Remigius of Auxerre - Influence On Music

Influence On Music

During Remigius’s lifetime, music in the domain of the Church was monophonic, which would not change until the 12th and 13th centuries. However, the groundwork for polyphony was laid in his lifetime, with the examination and interpretation of ancient philosophical works. Texts by figures from Plato to Martianus Capella explored the philosophical relationships between mathematics and sound, and later, verse. Early medieval thinkers interpreted these texts in different ways, the grammarians among them (including Remigius of Auxerre), discovering innovative connections between the structures of music and verse. Through the grammatical exegesis of philosophical texts on the mathematics of music, the foundation was laid for polyphonic music, which came to fruition at Notre Dame de Paris some three centuries later.


It is interesting to note that during the Carolingian period, the Roman Church had difficulty instituting a universal structure of the Mass because the ritual in France included a strong oral and musical tradition not present in that of the Roman Church. Music was then institutionalized by Rome, necessitating the grammarians’ interpretation of ancient philosophical discourses on music.

Read more about this topic:  Remigius Of Auxerre

Famous quotes containing the words influence and/or music:

    I think of consciousness as a bottomless lake, whose waters seem transparent, yet into which we can clearly see but a little way. But in this water there are countless objects at different depths; and certain influences will give certain kinds of those objects an upward influence which may be intense enough and continue long enough to bring them into the upper visible layer. After the impulse ceases they commence to sink downwards.
    Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)

    Nearly all the bands are mustered out of service; ours therefore is a novelty. We marched a few miles yesterday on a road where troops have not before marched. It was funny to see the children. I saw our boys running after the music in many a group of clean, bright-looking, excited little fellows.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)