Book dossier

Music theory in Mamluk Cairo

by Owen Wright

"Ġāyat al-maṭlūb by Ibn Kurr is the only theoretical text of any substance that can be considered representative of musicological discourse in Cairo during the first half of the fourteenth century CE. Owen Wright provides the first modern edition of the text itself, together with a detailed glossary, prefaced by an introduction and a detailed commentary and analysis. The introduction provides immediate context, situating the work in relation to the dominant theoretical tradition of the period and providing biographical information about the author, active in Cairo during the first half of the fourteenth century."