(HUGBALDUS, UBALDUS, UCHUBALDUS)

A Benedictine monk ; born in 840; died in 930 or 932. The place of birth of Hucbald-Amand is unknown. From the few data we have concerning his career we learn that he entered the Benedictine Order in the monastery of St-Amand-sur-l'Elmon, near Tournai, and that he added music to the other branches of study. Later he entered the Abbey of St-Germain-d'Auxerre, where he completed his general and artistic education. In 883 we find him teaching in the Abbey of St-Bertin. In conjunction with Rémi d'Auxerre, he re-established, in 892, in the Diocese of Reims, the old church schools for singing. Hucbald-Amand made successful efforts to improve and supplement the neumatic notation in use in his time, which indicated the rhythm of the melody, but left the singer dependent on tradition for its intervals. After an attempt to make use once more of the Greek notation, he invented the so-called Dazia signs, which both designate the intervals of the melody and also serve to indicate definitely the character of the various church modes. But these signs, being clumsy and cumbersome, did not attain lasting favour as a system of notation. Hucbald-Amand later used lines and the first letters of the Latin alphabet as a means of fixing the intervals of the scale, and in this way became an important forerunner of Guido of Arezzo. Hucbald's principal achievement, however, consists in having given a theoretic basis to the custom of adding another melody to the chant of the Church, which custom he called organum , or diaphonia (see COUNTERPOINT; HARMONY), thereby laying the foundation for polyphony which developed from it. Hucbald's genuine works (Gerbert, "Scriptores", I) are "De harmonicâ institutione", "Musica enchiriadis", "Scholia enchiriadis", and "Commemoratio brevis de tonis et psalmis modulandis". On account of the discrepancy between some of the theories contained in the first-named treatise and those taught in the "Musica enchiriadis" and the "Scholia enchiriadis", which belong to a much later date in the long life of the author, Hucbald's authorship of the last two works has been called in question, without good reason, however, since it has been pointed out that the "Scholia enchiriadis" is written as a sort of commentary or glossary on the author's first treatise and records the points wherein he had modified his theories.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online