List of music theorists

Updated on Jan 03, 2024

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This is a list of music theorists arranged in chronological order. The criteria for inclusion relies on publication or (especially with pre-15th-century theorists) dissemination of written theoretical work by western musicians, and their inclusion in published books discussing the history of music theory.

Since the categories for music theorists are not subdivided by nationality, this list is intended to provide an overview of music theorists and provide for further exploration of the field.

Information on some theorists is scant (e.g. those named Anonymous); in those cases the link goes to the existing treatise(s).

Antiquity

Archytas (428–347 BC)

Alypius (fl. c. 360 BC)

Aristoxenus of Tarentum (fl. 355 BC)

Archestratus (early 3rd century BC)

Ptolemais of Cyrene (probably third century BC)

Eratosthenes (c. 276 – c. 194 BC)

Didymos (first century BC)

Cleonides (probably first century AD)

Ptolemy (c. 100 – c. 170)

Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

Martianus Capella (early 5th century)

Boethius (480–524/525)

Cassiodorus (485–580)

Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 636)

Middle Ages

Al-Kindi (801–873 AD)

Notker the Stammerer (840–912)

Aurelian of Réôme (fl. 840–850)

Johannes Scotus Eriugena (c. 815 – 877)

Hucbald (c. 840 or 850 – 930)

Anonymous 8 (Musica enchiriadis) (9th century)

Anonymous 7 (Gerbert) (Alia musica) (9th–10th century)

Regino of Prüm (died c. 915)

Al-Farabi (872–950)

Abulfaraj (897–967)

Notker Labeo (950–1022)

Pseudo-Odo (Dialogus de musica) (11th century)

Guido of Arezzo (c. 991 – after 1033)

Avicenna (Ibn-Sīnā) (c. 980 – 1037)

Berno of Reichenau (died 1048)

Hermannus Contractus (1013–1054)

Aribo (fl. 1068–1078)

Wilhelm of Hirsau (died 1091)

Frutolfus of Michelsberg (mid-11th century – 1103)

Theogerus of Metz (c. 1050 – c. 1120)

Coussemaker, doc. 1 (Ad organum faciendum) (2nd half of 11th century)

Johannes Cotto (fl. 1100)

Guido of Eu (fl. 1130s)

Theinred of Dover (12th century)

Ficker Anonymous (Vatican organum treatise) (early 13th century)

Franco of Cologne (13th century)

Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (born c. 1216 AD Baghdad, died in 1294 AD)

Bartholomeus Anglicus (before 1203 – 1272)

Roger Bacon (1214–1292)

Coussemaker, doc. 3 (Discantus positio vulgaris) (c. 1230)

Egidius de Zamora (fl. 1260–1280)

Amerus (fl. 1271)

Hieronymus of Moravia (died after 1272)

Anonymous 4 (De mensuris et discantu) (fl. 1270 – 1280)

Anonymous 2 (Tractatus de discantu) (late 13th century)

Magister Lambertus (fl. c. 1270)

Engelbert of Admont (c. 1250 – 1331)

Jacob of Liège (c. 1260 – after 1330)

Johannes de Garlandia (fl. 1270–1320)

Petrus de Cruce (late 13th century)

Petrus de Picardia (mid-13th century)

Elias Salomo (late 13th century)

Sowa Anonymous—Anonymous of St. Emmeram (De musica mensurata) (1279)

Anonymous 3 (Compendiolum artis veteris) (early 14th century)

Philippe de Vitry (c. 1291 – 1361)

Hugo Spechtshart (c. 1285 – 1359/60)

Johannes Vetulus de Anagnia (1st half of 14th century)

Petrus Frater Dictus Palma Ociosa (fl. early 14th century)

Johannes de Grocheio (fl. 1300)

Manuel Bryennius (14th century)

Walter Odington (died 1330)

Johannes de Muris (c. 1290 – after 1344)

Marchetto da Padova (fl. 1274–1319)

Robert de Handlo (early 14th century)

Anonymous 7 (Coussemaker) (De diversis manieribus) (mid-14th century)

