very century in which Boethius had been received by the Carolingians, might question how seriously the readers of Boethius's judgement against singers took that judgement. Cf. Francisco J. Guentner, S.J., ed. and trans., Epistola S. Bernardi in Epistola S. Bernardi (De revisione cantus Cisterciensis) et Tractatus scriptus ab auctore incerto Cisterciense (‘Cantum quem Cisterciensis ordinis ecclesiasticale cantare’) (Rome, 1974), 21 (no. 7), 42; Aurelian of Réôme, Musica disciplina, 54 (Preface), 66 (conclusion of chapter 3), 66–68 (chapter 4), and 118 (chapter 19); Ciconia, Johannes, Nova Musica and De Proportionibus, ed. and trans. Ellsworth, Oliver B., Greek and Latin Music Theory, vol. 9 (Lincoln, 1993), 412–13Google Scholar.
54 See Nancy Phillips, ‘Classical and Late Latin Sources’, 124 (with n. 58, concerning ‘Idithum’), 127–8 (concerning Fulbertus). Cf. Bower, ‘“Adhuc ex parte et in enigmate cernimus….” Reflections on the Closing Chapters of Musica Enchiriadis’, 21–44. See also Odo, , ‘Dialogus’, in Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum, ed. Gerber, Martin (St Blaise, 1784; reprint Hildesheim, 1963), 1:251–64Google Scholar; Guido, Regule rithmice, Prologus in antiphonarium, and Epistola ad Michahelem, 330–3, 395 n. 53, 406–17, 446–7, 459–63 with n. 9–11, 528–31 with n. 39; Karen Desmond, ‘New Light on Jacobus’, 34, n. 62; Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.7 (28).
55 On Guido and his context, see Page, The Christian West, 380, 397, 442–64, 479 and 573–5. See also Fassler, ‘The Office of the Cantor in Early Western Monastic Rules and Customaries’, 47 and n. 84.
56 d'Arezzo, Guido, Prologus in antiphonarium, ed. and trans. Dolores Pesce (Ottowa, 1999), 408–9Google Scholar.
57 Guido, Regule rithmice, 330–31: ‘musicorum et cantorum magna est distantia’.
58 Cum me et naturalis conditio et bonorum imitatio communis utilitatis diligentem faceret, cepi inter alia musicam pueris tradere. Tandem affuit divina gratia, et quidam eorum imitatione chordae ex nostrarum notarum usu exercitati ante unius mensis spatium invisos et inauditos cantus ita primo intuitu indubitanter cantabant, ut maximum plurimis spectaculum praeberetur; quod tamen qui non potest facere, nescio qua fronte se musicum vel cantorem audeat dicere. Guidonis Aretini Micrologus, ed. van Waesberghe, J. Smits (Rome, 1955), 85Google Scholar. English translation quoted from Hucbald, Guido, and John on Music, 58.
59 Guido d'Arezzo, Micrologus, 195.
60 Aristotle, Politics, 1339b4–9. Cf. Barker, Greek Musical Writings, vol. 1, 170–82, 207, 219–20 (section 14).
61 Oportet autem nos scire, quod omnis musicae rationis ad hoc spectat intentio, ut cantilenae rationabiliter compendae, regulariter iudicandae, decenter modulandae scientia comparetur. Quorum trium cui facultas affuerit; is demum musicus recte dicendus erit. Caeterum non parvi habetur, qui nesciens componere, competenter novit iudicare. Hermannus Contractus, Musica Hermanni Contracti, 47.
62 [H]oc est modulandi immo ululandi studio caecum cantorum vulgus occupatur, nullius rationi cedens, nullius sententiae acquiescens … in vanum cantat, cuius mens voci non concordat … in hoc tamen iusto iudicio asino inferiores et imperitiores, qui et multo altius resonat et numquid ruditum mugitu vel alia qualibet voce mutabit. Ibid., 47–8.
63 Nec praetereundum videtur, quod musicus et cantor non parum a se invicem discrepant. Nam cum musicus semper per artem recte incedat, cantor rectam aliquotiens viam solummodo per usum tenet. Cui ergo cantorem melius comparaverim quam ebrio, qui domum quidem repetit, sed quo calle revertatur penitus ignorat? Sed et molaris rota discretum aliquando reddit stridorem, ipsa tamen quid agat nesciens, quippe quae res est inanimata. Unde Guido pulchre in Micrologo suo sic ait: Musicorum et cantorum magna est distantia. Illi dicunt, isti sciunt, quae componit musica. Nam qui facit, quod non sapit, diffinitur bestia. et cetera.’ Johannes Affligemensis (Cotto), De musica cum tonario, 52–3. The English translation is quoted from Hucbald, Guido, and John on Music, 115. The poem by Guido that is cited by John appears at the beginning of Guido's Regulae rhythmicae, 330–3.
64 Sciendum autem, quia ars ista haud infima inter artes est reputanda, praesertim cum clericis maxime sit necessaria et quibuslibet eam exercentibus utilis et iocunda. Quisquis namque incessanter ei operam adhibuerit et sine intermissione indefessus institerit, talem inde consequi poterit fructum, ut de cantus qualitate, an sit urbanus, an sit vulgaris, verus, an falsus, iudicare sciat et falsum corrigere et novum componere. Johannes Affligemensis (Cotto), De musica cum tonario, 51–2. The English translation is quoted from Hucbald, Guido, and John on Music, 51–2.
