(fl c1260–80). Spanish theorist. A Franciscan, lector at Zamora and tutor to the son of Alfonso el Sabio, Egidius is thought to have written his Ars musica about 1270. It is dedicated to John, minister-general of the Franciscan order. Very conservative and depending greatly on the auctoritas of Boethius, Plato, Nicomachus, Guido, Isidore, the Egyptians and the Bible, and also on the works of al-Fārābī, the treatise deals with conventional matters of music theory, such as the monochord, mathematical proportions, solmization, Greek theory, mode and ethos. A long section mainly concerning instruments resembles a glossary and incorporates description, etymology and symbolism: it repeats, almost verbatim, some chapters in the treatise of Bartholomeus Anglicus, who himself drew on earlier sources. Egidius, however, added references to the guitarra, qanūn and rabr (?rebec), instruments probably well known in Spain. Further, he added a note on the word ‘organa’ in its special meaning of organ: ‘This instrument alone is used by the church in its various chants, in proses, sequences and hymns, other instruments having generally been rejected owing to their abuse by minstrels’.
GerbertS, ii, 369–93
H. Müller: ‘Der Musiktraktat in dem Werke des Bartholomaeus Anglicus De proprietatibus rerum’, Riemann-Festschrift (Leipzig, 1909/R), 241–55
G. Pietzsch: Die Klassifikation der Musik von Boetius bis Ugolino von Orvieto (Halle, 1929/R)
F.J. León Tello: Estudios de historia de la teoría musical (Madrid, 1962)
M. Robert-Tissot, ed. and Fr. trans.: Johannes Aegidius de Zamora: Ars musica, CSM, xx (1974)
D.M. Randel: ‘La teoría musical en la epoca de Alfonso X el Sabio’, Alfonso X el Sabio y la música: Madrid 1984 [RdMc, x (1987)], 39–51
R.M. Stevenson: Spanish Musical Impact Beyond the Pyrenees (1250–1500) (Madrid, 1987)
ANDREW HUGHES/R