John Hanboys (late 14th century)

John of Tewkesbury (fl. 1351–1392)

Johannes Boen (died 1367)

Ellsworth Anonymi (The Berkeley Manuscript) (before 1375)

Anonymous 5 (Ars cantus mensurabilis) (late 14th century)

Johannes Ciconia (1360–1412)

Philippus de Caserta (late 14th century)

Renaissance

Fernand Estevan (early 15th century)

Giorgio Anselmi (c. 1386 – 1440/43)

Ugolino of Forlì or Ugolino of Orvieto (c. 1380 – 1452)

Antonius de Leno (early 15th century)

John Hothby (c. 1410 – 1487)

Johannes Gallicus (c. 1415 – 1473)

Prosdocimus de Beldemandis (died 1428)

Johannes Tinctoris (c. 1435 – 1511)

Bartolomeus Ramis de Pareia (c. 1440 – after 1491)

Adam von Fulda (1445–1505)

Johannes Cochlaeus (1449–1552)

Anonymous 11 (Tractatus de musica plana et mensurabili) (mid-15th century)

Anonymous 12 (Tractatus de musica) (2nd half of 15th century)

Franchinus Gaffurius (1451–1522)

Nicolò Burzio (1453–1528)

Giovanni Spataro (1458–1541)

Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (Jacobus Faber Stapulensis) (c. 1460 – 1536) Musica libris demonstrata quattuor, Paris 1496

Domingo Marcos Durán (c. 1460 – 1529)

Erasmus Horicius (c. 1465 – early 16th century)

Michael Keinspeck (c. 1470 – mid-16th century)

Lodovico Fogliano (c. 1475 – 1542)

Johannes Aventinus (1477–1534)

Pietro Aaron (c. 1480 – c. 1550)

Nicolaus Wollick (c. 1480 – 1541)

Sebastian z Felsztyna (c. 1480/1490? – after 1543)

Melchior Schanppecher (born c. 1480)

John Tucke (c. 1482 – after 1539)

Martin Agricola (1486–1556)

Heinrich Glarean (1488–1563)

Georg Rhau (1488–1548)

Giovanni Del Lago (c. 1490 – 1544)

Giovanni Maria Lanfranco (c. 1490 – 1545)

Andreas Ornithoparchus (born c. 1490)

Bonaventura da Brescia (late 15th century)

Guilielmus Monachus (late 15th century)

Guillermo de Podio (late 15th century)

Sylvestro di Ganassi dal Fontego (Silvestro Ganassi) (c. 1492 – mid-16th century)

Stephanus Vanneo (1493–1535)

Henricus Grammateus (1495–1525/6), AKA Heinrich Schreiber

Sebald Heyden (1499–1561)

Heinrich Faber (before 1500–1552)

Simon de Quercu (early 16th century)

Vicente Lusitano (16th century)

Auctor Lampadius (c. 1500 – 1559)

Adrianus Petit Coclico (c. 1500 – 1562)

Juan Bermudo (c. 1510 – 1565)

Nikolaus Listenius (born c. 1510)

Ghiselin Danckerts (c. 1510 – after 1565)

Diego Ortiz (c. 1510 – 1570)

Nicola Vicentino (1511–1576)

Francisco de Salinas (1513–1590)

Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–1590)

Girolamo Mei (1519–1594)

Aiguino da Brescia (1520–1581)

Vincenzo Galilei (late 1520–1591)

Hermann Finck (1527–1558)

Francisco de Montanos (c. 1528 – after 1592)

Ercole Bottrigari (1531–1612)

Pietro Pontio (1532–1595)

Gallus Dressler (1533 – c. 1580/89)

Orazio Tigrini (c. 1535 – 1591)

Giovanni Maria Artusi (c. 1540 – 1613)

Giulio Caccini (c. 1545 – 1618)

Cyriakus Schneegass (1546–1597)

Philibert Jambe de Fer (fl. 1548–1564)

John Wylde (mid-15th century)

