ORGANISTRUM. A short study about its possible repertoire.

ORGANISTRUM. A short study about its possible repertoire.

The Organistrum is always depicted in instrumental groups either related to the parade of King David (Old Testament) or to the group of the 24 elders of the Apocalypse (New Testament). The characters are in full robes, except for one of the two musicians from the Hunterian psalter (the one in charge of the crank, may be a servant). In the latter representation, in the capital of Boscherville and in the sculpture of Compostela, the musician who acts on the keys seems to have his mouth ajar, as if mid-song.

It is necessary to carefully analyze the few documents at our disposal in order to obtain as much information as possible.

Before I introduce this new phase of my research, however, let us recall the thoughts of two authors who had the same intuition about the function of Organistrum.

Francis W. Galpin in Old english instruments of music, 1910, states:  

"The Organistrum, for such was its name at first, is undoubtedly derived from the Monochord, a simple contrivance for ascertaining the intervals of the musical scale by a series of movable bridges".

Laura de Castellet in: The sound space: Thought, Music and Liturgy, in the volume: Spaces of Knowledge: Four Dimensions of Medieval Thought, Barcelona, ​​2014, writes:

“At any rate, the Organistrum was not conceived as a relative or a surrogate of the organ for the embellishment of sound within the temple. For instance, the presence of an organistrum amidst the twentyfour elders of the Apocalypse of the Gate of Glory … and at the collegiate church at Toro (Zamora), does not mean that such instrument leads any kind of concert, but that it symbolically represents the study of the language of sound, mathematical speculation, and cosmological order, and the approach to the divine essence. The elders are not making music, but rather preparing themselves - some of them are tuning their instruments- both intellectually and spiritually to face the advent of a new order of things. » p.39.  

According to both scholars, the Organistrum finds its origins from an instrument used to measure the pitch of sounds since ancient times.

However, in order to seriously consider the possibility that it played a significant role in musical practice too, it is necessary to identify its possible scope of use.

 

THE MUSIC

 

The context in which the instrument is described or depicted is always, and only, that of sacred music.

When it was still believed that the Organistrum had first appeared in the 9th century, it seemed to some to find an indirect reference within the treatise Musica enchiriadis.

The anonymous author meticulously describes a polyphonic practice called Organum parallelum. He states that the use of instruments was allowed in polyphony, so long as these strictly respected the voice pitches (Pia,2011). This encouraged some researchers to attribute to the Organistrum the role of Organum parallelum performer. They stated that two strings were tuned an octave apart and the third had to be tuned to the fourth or fifth (e.g. C3 – F3 /G3 – C4) (Rault, 1985). In other instruments one string is tuned to a fundamental pitch, the other two a fifth above (Kurt Reichmann). When operating a key all three strings are shortened.

Today, we know that the documents, correctly dated, place the lifetime of the Organistrum between the end of 11th and the end of 12th century. In this period, musicians were experiencing new forms of polyphony as the organum sillabicum (es. Ad organum faciendum, M.17sup., Bibl.Ambrosiana, Milan), organum melismaticum or floridum (codex of Saint Martial de Limoges and Magnus liber organi de Notre Dame), the discantus, the clausula and conductus (Codex Calixtinus and Magnus liber organi de Notre Dame).

It is impossible not to wonder whether the Organistrum had any relationship with such repertoires. If it did, we must then direct our attention to finding out how, with what tuning and using what type of scale.

The first element of judgment is the definition of the area of ​​sacred music as characteristic of all representations of the instrument.

The second is the diatonic scale indicated in the precious drawing by Gerbert.

The sacred music of the time theorizes and exclusively employs the diatonic scale - this must have been the scale of any musical instrument. The series of bells and keyboards of the Romanesque organs do not, in fact, include fictae other than the Bb.

The keyboard of the Compostela instrument, with eleven keys within the half of the diapason, and therefore apparently chromatic, could probably be organized as in fig.9.

