Guido of Arezzo

Guido of Arezzo (also: Guido d' Arezzo the Elder, (Guido ) Aretinus and Guido Monaco; * to 992; † unsure: May 17, 1050 Avellana ) was a Benedictine monk, music theorist and teacher.

• 4.1 The scale

Life

Guido of Arezzo went before 1020 in the Abbey of Santa Maria in Pomposa at Ferrara, where he studied the treatises of Odo, Abbot of St. Maur. 1023 or 1025 he left the monastery and became under Bishop Theobald of Arezzo ( 1023-36 ) Teacher the Cathedral of Arezzo.

1025 and 1026 was Guido of Arezzo music major theoretical work Micrologus de disciplina artis musicae, where among other things he passed on the legend of Pythagoras in the forge of the descriptions of intervals and church modes. Probably in 1028 handed Guido of Arezzo Pope John XIX. ( 1024-33 ) at the latter's invitation in Rome a copy of his written yet in Pomposa Antiphonarium. In the preface of the work invented by Guido of Arezzo based on four lines in the third interval music notation is described for the first time. In the later written work " Epistola Michaeli Guidonis SWM de ignoto cantu directa " he explained now known as the solmization technology, the notes of a hexachord with the initial syllables of the lines of John's hymn Ut queant laxis ( 8th century, the melody of the hymn comes possibly by Guido himself) to sing - then ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, today expanded with the renamed to do ut to scale do-re -mi -fa -so- la -ti - (do).

Before Guido of Arezzo ( neumes ) were used for the musical notation sign, which allowed no information about the exact length or pitch of the sound. The actual melody was preserved by oral tradition. Guidos innovation should be, however, met in the Abbey Pomposa resistance because the monks are said to have feared for the exclusivity of their musical knowledge.

The Guidonian hand, a memory aid, in which each finger member is assigned a tone is, according to the testimony of Sigebert of Gembloux back out ( around 1105 and 1110 ) to Guido of Arezzo.

The most important innovations Guido of Arezzo

Notation on four lines

→ Main article: notation (Music)

Before Guido of Arezzo already existed the yellow C- line and the red F- line. The singer knew using these lines, where the half steps are the keys. The novelty Guidos was now that he sandwiched a black between the two colored lines. Now they had staves in third interval, as you were using it today.

If that's not enough, recommended Guido above or below nor to put a fourth line. In this vierlinigen form of Gregorian chant has lasted a thousand years and can still be read.

He also sat instead of the colored lines clef a (C- key and F key).

C clef: The C note is on the line to which the arrow points

F- key: The grade F is located on the line to which the arrow points

This system with staves in the third interval and clefs sat down by then and is still used today.

Gamut

The Tone Scale used at the time of Guido of Arezzo called relative pitch and was developed with the monochord:

Γ ABCDEFG A ♭ ( ♮ ) cdefg aa ♭ ♭ ( ♮ ♮ ) cc dd

It is striking that b and h occur. These were then never used in the same melody, but were necessary in order to realize a third semitone.

Hexachordsystem

→ Main article: Guidonische_Hand → Hexachord

Based on the above tone scale, Guido of Arezzo developed six- scales, the so-called hexachords. The special feature of this hexachords was that they had only a half step: between the third and the fourth tone. If one tries to use these hexachords in the above-mentioned tone scale, which manages three times:

From C - A: This hexachord was called Hexachordum naturale.

By F - D (via the b;, the h is omitted ): This hexachord was called Hexachordum molle.

By G - E (via the h;, the b -position): This hexachord was called durum Hexachordum.

About the whole tone scale is now revealed seven interlocking cross hexachords.

Solmization

→ Main article: solmization

Also be attributed to Guido of Arezzo is the solmization. He gave each sound a Hexachordes a syllable. From the John - Hymn ( 8th century ) Ut queant laxis he took the initial syllable in each half verse: ut- re-mi -fa -sol -la. Between mi and fa was the semitone.

Guido of Arezzo was shortened as a singing teacher, the long learning time of the Gregorian chant. A monk needed at this time more than ten years before he could sing all hymns, as the melodies had to be learned by heart. With the help of Guido von Arezzo's four- line system and its hexachords that were sung by onomatopoeia ( solmization ), the learning time of the chorales of ten years was reduced to ( after Guido himself) "one year ".

