The Antiphonary of St. Benigne (also called Antiphonarium Codex Montpellier) is an 11th century musical manuscript in a codex that records antiphonal responses of Gregorian chant, one of the earliest surviving pieces of written music. There are few extant 11th century musical manuscripts, with which scholars debate the realization of Gregorian chant in modern liturgical use and performance.
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William of Volpiano and St. Benignus of Dijon
A very rare form of tonary, which serves like a fully notated music manuscript for mass (gradual) and office chant (antiphonary).
This particular Antiphonary recorded the plainsong chant as it was performed in the Cathedral of St. Benigne, Dijon. It has been preserved in the Bibliothèque Inter-Universitaire, Section Médecine, at the University of Montpellier (Ms. H.159). It was issued as a facsimile in the series illustrating the relics of ancient musical notation, Paléographie Musicale (first series, Solesmes, 1896; reprinted twice: Bern, 1972; Solesmes, 1995).
Until Guido of Arezzo invented the musical stave on which to place notes, their relative pitch could be recorded, and so their melodic configuration is given, but not the precise notes. The notation of rhythm and duration of the notes in this historical period is obscure. The earliest rhythmic notational system, as in the codex preserved at Montpellier, is made up of neumes, a writing style which some have theorised to derive from diacritic marks; others have suggested that they come from the choirmaster's hand gestures. As neumes did not provide exact pitch relationships, they would have functioned as an imprecise prompt for a melody that the choir already knew.
This manuscript is particularly notable for the fact that it contains musical works written in two forms of notation: the old system of neumes, and a newer system, based on the letter notation (from A-N) written below. While this alphabetical system differs from the modern system, its interpretation is clear with regard to pitch.
