Editing Hucbald

{{short description|Benedictine monk and music theorist (c. 850 – 930)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
[[File:De harmonica institutione.jpg|thumb|Hucald's ''Musica'', page 125 in the Codex 169(468) from the [[Abbey library of Saint Gall]]]]
'''Hucbald''' ({{circa|840 or 850}} – 20 June 930; also '''Hucbaldus''' or '''Hubaldus''') was a [[Benedictine monk]] active as a [[music theory|music theorist]], poet, composer, teacher, and [[hagiographer]].{{sfn|Chartier|2001|loc="Introduction"}} He was long associated with [[Saint-Amand Abbey]], so is often known as '''Hucbald of St Amand'''.{{sfn|Chartier|2001|loc="1. Life"}} 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''.{{sfn|Chartier|2001|loc="Introduction"}}

==Life==
Born in northern France, about 840{{sfn|Manitius|1911|p=588}}{{sfn|Raby|1934|p=249}}{{sfn|Weakland|1956|p=68}} or 850,{{sfn|Chartier|2001|loc="Introduction"}} 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]].{{sfn|''Britannica''|2021}} 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.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} It is said that Hucbald in consequence was compelled to leave Saint-Amand{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and to seek protection from the bishop of [[Nevers]].

He was also a companion of studies of such future masters as [[Remigius of Auxerre]] and [[Heiric of Auxerre]], perhaps as a disciple of the court philosopher [[Johannes Scottus Eriugena]]. 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 [[Normans|Norman]], including those of [[St. Bertin]] and [[Reims|Rheims]]. In 900, however, he returned to Saint-Amand, where he remained until his death on 20 June 930.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Works==
===Music theory===
[[File:Muziekkast en piano met een reliek van Sint-Cecilia Piano, BK-1996-9.jpg|thumb|A 19th century piano depicting Hucbald (far left) among other Christian and musical figures.]]
The only theoretical work which can positively be ascribed to Hucbald is his ''Musica'' (formerly known as ''De harmonica institutione''), probably written about 880.{{sfn|Palisca|1978|p=5}}{{sfn|Chartier|2001|loc="3. The theorist"}} The work shows considerable influence from the writings of [[Boethius]], and by extension [[Ptolemy]].{{sfn|Palisca|1978|p=5}}

The ''[[Musica enchiriadis]]'', published with other writings of minor importance in [[Martin Gerbert|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]]{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and its readable transmission of the first record of Western [[polyphony|polyphonic music]].{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

===Compositions===
A few sacred compositions can be somewhat securely attributed to Hucbald,{{sfn|Chartier|2001|loc="3. The composer"}} some are found in the [[Winchester Troper]] and Sarum antiphoner.{{sfn|Palisca|1978|p=4}} Literary sources suggest that he wrote many other now lost works.{{sfn|Palisca|1978|p=4}}

===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 [[hexameter]]s 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").<ref>Text in [https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_poetae_4_1/#page/(261)/ Winterfeld 1899, pp. 261–271]; [https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/02m/0840-0930,_Hucbaldus_Sancti_Amandi,_Ecloga_De_Laudibus_Calvitii,_MLT.pdf ''Patrologia Latina'' 132, cols. 1041–1045].</ref> The catalogue of illustrious bald men includes kings, generals, poets, doctors, and even the apostle Paul.{{sfn|Raby|1934|pp=249-250}} 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 I|Hatto]], the archbishop of Mainz.<ref>The assumption that Hucbald wrote the work for Charles, which was already circulating in the 11th century, was repeated by the editors of the earliest printed editions, including the 17th-century German philologist Kaspar von Barth, who added to the poem 15 spurious verses containing a direct address to the emperor in order to support his argument. Winterfeld ([https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_poetae_4_1/#page/(261)/ 1899, pp. 264, 271]) reviews the evidence and both he and Manitius ([https://archive.org/details/geschichtederlateinischenlitmani1/page/588/ 1911, pp. 588, 591]) dismiss it as a fiction. The confusion is compounded by the fact that Hucbald is known to have sent other verses to Charles, including a poem on self-control (''De sobrietate'') written by his uncle, Milo ([https://archive.org/details/geschichtederlateinischenlitmani1/page/588/ Manitius 1911, pp. 588, 590]).</ref> 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.{{sfn|Sheerin|1980}}

