Music 251A: Early History of Music Theory

General Links for this course:

Audio reserves

The term Counterpoint ca. 900-1700's
Counterpoint bibliography, ca. 900-1700 (HTML version)
Counterpoint bibliography, ca. 900-1700 (PDF version)
Summary of Counterpoint Rules, ca. 1100-1530 (HTML version)
Page of links to useful Web sites

Ancient Thought on Harmony

Psalm excerpts
Talmud on harmony of the spheres
Plato on harmony
Plato on music as entertainment versus promoting inner harmony
Cosmology from Plato's Timaeus
Aristotle, On the Heavens
Plotinus on harmony
Augustine on Beauty

Medieval Thought

St. Thomas Aquinas
On diaphony
Marchetto on voice leading