Guido of Arezzo devises staff notation

c. 1025 · Event

A Benedictine monk, tired of singers taking ten years to memorise the chant repertoire, sets pitches on the lines and spaces of a staff and names the notes ut-re-mi from a hymn to St John. Melody can now be written down at exact pitch, sent, and survive its composer — the single invention on which the whole classical tradition stands.