A theory of music is said to have been invented by Pythagoras, who said that numbers were the principles and elements of all things, and composed the harmonic proportions of the whole world. To him the rhythmic treatment of numbers was music, and he declared that “without numbers all measures, weights, and art itself, would fall to the ground.” And music was the art of composing, and reconciling contrary and discordant things, according to the harmony of the world, called by the Greeks o kosmoV, 670. It is also said that the system of Pythagoras was reduced to certain “harmonical canons, or rules found out by reason.” The assertion that the planets in their revolutions round the earth uttered certain sounds differing according to their respective “magnitude, celerity and local distance,” was commonly made by the Greeks. Thus Saturn, the farthest planet, was said to give the gravest note, while the moon, which is the nearest, gave the sharpest. “These sounds of the seven planets, and the sphere of the fixed stars, together with that above us, are the nine Muses, and their joint symphony is called Mnemosyne.”Pliny (bk. iii., ch. 22) says, “Saturn moveth by the Doric tone: Mercury by Pthongus, Jupiter by Phrygian and the rest likewise.” The Pythragorean harmony consisted of three concords, called Diapente, Diatessaron, and Diapason. classicalastrologer.me/music-of-the-spheres-2/
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 07:28:55 +0000
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