Odo of Arezzo or Abbot Oddo () was a medieval monk who worked in
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
, active as composer and
music theorist
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
.
Life and career
Little is known about his life, except that he was an
Abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
in Arezzo, working under
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
Donatus of Arezzo
Saint Donatus of Arezzo ( it, San Donato di Arezzo) is the patron saint of Arezzo, and considered a bishop of the city.
A ''Passio'' of Donatus' life was written by a bishop of Arezzo, Severinus; it is of questionable historicity. He calls Don ...
. Odo composed a
tonary
A tonary is a liturgical book in the Western Christian Church which lists by incipit various items of Gregorian chant according to the Gregorian mode (''tonus'') of their melodies within the eight-mode system. Tonaries often include Office ant ...
(a book of
chant
A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...
s which usually included
antiphon
An antiphon (Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominently ...
s and
responsories
A responsory or respond is a type of chant in western Christian liturgies.
Definition
The most general definition of a responsory is any psalm, canticle, or other sacred musical work sung responsorially, that is, with a cantor or small group si ...
) with a discussion of
modes
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
, which survives in twenty manuscripts, four of which contain attributions to Odo. In several of the manuscripts a prologue ascribed in three out of six to Odo is entitled "Formulas quas vobis".
References
Citations
Sources
*
Further reading
*
*
10th-century births
Year of death unknown
Medieval male composers
Italian male classical composers
10th-century composers
10th-century Italian clergy
People from Arezzo
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