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.

This groundbreaking book offers a new perspective on a central group of music theory treatises that have long formed a background to the study of Renaissance music. In particular it illuminates the ways in which the choices of Renaissance theorists have shaped later interpretation of earlier praxis, and reflexively the ways in which modern theory has been mapped on to that practice.

This study offers a panoramic survey of musical thought in the 18th century and, at the same time, a close analysis of the important theoretical topics of the period. The result is one of the most comprehensive accounts ever given of the theory behind the music of late Baroque and early Classical composers from Bach to Beethoven.

Modern scholars have often portrayed the method of hexachordal solmization - the sight-singing method introduced by the 11th-century monk Guido of Arezzo - as the diatonic foundation of early music. Stefano Mengozzi challenges this view by examining a representative sample of the primary sources of solmization theory from Guido of Arezzo to Gioseffo Zarlino.

Forty-five years after the appearance of the first edition, Oliver Strunk's monumental anthology of writings about music has been thoroughly revised and extended by a team of scholars working under the direction of musicologist Leo Treitler. For this new edition, seven specialists in music history have replaced some selections, added others, contributed new translations, and provided additional notes and introductions.

The discussion of tonal structure has been a problematic and controversial aspect of modern study in Medieval and Renaissance polyphony. This volume considers the issue from historical, analytical, theoretical, perceptual, and cultural perspectives.