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What's the origin of the solfege syllables? And question on "sol"?
I was just musing on their origins. I think I may have been told ages ago, but I don't remember.
Also, why are "sol" and "so" interchangable? Is "sol" correct, but people just hear "so la ti"...and assume there isn't an L?
Thanks!
1 Answer
- geekchickLv 51 decade agoFavourite answer
Invented by the monk Guido d'Arezzo, the solfege syllables (originally lacking "ti" or "si" and having "ut" in place of "do") were points on a whole system of sight-singing. Since this was developed before the printing press, and before modern notation was standardised, the rest of the system has fallen into disuse, but the syllables have survived.
Guido d'Arezzo lived from 991-after 1033, and wrote the Micrologus (the treatise from which modern notation developed) in about 1025.
The second part is simple: sol is often followed by la, the two are elided, and thus people assume the l does not reduplicate, but instead is attached to the second syllable. Since syllables in English often begin with a consonant, the l in sol is transferred to the la.
