In the fall of 2001, John Clough announced his intention to retire from his faculty position at the University at Buffalo. As a celebration of John's central role in the field of music theory, a collection of essays by scholars who had worked and studied with him seemed timely and appropriate. Martha Hyde and I (John's music theory colleagues at UB) first discussed this idea at the Society for Music Theory annual meeting that fall in Philadelphia, and then began to put together a roster of possible contributors and to issue invitations.

Sadly, John's severe health problems appeared at the beginning of the next semester, in January 2002. What had been planned as an orderly transformation of the UB theory program became a mad scramble to cover John's teaching, advising, and departmental duties. After his January surgery, he seemed well enough; nonetheless, a slow, inexorable process of diminishment had begun. The dissertation defenses of Nora Engebretsen and Jonathan Kochavi, both in the spring of 2002, were the last he participated in, and virtually his last public appearances in the department. By the summer, the decline had become impossible to ignore. John's children had to manage the difficult task of looking after him in Buffalo, which they did with courage and determination. His UB colleagues continued to visit, but every time we saw him, there seemed to be less and less of him. Finally, John was moved to be nearer his family, and died in the late summer of 2003—less than two years after making those retirement plans.

What was originally conceived as a collection honoring one of the great lights in the field of music theory, on the occasion of his retirement, was first reconceived as a get-well offering, and now is appearing as a post-mortem tribute. In this context, it seemed more appropriate to Martha Hyde and me that we present a collection of papers in the areas of John's specialization, rather than a more general offering from friends and colleagues. Since neither of us has much expertise in mathematical music theory, we decided to withdraw our own planned contributions, and invited Jack Douthett, a professional mathematician and one of John's best friends, as well as his frequent co-author, to share the editorial duties. Jack has done most of the work getting John's own piece, his last music theoretical paper, ready for publication.