This collection contains seven essays based on lectures presented at the International Orpheus Academy for Music & Theory on "Historical Theory, Performance, and Meaning in Baroque Music," held in April of 2004 at the Orpheus Institute in Belgium. Scholars of music and history from the US and Europe consider the connections between topics such as modal and tonal idioms, contrapuntal and harmonic organization, and the compositional style of Giovanni Paolo Colonna and Petronio Franceschini in the context of the transition towards tonality from the Renaissance to the Baroque Period. Others address the genres of music theory during the period proposed by Carl Dahlhaus, little-known examples of music theory sources by historians of early modern science and medicine, and the Rule of the Octave and the history of the thoroughbass. One article is in French. The book lacks an index. Distributed in the US by Cornell U. Press. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)