Aristoxenus: The Forgotten Father of Ancient Greek Music

Ancient Greek temple of Poseidon successful Paestum, confederate Italy, the location of Aristoxenus. Credit: Oliver-Bonjoch, Wikimedia Commons, CC3

Aristoxenus of Tarentum is simply a comparatively chartless Greek peripatetic philosopher who made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of euphony mentation and rhythm, shaping past Greek euphony profoundly.

Even though helium is considered to beryllium the archetypal musicologist successful the Western tradition, his enactment and property are not wide known and not galore radical are alert of his awesome beingness and contributions successful this field.

The Life and Works of Aristoxenus

Aristoxenus was calved successful the Greek colony of Tarentum successful confederate Italy (Magna Graecia) astir 375 BC. He was the lad of a musician, thing that influenced him fundamentally. As helium was increasing up, Aristoxenus studied euphony mentation and doctrine successful Athens, wherever helium moved to get the champion imaginable education, arsenic Athens was a large acquisition halfway astatine the time. He was a pupil of the celebrated philosophers Xenophilus the Pythagorean and much importantly, Aristotle, who played a foundationally shaping relation successful his life.

Aristoxenus loved to constitute his ideas and soon became a prolific writer. It is said that passim his beingness helium completed a jaw-dropping 450 –or adjacent more– works connected a wide assortment of topics including music, philosophy, and ethics, among galore others.

Unfortunately, astir of these works person been mislaid done clip oregon haven’t been discovered yet. Only tiny fragments of his writings past today, but they are capable to springiness america a glimpse into the satellite of Aristoxenus’ ideas. His astir important surviving enactment is the ‘Elements of Harmony’, which is an incomplete philharmonic treatise. This surviving portion is the cardinal root of our cognition of past Greek euphony to this day, arsenic it gives america invaluable accusation astir the mode past Greeks approached music.

How Aristoxenus Shaped Ancient Greek Music

In nonstop opposition to other, earlier Pythagorean theorists who fundamentally based their euphony mentation connected mathematical ratios, Aristoxenus argued that the notes of philharmonic scales should beryllium seen and judged by the receptor of the listener and those who bask listening to this melody and not by numbers. This is wherefore helium developed a genuinely influential mentation of philharmonic scales, arsenic good arsenic intervals, rhythm, and melody that was grounded successful the mode euphony was perceived and performed, alternatively than abstract theories that progressive mathematics.

Furthermore, Aristoxenus introduced respective different indispensable concepts, including the thought that philharmonic dependable proceeds by chiseled steps successful pitch, arsenic good arsenic the thought that the archetypal constituent of euphony is the enactment supra thing else. He past described antithetic philharmonic scales and modes, the ranges of the quality voice, and a fig of techniques of modulation betwixt philharmonic keys.

His work, ”Elements of Rhythm”, was so the archetypal systematic attraction of philharmonic metre and bushed successful the West, making his publication to euphony foundational and tremendously important.

A modern imagining of the quality of Aristoxenus. Credit: Guglielmo Morghen, Wikimedia-Commons, Public Domain

The Philosophical Approach of Aristoxenus

Aristoxenus, however, was not conscionable a musician. As a philosopher, helium followed a overmuch much empirical approach, influenced, of course, by his teacher Aristotle. Aristoxenus powerfully believed that euphony mentation should beryllium chiefly based connected existent philharmonic signifier arsenic judged by trained ears, not conscionable abstract mathematics, an thought that had heavy philosophical roots successful its core.

This enactment Aristoxenus successful absorption to the Pythagoreans of the time, who saw euphony arsenic fundamentally mathematical and not empirical. For Aristoxenus, however, euphony was some an creation and a science. It was overmuch much than numbers oregon random sounds enactment together. It required some crushed and cognition to beryllium decently understood.

Aristoxenus’ Influence connected Ancient Greek Music

Based connected the grounds we person connected Aristoxenus, we tin spot that helium had a seminal yet tremendous power connected aboriginal euphony theorists successful the past Greek satellite and beyond, arsenic helium dealt with elements that not galore radical had done earlier him. His works were being studied for centuries by galore and his concepts shaped the aboriginal philharmonic contented of respective regions of the past satellite successful Greece and beyond.

A notable illustration would beryllium the Roman designer Vitruvius, who relied heavy connected Aristoxenus successful his treatment of music. Additionally, successful the Middle Ages, scholars similar Boethius helped transmit the ideas of Aristoxenus to medieval Europe, spreading his enactment adjacent further.

Today, though not known by many, Aristoxenus is recognized arsenic a pioneering figure. He was the archetypal to survey euphony successful a overmuch much systematic, technological mode than his predecessors. He is besides considered the originator of the fields of musicology, euphony theory, and euphony science successful the West.

Even though lone tiny fragments remain, his works bash supply america with an invaluable penetration into past Greek euphony and the origins of the Western philharmonic contented arsenic a whole.