The influence of Arabic music on European medieval music

The Arabic musical tradition exerted a significant and long-lasting influence on the development of European music in the medieval period. This influence can be traced in various aspects of musical art: from instrumentation and music theory to performance styles and musical forms. The cultural exchange between the Arab world and European states, which was particularly intense between the 8th and 15th centuries, created the basis for many musical innovations that later became important elements of the European musical tradition. This study highlights the historical routes of the spread of Arabic music in Europe, analyzes specific areas of influence, and examines the most important personalities who contributed to this cultural exchange.

Historical background of cultural exchange

The interaction between the Arab and European worlds has a centuries-old history, conditioned by various factors: geographical proximity, trade relations, military conflicts and conquests. A particularly significant period of cultural exchange was the Islamic Golden Age (8th-14th centuries), which coincided with the European Middle Ages (6th-15th centuries). During this period, the Islamic Caliphate was a world empire stretching from India to Spain, which created conditions for the spread of Arab culture, including music, over vast territories.

It should be noted that the term "Middle Ages" is most applicable to European history, the period of relative cultural weakness between the fall of the Roman Empire (476 CE) and the beginning of the Renaissance (c. 1400 CE). At the same time, Arab civilization was flourishing. Through the conquests of the Islamic Empire, Arabic and Persian music spread in all directions: westward through North Africa to Muslim Iberia (Al-Andalus), eastward to Central Asia and China, and southeastward to India.

The contrast between the global spread of Middle Eastern musical influences and the relative isolation of European music during the medieval period highlights the significance of this cultural exchange. The global spread of Arabic and Persian music shows that the subsequent worldwide spread of Western music was a result of European colonialism rather than an inevitable process.

Of particular importance in this interaction was Al-Andalus, the territory of the Iberian Peninsula that was under Muslim rule from the 8th century until 1492. This region became a key space for cultural exchange between the Islamic and Christian worlds. Sicily, conquered by the Muslims in 965 and recaptured by the Normans in 1091, was also an important zone of interaction, where a syncretic Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture developed.

The Path of the Arabic Musical Tradition to Europe

The spread of Arabic music to Europe occurred through several main channels. First, there was the significant role of traders, scholars, and pilgrims, who were able to acquire musical instruments and bring them home. There is evidence of an industry in the time of Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) for the production of musical instruments, some of which were exported, probably to non-Muslims, through Muslim-controlled areas of Europe.

Secondly, itinerant singers, musicians and storytellers, usually accompanied by their instruments, visited Christian towns and villages, especially in northern Spain, southern France and Italy. For example, a folk instrument called the rabab (rebec) was often used to accompany poetic recitations. As the historian Farmer has noted, “More than the instruments themselves were borrowed. The wandering Arab minstrel was the chief means by which these oriental instruments became known, and he simultaneously transmitted a new type of music. He may indeed have been the founder of the class of itinerant minstrels which spread throughout Europe.”

Third, translators and their translations played a significant role in the dissemination of Arabic musical ideas, especially from the 12th century onwards. The ideas of scholars such as al-Farabi (Alpharabius) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) were translated into Latin and adopted by European authors including Vincent de Beauvais (d. 1264), Pseudo-Aristotle (c. 1270), Roger Bacon (d. 1280), Walter Odington (c. 1280) and Jerome of Marawiya (13th century).

The spread of Arabic music was also facilitated by Christian scholars who spent some time studying in Islamic lands. It is widely known that music was taught in Andalusian colleges. Ibn Farnes (died 888) was the first to introduce it as an important part of the curriculum.

The cities of Toledo (especially after its conquest by Spanish Christians in 1085) and Sicily became the main points of transmission of Islamic knowledge to Europe. In Sicily, after the Islamic conquest of the island in 965 and its reconquest by the Normans in 1091, a syncretic Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture developed, exemplified by rulers such as King Roger II, who had Islamic soldiers, poets, and scholars at his court.

Musical instruments of Arabic origin

One of the most obvious areas of influence of Arabic musical culture on European culture was musical instruments. By the 10th century, Muslim Iberia had become a center of musical instrument production. These instruments gradually spread to Provence, influencing the French troubadours and trouvères, and eventually reached the rest of Europe.

