A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Odington, Walter de

ODINGTON, Walter de, or Walter of Evesham, as he appears to have been indifferently called, probably took his name from Oddington, in Gloucestershire. It has been the fashion among musical historians to identify him with the Walter, monk of Canterbury, whose election to the primacy was quashed by the Pope in 1229; but unfortunately the true spelling of his name was Einesham or Eynsham. The subject of this article could not have been born much before the middle of the 13th century, if, as appears beyond doubt, he was the Walter de Evesham who is referred to in a list of mathematicians as living in 1316. Upon this supposition we may accept the date, 1280, at which Leland states that Odington was flourishing. In all probability his musical works were written early in his life, his latter days being given up to astronomy, in which science he is known to have been proficient, from several treatises which have come down to us. His only known musical work was the 'De Speculatione Musices,' of which there is a MS. copy in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Another copy is supposed to have been contained in one of the Cotton MSS. of which the remains are now at the British Museum. In this treatise Walter shows himself a sound musician as well as a learned writer, supplying in almost all cases examples of his own composition. The principal subjects he handles are musical intervals, notation, rhythm, musical instruments, and harmony, which latter term he uses instead of the old 'discantus'; he gives interesting definitions of such words as rondeau, motet (which he calls 'motus brevis cantilense'), etc. But the treatise is especially important for the study of rhythm in the 13th century. All that is known of his life is that he was a Benedictine of the monastery at Evesham, and that he was at Oxford, as stated above, in 1316.

[ A. H.-H. ]