Hucbald ( – 20 June 930; also Hucbaldus or Hubaldus) was a Benedictine monk active as a music theorist, poet, composer, teacher, and hagiographer. He was long associated with Saint-Amand Abbey, so is often known as Hucbald of St Amand. Deeply influenced by Boethius' '' De Institutione Musica'', Hucbald's (''De'') ''Musica'', formerly known as ''De harmonica institutione'', aims to reconcile ancient Greek music theory and the contemporary practice of Gregorian chant with the use of many notated examples. Among the leading music theorists of the Carolingian era, he was likely a near contemporary of Aurelian of Réôme, the unknown author of the '' Musica enchiriadis'', and the anonymous authors of other music theory texts ''Commemoratio brevis'', ''Alia musica'', and ''De modis''.

Life

Born in northern France, about 840 or 850, Hucbald studied at Elnone Abbey (later named Saint-Amand Abbey, after its 7th-century founder) where his uncle Milo was chief master of studies (''scholasticus''), in the diocese of Doornik. He made rapid progress in the sciences of the '' quadrivium'', including that of practical music, and, according to a laudatory 11th-century biographical account, at an early age composed a hymn in honour of St Andrew, which met with such success as to excite the jealousy of his uncle. It is said that Hucbald in consequence was compelled to leave Saint-Amand and to seek protection from the bishop of Nevers. He was also a companion of studies of such future masters as

Remigius of Auxerre Remigius (Remi) of Auxerre ( la, Remigius Autissiodorensis; c. 841 – 908) was a Benedictine monk during the Carolingian period, a teacher of Latin grammar, and a prolific author of commentaries on classical Greek and Latin texts. He is also accr ...

and

Heiric of Auxerre Heiric of Auxerre (841–876) was a French Benedictine theologian and writer. He was an oblate of the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre from a young age. He studied with Servatus Lupus and Haymo of Auxerre. His own students included Remigius ...

, perhaps as a disciple of the court philosopher

Johannes Scottus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot, or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877) was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most ...

. In 872 he was back again at Saint-Amand as the successor in the headmastership of the monastery school of his uncle, to whom he would have been presumably reconciled. Between 883 and 900 Hucbald went on several missions to reform and reconstruct schools of music damaged or destroyed by the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, including those of St. Bertin and Rheims. In 900, however, he returned to Saint-Amand, where he remained until his death on 20 June 930.

Works

Music theory

The only theoretical work which can positively be ascribed to Hucbald is his ''Musica'' (formerly known as ''De harmonica institutione''), probably written about 880. The work shows considerable influence from the writings of Boethius, and by extension Ptolemy. The '' Musica enchiriadis'', published with other writings of minor importance in Gerbert's ''Scriptores de Musica'', and containing a complete system of musical science as well as instructions regarding notation, has now been proved to have originated elsewhere about the same time and to have been the work of unknown writers belonging to the same intellectual ''milieu''. This work is celebrated chiefly for an essay on a new form of notation described today as Daseian notation and its readable transmission of the first record of Western polyphonic music.

Compositions

A few sacred compositions can be somewhat securely attributed to Hucbald, some are found in the Winchester Troper and Sarum antiphoner. Literary sources suggest that he wrote many other now lost works.

Other works

In addition to his musical works, Hucbald also wrote literary poetry intended to be read rather than sung. Two poems in classical Latin hexameters survive. One is the remarkable ''Ecloga de calvis'', a poem of 146 lines in praise of baldness, in which every word begins with the letter C (the first letter in the word ''calvus'', "bald"). The catalogue of illustrious bald men includes kings, generals, poets, doctors, and even the apostle Paul. Although the poem was probably written during the reign of Charles the Bald, there is no evidence to support the common assumption that it was dedicated to him, and a separate 54-line prefatory poem that precedes the work in the manuscripts explicitly dedicates it to Hatto, the archbishop of Mainz. The ''Ecloga de calvis'' circulated widely during the Renaissance: at least six printed editions are known from the first half of the 16th century, and Erasmus in one of his dialogues recommends recitation of its alliterative lines as a cure for stuttering. The other hexameter work, ''De diebus Aegyptiacis'', is a short astrological poem listing the days of ill omen in each month of the year. Hucbald also wrote a number of prose saint's lives.Texts i
''Patrologia Latina'' 132

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * (In the series

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

.) *

External links

musicologie.org
List of manuscripts, editions, and bibliography.

PDFs of Latin texts of Hucbald's works from Migne, ''

Patrologia latina The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between ...

'' vol. 132.
''MGH Poetae'' 4,1
Digital version of P. von Winterfeld, ''Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini'' IV.1 from th
DigitalMGH project
Latin texts of the hexameter poems ''De calvis'' and ''De diebus Aegyptiacis'', together with two hymns in honor of St Theoderic.
Codex 169(468)
from the Abbey library of Saint Gall, including Hucbald's ''Musica'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hucbald 9th-century births 930 deaths Year of birth unknown Frankish Benedictines Christian hagiographers Dutch music theorists Tonaries Writers from the Carolingian Empire Carolingian poets 9th-century Latin writers 9th-century composers 10th-century composers