Questioning The Music Of The Spheres In Thirteenth-Century Paris: Johannes De Grocheio And Jerome De Moravia OP

Abstract

This chapter explores the tension between Aristotelian and Boethian perspectives on music at the University of Paris in the later thirteenth century through comparing two, very different treatises: the Ars musice of Johannes de Grocheio, active in Paris in the later thirteenth century, and the Tractatus de musica of the Dominican, Jerome de Moravia. Whereas Jerome draws heavily on the authority of Boethius, Grocheio turns to Aristotle to justify an account based on the practice of music in Paris. After introducing these two figures, the chapter explores the contrasting ways in which they respond to the authority of both Boethius's De musica and Aristotle's De caelo . Keywords: Aristotle; Boethius; Jerome De Moravia; Johannes De Grocheio; Paris; thirteenth century