Speculative 'Musica' and the Medieval University of Paris

Abstract

During the early Middle Ages quadrivial musica (the study of abstract mathematical proportion) was part of the educational programme in the liberal arts; the fundamental text was Boethius’ De institutione musica . With the rise of the universities in the thirteenth century, the goals of education and the content of the curriculum changed dramatically. Aristotelian logic and natural science virtually extinguished interest in the quadrivium—and necessarily music—at the university level. An analysis of the curriculum, teaching methods, questiones disputate (a derivative of the university dispute), and student examination questions at the University of Paris reveals that music had no place in the official instructional programme of the University. A few sources, however, indicate that Boethius’ De institutione musica still commanded interest in some circles, particularly at Oxford and in Central Europe in the fourteenth century.