Medieval Discant Theory

FAIN: FA-11396-76

Sarah Fuller
SUNY Research Foundation, Stony Brook (Stony Brook, NY 11794-0001)

To clarify the nature of medieval discant theory in music, aid in its teaching and to demonstrate the extent to which discant precepts may illuminate principles of organization and structure in medieval polyphony. The study will treat medieval discant theory from its beginnings to circa 1400 being chiefly concerned with the emergence of a theory of discant, the nature of discant teaching, that is whether it appears to be a matter of universal precept or of local practice, the extent to which it may or may not follow a directed path of development and the relation of discant teaching to musical composition, the degree to which musical practice and discant teaching appear to be interconnected and the application of discant principles in the analysis of medieval music.