 

                    A2      ---          B         C3               D                E          F                   G 

                  

A3     ---       Bb        B        C4                  D                 E       F                 G4

 

                      A2       ---        B         C3               D                E          F                   G                    

 

0                    1        2         3*         4        5        6       7      8*       9      10        11  

                    

 

fig.9  Diatonic  keyboard with 11 keys within the half of the diapason.

 

The nuts of the bass strings, both tuned in A2, are positioned further forward the nut of the middle string, tuned in A3, by the space of a semitone. The keys have hurdy-gurdy-like separate tangents and have vertical movement. Keys 4, 6, 9, 11 touch only the outer strings to play the notes of the lower octave. Key 1 acts on the central treble string passing under the nuts of the lateral strings. Keys 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 10 touch the treble string to play the notes of the highest octave. Keys 3 and 8 are the only ones enabled to act alternatively on the central string or on the side ones, after 90° rotation of the bar (fig.10).

The scale starts from A2, and not from C3 as in Gerbert, because A2 is the lowest note of the repertoire (cod. Pluteus, c.LXX r.), as can be seen from the analysis of the parts of tenor of the melismatic Organa in Magnus Liber Organi de Notre Dame. The tenor part’s highest note is generally D4, and only in very rare cases F4 (code Pluteus, c.LXVII r. And LXXXIIII, r./v.), while A4 appears only in non-melismatic compositions (code Pluteus, LXXXVIII r.).

In the first octave the Bb is missing, though this note is not foreseen in the Guidonian Gamut and consequently is not used in this repertoire. The natural B of the same octave is found, at least to my knowledge, only in one case (cod. Pluteus, c. CXXII).

To play the notes of the first octave, the player who turns the crank keeps the middle string away from the edge of the wheel. To continue on to the second octave, he moves the side strings away. All this to avoid using the Organistrum as a drone instrument, limited to only two modes at a time, in a style appropriate for secular and folk music performances.

Using the same string selection system, the compass from A2 to F4 - and up to A4 - can also be obtained with the 8 key diatonic keyboard, having the foresight to tune two strings in A2 and the third one an octave higher.  (In this case, however, the position of the sib would necessarily be at the beginning of the row and not, as in Gerbert's keyboard, at the end).

Should this system look too complicate we can imagine a shorter diatonic keyboard for Compostela Organistrum (long enough for playing most of the tenor parts of the repertoire) starting at A2 (all three strings), with no Bb in the first octave, reaching the eleventh key on D4 including Bb in the second octave. In this case the keys row would end visibly beyond the middle of the string (1/2 + 1/8 of diapason), the spacing of the keys couldn’t be regular as in the sculpture.

Nevertheless, no matter how structured, the diatonic keyboard of an Organistrum or a Romanesque organ could have been useful to the musician in order to check the right intervals while composing the vox organalis of organum melismaticum.

 (translated from Italian)

from the book:

Giuseppe Severini

"Organistrum. Un caso di archeologia sperimentale"
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Organistrum keyboard  from Portico de la Gloria, Santiago de Compostela.

Organistrum keyboard from Portico de la Gloria, Santiago de Compostela.

Symphonia / Organistrum

keyboard

in Santiago de Compostela cathedral.

(Inquiry into a troubling problem of interpretation.

Analysis of possible solutions.)

FOREWORD

In former articles, I both wrote about different aspects of this problem and discussed practical means to build an acceptable replica of the instrument. My aim is to deal not only with organological and technical subjects but to examine musical ideas connected to them, the way Music was considered both as an art and as part of the mathematical knowledge of Nature, since Pythagoras to the Middle Ages and further.

FEW WITNESSES

Several researchers have already carefully studied the few witnesses related to this instrument. I am not going to repeat the whole list, I just want to offer a short survey here.

