Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval Music (AMS Studies in Music)

Charles M. Atkinson

"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...

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