ABSTRACT
John Birchensha appears to have produced the detailed synopsis of his treatise Syntagma musicæ for the Royal Society’s ordinary meeting on Thursday, 10 February, 1675/1676, at which he had been invited to speak. The official minutes reveal that Birchensha’s presentation at the meeting was in fact limited to demonstrating his ‘Compleat Scale of Musick’. For somebody who was not an elected fellow, to address the Society personally in this way was a rare honour. At the same time, Birchensha must have been acutely aware that more than ten months had elapsed since the promised publication date of Syntagma musicæ, whose subscribers may well have included members of the audience on this occasion. The manuscript is in a hand identifiable as that of the Royal Society’s indefatigable secretary, Henry Oldenburg. It consists principally of a sheet folded to form two leaves, each measuring approximately 300 × 187 mm.