We can find many features common to all specimens: the soundbox, consisting, as usual, of two oval/circular parts plus the neck, three strings are stretched along this body, then a keyboard showing 6 to 8 keys within the half of the diapason, sound holes are often in a D shape. The keyboard mechanism is depicted only once, in an 18th-century copy (Gerbert) of a 13th c. deperditum  manuscript: 8 revolving keys and the list of the notes, from C to c (including Bb and B) are clearly visible.  This drawing tells us clearly that one of the strings, (maybe all the three strings) was in C and that the three strings were touched by each key at the same time following a diatonic scale.

The six letters on the right compose the word magada (latin but having greek origins) written at the right place, around the wheel and the bridge. (In musical treatises, i.e. the manuscript containing the most famous Ad organum faciendum in Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, XI c., magada is the name given to the bridges of the monochord)

 

Another well known 13th-century manuscript entitled “Quomodo organistrum construatur” illustrates the method to divide the monochord into the eight stops of a diatonic scale starting from Ut, but we don't find a description of the instrument nor information about its use. Scholars guess it was played mainly for sacred music along the 12th century. Christopher Page, the only one who faced the problem of the name: Symhonia / Organistrum, has several doubts about and no definite answers.

SOME FEW SPECIMENS

We know that almost all depictions and witnesses belong to the 12th century, but the year and the decade are mainly unknown. Since it is impossible to follow an exact chronology we cannot pretend to outline the evolution of this instrument. To study carefully the observable features is the only serious way to face the subject.

In Ahedo de  Butron (Burgos) sculpture, one of the musicians might be turning a crank with his right hand, while with his left-hand forefinger he is actually touching the second string of five; the second musician is touching the third string with his right-hand forefinger and with the other hand is turning the corresponding tuning peg. 

 

Hortus deliciarum

 

There is no evidence of a keyboard  in Hortus deliciarum manuscript. In Ahedo, since there is no trace of both crank and wheel, possibly the two musicians are either just tuning a long size Viella or tuning an Organistrum with no keyboard:

Soria Ahedo de Butron

In Soria sculpture (Spain) we observe only one string (?), no bridge, no wheel, no keys. The musicians look as they were actually turning a wheel and pulling the keys, but the damages suffered by this sculpture do preclude a clear observation of details. On the contrary, the similarly shaped instrument in Boscherville capital (France) presents crank, tailpiece, wheel, and keys.

Bosh Boscherville

What was this wheel intended to do, but to produce a continuous sound? This is the first observation with musical relevance in our description. Now, suppose we have built a long size Viella, about twice the size of a usual one, with a wheel in it: one of the two musicians can stop the strings all along the neck with his fingers, but he is not at ease cause his fingers interfere accidentally with the other strings. This is why a system of keys might have been suggested. In some depictions they appear, 6 to 8 within half of the diapason. They look like flat bars passing beneath the strings (Boscherville and Vercelli) or we can see the top of them protruding from the lid that hides the inner mechanism. That these keyboards were designed for a diatonic scale is out of doubt. The question is: were the bars equipped with tangents in order to operate on one string only or more than one?

According to Gerbert’s drawing, all  keys are acting on the three strings simultaneously in order to play a simple melody on the  three strings tuned at the same pitch. No other useful information is offered by the drawing : no indication of drones, no alternative tunings.

Eventually, if we want to extend the c scale, we should tune the lateral strings in c, the middle one  in c'. Then, by lifting the middle string and then the two laterals, (this task carried out by the man in charge of turning the wheel) we can obtain two full octaves.

 

NO DRONES

As we assume that the instrument served to sacred music only, no use of drones have to be admitted, according to western tradition (although many scholars nowadays, influenced by byzantine fashion, perform  gregorian chants also adding drones) 

 

POSSIBLE REPERTOIR

During the XII century benedictine monks were developing a new technique in polyphonic singing:  

the vox organalis was no longer in parallelum, dismitting the teaching of Musica enchiriadis and Micrologus,  and became freer. 