65 Videtur autem finis principalior musicae practicae vel de principalioribus cantus, vel scire cantare. Non enim qui varias vocum novit mixtiones, consonantiarum naturas, ipsarum proprietates, convenientias, differentias, naturales proportiones, etiam cantuum regulas, musicus dici debet practicus nisi cantare sciat. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 6.69 (199). Cf. ibid., 1.3 (18).
66 Satis autem puto Guidonem monachum in musica theorica simul et practica peritum fuisse. Ipse vero ad practicam ampliandam se contulit. Hoc enim utile pro tunc fuit cum, tempore suo, pauci, in Ecclesiastica Dei, canere scirent concorditer et secure. Ideo modum notandi novis notis tradidit et cantandi. Et de monochordo et modis cantuum, quos aliqui tonos vocant, multa bona scripsit.… si ad musicam traxisset se theoricam, multa pulchra et bona, puto, dixisset de illa. Sed ipse practicam elegit. Ibid., 2.3 (12).
67 Qui autem cantare nesciunt, vel propter defectum vocis, vel quia talem non habent usum, sciunt tamen consonantiarum naturas et alia ad musicam theoricam spectantia, musici non amittunt nomen. Ibid., 1.17 (57). Cf. Hermannus Contractus, Musica Hermanni Contracti, 47.
68 Qui igitur musicus vult esse practicus, qui cantare non iam tantum per usum, sed per artem desiderat, in variis prius tactis vocum et consonantiarum coniunctionibus apte proferendis se habilitet et specialiter in iuventute, quia qui nimis expectat, rudis et quasi inhabilis efficitur in cantu, quidquid sit de musica theorica.… Inde cum fuerit magis instructus, cantet sine solfatione et cantando cantus litteram proferat per se et sine notis, ac si notas illius diceret, nec hunc dimittat laborem donec indifferenter cantus specialiter ecclesiasticos invisos et inauditos, quasi ex improviso et sine magistro, secure decantare sciat ut sit musicus practicus vel cantor dici mereatur. Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.69 (198–9). Cf. Johannes Affligemensis (Cotto), De musica cum tonario, 50.
69 Hec duo reperiuntur in musica. Dulcis est quoniam inter omnes artes nulla tam velociter oblectat; utilis quoniam eius artifex, qui est musicus, novi et regularis cantus inventor et eiusdem iudex et irregularis potest esse corrector. Ex iam dictis diligenter intuenti patet differentia inter musicum et cantorem. Omnis enim musicus est cantor, sed non e contrario. Cantor enim qui est musicus et theoricus et practicus est in hac parte; cantor vero qui non est musicus nec etiam dici debet practicus, nisi nomine usurpato, quia practica tenetur procedere secundum preeuntis theorice rationem. Page, Summa musice, 54–55 (lines 222–232), 145.
70 Cf. Johannes Ciconia, Nova musica in Nova Musica and De Proportionibus, 2.59 (336–37) and de Zamora, Egidius, Ars musica, ed. Robert-Tissot, Michel, CSM, 20 (Rome, 1974), 59Google Scholar.
71 Cf. Reimer, Musicus und Cantor, 19–20.
72 Quarte ordine, dignitate prior, attenditur clarere glorianter in illis quos naturalis instinctus, suffragente mellice vocis organo, figuraliter reddit philomenicos, meliores tamen multo Nature munere philomenis et laude non inferiores alaudis, in quibus nobilis acquisitio artis cantorie organum naturale dirigit regulariter in modo, mensura, numero et colore. Page, ‘A Treatise on Musicians’, 16 (lines 56–61), 19.
73 Porro isti sunt quos tercia cantorum prescripta differentia, auctoritatem iudiciarie potestatis exercens in musica, et pro tribunali sedens pretorii musicalis in solio tamquam predictos, potentia, actu et habitu que cantorem venustum perficiunt iuste in cantoribus prepolentes iudicat, cum non inveniantur in aliquo defectivi. Ibid., 16 (lines 71–5), 20.
74 Arnulf de St Ghislain employed the term practicus musicus almost synonymously with cantor who combines expert knowledge with consummate singing ability. He discussed the abilities of the non-singing musici to judge and apply their knowledge to the domain of practice – if not in their own performance, then through the performance of others. Page, ‘A Treatise on Musicians’, 16 (lines 41–55), 19: ‘De eorum namque pectoribus nedum fluunt theorica musicalis doctrine fluenta; verumptamen praactizantes in illa facto padunt et opere unde auris sapientis et oculus practicum musicum indicant laude dignum.’ Arnulf's use of musicus is not systematic and occurs within a context in which cantor is the dominant term and category.
75 Of course, this would only be of concern to authors who, like Jacobus, desired to pay more than lip service to Boethius's auctoritas.
76 Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.3 (17): ‘And since “music” has two parts, namely the theoretical and the practical, he in fact is more properly the musicus who possesses the theoretical, which directs and governs for itself the practical’ (Et, cum duplex sit musica, theorica scilicet et practica, ille vere et proprie magis musicus est qui theoricam habet, quae practicam dirigit et sibi imperat). Cf. ibid., 1.16 (56). Concerning Jacobus's hierarchy of musical cognition, see George Harne, ‘Theory and Practice in the Speculum musicae’, 46–55.
77 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1177a11–1178a9.
78 Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, 1.16 (56).