Many names of European instruments were borrowed from Arabic. The English words lute, rebec, guitar, and naker all come from the Arabic words al-’ud, rabab, qitara, and naqqara. Some Arabic terms (such as qitara) were in turn borrowed from Vulgar Latin, Greek, and other languages such as Persian.

Not only were the instruments themselves borrowed and used, but they also played a fundamental role in the evolution of European music, as other “European” instruments developed from them. For example, the al-oud (lute) was widely used in Europe before it morphed into other musical instruments, including the guitar and mandolin. The Spanish and Portuguese gaita, the English wavgh and bagpipes all derive from the Arabic ghaita.

The kanun inspired the early English and Irish harps (ninth century) and was the basis for the Austrian (German) zither. The stringed instruments known collectively as fiddles are descended from the Persian kamancha and the Arab rabab. European brass instruments such as the French horn and trumpet are all descended from the zurna. Some scholars suggest that their form was influenced by the Byzantine horn brought to Europe in the tenth century, but Byzantium itself was under Muslim instrumental influence.

The Persian santur (cymbals), consisting of a wooden box containing 12 to 18 strings and two movable rows of bridges on which the performer strikes the strings on either side of the bridges with light wooden hammers, led to the development of keyboard instruments including the pantaleon (1697) and the piano (18th century).

Influence on music theory and notation

The influence of Arabic musical theory on European music was no less significant than its influence on instrumentation. A number of clues in medieval Latin treatises on music allow us to trace the path that leads to the conclusion that the teachings and works of Arabic and/or Mozarabic music theorists also influenced Western European music theory.

Arab music theorists such as al-Farabi (872-950/951), who wrote Kitab al-Musika al-Kabir (The Great Book of Music), and Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (1216-1294), produced fundamental works on music theory that were later translated into Latin and influenced European authors. Al-Farabi’s book prescribes various aspects of music such as maqamat (modal systems) and is thought to have been influenced by the Pythagorean theory of harmonic relationships.

Of particular interest is the influence of Arabic theory on the development of European notation and solfeggio. The well-known solfeggio system (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and si) is widely known as Latin, derived from the syllables of the Hymn of St. John. The Italian musician Guido d’Arezzo (c. 995-1050) is credited with its invention in 1026. However, some scholars, such as Villoto (d. 1839), took Laborde’s position, acknowledging the Muslim influence on music theory.

Comparing Guido’s musical scale with the Muslim one, he found striking similarities that led him to believe that the former had borrowed his theory from the Muslims. Guido d’Arezzo, a Benedictine monk from the Italian city-state of Arezzo, noted the difficulty singers had in memorizing Gregorian chants by rote learning, especially as the liturgy rapidly expanded and more feast days were added to the calendar.

He invented a method that allowed singers to learn chants in a short time without the help of a "master" to teach them, and quickly became famous throughout northern Italy. Soriano is known to have discovered that Guido studied in Catalonia. Junque established that Arabic syllables were found in an 11th-century Latin treatise written at Monte Cassino, a place that was occupied several times by Muslims and was the retreat of Constantine the African, the great Tunisian scholar who moved from Tunis to Salerno and then to Monte Cassino.

In the mid-9th century, Aurelian of Rome, considered the first musical theorist along with Remi of Auxerre, mentioned a new musical theory of eight tones, although he claimed to have derived it from Greek sources. Pseudo-Hucbald, Pseudo-Bernelin, and Notker Labeo (1022) all used phonetic (alphabetic) notation, a method first used by Muslims, especially al-Kindi (died 874). Herman Contractus (died 1054) was deeply influenced by Muslim learning. A number of scholarly works are attributed to him, including De mensura astolabii and two other treatises on music.

Modality and Church Modes

The Enchiriadis treatises, written in the second half of the ninth century, are also notable for conveying one of the earliest states of ecclesiastical mode theory. The musical teachings of the Enchiriadis treatises center around two theoretical concepts: the notion of finalis (final tone) and ambitus or melodic range. Interestingly, there is no discussion of octave modes or the theoretical octave ambitus so fundamental to later definitions of mode. Likewise, there is no discussion of psalm tone formulas.

