Walter Odington

Walter Odington (also known as Walter of Evesham) was a 14th-century English Benedictine scientific author, most prominent for his work on musical theory.

During the first part of his religious life he was stationed at Evesham and later removed to Oxford, where he was engaged in astronomical and mathematical work as early as 1316.

Writings

Odington wrote chiefly on scientific subjects, with most of his works existing only in manuscript form. His major treatise, De speculatione musice, which Hugo Riemann says was written before 1300, was first published in complete form in Edmond de Coussemaker's Scriptores. In this work, he compiles most of the existing musical theory of his day, as well as some additions of his own.

Among Odington's own additions is his theory that, in practice, musicians often favour simple, just tuning of imperfect consonances, such as the major third, over the traditionally held Pythagorean tuning, which was the predominant theoretical framework. For example, he writes:

Riemann credits Odington with theoretically establishing the consonance of minor and major thirds before the end of the thirteenth century.

Henry Davey, in his History of English Music, enumerates the following works:

De Speculatione Musices

Ycocedron, a treatise on alchemy

Declaratio motus octavæ spheræ

Tractatus de multiplicatione specierum in visu secundum omnem modum

Ars metrica

Liber quintus geometriæ per numeros loco quantitatum

a calendar for Evesham Abbey

Elina G. Hamilton, however, has argued that the music theorist and alchemist were two different men, the latter coming from Eynsham abbey.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).