Medieval Music Theory in Austria

In Austrian libraries and archives exist about 120 manuscripts and fragments dating from the 10th to 16th centuries that transmit - in the broadest sense - musical thought and theory. These sources, highly important for our understanding of the practical music of the Middle Ages, have been catalogued for the International Repertory of Musical Sources. The evaluation of these documents in critical editions with commentary is a desideratum of science especially for the region of modern Austria. We think not only of the musical treatises written by the Benedictine abbots Bern of Reichenau and Engelbert of Admont; their works are of primary importance within the Austrian tradition and have already been edited by the project participants. Equally fundamental to the understanding of music theory are texts throwing light upon the musical culture of certain monastic orders (as the Cistercians or the Carthusians). Apart from numerous choral treatises we also know works transmitting local practices in the area of polyphonic music. Of medieval music aesthetics, which is otherwise difficult to grasp, we are informed by a hardly known manuscript of the 13th century. These selected texts permit us to understand better the characteristics of musical culture and music theory in medieval Austria.