The modal teachings of the Enchiriadis are centered around two theoretical concepts: the notion of finalis (the final tone) and ambitus or melodic range. There are four finalises in the treatises (protus, deuterus, tritus, and tetrardus), each of which gives its name to and dominates the authentic and plagal modes. The finalises correspond to the modern modes of D, E, F, and G. The finalis is the basic determinant of the mode, and is so named because every correct melody ends on one of these four modes.

The tuning used in medieval Europe was also different from our familiar equal temperament system. It was a system of pure intonation, based on the pure perfect fifth. In this system, the semitones were not all equal. Small adjustments were made to the tuning and intervals to make them more pleasing to the ear; and the medieval ear had different preferences than our modern ears. This is another reason why the modes sounded very different from each other, although this feature may not be present today when a chorale is performed using equal temperament.

Influence on musical forms and styles

Arabic music had a significant influence not only on instrumentation and theory, but also on musical forms and styles that developed in medieval Europe. One of the most striking examples is its influence on the troubadours and trouvères tradition.

Troubadours and trouvères were singers and writers of lyric poetry who typically wrote about chivalry and courtly love. The troubadour tradition began in southern France in the late 11th century and spread to Italy and Spain during the 12th century. The female counterpart to the male troubadour was the trobairitz, and the term trouvère describes the singer-songwriters of northern France.

These composer-performers are often credited with inventing fixed forms of secular music and poetry that evolved into some of the modern lyrical forms we still use today, such as the verse-chorus form. Although it is still a subject of intense debate, many music historians and medieval scholars believe that these European poet-composers derived their literary and musical forms from the Arab world. In particular, Andalusian poetry — that is, poetry written in Spain during periods of Islamic rule — may have provided this foundation for the troubadours.

The music of al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia) is thought to have originated in the Emirate of Cordoba (al-Andalus) in the 9th century. The Iraqi-born and raised Ziryab (d. 857), who later became court musician to Abd al-Rahman II in Cordoba, is sometimes credited with inventing it. Later, the poet, composer, and philosopher Ibn Bajjah (d. 1139) of Zaragoza is credited with fusing Ziryab’s style with Western approaches to create an entirely new style that spread throughout Iberia and North Africa.

The influence of Muslim music and poetry on the spread of medieval jugglers in Spain and southern France is well documented. Spanish troubadour poetry, for example, may have roots in Andalusian muwashshah and zajal poetry, forms of verse with repeated refrains that were often sung with musical accompaniment.

Andalusian musical tradition

Ahmad al-Tifashi (died 1253) in his encyclopedic work Fasl al-khitab fi madarik al-khawas al-khams li-uli al-albab divided the Andalusian musical tradition into four types: nasheed, sawt, muwahhash and zajal. The nasheed was a classic monorhyme poem consisting of an istihlal (a pre-composed vocal prelude, probably with an instrumental response) and an amal (a composition combining vocal and instrumental parts).

Andalusi classical music (Arabic: طرب أندلسي‎, romanized: tarab andalusi; Spanish: música andalusí), also called Andalusi music or Arabo-Andalusi music, is a genre of music originally developed in al-Andalus by the region’s Muslim population and the Moors. It then spread and influenced many different styles throughout the Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia) after the expulsion of the Moriscos.

Some of its poems come from famous authors such as al-Mu’tamid ibn Abbad, Ibn Khafaja, al-Shushtari and Ibn al-Khatib. This tradition had a profound influence on the musical development of southern Europe, especially on the formation of the troubadour and minstrel styles that later spread across the continent.

Key figures in cultural exchange

Several prominent figures played an important role in the development and spread of Arabic music, and in its influence on the European tradition. One of the most famous is Ziryab (died 857), whose name translates as “blackbird,” a colloquial Arabic term. He was a freed slave who achieved success by charming the royal court of Cordoba with his songs. He founded a school of music whose fame survived more than 500 years after his death.

Ibn Hayyan of Cordoba, one of the greatest historians of Arab Spain, says in his monumental work, Al-Muqtabas, or Quotation, that Ziryab knew thousands of songs by heart and revolutionized the design of a musical instrument, which became the lute. He spread the new musical style throughout the Mediterranean, influencing troubadours and minstrels and influencing the course of European music.

