ODINGTON, WALTER. – Benedictine monk, who lived in England in the second half of the 13th century.
He first resided at Eveshan, then at Merton College (Oxford); he was deeply versed in Greek literature, music, singing, and mathematics, and was one of the most important writers on measured music. His treatise De speculatione musicae libri VI was published by C. de Coussemaker in Scriptores de musica medii aevi, I, Paris 1864, pp. 182–250, a highly significant document for knowledge of the music of the period, especially with regard to rhythm and intervals, which formed the basis upon which harmony would develop.
BIBL.: J. Wolf, Geschichte der Mensuralnotation von 1240-1460, Leipzig 1904, passim; id., Handbuch der Notationskunde, I, ibid. 1913, p. 264. Silverio Mattei