The boy who became Saint Yared grew up in the ancient kingdom of Axum. According to legend, he struggled as a student, just as this story shows, but eventually triumphed and went on to invent Ethiopia's system of musical notation. His work drew on local traditions and the church concept of the Holy Trinity, while his hymns had four parts based on the four seasons of the year, winter, summer, spring, and autumn. Hundreds of years before European composers...