The other hexameter work, ''De diebus Aegyptiacis'', is a short astrological poem listing the days of ill omen in each month of the year.<ref>Text in [https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_poetae_4_1/#page/(272)/ Winterfeld 1899, p. 272].</ref> Hucbald also wrote a number of prose saint's lives.<ref>Texts in [https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0840-0930-_Hucbaldus_Sancti_Amandi.html ''Patrologia Latina'' 132].</ref>{{sfn|Manitius|1911|pp=591-592}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Hucbald|volume=13|page=847}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Chartier |first=Yves |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Hucbald of St Amand |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.13475 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000013475 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
* {{cite book |last1=Manitius |first1=Max |title=Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters I: Von Justinian bis zur Mitte des zehnten Jahrhunderts |date=1911 |publisher=Beck |location=Munich |pages=588–594 |url=https://archive.org/details/geschichtederlateinischenlitmani1/}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Palisca |editor-first=Claude V. |translator-last=Babb |translator-first=Warren |others=Index of chants by [[Alejandro Enrique Planchart]] |year=1978 |title=Hucbald, Guido, and John on music: Three Medieval Treatises |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven and London |isbn=978-0-300-02040-3 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Raby |first1=F. J. E. |title=A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages, vol. 1 |date=1934 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |pages=249–250 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsecular0001unse }}
* {{cite journal| journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance| volume=42| issue=1| pages=167–171| last=Sheerin| first=Daniel J.| title=A Carolingian Cure Recovered: Erasmus' Citation of Hucbald of St. Amand's ''Ecloga de Caluis''| date=1980| jstor=20676067 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Weakland |first=Rembert |date=January 1956 |title=Hucbald as Musician and Theorist |journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=66–84 |jstor=740475 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Winterfeld |first1=Paul von |title=Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini IV.1 |date=1899 |publisher=Weidemann |location=Berlin |pages=261–275 |url=https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_poetae_4_1/#page/(261)/}} (In the series [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]].)
* {{cite encyclopedia |date=1 January 2021 |title=Hucbald &#124; French music theorist &#124; Britannica |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=Chicago |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hucbald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827222101/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hucbald |archive-date=27 August 2021 |url-status=live |ref={{sfnRef|''Britannica''|2021}} }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* McAlhany, J. ''Beards & Baldness in the Middle Ages: Three Texts''. Brooklyn, NY: Leverhill, 2024 (contains a translation of the ''Ecloga de calvis'', with notes, and brief overview of Hucbald's life and career) {{ISBN|979-8-9896993-0-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Chartier |first=Yves |year=1995 |title=L'oeuvre musicale d'Hucbald de Saint-Amand: les compositions et le traité de musique |publisher=Bellarmin |location=Montréal |isbn=978-2-89007-732-4 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Fuller |first=Sarah |date=Spring 2008 |title=Interpreting Hucbald on Mode |journal=Journal of Music Theory |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=13–40 |jstor=40607028 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Grutchfield |first=E. J. |date=1 June 1930 |title=Hucbald: A Millenary Commemoration |journal=[[The Musical Times]] |volume=71 |issue=1048 |pages=507–510 |jstor=917357 |doi=10.2307/917357 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.musicologie.org/Biographies/h/hucbald.html musicologie.org]. List of manuscripts, editions, and bibliography. {{in lang|fr}} 
* [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0840-0930-_Hucbaldus_Sancti_Amandi.html Documenta Catholica Omnia]. PDFs of Latin texts of Hucbald's works from Migne, ''[[Patrologia latina]]'' vol. 132.
* [https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_poetae_4_1/ ''MGH Poetae'' 4,1].  Digital version of P. von Winterfeld, ''Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini'' IV.1 from the [https://www.mgh.de/en/digital-mgh/dmgh DigitalMGH project]. Latin texts of the hexameter poems ''De calvis'' and ''De diebus Aegyptiacis'', together with two hymns in honor of St Theoderic.
* [http://dx.doi.org/10.5076/e-codices-sbe-0169 Codex 169(468)] from the [[Abbey library of Saint Gall]], including Hucbald's ''Musica''
{{Medieval music}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hucbald}}
[[Category:9th-century births]]
[[Category:930 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Frankish Benedictines]]
[[Category:Christian hagiographers]]
[[Category:Dutch music theorists]]
[[Category:Tonaries]]
[[Category:Writers from the Carolingian Empire]]
[[Category:Carolingian poets]]
[[Category:9th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:9th-century composers]]
[[Category:10th-century composers]]