The origin of the letternames

[johnk]

How the letters ABCDEFG came to be assigned to their specific pitches is a fascinating but little known story in the history of music. Most music graduates and teachers will know about Guido of Arezzo inventing the staff, but ignore the fact that by then the alphabetical pitches of notes had already been defined.

How was this done? Why did A get assigned to the pitch is has? And how did the tones and semitones (wholesteps and halfsteps) get to occupy their positions in the musical alphabet?

What came first? -  the alphabetical names as used in English and German, or the solfa names as used in Italy and France? Many teachers dont know this stuff. I would like it to be more widely known and taught to young students.

I have posted a short YouTube video on the topic. If you view the video, please read the more detailed explanation in text: "About the Video". I hope you find it most interesting.

https://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=UuZfbZySEe8