List of music theorists

Music theory has existed since the advent of writing in ancient times. The earliest known practitioners include primarily Greek and some Chinese scholars. A few Indian sages such as Bharata Muni are also credited with important treatises. Though much is lost, substantial treatises on ancient Greek music theory survive, including those by Aristoxenus, Nicomachus, Ptolemy and Porphyry. The influential Yue Jing Classic of Music from China is lost, though a few Ancient Chinese theorists from the Han dynasty and later have surviving contributions, such as Jing Fang and Xun Xu.
Writers of late antiquity—particularly Boethius, Cassiodorus and Isidore of Seville—were crucial in translating and transmitting much thought on music theory from classical antiquity to medieval Europe. However, the information relayed to the Post-classical era was minimal and European medieval theorists frequently misinterpreted what little Greek writings had been preserved. Important medieval European theorists include Hucbald, Guido of Arezzo, Johannes Cotto, Franco of Cologne, Philippe de Vitry. Many medieval music manuscripts of Europe were anonymous, and later compilers such as Martin Gerbert and Edmond de Coussemaker assigned names to unknown authors, such as 'Anonymous IV'. Concurrent with medieval Europe, scholars of the emerging Islamic Golden Age often more readily and thoroughly engaged with ancient Greek music treatises. Many Arab and Persian music theorists of this time have surviving works, such as Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi and Abd al-Qadir Maraghi. Theorists of the Byzantine Empire include George Pachymeres and Manuel Chrysaphes.
By the 15th century, European theorists were readily discussing the qualities of Renaissance music, with theorists such Johannes Tinctoris and Gioseffo Zarlino making important contributions to the study of counterpoint. Zarlino and Nicola Vicentino developed new theories on musical tuning, a topic which Vicentino publicly debated on with theorist Vicente Lusitano. At this time, the quality and quantity of Turkic musical sources increased, due to the rise of the Ottoman Empire. This laid the foundation of an 18th-century musical golden age in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, exemplified by composer-theorists such as Kasımpaşalı Osman Effendi, Dimitrie Cantemir and Abdülbaki Nasır Dede. Meanwhile, the Age of Enlightenment and the common practice period in Europe led to substantial changes in the nature of published music theory.

