It was probably in 1596 that Bathe's (1564-1614) second treatise appeared on London bookshelves, but Karnes suggests that it was in fact written a decade earlier and only published when a new
market for instructional texts on musical subjects was being cultivated by the leading publishers in the city. Despite early and lingering criticisms, he says, Bathe's theories are neither
confused nor misleading about the practice of solmization in late-16th-century England, though his discussions of these theories can be disorienting for readers not acquainted with the
rhetorical strategies of the period. Therefore, he clarifies many of the arguments before presenting a modern-print edition of the text and of the extant text of his 1584 A Briefe Introductione
to the True Art of Musicke, both highly annotated. Annotation 穢2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
