The typical early Christian reference to music is an incidental remark made by a church father in some lengthy work on an entirely different subject. This circumstance of non-musical context has posed difficulties of interpretation for the music historian, while just as serious is the problem of inaccessibility resulting from the way in which these remarks are scattered over so vast a body of literature. One hopes that the present volume makes at least a modest contribution in the area of interpretation, but it is designed primarily to alleviate the latter problem of inaccessibility. Towards this end it presents several hundred brief passages, arranged by author in chronological order, from the New Testament to approximately 450 ad.

It aims to be inclusive rather than representative in its selection of material and to be a research tool for the serious student of music history rather than merely a pedagogical resource in the manner of the typical anthology of source readings. Thus, in an important area like liturgical psalmody, virtually every passage known to the author that makes a unique contribution to the subject, however slight, is included. The same is true of references to music as one of the liberal arts. Indeed there are so few of these that it is practical to reproduce, or at least to cite, virtually every known passage.