Some of the earliest written notes in western musical history discovered in Pennsylvania

Researchers in Pennsylvania have uncovered what they believe are some of the earliest written notes in western musical history – on a ninth-century manuscript that 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 documenta vellum manuscript leaf from a Latin sacramentary, a Catholic liturgical book used in western Europe during mass from the mid- to late 800s.

While earlier written forms of ancient musical notes exist, notably the Hymn to Nikkalcarved into clay tablets dated between 1400 and 1200BC, the sacramentary markings are among the first known depicting the birth of modern western music, according to the researchers.

They were discovered by historian and author Nathan Raab, president of the Raab Collection, during the evaluation of the document presented to him by the private owner. Raab believes the notations were previously overlooked or misunderstood, and he said he spent months researching their origin and significance.

“This is an incredibly early witness to our modern use of musical notations at its very dawn, and its discovery is a further reminder to us in the business of historical discovery that sometimes those discoveries are hiding in plain sight,” he said.

The document was probably created in Germany in the second half of the ninth century, Raab said, and the text is for Easter services. The notation marks, inflections and accents above the words represent instructions for the rising and falling of pitch “as a visual aid to the singer”.

The earliest surviving examples of musical notations in western music are the manuscript of the Laon Graduala Gregorian chant, housed at the municipal library in Laon, France, and the Cantatorium of St Gall in the abbey library at Saint Gallen, Switzerland, both dating to the late ninth or early 10th centuries.

Raab said the medieval document in his possession, valued at $80,000, could be even older. No earlier document is known to exist in any private collection or has reached the private market, he said.

“While music has been a constant of human culture, its written form has not,” a press release announcing the discovery states.

“This leaf stands among the very earliest witnesses to the notation of music in the west, alongside the Laon Gradual and the St Gall Cantatorium at its very earliest possible dating.”