The Origins of Western Notation

Having investigated the connections between Byzantine church music and Gregorian chant, primarily through the examination of the relationship of Latin to Byzantine neumatic notation, Floros (emeritus, musicology, U. of Hamburg) published his findings demonstrating previously undetermined connections in the three volume Universale Neumenkunde in 1970. This volume contains a translated and revised version of the second volume of that treatise, which focuses on the relationship between Byzantine and Latin neumes. What exactly has been revised is rather unclear, as there is no translator or editor's note discussing the matter, but two articles examining the reception of Floros's work and the current state of the field are appended. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Constantin Floros is a professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Hamburg and a prolific writer on diverse subjects. He was the first researcher who systematically examined, compared and decoded the oldest Byzantine, Slavic and Latin neumatic notations.
Neil K. Moran is the author of numerous studies on European cultural history in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. His books are of fundamental importance for those interested in the Ordinary chants of the Byzantine rite and for the iconography of church singers in the Middle Ages.