Synopses & Reviews
This book provides a collection of some 400 passages on music from early Christian literature - New Testament to c. 450 AD - newly translated from the original Greek, Latin, and Syriac. As there are no musical sources of the period, music historians must rely upon remarks about music in literary sources to gain some knowledge of early Christian liturgical music. This volume makes a large and representative collection of the material conveniently available. The passages are arranged chronologically and regionally in eleven chapters with brief commentary. An introduction sets out the major subjects and themes of the original source material.
Review
"This is a book to be grateful for since the extracts are intelligently selected and helpfully commented on, while the new translations are as lucid as may be expected with such opaque writings." The Times Literary Supplement
Synopsis
Newly translated from the original Greek, Latin and Syriac, this collection of some 400 passages of music from early Christian literature--New Testament to 450 A.D.--renders a large representative collection of liturgical chant accessible.
Table of Contents
Preface; Introduction; 1. The New Testament; 2. The Christian literature of the first and second centuries; 3. The Greek authors of the third century; 4. The western authors of the third and early fourth centuries; 5. Fourth-century Alexandria and desert monasticism; 6. Fourth-century Asia Minor: the Cappadocians; 7. Palestine, Antioch and Syria; 8. The Greek historians; 9. The Apostolic Constitutions, Egeria, and the eastern councils; 10. Western authors of the fourth and early fifth centuries; 11. Augustine and minor western authors; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index of musical and liturgical terms and concepts.