6th–14th centuries

Name	Lifetime	Nationality	Major writing	Known for
Boethius		Roman	De institutione musica	Transmission of ancient Greek music theory
Cassiodorus		Roman	Institutiones Divinarum et Saecularium Litterarum	Helped formalize the seven liberal arts
Isidore of Seville	– 636	Spanish	Etymologiarum sive Originum libri xx
Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi	718 – 786	Arab		ʿArūḍ and its application to music
Yunus al-Katib al-Mughanni		Persian	Kitab al-Nagham
Al-Kindi	801–873	Arab	Al-risāla al-kubrā fī al-ta’līf
Ibn Khordadbeh	820–912	Persian	Kitāb al-lahw wa-l-malahi	Description of music in pre-Islamic Persia
Aurelian of Réôme		Frankish	Musica disciplina	Earliest extant treatise on medieval music
Johannes Scottus Eriugena	–	Irish	De divisione naturae and De divisione naturae	Mentions organum
Hucbald	– 930		De musica	"One of the foremost expositors of music theory in the Carolingian era"
Anonymous 8	9th century		Musica enchiriadis	earliest extant discussion of polyphonic singing and the first chant melodies preserved in a precise pitch notation
Abu Ahmad Monajjem	855 or 866 – 912		Resāla fi’l-mūsīqī	Oldest extant Middle Eastern treatise with a detailed description of modal structure
Regino of Prüm	– 915		De synodalibus causis and Epistola de armonica institutione	"Correct the intonations and confirm the modes of the antiphons and responsories of the Mass and Office"
Al-Farabi	872–950	Arab	Kitāb al-mūsīqī al-kabīr	"most imposing of all Arabic works on music"
Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani	897–967	Arab	Kitab al-Aghani		-
Notker Labeo	950–1022
Anonymous, of the Brethren of Purity	second half of the 10th century		Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa, Epistle 5: On Music
Guido of Arezzo		Italian	Micrologus
Avicenna	c. 980 – 1037	Persian	Danishnama-i 'Alai
Abhinavagupta		Indian	Abhinavabharati	Important commentary on the Natya Shastra
Berno of Reichenau	d. 1048			He compiled a tonarius, dealing with the organisation of the church chants into ‘tones’ – eight modes of the Gregorian chant.
	d. 1048		al-Kāfī fī al-mūsīqī
Hermannus Contractus	1013–1054
Michael Psellos	1018 – after 1078	Byzantine	Eis tēn psychogonian tou Platōnos Prolambanomena eis tēn rhythmikēn epistēmēn On the Resounding Hall at Nicomedia
	fl. 1068–1078		De musica	also known as simply "Aribo." Created a "caprea," a diagram showing modal tetrachords superimposed on the gamut.
Wilhelm of Hirsau	died 1091		De musica
Frutolf of Michelsberg	mid-11th century – 1103	German	Brevarium	compiler of treatises, in particular Boethius and Berno of Reichenau.
	c. 1050 – c. 1120		Musica
Johannes Cotto	fl. 1100		De musica		-
Avempace	c. 1085 – 1138		Risālah fī l-alḥān
Cai Yuanding	1135–1198	Chinese	Lülü xinshu	Theories on scales, pitches and intervals
Hermann of Carinthia	fl. 1138–43		De essentiis	Translating Arabic treatises into Latin
Guido of Eu	fl. 1130s		supposed author of Regule de arte musica	earliest Cistercian treatise on music theory.
Jiang Kui	1155–1221	Chinese	Dayueyi and Qinse kaogutu	Two treatises, the Dayueyi on proper music and the Qinse kaogutu on the qin and se zithers. Also created a popular 18 symbol form of music notation
Theinred of Dover	12th century		De legitimis ordinibus pentachordorum et tetrachordorum	discussion of chromatically altered tones in plainsong
Tanchi		Japanese		Introduced strict music theory of shōmyō, based on that of gagaku. This included standards for modulation, rhythm, pitch and new five-tone notation system
Śārṅgadeva		Indian	Sangita Ratnakara	Wrote the authoritative text for subsequent Indian music
Ficker Anonymous	early 13th century		Ars organi
Franco of Cologne		German	Ars cantus mensurabilis	Franconian Notation
Safi al-Din al-Urmawi	– 1294	Persian	Kitab al-Adwār and Risālah al-Sharafiyyah fi 'l-nisab al-taʾlifiyyah ''
Bartholomeus Anglicus	before 1203 – 1272	French
George Pachymeres	1242 –	Byzantine	Syntagma tōn tessarōn mathēmatōn, arithmētikēs, mousikēs, geōmetrias kai astronomias
Egidius de Zamora	fl. 1260–1280		Ars musica	noted for inclusion of Spanish instruments and description of organ used in church.
Amerus	fl. 1271	English	Practica artis musice
Jerome of Moravia	died after 1272		Tractatus de musica
Anonymous IV	fl. 1270 – 1280		De mensuris et discantu
Magister Lambertus	fl. c. 1270		Tractatus de musica
Engelbert of Admont	c. 1250 – 1331		De musica tractatus
Jacob of Liège	c. 1260 – after 1330
Johannes de Garlandia	fl. 1270–1320	French	De Mensurabili Musica	Explains the rhythmic modes, particularly that which the Notre-Dame school engaged in
Petrus de Cruce	late 13th century	French
Johannes Balox	late 13th century		Gaudent brevitate moderni
	mid-13th century		Ars motettorum compilata breviter
Elias Salomo	late 13th century		Scientia artis musice
Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi	c. 1236 - 1311	Persian	Dorrat al-tāj fi ḡorrat al-dabbāj
Philippe de Vitry	1291–1361	French	Ars nova notandi
	c. 1285 – 1359/60		Flores musicae omnis cantus Gregoriani
Johannes Vetulus de Anagnia	1st half of 14th century]		Liber de musica
Petrus frater dictus Palma ociosa	fl. early 14th century		Compendium de discantu mensurabili
Johannes de Grocheio	fl. 1300	French	Ars musicae
Manuel Bryennius	14th century	Byzantine	Harmonika
Walter Odington	died 1330	English
Johannes de Muris	c. 1290 – after 1344	French
Marchetto da Padova		Italian	Lucidarium in arte musice plane and Pomerium in arte musice mensurate
Robert de Handlo		English
John Hanboys		English	Summa
John of Tewkesbury		English	Quatuor principalia musice	Writings on ars nova
al-Āmulī	died 1352	Persian	Nafā’is al-funūn	His Nafā’is al-funūn on the quadrivium contains a chapter on music theory; it is one of the few surviving Persian sources dated in the time between the works of Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi and Abd al-Qadir Maraghi
Ibn Kurr	Died 1357	Arab	Ġāyat al-matḷūb fī 'ilm al-adwār wa-'l-dụrūb	Examines musical discourse of 14th-century Cario
	Died 1367	Dutch	Ars ; Musica	Writings on ars nova
Johannes Ciconia	1360–1412	Flemish	Nova musica	Discusses music as an art
Philippus de Caserta		Active in France	Tractatus figurarum
Zhu Quan	1378–1448	Chinese	神奇秘谱 and 太和正音譜	Studies on qin music; classification and analysis of over 300 melodies from Chinese dramas
Ugolino of Forlì		Italian	Declaratio musicae disciplinae
John Laskaris		Byzantine	The Interpretation and Parallage of the Art of Music	Discusses the Byzantine modal system
		Byzantine	Discourse on the Signs of Chant	–
Manuel Chrysaphes		Byzantine	Peri tōn entheōroumenōn tē psaltikē technē kai hōn phronousi kakōs tines peri autōn	Includes otherwise unknown information on Byzantine singing, modal theory and general musical practice