In today's digital landscape, we have the luxury of experiencing music anytime, anywhere. But before this instant accessibility and dizzying array of formats-before CDs, the eight-track tape, the radio, and the turntable-there was only one recording technology: music notation. It allowed singers and soloists to travel across great distances and perform their work with stunning fidelity, a feat that we now very much take for granted. Thomas Forrest Kelly transports us to the lively and complex world of monks and monasteries, of a dove singing holy chants into the ear of a saint, and of bustling activity in the Cathedral of Notre Dame-an era when the only way to share even the simplest song was to learn it by rote, church to church and person to person. With clarity and a sense of wonder, Kelly tells a story that spans five hundred years, leading us on a journey through medieval Europe and showing how we learned to keep track of rhythm, melody, and precise pitch with a degree of accuracy previously unimagined. Kelly reveals the technological advances that led us to the system of notation we use today, placing each step of its evolution in its cultural and intellectual context. Companion recordings by the renowned Blue Heron ensemble are paired with vibrant illuminated manuscripts, bringing the art to life and allowing readers to experience something of the marvel that medieval writers must have felt when they figured out how to capture music for all time.
In today's digital landscape, we have the luxury of experiencing music anytime, anywhere. But before this instant accessibility and dizzying array of formats-before CDs, the eight-track tape, the radio, and the turntable-there was only one recording technology: music notation. It allowed singers and soloists to travel across great distances and perform their work with stunning fidelity, a feat that we now very much take for granted. Thomas Forrest Kelly transports us to the lively and complex world of monks and monasteries, of a dove singing holy chants into the ear of a saint, and of bustling activity in the Cathedral of Notre Dame-an era when the only way to share even the simplest song was to learn it by rote, church to church and person to person. With clarity and a sense of wonder, Kelly tells a story that spans five hundred years, leading us on a journey through medieval Europe and showing how we learned to keep track of rhythm, melody, and precise pitch with a degree of accuracy previously unimagined. Kelly reveals the technological advances that led us to the system of notation we use today, placing each step of its evolution in its cultural and intellectual context. Companion recordings by the renowned Blue Heron ensemble are paired with vibrant illuminated manuscripts, bringing the art to life and allowing readers to experience something of the marvel that medieval writers must have felt when they figured out how to capture music for all time.
Thomas Forrest Kelly is professor of music at Harvard University. The author of The Role of the Scroll, Capturing Music, and Music Then and Now, he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"From the sparest clues showing the contour of early chant to the
most intricate and beautiful musical symbols ever devised,
Capturing Music is engaging at every turn. Tom Kelly is a master
storyteller."
*Ross W. Duffin, author of How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony
(and Why You Should Care)*
"Readers will delight in the exquisite beauty of this volume—it
looks like a richly illuminated manuscript! And with Blue Heron’s
expertly and lovingly produced recordings, this is so much more
than a book—it is something rare and wonderful."
*Susan Hellauer, founding member of Anonymous 4*
"With his characteristic blend of deep scholarship and clarity of
style, Tom Kelly has written a timely history of the most
significant revolution in musical practice of the last thousand
years."
*Peter Phillips, founder and director, Tallis Scholars*
"Tom Kelly’s Capturing Music is a splendid introduction to the
wonders of medieval notational technology, written in an engaging
way."
*Margot Fassler, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Music History and
Liturgy, University of Notre Dame*
"For generations to come, this lucid book will be the go-to study
of notation for performers of early music, and a soothing balm for
anyone who wants to understand how visual technology reflected the
ways music was conceived, performed, and documented."
*Benjamin Bagby, director of Sequentia*
"Marvelously witty and engaging."
*Publishers Weekly*
"Mr. Kelly’s fascinating book tracks the centuries-long process by
which pitches and rhythms were codified."
*Eric Felten - Wall Street Journal*
"Gorgeously illustrated… If you have ever wondered how a system of
dots and lines in space came to express the arrangement of sounds
in time, this engaging, chatty book explains how… Thomas Forrest
Kelly’s witty and colloquial prose style makes the book much more
approachable than you might expect."
*Melinda Bargreen - Seattle Times*
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