1st Edition

Musical Theory in the Renaissance

Edited By Cristle Collins Judd Copyright 2013

    This volume of essays draws together recent work on historical music theory of the Renaissance. The collection spans the major themes addressed by Renaissance writers on music and highlights the differing approaches to this body of work by modern scholars, including: historical and theoretical perspectives; consideration of the broader cultural context for writing about music in the Renaissance; and the dissemination of such work. Selected from a variety of sources ranging from journals, monographs and specialist edited volumes, to critical editions, translations and facsimiles, these previously published articles reflect a broad chronological and geographical span, and consider Renaissance sources that range from the overtly pedagogical to the highly speculative. Taken together, this collection enables consideration of key essays side by side aided by the editor’s introductory essay which highlights ongoing debates and offers a general framework for interpreting past and future directions in the study of historical music theory from the Renaissance.

    Contents: Introduction; Part I Terms and Topics: Resfacta and Cantare Super Librum, Margaret Bent; On compositional process in the 15th century, Bonnie J. Blackburn; On diminution and proportion in 15th-century music theory, Ruth I. DeFord; Is mode real? Pietro Aron, the octenary system, and polyphony, Harold Powers; Renaissance modal theory: theoretical, compositional, and editorial perspectives, Cristle Collins Judd. Part II Influences and Authorities: Renaissance music theory as literature: on reading the Proportionale Musices of Iohannes Tinctoris, Ronald Woodley; Aristoxenus redeemed in the Renaissance, Claude V. Palisca; Modes and planetary song: the musical alliance of ethics and cosmology, Gary Tomlinson; Defending the Dodecachordon: ideological currents in Glarean’s modal theory, Sarah Fuller; Heinrich Glarean reading and editing Boethius, Inga Mai Groote. Part III Life and Works of Individual Theorists: The tradition and science: the Istitutioni harmoniche of Gioseffo Zarlino, Paolo da Col; Introduction, Maria R. Maniates. Part IV National Traditions and Dissemination: Lute tablature instructions in Italy: a survey of the regole from 1507 to 1759, Dinko Fabris; Deutsche Musiktheorie im 16.Jahrundert: Geistes- und institutionsgeschichtliche Grundlagen, Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller; You can tell a book by its cover: reflections on format in English music 'theory', Jessie Ann Owens; La diffusion de textes théoriques français à la renaissance, Philippe Vendrix; Music and music theory in the universities of Central Europe during the 15th century, Tom R. Ward; The dissemination and use of European music books in early modern Asia, David R.M. Irving; Name index.

    Biography

    Cristle Collins Judd is Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Music at Bowdoin College, USA.