Greek and Latin Music Theory

Established in 1984 and published by the University of Nebraska Press until 2004, Greek and Latin Music Theory aimed to establish truly critical texts for the many works of ancient, medieval, and (occasionally) renaissance music theory in Greek and Latin that did not exist in critical editions, accompanied by facing-page translations with annotations illuminating the content of the treatise. Each volume includes a major introductory essay discussing, as appropriate, the significance of the treatise to its theoretical tradition; the life of its author (or, for anonymous works, the probable authors); the design, sources, and theoretical premises of the treatise; the manuscripts used to establish the text and the actual establishment of the text itself; loci paralleli and quotations; and special considerations involved in the translation. The texts are based on a full collation of every relevant manuscript--insofar as possible--and the collation is reported in a critical apparatus at the bottom of each text page. The translations are intended to be readable, but at the same time, they attempt to preserve in large measure the consistency, variety, and subtlety of the original. Special care is given to the treatment of technical vocabulary, syntactic subtleties, and consistency of terminology. Finally, each volume includes indices verborum, nominum et rerum and--beginning with volume 10--a bibliography. Its tradition is now continued by Studies in the History of Music Theory and Literature, published by the University of Illinois Press.

Ten volumes of GLMT were published (for online ordering, click on the title):

Prosdocimo de' Beldomandi, Contrapunctus, a new critical text and translation by Jan Herlinger [1984], xii,109 p. $60 (digital print-on-demand)

Oliver B. Ellsworth, ed. and trans., The Berkeley Manuscript: University of California Music Library, MS. 744, a new critical text and translation [1984], x,317 p. $60

Sextus Empiricus, Against the Musicians, a new critical text and translation by Denise Davidson Greaves [1986], x,213 p. OP

Prosdocimo de' Beldomandi, Proportiones and Monacordum, new critical texts and translations by Jan Herlinger [1987], x,182 OP

Gaspar Stoquerus, On Verbal Music, a new critical text and translation by Albert C. Rotola, S.J. [1988], xii,298 p. $60

Philip E. Schreur, ed. and trans., The Tractatus figurarum, a new critical text and translation [1989], xii,122 p. $60

Robertus de Handlo, Regule, and Johannes Hanboys, Summa, new critical texts and translations by Peter M. Lefferts [1991], x,403 p. $60

André Barbera, The Euclidean Division of the Canon: Greek and Latin Sources, new critical texts and translations [1991], xi,316 p. OP

Johannes Ciconia, Nova musica and De proportionibus, new critical texts and translation by Oliver B. Ellsworth [1993], x,532 p. $60

C. Matthew Balensuela, ed. and trans., Ars cantus mensurabilis mensurata per modos juris, a new critical text and translation [1994], xii,331 p. $60

Individual volumes are available through your bookstore or by direct order from the publisher; standing orders for the series carry a discount. For further information, please contact: