Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music

by David Fallows

BL An up to date survey of all aspects of early music Forty-five eminent writers and performers present their views and analyse the outstanding issues concerning music before 1600. How do we judge it? What are the main problems in its performance and appreciation? Where do we look for answers, and what help can we find in the figurative arts, manuscripts, and modern performance techniques?

Genres: Music

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays about the history, theory, and performance of medieval and renaissance music, written by scholars and performers. Most of the essays were quite good. One of the best essays was Rob Wigman's incredibly illuminating article on musica ficta. The only real low point of the collection was Ephraim Segerman's extremely dull section on tempo between 1500 and 1650. However, given the average length of each section, I often found that the essay was over just when I was really getting into the subject matter. Luckily, each essay included a brief but useful bibliography, making it easier to take a deeper look into the areas I found particularly interesting (early instruments, use of borrowed material, and the intricacies of mode).