Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval Music (AMS Studies in Music)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: September 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 192
ISBN-13: 9780195148886
Subjects: Early music (up to c 1000 CE); Medieval & Renaissance music (c 1000 to c 1600); Theory of music & musicology
Description: "In The Critical Nexus, Charles Atkinson unravels this vexing mystery by creating a broad framework that moves from Greek harmonic theory to the various stages in the transmission of Roman chant. Out of this examination emerges the central point behind the problem: the tone-system founded in the Greek harmonic tradition and advocated by several medieval writers was not well suited to the notation ofchant, and this basic incompatibility led to the creation of new theoretical constructs. By tracing the path of subsequent adaptation at the nexus of tone-system, mode, and notation, Atkinson brings new and far-reaching insights into what mode meant to the medieval musician and how the system responded to its inherent limitations." "Through a detailed examination of the major music treatises from the fifth through the twelfth centuries, this text establishes a central dichotomy between classical harmonic theory and the practices of the Christian church. Atkinson builds the foundation for a broad and original reinterpretation of the modal system and how it relates to melody, grammar, and notation. Richly illustrated, this book will be of interest to all musicologists, music theorists working on mode, early music specialists, chant scholars, and medievalists interested in music."--Jacket.