What was the new instrument role in that new music fashion?

To play the tenor part in organum melismaticum or floridum  for instance, as a ground reference for the upper voice.

A similar role (and similar limits as well) would pertain to the romanesque pipe organ (see J.Ferrando's article in: L'instrumentarium du Moyen Age. Paris, L'Harmattan,2015). 

The geographic area includes Spain and France mainly, then England, Germany, and Italy

 

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA INSTRUMENT

At the top of the Gate of Glory in Santiago de Compostela cathedral magister Mateus sculpted a wheel instrument in the middle of the range of the 24 Elders of Apocalypse all around the Lamb. This gate is dated precisely the year 1188. This specimen differs from all others we have examined

  1. In its general shape
  2. In quantity and quality of decorations
  3. Having 11 keys within the octave.

The soundbox consists of two perfect circles connected through lobes and a rectangular box containing the keys. The string length is equal to the circumference of circles. Four triangular sound holes with little holes at the edges are cut in the first circle. A large quadripartite rosette with vegetable decoration is carved in the second circle. An interlace decoration made of 11 knots and 12 spaces is cut all along the rectangular keyboard lid.

Some of these features are unique among all depictions of the instrument. In other articles, I examined these characteristics in the light of musical theory, astronomy, and cosmology of the time. In the present paper I would like to focus on the interpretation of the keyboard with 11 keys within the octave, describing a possible reconstruction of it.

Many important scholars believe that this number indicates a chromatic division of the keyboard. Although they are aware of the fact that no chromatic scale was in use in the 12th-century music, they accept as a piece of absolute evidence that this abnormal chromatic keyboard was used for transposition. This is absurd because no full transposition of any melodic line spanning one octave at least can be made within a single octave! 

My idea is that this setting of keys could be only apparently chromatic and might serve a diatonic scale, this way: two lateral bass strings (a), middle treble string (a') whose nut lies a semitone behind the other two. This pattern works only with this tuning, enlarging Gerbert diatonic scale two tones under the c and reaching the g' of the second octave, including all useful notes of tenor parts in XII century organum melismaticum.

Please look at the next picture: notice the first octave blue (no flat here), the second octave red (chance on 8th bar only between e first octave and f second octave obtained by turning 90° the cilindric bar)

 

 

Please, watch the video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6vv4IPGgRk

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

This report gives rise to more doubts than certainties.

Santiago instrument appears to be the more complicated version of a wheel instrument documented for few decades during the 12th century, whose main relevance was due primarily to the continuous sound produced by the wheel, secondarily to the keyboard mechanism. 

We know nothing about the wheel and we assume it was a wooden one with rosin on it. Then we don't know whether the performer used to lift any of the strings from the wheel occasionally or not.

We ignore both the tuning and the keyboard mechanism in detail. It is possible that different solutions have been adopted here and there in different moments and places, including a simpler version with no keyboard at all.

At the beginning of  the XIII century the instrument disappeared.  Wheel instruments survived into smaller forms, playable by one performer, being equipped with a more practical  keyboard, to serve secular music.

 

THE BOOK

http://www.tipheret.org/product/organistrum/?fbclid=IwAR1pCpvrZoeboCslNiv2n2ZuWeoTJfQwI34C2Kuo8Px8J-QJn_AiPS9KH8A 

A new video:

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polyphonic keyboard

Organistrum: new polyphonic keyboard

My reconstruction of the instrument is mainly based on my own interpretation of its possible musical function. Since I want to consider it  as a genuine polyphonic instrument I  invented  a  special  keyboard, fit for 12th century two voices polyphonies, suggesting also a different managing of the wheel.

Keyboard

By tuning the strings  either:  A – d – a   or:  A – e – a    we get an overall extension of two chromatic octaves (minus the last semitone). Before lifting each key, the performer  can choose which string he is going to touch, simply by turning the key to the proper position: the first one allows him to operate on the bass string, the second on the middle one, the third on the higher string.