Riccardo Rognoni or Rogniono (c. 1550 – 1620), Passaggi per potersi esercitare nel diminuire Venice 1592

Pierre Maillart (1550–1622)

Scipione Cerreto (c. 1551 – 1633)

Elway Bevin (c. 1554 – 1638)

Girolamo Diruta (c. 1554 – after 1610)

Jean Yssandon (c. 1555 – 1582)

Lodovico Zacconi (1555–1627)

Sethus Calvisius (1556–1615)

Johannes Nucius (c. 1556 – 1620)

Thomas Morley (c. 1557 – 1602)

Claudius Sebastiani (fl. 1557–65)

Adam Gumpelzhaimer (1559–1625)

Giovanni Luca Conforti (c. 1560 – 1608), Breve et facile maniera d’essercitarsi..., Rome 1593

Charles Butler (c. 1560 – 1647)

Lodovico Viadana (c. 1560 – 1627)

Giovanni Bassano (1560/61–1617), Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie... Venice 1585

Pietro Cerone (1561–1625)

Peter Eichmann (1561–1623)

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621)

Giovanni Camillo Maffei (fl 1562–73), Delle lettere del Signor Gio. Camillo Maffei da Solofra, libri due ..., Napoli 1562

William Bathe (1564–1614)

Joachim Burmeister (1564–1629)

Johannes Christoph Demantius (1567–1643)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)

Thomas Campion (1567–1620)

Adriano Banchieri (1568–1634)

Girolamo Dalla Casa (before 1568 – 1601), Il vero modo di diminuir con tutte le sorti di stromenti di fiato, & corda, & di voce humana Venice: Angelo Gardano 1584

Michael Praetorius (c. 1569/73 – 1621)

Georg Quitschreiber (1569–1638)

Tomás de Santa María (died 1570)

Francesco Bianciardi (c. 1571 – 1607)

Eucharius Hoffmann (died 1588)

Giovanni Battista Bovicelli (fl 1592–94), Regole, passaggi di musica, madrigali et motetti passeggiati Venice, 1594

Gaspar Stoquerus (late 16th century)

Francesco Rognoni Taeggio (second half of the 16th century – after 1626) Selva de varii passaggi Milan 1620

17th century

Aureliano Virgiliano (fl c1620), Il Dolcimelo, c1620 (ms)

Wolfgang Schonsleder (1570–1651)

John Coprario (c. 1570 – 1626)

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)

Giulio Monteverdi (1573–1630/31)

Robert Fludd (1574–1637)

Salomon de Caus (c. 1576 – 1626)

Gerhard Johann Vossius (1577–1649)

Agostino Agazzari (1578–1640)

Henricus Baryphonus (1581–1655)

Severo Bonini (1582–1663)

Thomas Ravenscroft (c. 1582 – 1635)

Johannes Lippius (1585–1612)

Antoine Parran (1587–1650)

Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638)

Johann Andreas Herbst (1588–1666)

Marin Mersenne (1588–1648)

Heinrich Grimm (1593–1637)

Giovanni Battista Doni (1595–1647)

René Descartes (1596–1650)

Galeazzo Sabbatini (1597–1662)

Joan Albert Ban (1597–1644)

Johann Crüger (1598–1662)

Joachim Thuringus (born late 16th century)

Agostino Pisa (early 17th century)

Jean Denis (c. 1600 – 1672)

Antoine Du Cousu (c. 1600 – 1658)

Marco Scacchi (c. 1600 – 1681/87)

Athanasius Kircher (1601–1680)

Christopher Simpson (c. 1605 – 1669)

Hans Mikkelsen Ravn (c. 1610 – 1663)

Wolfgang Ebner (1612–1665)

Otto Gibelius (1612–1682)

Thomas Mace (1612/3 – c. 1706)

Lorenzo Penna (1613–1693)

William Holder (1616–1696)

John Wallis (1616–1703)

Isaac Vossius (1618–1689)

Conrad Matthaei (1619 – c. 1667)

Matthew Locke (1621–1677)

John Playford (1623–1686)

Andrés Lorente (1624–1703)

