Guy of Saint-Denis, Tractatus de tonis [Hardcover]

The Tractatus de tonis of Guy of Saint-Denis (written ca. 1300-10) differs from other treatises on plainchant in the depth of its analysis of the various tones into which chant was traditionally classified. Guy's treatise presents itself as a synthetic overview of both the theory and practice of plainchant in a way that combines the practical reflection of Guido of Arezzo with ideas of more Aristoteleian inspired theorists such as Johannes de Grocheio and Peter of Auvergne. This important publication increases the accessibility of a less-well-known medieval treatise on music theory devoted to the Gregorian chant repertoire for Mass and Office. [...] This welcome new edition and English translation of the Tractatus by a team of Australian scholars introduces the treatise by identifying the sources of Guy's teaching, sketching the history of his abbey in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, and exploring the treatise's relationship to the Cistercian and Dominican chant traditions. Joseph Dyer, The Medieval Review 18.03.18