Thus it is possible to play two different melodic lines simultaneously. In Santiago sculpture the hands of the musician on the right are on the third and on the fifth key. This means he is playing  -c, g -  rather than  -d, f -  bichord on bass and middle strings,  or  - g, c’  rather than  - f, d’- bichord on middle and higher strings (first tuning).

 

First string                              a..       a#      b     c’     c’#     d’

Middle string                         d..       d#      e      f      f#      g    

Bass string                            A..       A#      B     c     c#      d

Keys                                      0          1       2     3       4      5

 

 In position 4 the key is provided with two tangents so as to act on  second and  third strings (tuned either in Fifth or Fourth)  at the same time to perform  Organum parallelum, leaving the bass string as a drone. 

How they calculated the semitones progression

Known medieval texts neither describe  nor discuss about the possibility of a chromatic scale. But, reading Boethius's De institutione musica, easy to be found in monastic libraries since 9th century on, the monks could learn a lot about semitones both from pythagorean tradition and from Aristoxen's. There are only few lines, but enough, dedicated to the description of Aristoxen's practical method to divide the monochord. From this source the medieval scholar could learn a practical method in order to draw a correct chromatic scale of 12  tempered semitones. We discuss about this in this article:

 

 

connecting astronomical and musical  knowledges through 10th and 12th centuries. Anyway, this idea comes from very early roman sources: Plinius and Boethius. In case the author of Santiago instrument intended to describe a revolutionary full chromatic/polyphonic keyboard we can suppose he was aware of that very ancient tradition.

 

Wheel

On the other side, the musician who is in charge of turning the crank, by a smooth, even movement of his right hand,  can also lift one or even two of the strings from the edge of the wheel with his left hand in order to stop them vibrating. This way you can either avoid conflicts between the voices or stop  undesired drone effects.  

 

LISTEN TO POLYPHONIC SYMPHONIA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpZP62BPVGY

 

BOOKS:

http://www.tipheret.org/product/organistrum/?fbclid=IwAR1pCpvrZoeboCslNiv2n2ZuWeoTJfQwI34C2Kuo8Px8J-QJn_AiPS9KH8A 

                                                                                      

 

 

BUILDING A REPLICA OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA INSTRUMENT

I chose one big  Red Willow (Salix purpurea) planck, seasoned in nature, from which I  carved the sound box and the base of the keyboard in one piece, average thickness  8-10 mm. Flat back, flat sides as in the original. 

GENERAL MEASURES:                      

 Total length    940mm                                                                                                           

Max width      230mm                                                                                                              

 Depth              80mm                                                                                                                

 Diapason        720mm

 

In the bottom of sound box I drilled a 10mm hole for the wooden axis, made of Beech (Fagus silvestris). Axis ends into another hole of 10mm drilled directly with no axle box in a wooden bar (Spruce) 15mm thick, glued between the two lobes of sound box which has been carved out of one piece of Spruce (Picea  abies) 8mm thick with no other bars glued underneath. Keyboard  box is independent from the body of the instrument and can be easily removed to modify  general level of the bars, changing their angle with the strings or making reparations. The 11 bars of the keys, diameter 10mm, are of Pine (Pinus nigra) and the 55 pivoting tangents of Beech. The problem of the distances among the bars is discussed in the present article. To avoid noise made by the bars returning to their previous position, after being pulled up to play, a stripe of cloth has been glued at the bottom of the keyboard. The carved lid has been made of Spruce, 8mm thick and is simply interlocked with the body of the keyboard without any hinge or other device.