He was also the arbiter of taste, style and manners of his generation and had a huge influence on medieval European society. The way people dressed, what and how they ate, how they groomed themselves, what music they enjoyed – all were influenced by Ziryab. If you eat asparagus, or if you start your meal with soup and finish with dessert, or if you use toothpaste, or if you wear your hair with bangs, you owe it to one of the greatest musicians in history – Ziryab.

Another significant figure was Ibn Bajja, also known as Avempace in the Western world, a multifaceted figure who had a major influence on the intellectual and cultural milieu of the medieval Mediterranean. Born in Zaragoza, northern Spain, Ibn Bajja was not only a profound philosopher, but also served as a vizier to various Almoravid rulers, first in his hometown and then in Xativa, southern Spain, before finally moving to Fez, Morocco, where he died around 1139.

Although Ibn Bajjah is primarily known for his philosophical contributions, he had a notable influence on the field of music as a theorist and practitioner. His Kitab fi al-nafs (Book of the Soul) addresses the topic of acoustics, reflecting his involvement in the scientific aspects of music. Unfortunately, his reportedly comprehensive treatise on music, which was said to parallel the work of the famous philosopher al-Farabi, has not survived to this day.

Despite the loss of this important work, Ibn Bajja’s reputation as a skilled composer and player of the oud, a short-necked lute-like instrument, endured for centuries. His songs were still mentioned by the eminent Arab historian and philosopher Ibn Khaldun centuries after his death.

Al-Farabi and al-Urmawi: Music Theorists

Al-Farabi (872-950/951) is another key figure in the history of Arabic music’s influence on European music. His Kitab al-Musika al-Kabir (The Great Book of Music) was an influential treatise on music in Arabic. In the work, he prescribed various aspects of music, such as maqamat (modal systems), and is thought to have been influenced by the Pythagorean theory of harmonic relationships.

The book was translated into Hebrew by Joseph ben Judah ibn Aqnin and influenced European music theorists until the eighteenth century. Al-Farabi divided Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir into two treatises. The first treatise consists of two parts; following the Aristotelian tradition, al-Farabi divided his study of music into theoretical and practical aspects. The first part, consisting of two discourses, is an introduction, establishing the theoretical principles of music and examining how sound is generated. The second part applies the theoretical principles established in the first part to the musical instruments in use during al-Farabi’s time, and discusses musical intervals and different types of melodies.

Safi al-Din al-Urmawi al-Baghdadi (born c. 1216 in Urmia, died 1294 in Baghdad) was a musician and writer on music theory. Based on its terminology, al-Urmawi’s "international" modal system was intended to represent the prevailing Arabic and Persian local traditions.

As a young man, he went to Baghdad and received an education in Arabic language, literature, history, and calligraphy. He became renowned as an excellent calligrapher and was appointed a copyist in the new library built by the Abbasid Caliph al-Musta’sim. He also studied Shafi’i law and comparative law (Khilaf Fiqh) at the Mustansiriya Madrasa, which opened in 631 AH (1234 CE).

A Lasting Legacy

The influence of Arabic music on the European musical tradition has been profound and long-lasting, although this is often under-recognized in traditional historical studies. Many musical instruments came to European civilization from Islamic civilization, and much of this is little known and rarely acknowledged.

The linguistic evidence from the names of a wide range of instruments clearly establishes their Arabic-Muslim origin. Not only were these instruments themselves adopted and used, but they also played an important role in the evolution of European music, as other "European" instruments were derived from them.

In addition to instruments, Arabic music influenced music theory, especially through the translation of important Arabic treatises into Latin. The works of al-Farabi influenced European music theorists well into the eighteenth century, teaching, for example, the 5/4 ratio (major third), which was almost unknown in the West until then.

The influence of Arabic music on the troubadour and trouver tradition was also significant. Troubadours and trouveres are often credited with inventing fixed forms of secular music and poetry that evolved into some of the modern lyrical forms we still use today. However, many music historians and medieval scholars believe that these European poet-composers derived their literary and musical forms from the Arab world, especially Andalusian poetry.

The role of wandering Arab minstrels in spreading oriental instruments and a new type of music throughout Europe is also difficult to overestimate. The influence of Muslim music and poetry on the spread of medieval jugglers in Spain and southern France is well documented.