Quote

Difference between musicologists and singers

" Musicorum et cantorum magna est distantia. Isti dicunt, illi sciunt, quae Componit musica. Nam qui facit, quod non sapit, definitur bestia. "

"The difference between musicologists and singers is great. This information purposes only again, understand that what the music puts together. After all, who does something he does not know is referred to as an animal. "

Justification of the diatonic grading system

The diatonic system was justified already by the Greeks, but is only marked a key point in the development of Western music with Guido of Arezzo Guido of Arezzo as also documented the first approaches for polyphonic music. The Greek expressions used for Guido intervals, often contain the syllable " δια " ( by / from ): Diapason, Diapente, Diatessaron. For polyphony crosstalk or Organum was used. The characteristic of the diatonic scale is that it consists of only two times two whole and half tone ( tetrachord ) plus a whole tone, while the other two genres ( Modis ) chromaticism and enharmonic of ancient music theory are constructed from smaller intervals. The Western diatonic scale has its roots in the Greek mode of the diatonic scale.

The scale

" Micrologus Guidonis de disciplina artis di musicae Short Treatise Guidos on the rules of musical art translated and explained by Michael Hermes Dorff [ ... ]. Trier, 1876. [ ... ] "

In this work, Guido of Arezzo describes the structure of keys, which are now referred to as modes or church modes. These keys were used for the singing of Gregorian chant. Notes: The b that time there were twice as either ♮ b durum and as a ♭ b molle. In the same vein, there was never both simultaneously.

Headline: "Chapter III "

About the arrangement of the same on the monochords.

• After having first determined the letter Γ, one parts from it all lying under the string space into nine parts, and sit at the boundary point of the first Neuntels the letter A, with which all ancient theorists were the first. [ Whole tone Γ: A = 9:8 ]

• Once you have separated again in the same way from A to endpoint ↑ ninth, you just sit at the letter B. [ Whole tone of A: B = 9:8 ]

• Then you go back to Γ and share the room until the end of four parts; at the boundary points of the first part can be found C. [ fourth Γ: C = 4:3]

• By the same division into four is found as has been found by Γ from C, as well as the sequence from A D B from D and C of F from D is one G, E of the high A and F from the round ♭. [ Fourths A: D = 4:3, B: E = 4:3, C: F = 4:3, D: G = 4:3, E: a = 4:3, F: ♭ = 4:3]

• The following letter can now be easily obtained by successively halving the area of ​​previous similar, for example, from B until the end you sit in the middle of the room the other ♮. Similarly, C determines the other c, d and e D the other the other e, F the other f, G g and the other a, the other aa, ♭ ♭ ♭ the other, the other ♮ ♮ ♮, c the other cc, and d the other dd. Thus, one could proceed to infinity upwards and downwards, if not the law of art would forbid it. [ Octaves B: ♮ = 2:1, C: c = 2:1, D: d = 2:1, E: e = 2:1, R f = 2:1 G: g = 2:1 a: aa = 2:1, ♭: ♭ ♭ ♮ = ♮ ♮ = 2:1 = 2:1, c: cc = 2:1 d: dd = 2:1, etc. ]

Is under that provision the division of the monochord by Guido of Arezzo:

Summary, the following table shows ( according to later tradition was written in the German language instead of H B. These fluctuating term is related to the fact that in order was raised in the former tradition of sound that was originally voiced b as a semitone.

This is about the Pythagorean tone sequence, in which the ( Pythagorean ) whole tone, the frequency ratio of 9:8 (204 cents) and the halftone ( fourth - 2 * pyth whole tone. ), Also called limma, the frequency ratio of 256:243 ( 90 cents) ..

The seven neighboring tones give a church key (for example, Doric: DEFG a ♮ c )

Guido of Arezzo laid the foundation for our staff lines. Two notes on adjacent staves include - depending on location - a major or minor third.

The note names AHCDEFG a ♮ ... and the staff lines imply that each octave (from A to a, from H to h & c ) comprises exactly five whole tones and two semitones. All of these scales are therefore heptatonically and diatonic.

In the writings of the time you will find the term diatonic but not directly.

Honors

The medieval Latin hymn Laudes Organi ( in German: Praise of the Organ) immortalized Guido in the last verse:

The composer Zoltán Kodály has dubbed this praise hymn to music in 1966 for organ and choir.