Researchers in Pennsylvania have uncovered what they believe are some of the earliest written notes in western musical history – on a ninth-century manuscript they say remained “hidden in plain sight” for years in the hands of a private collector.
The notations – characters and dots similar to shorthand outlines – appear above the word “alleluia” on the document, a vellum manuscript leaf from a Latin sacramentary, a Catholic liturgical book used in western Europe during mass from the mid- to late 800s.