Thus, the history of European music may owe more to Arabic culture than is commonly believed. Globalization in recent decades has led to some exciting cross-cultural collaborations among musicians. However, we have always been a global society, in which the sounds of many cultures mix to create new forms of expression. Since the Middle Ages, musicians in Europe have eagerly embraced musical traditions from all over the world, from the Indian subcontinent to the shores of North Africa. In fact, one of the most influential phenomena in the history of European music may be that which came from Arabic culture.

Translations and knowledge transfer

Translators played a special role in the transmission of musical knowledge. Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187), who worked in Toledo after the city was conquered by Spanish Christians in 1085, translated many Arabic works into Latin, including works on music. The influence of al-Farabi’s treatise Ihsa al-Ulum (De scientiis) on writers on music in Western Europe was significant.

The project, which focuses on traces of Arabic music and musical theory in Latin medieval Western European manuscripts as multilingual phenomena, focuses on three thematic studies: the use of Arabic terminology in diagrams in Latin musical treatises, the materialization of Arabic musical theory in Latin translations of al-Farabi’s works, and references to Arabic texts and music in Western European compositions.

They examine for the first time the reception, dissemination routes and challenges associated with the acculturation of Arabic music and musical theory in the Latin Middle Ages from a perspective that includes the material evidence of manuscripts. This allows for a better understanding of how the process of cultural exchange took place and which specific elements of Arabic music were adopted by the European tradition.

The ideas of al-Farabi (Alpharabius) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) were translated into Latin and adopted by Vincent de Beauvais, Pseudo-Aristotle, Roger Bacon, Walter Odington and other European scholars. These translations contributed to the dissemination of Arabic musical theory and practice in Europe and had a significant influence on the development of European musical thought.

Synthesis of traditions

The process of cultural exchange between the Arabic and European musical traditions was a two-way process, although in the medieval period it was Arabic music that exerted a greater influence on European music than the other way around. This exchange led to a synthesis of traditions that enriched both cultures.

It is extremely rare for one culture to be completely isolated from another, especially when travel and communication between regions are easy: most people, in most places, try to get along more or less well, even when their differences are pronounced. European music of the medieval and Renaissance periods is by no means an exception to this rule of exchange.

For a more prolonged and complex example of cultural hybridization in Europe, one need only look to the unprecedented meeting of influences that took place in what was then known as al-Andalus, or the Iberian Peninsula. Here, a diverse mix of peoples from Iberia, Africa, and the Middle East were brought together in the context of their competing and overlapping cultural traditions over many centuries. Within this environment, a musical synthesis of an extraordinary kind took place, resulting in a uniquely Andalusian music that subsequently spread throughout Europe.

Although it is impossible to say with certainty how much the music of Al-Andalus or the Islamic world influenced the music of medieval Europe, there is ample evidence of the intersection of these traditions. European music in the Middle Ages did not develop in isolation, but in constant interaction with other musical cultures, especially with the Arabic culture, which was at a high level of development at the time.

Modern research on the impact

The question of the Arab influence on the music of Western Europe has attracted more and more attention from researchers in recent years. In practical art, the class of medieval minstrels not only adopted the Arab instruments themselves, such as the lute (oud), rebec (rabab), guitar (kitara) and others, but also the musical techniques of their performers.

In the theoretical arts, clues in medieval Latin treatises on music allow us to follow a path that leads us to the conclusion that the teachings and writings of Arabic and/or Mozarabic music theorists also influenced Western European music theory.

Modern research shows that the influence of Arabic music was much more significant than previously thought. A recently launched project aims to study traces of Arabic music and musical theory in Latin medieval Western European manuscripts. Three case studies focus on the use of Arabic terminology in diagrams in Latin musical treatises, the materialization of Arabic musical theory in Latin translations of al-Farabi’s writings, and references to Arabic texts and music in Western European compositions.

They examine for the first time the reception, dissemination routes and challenges associated with the acculturation of Arabic music and musical theory in the Latin Middle Ages from a perspective that includes the material evidence of manuscripts. These studies help us better understand how the process of cultural exchange took place and how the Arabic musical tradition influenced the development of European music.