User:Shlishke/Letter notation

Ottawa: Institute of Mediaeval Music 1989;  272 p.;   illus., facs., music, bibliog., index, charts, diagr., transcr. ISBN: 0-931902-63-0.

Publication Type: book, monograph, or pamphlet;  bm

Major Topic: Performance practice and notation - Notation and paleography

Abstract:

Part 1 discusses the letter notations found in medieval theoretical writings, tonaries, and practical sources including the repertoire and notational features of the a-p, A-G, and a-q systems, and pitch-letters. Part 2 catalogues 57 MSS containing about 300 items recorded by alphabetic notation. The description of each codex includes the date, number of folios, size, provenance, summary of contents, title of pieces, type of letter notation, genre, and a brief bibliography. The a-p system, the most widely used letter notation, appears in MSS from Norman monasteries reformed by Guillaume de Volpiano early in the 12th c., while the A-G/a-q system is found in only a few sources outside of music theory treatises. (author)