The wheel, 11cm  wide and 20mm thick is of Walnut (Juglans regia) and forced on  wooden axis without any screw, nail, or wedge. No axle box at the end. The Beech crank , stuck in the square end of the axis, can be easily removed. The soundboard is glued to the body of the instrument , no sound pole in it. The bridge is of Poplar (Populus nigra) reinforced with a Beech edge. The tailpiece  of Chestnut (Castanea sativa) is linked to the bottom of sound box by a leather lace. Tuning pegs are of Beech, no need for a tuning key. Two light  layers of pure almond oil have  been used as  finishing . Gut strings: 0.80, 1.10, 1.40mm.

 

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Organistrum de Compostela. An astronomical approach

Organistrum de Compostela. An astronomical approach

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA SYMPHONIA CAELESTIS

An astronomical approach

published in:

Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, vol. 18, n° 4 (2018), pp.345-352.

 

1 : Gate of Glory:

Gate of Glory extrados in Santiago de Compostela Cathedral is crowded by statues bearing different kinds of stringed instruments. At the very top of the gate two of them are playing a beautifully carved and decorated instrument, the so calledOrganistrum.

2 : The top instrument:

This curious object has been largely studied and several reconstructions have been proposed and carried out by scholars and luthiers during the past 40 years, nevertheless some aspects are still uncertain, such as its symbolic significance and its peculiar musical role.

3 :: Symphonia::

Let’s start considering its special location.The statues of the extrados represent the 24 elders of Apocalypse. They can be symbols of Time (24), Music (musical instruments) and Divine symphony (they are heavenly creatures) too.

4 :: Two Performers::

The two performers at the top are very close to Christ’s head, position as usual occupied by angels. If we compare them to the other musicians we observe they look to be the only two actually playing and they are playing the most complex instrument of all. The idea that it could be given a deeper symbolic significance is strengthened by closer observation of its features. A revolving object, the wheel, creates the sound from strings stretched over a sound box made of two equal circles, to which an unusual keyboard is added, equipped with 11 keys, so that the octave is divided into 12 parts.

All this is strange enough and absolutely unique, in XII century atleast !, and we need referring to any kind of theological, philosophical, mathematical and musical theory of the age to give a reasonable interpretation of it. Medieval Latin Platonism, for example, mainly related to Chartres cathedral school, well connected with Paris and Santiago, brings to us interesting suggestions.

5 :: Ordering the Heavens::

Platonists thought that at the beginning of creation, making the World Soul, Demiurgos was dealing with three abstract elements: Being, Sameness and Difference. Establishing the right proportions among sameness and difference, he gave the World Soul the shape of two circles one inside the other and put them into the material World, thus creating both the Sphere of fixed stars and the plane of planetary orbits. Circular motions of planets and stars were thus connected in perfect harmony, like the strings of a well tuned Lyre or the pipes of a well cut Pan flute[1].This set-up is reflected in our instrument.

6 :: Symphonia Coelistis::

A circular sound box, theCircle of Sameness, contains the wheel , that represents planetary motion: the Circle of Difference. This is the origin: the invisible World Soul. Thenanother circle is added, the visible world, Cosmos, with its charming beauty. At lastwe find the keyboard, with 11 keys dividing the octave in parts, the symbol of human mind, which divides and measures in order to understand Natural phenomena. Therefore, the widespread philosophical principle “Veritas est adaequatio intellectus et rei “ (translation: truth is an adjustement between intellect and things) is well represented here, as we can observe that the vibrating string-length (rectilinear thought) is equal to the circumference of each circle of the sound box (Nature and abstract world).

Further suggestions come fromthe analysis of instrument decorations.

  1. A long line of DOTS runs all around the outline of the instrument. They are symbols of the stars. From left to right: first circle, the idea of the stars in the abstract world; second circle, the visible stars; keyboard, our knowledge of the stars (straightened).
  2. The large ROSETTE in the middle represents the Visible World, a circular figure divided in four equal sections by two perpendicular axes. Each section is occupied by a five lobes leaf and twigs (these leaves are similar to those sculpted all around the 24 Elders). The division in four sections may refer to the four elements of material world.

