Scholia enchiriadis

The Scholia enchiriadis is a significant medieval music theory treatise, likely written around 900 CE. It is attributed to an unidentified author known as Pseudo-Hucbald, though Hucbald himself was a French musical theorist.1

This work is notable for providing the earliest written description of polyphonic music, specifically parallel organum. In this style, a plainchant melody is sung simultaneously with another voice moving in parallel fourths or fifths. The Scholia enchiriadis also discusses a notation system called daseian notation, an early attempt to represent exact pitch. A "scholiast" is a commentator or annotator who writes scholia, which are marginal notes or remarks.12345