René Ouvrard (1624–1694)

Bénigne de Bacilly (c. 1625 – 1690)

Giovanni Andrea Bontempi (c. 1624 – 1705)

Christoph Bernhard (1628–1692)

Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695)

Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (c. 1632 – 1714)

Angelo Berardi (c. 1636 – 1694)

Daniel Speer (1636–1707)

Francis North (1637–1685)

Wolfgang Caspar Printz (1641–1717)

Giovanni Maria Bononcini (1642–1678)

Jean Rousseau (1644–1700)

Andreas Werckmeister (1645–1706)

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716)

Thomas Salmon (1648–1706)

Johann Georg Ahle (1651–1706)

Roger North (c. 1651 – 1734)

Zaccaria Tevo (1651 – c. 1709/12)

Joseph Sauveur (1653–1716)

Georg Muffat (1653–1704)

Pier Francesco Tosi (c. 1653 – 1732)

Pablo Nassarre (c. 1654 – 1730)

Johann Baptist Samber (1654–1717)

Johann Beer (1655–1700)

Sébastien de Brossard (1655–1730)

Étienne Loulié (c. 1655 – 1707)

Giovanni d’Avella (fl. 1657) Regole di musica, divise in cinque trattati (Rome, 1657)

Henry Purcell (1659–1695)

Nicola Matteis (fl. 1670–c. 1698)

Friedrich Erhard Niedt (1674–1708)

Charles Masson (fl. 1680–1700)

De La Voye-Mignot (died 1684)

18th century

Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741)

Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722)

Tomáš Baltazar Janovka (1669 –1741)

Francesco Gasparini (1661–1727)

Johann Heinrich Buttstett (1666–1727)

Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667–1752)

David Kellner (c. 1670 – 1748)

Johann Philipp Treiber (1675–1727)

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)

Johann Mattheson (1681–1764)

Johann David Heinichen (1683–1729)

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)

Meinrad Spiess (1683–1761)

Johann Gottfried Walther (1684–1748)

Alexander Malcolm (1685–1763)

Johann Georg Neidhardt (1685–1739)

François Campion (c. 1686 – 1748)

Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762)

Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770)

Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773)

Francesco Antonio Vallotti (1697–1780)

Jakob Adlung (1699–1762)

Christoph Gottlieb Schröter (1699–1782)

William Tans'ur (1700–1783)

De Saint-Lambert (fl. 1700–1710)

Georg Andreas Sorge (1703–1778)

Gottfried Keller (died 1704)

Jean-Adam Serre (1704–1788)

Giovanni Battista Martini (1706–1784)

Leonhard Euler (1707–1783)

Johann Adolph Scheibe (1708–1776)

Jean Laurent de Béthizy (1709–1781)

Joseph Riepel (1709–1782)

Lorenz Christoph Mizler Kolof (1711–1778)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)

Pierre-Joseph Roussier (1716–1792)

Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717–1783)

Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795)

Niccolo Pasquali (c. 1718 – 1757)

Leopold Mozart (1719–1787)

Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720–1774)

Johann Georg Sulzer (1720–1779)

Martin Gerbert (1720–1793)

Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721–1783)

George Simon Löhlein (1725–1781)

Giuseppe Paolucci (1726–1776)

Antonio Eximeno y Pujades (1729–1808)

Antonio Soler (1729–1783)

Johann Friedrich Daube (c. 1730 – 1797)

Luigi Antonio Sabbatini (c. 1732 – 1809)

Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736–1809)

Vincenzo Manfredini (1737–1799)

Johann Gottlieb Portmann (1739–1798)

Honoré François Marie Langlé (1741–1807)

Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (1747–1800)

Georg Michael Telemann (1748–1831)

Heinrich Christoph Koch (1749–1816)

Georg Vogler (1749–1814)

Antonio Ventura Roel del Rio (fl. mid-18th century)

Augustus Frederic Christopher Kollmann (1756–1829)

Daniel Gottlob Türk (1756–1813)

Francesco Galeazzi (1758–1819)

