Leo Treitler (born January 26, 1931) is an American

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

born in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, Germany. He is

distinguished professor Distinguished Professor is an academic title given to some top tenured professors in a university, school, or department. Some distinguished professors may have endowed chairs. In the United States Often specific to one institution, titles such ...

at the

Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the C ...

of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

. Treitler studied at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

under Grosvenor Cooper, achieving the BA in 1950 and the MA in 1957. He received an MFA from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1960 and a Ph.D. in 1967; there he studied under

Oliver Strunk William Oliver Strunk (March 22, 1901 – February 24, 1980) was an American musicologist. Charles Rosen called him one of the most influential American musicologists of the 1930s–1960s.Rosen, Charles. "The Discipline of Philology: Oliver Strunk ...

Arthur Mendel Arthur Mendel (June 6, 1905 – October 14, 1979) was an American musicologist, known as a Bach scholar. He was born in Boston and died in Newark, New Jersey. Education He graduated from Harvard University in 1925 before going to study with ...

, and

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. He had initially started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved further towards more complex harmonies and ...

. From 1961 to 1965 he taught at the University of Chicago, and following this at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

and

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

. Treitler's major work is in

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

and

Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the Tr ...

, particularly in

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

and the earliest

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

. He also published a series of essays exploring

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

in music history, which were collected, with other works on music history and theory, in ''Music and the Historical Imagination''. He revised Oliver Strunk's ''Source Readings in Music History'' in 1998.

Books

*''The Aquitanian Repertories of Sacred Monody in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries'' (dissertation, Princeton University, 1967) *''Music and the Historical Imagination''. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1989) ollection of essays*''Source Readings in Music History''. New York, 1998 (orig. ed. O. Strunk, pub. 1950) *''With Voice and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How it Was Made''. (Oxford, 2003)

Major articles

On the rise of Western plainchant and notation

* "Homer and Gregory: The Transmission of Epic Poetry and Plainchant." ''

The Musical Quarterly ''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including Car ...

'', vol. 60, no. 3 (July 1974), pp. 333–372 * " 'Centonate' Chant: 'Übles Flickwerk' or 'E pluribus unus?' ". ''

Journal of the American Musicological Society The ''Journal of the American Musicological Society'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal and an official journal of the American Musicological Society. It is published by University of California Press The University of California Press, othe ...

'', vol. 28, no. 1 (Spring 1975), pp. 1–23 * "The Early History of Music Writing in the West." ''Journal of the American Musicological Society'', vol. 35, no. 2 (Summer 1982), pp. 237–279 * "Reading and Singing: On the Genesis of Occidental Music-Writing." ''

Early Music History ''Early Music History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published annually by Cambridge University Press, which specialises in the study of music from the early Middle Ages to the end of the 17th century. It was established in 1981 and is edit ...

'', vol. 4 (1984), pp. 135–208 * "The 'Unwritten' and 'Written Transmission' of Medieval Chant and the Start-Up of Musical Notation." ''

The Journal of Musicology ''The Journal of Musicology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of musicology published by University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the Un ...

'', vol. 10, no. 2 (Spring 1992), pp. 131–191

On historiography and musical analysis

* "The Present as History." ''

Perspectives of New Music ''Perspectives of New Music'' (PNM) is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It was established in 1962 by Arthur Berger and Benjamin Boretz (who were its initial editors-in-chief). ''Perspectives'' was first ...

'', vol. 7, no. 2 (Spring 1969), pp. 1–58 * "History, Criticism, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony." '' 19th-Century Music'', vol. 3, no. 3 (March 1980), pp. 193–210 * " 'To Worship That Celestial Sound': Motives for Analysis." ''

'', vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1982), pp. 153–170

References

*Paula Morgan, revised by F ancisE

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Sparshott, "Treitler, Leo". ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'' online (2001). {{DEFAULTSORT:Treitler, Leo American musicologists Living people 1931 births University of Chicago alumni Princeton University alumni University of Chicago faculty Brandeis University faculty Stony Brook University faculty Graduate Center, CUNY faculty