A 1970 re-issue of the Medieval Academy of America's 1945 publication. xliv, 316pp, lightly illustrated and including musical scores. In plain green cloth boards with gilt lettering on spine. 4to. Cloth very slightly rubbed on extreme corner points, very slightly pushed at spine ends, else neat, crisp, fresh and clean throughout.
A handsome and imposing volume which sets out to make Landini (c. 1325-1397) 'cease to be the mytholigical figure he has appeared in the past' and to 'replace previous speculations regarding many aspects of fourteenth century music with the music itself'. Landini, blind from childhood as a result of smallpox, mastered many instruments including the lute, as well as the art of singing and musical composition. He also invented new instruments such as the stringed syrena syrenarum, an ancestor of the bandura. He is said to have written sacred music but none has survived. What has survived are some 150 ballate - songs for two or three voices.
Hard to find volume.