Bohumír Jan Dlabač (Johann Gottfried Dlabacz) (1758-1820)

Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842)

Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny (1762–1842)

Bedřich Diviš Weber (1766-1842)

Józef Elsner (1769–1854)

Antoine-Joseph Reicha (originally Antonín Josef Rejcha) (1770–1836)

Alexandre-Étienne Choron (1771–1834)

John Holden (died c. 1771)

Charles Simon Catel (1773–1830)

Matthew Peter King (1773–1823)

Johann Bernhard Logier (1777–1846)

Gottfried Weber (1779–1839)

19th century

François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871)

Simon Sechter (1788–1867)

Carl Czerny (1791–1857)

Moritz Hauptmann (1792–1868)

Adolf Bernhard Marx (c. 1795 – 1866)

Sarah Mary Fitton (c. 1796 – 1874)

Johann Christian Lobe (1797–1881)

Siegfried Dehn (1799–1858)

Auguste Barbereau (1799–1879)

Edmond de Coussemaker (1805-1876)

Henri Reber (1807–1880)

Carl Friedrich Weitzmann (1808–1880)

Ernst Friedrich Richter (1808–1879)

Alfred Day (1810–1849)

George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887)

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894)

Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)

Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley (1825–1889)

Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904)

Rudolf Westphal (1826–1892)

Friedrich Chrysander (1826-1901)

François-Auguste Gevaert (1828–1908)

Mathis Lussy (1828–1910)

František Zdeněk Skuherský (1830-1892)

Salomon Jadassohn (1831–1902)

Heinrich Bellermann (1832–1903)

Arthur Joachim von Oettingen (1836–1920)

Ebenezer Prout (1835–1909)

Théodore Dubois (1837–1924)

John Stainer (1840–1901)

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)

Bernhard Ziehn (1845–1912)

Otakar Hostinský (1847-1910)

Carl Stumpf (1848–1936)

Hugo Riemann (1849–1919)

Vincent d'Indy (1851–1931)

Guido Adler (1855–1941)

Sergey Ivanovich Taneev (1856–1915)

Heinrich Rietsch (1860–1927)

Ludwig Thuille (1861–1907)

20th century

Stephan Krehl (1864–1924)

Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865–1950)

André Gedalge (1868–1926)

Alfred Lorenz (1868–1939)

Thorvald Otterstrom (1868–1942)

Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935)

August Otto Halm (1869–1929)

Rudolf Louis (1870–1949)

Charles Herbert Kitson (1874–1944)

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)

Donald Tovey (1875–1940)

Boleslav Leopoldovich Yavorsky (1877–1942)

Zdeněk Nejedlý (1878–1962)

Otakar Zich (1879–1934)

Marion Bauer (1882–1955)

Boris Vladimirovich Asafiev (1884–1949)

Ernst Kurth (1886–1946)

Charles Seeger (1886–1979)

Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)

Adele T. Katz (1887–1979)

Ludvík Kundera (1891–1971)

Josef Hutter (1894–1959)

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)

Howard Hanson (1896–1981)

Roger Sessions (1896–1985)

Henry Cowell (1897–1965)

Felix Salzer (1904–1986)

Zofia Lissa (1908–1980)

George Perle (1915–2009)

Miroslav Venhoda (1915–1987)

Milton Babbitt (1916–2011)

Edward T. Cone (1917–2004)

Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001)

George Russell (1923–2009)

Jaroslav Volek (1923–1989)

Allen Forte (1926–2014)

Ernst Widmer (1927–1990)

Harold Powers (1928–2007)

Tomislav Volek (born 1931)

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007)

David Lewin (1933–2003)

Benjamin Boretz (born 1934)

Edward Aldwell (1938–2006)

Fred Lerdahl (born 1943)

William Caplin (born 1948)

David Carson Berry (born 1968)

Dmitri Tymoczko (born 1969)

Mario de Andrade (1883–1945)

Vladimír Helfert (1886–1945)

21st century

Carl Schachter

Richard Cohn

Victor Kofi Agawu

References

List of music theorists Wikipedia

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