Ramos de Pareia, Bartolomé
Ramos de Pareia, Bartolomé
Ramos de Pareia, Bartolomé , significant Spanish music theorist; b. Baeza, c. 1440; d. c. 1491. He studied with Juan de Monte, and after lecturing at the Univ. of Salamanca, he went to Bologna in 1472. He publ. in 1482 his Latin treatise Musica practica (modern ed. by G. Vecchi, 1969), one of the important landmarks in the science of harmony. From 1484 he was in Rome. He established the mathematical ratios 4: 5 and 5: 6 for the intervals of the major and minor third, thus completing the definition of the consonant triad and laying the basis of our harmonic system. He was also the first to set forth the theory of equal temperament, probably based on the practice of the early Spanish guitarists (vihuelistas), since the frets on the guitar were placed a semitone apart.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire