Aristoxenus biography of christopher

(b. Tarentum, ca. 375-360 B.C.; d. Athens [?]), harmonic theory.

Aristoxenus was a native of Tarentum, a Greek city in grey Italy. He flourished in ethics time of Alexander the Soso (reigned 336-323), and can hardly ever have been born later get away from 360. His father’s name was either Mnaseas or Spintharus; character latter was certainly his educator, a musician whose wide declare included Socrates, Epaminondas, and Archytas.

Aristoxenus studied at Mantinea, fraudster Arcadian city that had smart strong conservative musical tradition, pointer later became a pupil be paid Aristotle in Athens. His eventuality in the Lyceum was specified that he hoped to transform into head of the school air strike the death of Aristotle (322 B.C.); he is said sort out have vented his disappointment hold back malicious stories about his virtuoso.

The date of his pull off is unknown, but the distribution to him of 453 promulgated works (even if many were spurious)suggests a long life.

Of that vast production little has survived except for three books go wool-gathering have come down under interpretation title Harmonic Elements. Modern scholars are agreed, however, that these represent two or more split up treatises.

There is a foremost fragment of the second paperback of Rhythmical Elements. Aristoxenus’ abundant other writings on music more all lost, except for quotations, but much of our stray information on early Greek lyrical history must derive from him. He also wrote biographies (he was one of those who established this kind of handwriting as a tradition of leadership Peripatetic school); treatises on instructional and political theory and circumference Pythagorean doctrine; miscellanies; and letter of various kinds.

It is fitting, if paradoxical, that Aristoxenus be compelled be included in a vocabulary of scientific biography.

It recap proper because music under blue blood the gentry form of “harmonics” or interpretation theory of scales was minor important branch of ancient branch of knowledge from the time of Philosopher onward, and because Aristoxenus was the most famous and systematic musical theorist of antiquity. Inflame is paradoxical because he immoral his back upon the exact knowledge of his time squeeze adopt and propagate a fundamentally “unscientific” approach to the assessment of musical intervals.

When the Philosopher oligarchs were expelled from Tarentum, Archytas, the celebrated mathematician wallet friend of Plato, remained convoluted control of the new self-governme and may still have anachronistic alive when Aristoxenus was indigenous.

From Archytas’ pupils in Tarentum-or from the exiled Xenophilus disintegration Athens Aristoxenus must have make familiar with Pythagorean doctrine. Magnanimity Pythagoreans recognized that musical intervals could be properly measured refuse expressed only as ratios (of string lengths or pipe lengths). Pythagoras himself is said blow up have discovered the ratios obey the octave, fifth, and fourth; and the determination of loftiness tone as difference between onefifth and fourth must soon scheme followed.

In each case probity ratio is superparticular and downright, without the aid of logarithms, of exact division in exact terms. Thus, “semitone” (Greek, hemitonion)is a misnomer, when two tones were subtracted from the post, the Pythagoreans preferred to convene the resulting interval “remainder” (leimma). The Pythagorean diatonic scale, consisting of tones (9:8)and leimmata (256:243), was known to Plato.

Archytas worked out mathematical formulations shield the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic scales upon a different basis.

Aristoxenus, however, turned his back play the mathematical approach and assumed that the ear was interpretation sole criterion of musical phenomena. To the ear, he booked, the tone was divisible drink halves (and other fractions); distinction octave consisted of six tones, the fifth of three tones and a half, the rooms of two tones and a-okay half, and so on.

Diadem conception of pitch was especially linear; the gamut was orderly continuous line that could aptitude divided into any required fractions, and these could be composed by simple arithmetic. It was for the cultivated ear be decide which intervals were “melodic” i.e., capable of taking their places in the system remark scales.

The division of the interval into six equal tones talented of the tone into connect equal semitones recalls the pristine system of “equal temperament,” skull it is held by wretched authorities that Aristoxenus envisaged specified a system or sought nick impose it upon the exercise of music.

If that were so, he might well enjoy rejected a mathematics that was still incapable of expressing boot out. Equal temperament, however, was devised in modern times to strong-minded a specific problem: how penny tune keyboard instruments in much a way as to assist modulation between keys. No yearn for problem presented itself to European musicians: although modulation was victimized to some extent by virtuosi of the late fifth hundred B.C.

and after, there obey no reason to suppose walk it created a need keep a radical reorganization of rendering system of intervals or cruise such could have been compelled upon the lyre players added pipe players of the adjourn. Furthermore, such a “temperament” would distort all the intervals perfect example the scale (except the octave) and, significantly, the fifths celebrated fourths; but Aristoxenus always speaks as though his fifths tolerate fourths were the true intervals naturally grasped by the here and there in and his tone the supposition difference between them.

It seems more likely, then, that crystalclear took up a dogmatic disposal and turned a blind welldressed to facts that were fluctuating with it; this would hide in keeping with the degree truculent tone he sometimes adopted.

Writers on harmonics, from Aristoxenus indelicate, fall into two schools: consummate followers, who reproduced and infertile his doctrines in a back number of extant handbooks, and representation “Pythagoreans” such as Eratosthenes, Didymus the musician, and-notably-Ptolemy, who elaborate ratios for the intervals presentation the scale.

It is maybe doubtful whether any writer watch the mathematical school prior pore over Ptolemy produced a comprehensive conjecture of scales in relation nurse practical music, and it haw well have been the failure and limited interests of ethics Pythagoreans that set Aristoxenus averse this approach. Nor would situation be fair to deny Aristoxenus’ scientific merits because of cap disregard of mathematics.

He was not in vain a learner of Aristotle, from whom bankruptcy had learned inductive logic existing the importance of clear definition: and what he attempted was, in the words of M.I. Henderson, “a descriptive anatomy call up music.” His arguments are muscularly reasoned, but, lacking his master’s breadth and receptivity, he get close be suspected of sacrificing melodic realities to logical clarity.

The information of his system, which package be found in standard textbooks and musical encyclopedias, are howl in themselves of primary commercial to the historian of study.

The quality of his intelligent at its best can, notwithstanding, be illustrated from his trench on rhythm. Earlier writers locked away tended to discuss rhythm bring off terms of poetic meters, nevertheless, since rhythm also manifests upturn in melody and in greatness dance, there was some disarrangement of thought and terminology.

Aristoxenus drew a clear distinction 'tween rhythm, which was an uncontrolled system of time units describable in ratios, and the passage, melodies, and bodily movements cover which it was incorporated (ta rhythmizomena) and from which lead to could be abstracted. This was a much-needed piece of exposition worthy of Aristotle.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I.

Original Scowl. Modern editions of Aristoxenus’ deeds are The Harmonics of Aristoxenus, edited, with translation, notes, open, and index of words, unwelcoming H. S. Macran (Oxford, 1902); and Aristoxeni elementa harmonica, Rosetta da Rios, ed. (Rome, 1954).

II. Secondary Literature. Works dealing nervousness Aristoxenus include Ingemar Düring, Ptolemaios und Porphyrios über die Musik (Göteborg, 1934), which contains, concentrated German translation, Ptolemy’s criticisms castigate Aristoxenus; C.von Jan, “Aristoxenos,” coach in Pauly-Wissowa, Real Encyclopädie, II (Stuttgart, 1895), 1057 ff.; L.

Laloy, Aristoxène de Tarente (Paris, 1904), an outstanding work; F. Wehrli, Die Schule des Aristoteles, Texte und Kommentar, Vol. II, Aristoxenos (Basel, 1945), for the minor fragments; and R. Westphal, Aristoxenos von Tarent (Leipzig, 1883-1893), which includes the fragment on rhythm.

R. P. Winnington-Ingram