In
the Middle Ages, music was one of the seven liberal arts, taught in both the
cathedral and monastic schools of Normandy. Music was considered to be a science
and it was one of the arts of the Quadrivium (with arithmetic, geometry
and astronomy). 
The
abbey that was most famous for the quality of its musical training was Fécamp.
A school of singing was created and run by one of the first two abbots of
Italian origin, William of Volpiano (1001-1028) and his disciple John of Ravenna
(1028-1079). They were probably the first to establish a musical notation system
where notes were represented by letters: A, B, C, etc. This system is still used
today especially in the English and German speaking countries. In parallel with
this, during the 11th century, signs were used, called
"neumes", to represent the developments of melody above liturgical
texts. These were gradually arranged around a line. This was the starting point
for the stave, which also seems to have originated in Fécamp. The German abbot
Isembard of La Trinité-du-Mont (died 1054) 
and
his disciples composed numerous pieces of music.
We know
little of secular music. In the 12th century, at the court of Henry
II and Eleanor of Aquitaine an author by the name of Wace probably sang his
songs in the Norman dialect, and in particular his Roman de Rou. 
In
the following generation, King Richard the Lion Heart was himself a composer: we
know of a song by him and he can thus be included among the ranks of the
minstrels.
We know
about the musical instruments represented in the manuscript miniatures in the
great monastic libraries (Jumièges, St Évroult or Mont-Saint-Michel). The harp
often appears, as this was the traditional instrument of King David. Stringed
instruments are represented, as are wind instruments such as the trumpet, flute
or organ. This last instrument had begun to come into use in churches. At the
turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, Baudry of Dol writes
with enthusiasm about the installation of an organ in the abbey church of Fécamp.
François Neveux
ouen - Office
universitaire d'études normandes
Université de Caen
Ill. : Bibliothèque
municipale de Rouen
Music in Normandy in the 11th and
12th centuries