7 :: Diagram of the Seasons

This figure recalls diagrams of the seasons frequently drawn in glosses of IX-XII century astronomical manuscripts or even more elaborated drawings.The main goal of any scholar was to calculate accurately the length of each season in order to obtain an exact and affordable calendar to establish with great accuracy both the dates of Christian feasts and the right hours for prayer in monasteries[2].

8 :: IX-XII centuries decoration patterns ::

Finally, KEYBOARD LID decoration, unique among all other decorations sculpted in the Gate, shows a rare pattern, which had been popular in some areas around the Alps and in Ireland between IX and XI centuries, rather neglected in the XII[3].

9 :: Keyboard ::

Each knot of the interlace corresponds precisely to one key of the 11keys protruding out of the rectangular box. This division in fact is the most puzzling feature of all, as nobody could justify the introduction of a chromatic scale in XII century, when only strict diatonism was allowed. But we discovered that, curiously enough, both the unusual decoration and the division of the octave in 12 semitones can be referred to diagrams of planetary latitudes, related to musical scales as well, in astronomical manuscripts of the age.

10 :: Planetary latitudes diagrams ::

Such diagrams were intended to represent planetary latitudes across the zodiacal band, divided vertically in 12 degrees. As usual the horizontal line of these grids was divided in 30 parts, but since XI century we often find 12 in order to signify the 12 zodiacal signs. The Sun and Saturn were given a serpentine path within the two middle degrees of the zodiac, Jupiter had three degrees, Mars four, Mercury eight, the Moon covered the zodiacal band with its 12 degrees of latitude. Venus was assigned a latitude of 14 degrees, one degree beyond the zodiac on each side.

11 :: Planetary latitudes diagrams ::

TCmanuscript

Then, in a manuscript by Abbo de Fleury (c 940-1004) we find a horizontal column list of the Plinian intervals between planetary orbits attached to planetary latitudes grid[4]. Whether 14 semitones can be counted in total, the musical octave spanning from Moon to tha Stars is divided into 12 semitones (semitone being the unit of measurement of the scale, clearly enough).Thus, our XII century chromatic scale shouldn’t be considered as a scandal any longer! Besides, experimenting with our special keyboard with keys ranging about two full chromatic octaves demonstrates that this arrangement fits quite well XII century two voices polyphonic music.

12 :: The name

For these reasons we feel the name of Symphonia or Symphonia magna or Symphonia caelestis would be more appropriate for this instrument than the usual, uncertain and rather mocking name of Organistrum.

Its representationin Santiago could have been an exclusive message for a restricted group of scholars capable of understanding the cosmological and musical implications of a non-traditional object that had been invented of course by monks  trained in the liberal arts of Quadrivium.

 

[1]Bruce S. Eastwood.Ordering the Heavens. Roman astronomy and cosmology in the Carolingian renaissance. Brill, 2007   Reasoning about circular and rectilinear motions in: Guglielmo di Conches, Glosae super Platonem. See: Martello Concetto,Platone a Chartres. Palermo, Officina di studi Medievali, 2011, p.86.

[2]Stephen C. McCluskey.Astronomies and cultures in early medieval Europe.Cambridge University Press, 1998, p 97-113.

[3]Giulia Marrucchi e Riccardo Belcari, La grande storia dell’arte. Il Medioevo. Firenze, E-ducationS.p.A., 2005, p 146-7

[4]Bruce S. Eastwood.,Astronomy in Christian latin Europe c.500-c.1150.

in JHA, xxviii (1997) Science History Publications Ltd. p 250-3

VIDEO:   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6vv4IPGgRk

BOOK:

http://www.tipheret.org/product/organistrum/?fbclid=IwAR1pCpvrZoeboCslNiv2n2ZuWeoTJfQwI34C2Kuo8Px8J-QJn_AiPS9KH8A 

ARTICLE:

https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/archeologiesperimentali/article/view/8489

 

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