Editing Anonymous IV (section)

{{for|the all-female a cappella singing group|Anonymous 4}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2014}}
'''Anonymous IV''' is the designation given to the writer of an important treatise of [[Medieval music|medieval]] [[music theory]].<ref>The term originated in [[Edmond de Coussemaker]]'s compilation [https://books.google.com/books?id=f9FRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA327 Scriptorum de musica medii aevi, Volume 1], where the treatise appears fourth in a series of anonymous writings. He heads it "ANONYMI IV," which could mean "by Anonymous IV" or "by anonymous[:] IV".  [[Richard Taruskin]], in the ''[[Oxford History of Western Music]],'' has insisted that the designation apply only to the treatise and not to the author.  However, Taruskin's suggestion goes against common usage and has not, at least yet, gained popular support.</ref> He was probably an [[Kingdom of England|English]] student working at [[Notre Dame de Paris]], most likely in the 1270s or 1280s. Nothing is known about his life. His writings survive in two partial copies from [[Bury St Edmunds]]; one from the 13th century, and one from the 14th.

Along with [[Johannes de Garlandia (music theorist)|Johannes de Garlandia]] and [[Franco of Cologne]], whose work precedes his, Anonymous IV's writings are the main source for understanding the [[Notre Dame school]] of [[polyphony]]. He wrote about [[Léonin]] and [[Pérotin]], thereby assigning names to two of the composers of the music of the Notre Dame school who otherwise would have been anonymous. Léonin and Pérotin are among the earliest European composers whose names are known. Although they probably died at least fifty years earlier, he described them as still famous and part of the living tradition.

Anonymous IV mentions Léonin and Pérotin as the best composers of [[organum]] and [[discant]] respectively.  He also mentions specific compositions as being by Pérotin (or Perotinus), including the four-part organa quadrupla ''Viderunt'' and ''Sederunt''. Anonymous IV also mentions the work of the theorist Franco of Cologne; describes [[organum]], [[discant]]us, [[rhythmic mode]]s, and genres of composition; and gives rules for the use of notation and of [[consonance and dissonance]].