Prepare yourself for, oh, about one year of reading.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    The Christian West and Its Singers: The First Thousand Years. Christopher Page. Yale U Press, 2010. Out only two weeks ago. 700 oversized pages. Weighs what seems like 10 pounds. Absolutely beyond belief. At $32.50, an amazing bargain.

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  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    "A renowned scholar and musician presents a new and innovative exploration of the beginnings of Western musical art. Beginning in the time of the New Testament, when Christians began to develop an art of ritual singing with an African and Asian background, Christopher Page traces the history of music in Europe through the development of Gregorian chant—a music that has profoundly influenced the way Westerners hear—to the invention of the musical staff, regarded as the fundamental technology of Western music. Page places the history of the singers who performed this music against the social, political and economic life of a Western Europe slowly being remade after the collapse of Roman power. His book will be of interest to historians, musicologists, performing musicians, and general readers who are keen to explore the beginnings of Western musical art."
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Let's hope that this book by a controversial author might create even more fruitful dialogue between musicologists, historians, and practical musicians.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Controversial author? How so? What am I missing?
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    To some musicologists, some of his previous work (i.e., Discarding Images) has come across as needlessly critical of the field. I don't know if you have access to the journal Early Music, but Margaret Bent's review of DI in EM is a good point of reference.

    That was over 15 years ago now, so old news, but it is never helpful for a scholar to critique his own audience in off-putting ways--lack of thoroughness, poor contextualization of others' work, etc. etc.

    Hence my hope that this book will do a better job. Based on what you wrote about it, it certainly has promise to do so!

    (PS. I emphasize the word some not to insinuate anything or implicate anyone, but to note that no one can speak for the whole field.)
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Wow, we should all be so controversial.
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    I guess Sayre's law might apply here, if you want to think of it that way. Not sure if you are being facetious or not.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Sayre's Law is great. I only just now learned of it. Explains many aspects of many things.
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