Constructing Cantus Securus: Reaping Advice from Cantor Cartusiensis

Morrison, Leah (2004) Constructing Cantus Securus: Reaping Advice from Cantor Cartusiensis. Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 45 (1-2). pp. 189-200. ISSN 0039-3266

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Abstract

Huntington Library Manuscript Fields 5096, a manuscript of Carthusian miscellanea from the 1480s, contains a didactic plainchant treatise: Liber alphabeti super cantu plano. It is a rare example of a practical treatise, an anonymous product of the Carthusian charterhouse at Val di Pesio in Piedmont. The original source may have been the notes of a scholar, someone who was competent and well traveled like Anthony de Aviliana. The study of plainchant and singing in the Carthusian community was relegated to a novice's study time, to be learned in solitude with the help of texts such as Liber alphabeti. The subjects discussed in it are those we would expect for a pedagogical work on plainchant. This work presents technical information in a way which promotes the well-being of its surrounding monastic community.

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