This book gives a valuable panorama of eleventh- and twelfth-century southern German music theory, including (among others) the writings of Bern of Reichenau, Hermannus Contractus, William of Hirsau, Theoger (later bishop of Metz), Johannes (known as ‘Afflighemensis’ or ‘Cotto’), Aribo (of Freising) and Frutolf of Michelsberg (Bamberg). Due to the scarcity of surviving historical information and their specialised character, these writings have not often attracted scholarly attention. (One important exception is David Hiley's influential Western Plainchant (Oxford, 1993), which devoted part of its fifth chapter to these authors as a group.)

The present book's first chapter begins with a historical introduction covering the two main monastic reform layers, the earlier one spreading from Gorze (over St Maximin, Trier, encompassing the Reichenau, St Emmeram at Regensburg, the monasteries at Niederaltaich, Lorsch and Einsiedeln) and the eleventh-century Hirsau layer (covering Hirsau, St Georgen, Ottobeuren, Sts Ulrich and Afra at Augsburg, and Admont). These activities of reform resulted in groups of monasteries in southern Germany and Austria being bound together by the same spiritual (and political) agenda. Another, maybe even more important, element that led especially to the emergence of the heart of the southern German circle seems to have been personal connections: a substantial group of southern German writers were teachers and pupils, connected with each other through an interest in the same subjects.

The second chapter shows the position of the southern German circle by analysing their models (Boethius and the Carolingian theorists) and their adaptation. Bern of Reichenau's theory occupies a central position in this discussion. Interesting passages consider the critical reflection of Guido of Arezzo's ideas in the writings of Hermannus, Aribo or Frutolf. The latter's Breviarium de musica is analysed in detail as an example of the processes of selection and adaptation that were used.

The third and fourth chapters are devoted to the analysis of influences from the classical era. Aristotelian logic (the Categories, De interpretatione and Isagoge) had its impact not only in the use of such terminology as ‘genus’, ‘species’ and ‘proprietas’ but also in a specific mode of argumentation, which is especially well displayed in Aribo's discussion of conjunct tetrachords. The influence of Platonic philosophy (as transported to the Middle Ages by such writers as Calcidius, Macrobius or Martianus Capella) manifests itself in the use of language, especially in metaphors. Platonic number-theory seems to have been useful in such fields as interval-proportions and organ-pipe-measurements.

The last chapter examines about twenty of the numerous preserved collections with ‘excerpt character’. The introduction establishes a useful parallel with similar collections initiated by the rising interest in canon law. An interesting excursus combines earlier information about the manuscripts which Hartvic of St Emmeram brought from his studies at Chartres, showing the presence of genuine Western music theory in southern Germany. At the centre of the chapter there is a detailed account of the twelfth-century compilation Landesbibliothek und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel, 4o Mss Math. 1. The chapter's second part provides us with descriptions of twenty music-theory textbooks.

This is a study of the history of ideas as manifest in writings of music theory. As such it does not always provide completely new information but it establishes a new, sensitive perspective by pulling precious threads together which lay dispersed for decades (since the earlier studies of Huglo, Bischoff and others). Two principal merits might be singled out here. First, there is a good attempt to recreate the historical context of monastic reform of the tenth and eleventh centuries in southern Germany and Austria, specifically in Gorze and Hirsau, as a point of departure for understanding these writings. These activities, with their emphasis on the proper celebration of liturgy, obviously provided the socio-economic and cultural basis for an intensified scholarly effort based around music. (Whether it is at all possible to establish tangible proof of the connection of reform-thinking and the music of reform and the treatises is a wider, quite difficult question, not addressed in the book.) Second, German medieval writings about music theory are rescued from their peripheral aura. The role of German music theory as a part of medieval European learning is well demonstrated. The interest shown by these writings in definition, classification and measurement is explained as an element and embodiment of medieval scholarly thought, traditional on the one hand, but on the other well in touch not only with modern Guidonian music theory but also with Aristotelian- and Platonic-influenced early scholasticism. The author appropriately makes a special accentuation of the role of Hermannus Contractus as the leading eleventh-century figure of innovation in German musicological thought. Given the impressive amount of scholarship displayed in this book, I miss, however, an attempt to identify traces of connection of these theories to compositional practice (as they have indeed been shown by David Hiley for Hermannus). The analytical establishment of a clearer connection of these theories to the preserved music remains a desideratum.

The unpretentious presentation of these now and then quite difficult materials to the modern, non-specialised reader is an achievement in itself, and worthy of mention. This recommends the book for use in academic teaching, while its handsome design makes it equally well suited for private indulgence.