Musica ficta is the practice of sharpening or flattening certain notes to avoid awkward intervals in medieval and Renaissance music. This collection gathers Margaret Bent's influential writings on this controversial subject from the past 30 years, along with an extensive author's introduction discussing the current state of scholarship and responding to critics. Also includes 25 musical examples.

Musica ficta is the practice of sharpening or flattening certain notes to avoid awkward intervals in medieval and Renaissance music. This collection gathers Margaret Bent's influential writings on this controversial subject from the past 30 years, along with an extensive author's introduction discussing the current state of scholarship and responding to critics. Also includes 25 musical examples.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"The Craft of Modal Counterpoint" is the companion book to Benjamin's "The Craft of Tonal Counterpoint," recently republished in a second edition by Routledge. Modal counterpoint is the style of composition that was employed until the "tonal" revolution pioneered by Bach; it is the basis for most Early Music. Benjamin, a composer and pedagogue, offers a complete analysis of this important musical style. He begins by covering general aspects of the style, then covers in detail two, three, and four-part counterpoint. The Motet, an important form of vocal composition in this period, is studied separately. The book concludes with a brief anthology of key scores, 15 in all, for the student to study further. Also includes 132 musical examples.

The techniques of polyphonic composition in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

This is a music theory text that presents a systematic approach to polyphonic composition in the ecclesiastical style of Palestrina. It is designed for use in beginning and intermediate level courses in modal counterpoint and helps students develop a systematic and reliable method to compare individual composers and stylistic trends of the Renaissance. It contains a comprehensive collection of Palestrina's works as well as selections from Lassus. Tear-out exercises can be used in conjunction with the text.