Overview

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. These texts show that six-syllable solmization was only an option for sight-singing that never imposed its operational 'sixth-ness' onto the diatonic system, already grounded on the seven pitch letters. It was primarily through the agency of several 'classicizing' theorists of the humanist era that the six syllables came to be mistakenly conceived as a fundamental diatonic structure - a 'hexachord' built from the 'tetrachord' of the Ancient Greeks. The book will be of particular interest to readers seeking to deepen their knowledge of medieval and Renaissance musical thought with an eye to major intellectual trends of the time.

Full Product Details

Author:   Stefano Mengozzi (Dr, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.00cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 24.40cm
Weight:   0.490kg
ISBN:  

9781107442573

ISBN 10:   1107442575
Pages:   306
Publication Date:   21 August 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Guido's hexachord: old facts and new questions; Part I. Guidonian Solmization in Music Theory and Practice: 1. Guido's musical syllables: conflicting views from modern historiography; 2. Inside the gamut: Guido of Arezzo and Hermannus Contractus on the major sixth; 3. Hands off! Singing without syllables in the Middle Ages; 4. The making of a system: medieval music semiotics in transition; Interlude: All hexachords are 'soft'; Part II. Reforming the Music Curriculum in the Age of Humanism: 5. Back to the monochord: church reform and music theory in the 15th century; 6. Normalizing the humanist: Johannes Gallicus as a 'Follower of Guido'; 7. Gafori's hand: forging a new Guido for a new humanist culture; 8. Hexachordal theory and deductive method in Gioseffo Zarlino's Dimostrationi harmoniche (1571); Epilogue: Discarding the Guidonian image of early music; Bibliography.

Reviews

While even musicologists familiar with the subject may find the history of musical theories in the first part of the text a challenge, the undaunted reader will find rewards in the later chapters. -SUSAN FORSCHER WEISS,The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University

Author Information

Stefano Mengozzi is Associate Professor at the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, University of Michigan.

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