Regarding your article about the discovery of a new example of early medieval musical notation (Some of the earliest written notes in western musical history discovered in Pennsylvania, 28 October), there are actually dozens of examples of neumes (early musical notes) that are as old or older than the one described. The fragment being sold is perhaps interesting to specialists, but it is neither unique nor surprising.
The invention of neumes was one of the most important innovations of the middle ages. What makes this invention remarkable is how the neumes simply begin to appear in many different forms and formats in many different centres across Latin Europe from the ninth century onwards, without there being a single identifiable “inventor”. They were mainly used to help singers remember difficult or uncommon chants, so they often appear only in small parts of a much larger manuscript, or were added in margins or on blank pages. The use of neumes offers a powerful witness to the vibrancy of written culture in the early middle ages. The fragment discussed is just one of many examples showing us how they were adopted.
Arthur Westwell
Munich, Germany
