Oxford University Press, USA
The Critical Nexus: Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval Music
The Critical Nexus: Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval Music
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The Critical Nexus confronts an important and vexing enigma of early writings on music: why chant, which was understood to be divinely inspired, needed to be altered in order to work within the then-operative modal system. To unravel this mystery, Charles Atkinson creates a broad framework
that moves from Greek harmonic theory to the various stages in the transmission of Roman chant, citing numerous music treatises from the sixth to the twelfth century. Out of this examination emerges the central point behind the problem: the tone-system advocated by writers coming from the Greek
harmonic tradition was not suited to the notation of chant and that 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 promises 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 musical treatises from the sixth 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. This book will be of interest to all musicologists, music theorists working on mode, early music specialists, chant scholars, and medievalists interested in music.
Author: Charles M. Atkinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 12/19/2008
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780195148886
that moves from Greek harmonic theory to the various stages in the transmission of Roman chant, citing numerous music treatises from the sixth to the twelfth century. Out of this examination emerges the central point behind the problem: the tone-system advocated by writers coming from the Greek
harmonic tradition was not suited to the notation of chant and that 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 promises 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 musical treatises from the sixth 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. This book will be of interest to all musicologists, music theorists working on mode, early music specialists, chant scholars, and medievalists interested in music.
Author: Charles M. Atkinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 12/19/2008
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780195148886
About the Author
Active as both clarinetist and musicologist, Charles M. Atkinson is a scholar whose work is devoted primarily to music within the intellectual history of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. His areas of research and publication range from ancient Greek conceptions of tónos to medieval liturgy and music
to the early history of American jazz. He is Professor of Musicology at The Ohio State University and President of the American Musicological Society.
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