Bibliogr. p. 195-199.

"The Praecepta musicae poeticae by Gallus Dressler (1533-1580/89) has been recognized in recent years as one of the most important sixteenth-century German treatises dealing with the theory and composition of music. Dressler's treatise, which survives in a single and highly problematic manuscripts, was originally delivered as a series of lectures for advanced students at the Lateinschule in Magdeburg - where Dressler was Cantor - between the dates of 21 October 1563 and 29 February 1564. The first seven chapters of the treatise draw on the treatises of Johannes Galliculus and Heinrich Faber, covering the basic materials of music and forming a groundwork for the following eight chapters. These latter chapters, which form the major part of the treatise, contain the most important of Dressler's contributions to sixteenth-century music theory. In particular, chapters 11-14 are full of important and original insights on the invention of fugues; the composition of opening, middle, and concluding sections; and musical rhetoric. Arranged on facing pages are an entirely new and improved edition of the treatise and the first English translation, supported by copious annotations and an extended introduction."--BOOK JACKET.