The top of the page features a library stamp: "BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE CENTRALE FIRENZE." This indicates that after leaving the Abbey of the Badia Fiorentina, the manuscript was incorporated into the National Central Library in Florence.

A circular woodcut emblem shows an eagle with outstretched wings. This is a printer's mark or an owner's device, common in early printed books and high-quality manuscripts to identify the producer or the noble family who commissioned the work.

Prologue

The musical discipline of Boethius.

original: "Boetii musices disciplina." Boethius (c. 480–524 AD) was a Roman statesman and philosopher whose writings on music theory were the standard university textbooks for over a thousand years.

Boethius's discipline of music, comprised of five volumes, rests upon the deepest foundations of arithmetic and philosophy; because of this, it cannot be understood by everyone everywhere. It is usually called sterile by the half-learned singers of our time—the more obscure it is, the less useful they find it. Yet, to the learned and those who look more deeply, the more subtle and probable it is, the more firm and better it appears. Thus, just as it has always been neglected by the unlearned, so it has always been and remains held in great prize among the more skillful.

Therefore, we, who strive to be of use to all and to contribute something to the common good, have created this brief compendium divided into three small books. We have reduced its lengthiness into a narrow space, its harshness into a smooth path, and its obscurity into light. Omitting nothing that pertains to the art and its practice, we have constructed a very useful work for both singers, whom we call "practitioners," and observers, whom we call "theorists" original: "practicos" and "theoricos" (from the Greek).. From this work, once they have read and understood it, they will see that they shall gain much honor and pleasure. They will confess that, being wonderfully delighted by this new form of our most beautiful art, we have provided a great deal of help for the general education of everyone.

From this source—as if from a kind of overflowing and public fountain—anyone may now draw, with very fast and easy study, whatever I have been able to collect over a long time through many sleepless nights and constant midnight labors from the reading of the most approved authors and the discipline of the most famous teachers. By this path, one may reach the highest peak of music with a most peaceful step.

Let no one fear the majesty of philosophy, nor the complexity of arithmetic, nor the twists and turns of proportions. For here, anyone—even if they are unrefined in every way—provided they are willing to lend their hearing to the discipline and are not entirely devoid of reason, can emerge as an outstanding and most skillful musician. Indeed, we have striven so much to serve the understanding that we have maintained a balance of speech and a moderation of style so that the more skillful may be abundantly refreshed by reading these things, the half-learned may profit greatly, and the entirely unlearned may be educated in the gentlest manner.

We do not undertake here to instruct only philosophers or mathematicians; anyone who has been taught only the first rudiments of grammar will understand these things of ours. Here the mouse and the elephant may swim together, and Daedalus and Icarus can fly together. This is a classical metaphor: a truly great book is like a body of water where the "mouse" (the beginner) can wade safely, but the "elephant" (the expert) finds enough depth to swim. Similarly, it provides enough "air" for both the master (Daedalus) and the student (Icarus). Furthermore, it will be the duty of the prudent and grateful reader to grant pardon if he does not find in this work of ours that haughtiness of speech found in Cicero or Sallust; if with fewer ornaments...

NATIONAL LIBRARY FLORENCE

Ramos de Pareja's Practical Music, and Minor Poetic Works Manuscript.
Designated as number 106 among the Codices.
This later handwritten note identifies the author as Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja (c. 1440–1522), a Spanish music theorist who famously challenged the traditional Boethian system in favor of more practical tuning and composition methods.