who created music theory?

Question

im doing a oral communications project, and i need to know who created music theory, who was the first person to ever write music? was there one specific person who made it up, or was it a group of people or did it develop over time? Who created music theory?

Answer 1

Fux is a really great place to start for the foundation of classical Western music theory, at least for traditional harmony based on tertian chords and the major & minor scales.

Different "theories" of music theory were also developed in the 20th century, with Schoenerg's 12-Tone serialism being among the most famous, although Fux pays much more attention how how to make something that SOUNDS good as well as make logical sense; it's a terrible thing that piece of music can be a technically correct serial composition, but sound awful.

We also use a "consonance/dissonance" ratio in my theory classes when analyzing music, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the system and a quick web search isn't turning up anything. It's a method of analyzing chords not by tertian sonorities, but by their intervals. For instance, a C-Major chord would be analyzed as 3/0; three consant intervals (c-g, c-e, e-g) and no dissonant ones. It's a good method to use to explain why a progression in modern music seems to work: a piece can come to a "rest" if there's a decrease in dissonance, even if the "chord" itself sounds dissonant once isolation from context.

Well, my point is, if you do a presentation on music theory, you should consider looking into modern interpretations and composition methods. As an added bonus, you can usually attatch names to modern methods (like Shoenberg.)

Answer 2

Short answer: Many people over a long period of time.

Long answer: Many people over a long period of time after Johann Fux wrote the first treatise on counterpoint, called Gradus Ad Parnassum, which really became the fundamental standard for Western Music Theory.

Most major composers have studied this book (and still do)

Fux did not "create" music theory, I'd call his book an academic study that opened a standard for 12 tone music as we know it today.

The idea of music theory is based in acoustics, and by definition has always been there (like gravity). It just waited to be discovered and put in a book.

Answer 3

Something as large as the theory of music was not and could not be developed by a single person, institution, or group. It developed (and continues to develop) over time.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

I'm not sure if this exactly answers your question but I found out that the Pythagoreans developed the musical scale, which I suppose is the beginning of writing music. They were the first to write it in a definable scale.