840–912

Monk
Historian
Composer

The First Medieval Composer.

Notker Balbulus (c. 840–912), the earliest known composer, was a monk at the Benedictine Abby of Saint-Gall in Switzerland who wrote history and poetry. Notker (his name Balbulus means "the stutterer") wrote poems and accounts of the lives of a number of saints. His rather idealized history of the life of Charlemagne (The Deeds of Charles the Great) is still consulted as an historical document. His most important contribution to music was the Liber Hymnorum (Book of Hymns) which contains a set of 33 sequences that he composed. These were some of the first of what became standard additions to the Alleluia chant in the Mass. According to Notker, his models were from an antiphoner (liturgical book containing antiphons and other items) that was brought to Saint-Gall in 860 by a monk fleeing from the monastery of Jumièges (in northwest France...