Gaudentius, Gaudéntios, 3rd century or 4th century, Greek music theorists, a follower of Aristoxenus’ tradition. He was the author of Harmonic Introduction. There is no information about his life. This treatise was certainly known to Cassiodorus. His remarks on octave species and so-called paraphonic intervals – that occupy an intermediate position between consonance and dissonance (he included the tritone and major third among them), which could be used in instrumental accompaniment – are of particular importance for the history of music. Gaudentius distinguished 12 octave species (composed of the corresponding species of the fourth and fifth), of which only 7 were considered “consonant.” The section of the treatise on transposed modes has not survived in its entirety, but Gaudentius probably distinguished 15 tonoi.
Literature: A. Barbera, “Journal of Music Theory” XXI No. 2, 1977; A. Barbera Octave Species, “Journal of Musicology” III No. 3, 1984; A. Barbera The Consonant Eleventh and the Expansion of the Musical Tetraktys, “Journal of Music Theory” XXVIII No. 2 1984; T.J. Mathiesen, Apollo’s Lyre: Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, London 1999.
Musici scriptores graeci, ed. K. v. Jan, Leipzig 1895, reprint Hildesheim 1962
Alypius et Gaudenzio, Bacchius l’ancien, «Collection des auteurs grecs relatifs à la musique» V, translated by C. E. Ruelle, 1895
L. Zanoncelli: La manualistica musicale greca…, Milan 1990
