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How did Gerbert of Aurillac contribute to the study of music?

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Sylvester II Sylvester II, detail from the ivory vessel used at the consecration of Otto III, 996; in the Domschatzkammer des Aachener Domes, Aachen, Ger.

Gerbert of Aurillac, who later became Pope Sylvester II, made significant contributions to the study of music through both his formal education and his practical inventions.

During his early life, Gerbert received training in music as part of the quadrivium—the higher division of the liberal arts—which also included arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. He possessed an extraordinary knowledge of the subject and applied his mechanical ingenuity to musical practice. Specifically, he is credited with constructing several organs and a monochord, an instrument used for the study of music theory.

It is important to note that while Gerbert was a scholar of music, he should not be confused with Martin Gerbert, an 18th-century abbot who authored De cantu et musica sacra, a well-known study of medieval sacred music.1