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That’s exactly why the Pythagoreans were obsessed with music! An arcane text which I highly recommend for those curious is The Manual of Harmonics by Nichomacu
by achillesheels 6y ago
That’s exactly why the Pythagoreans were obsessed with music!
An arcane text which I highly recommend for those curious is The Manual of Harmonics by Nichomacus the Pythagorean. It’s a series of ancient lectures which dives into why the Pythagoreans were obsessed with how numerical the musical scales are.
- agumonkey 6y agoDid pythagoreans have notions of chromatic scales ? I worry that without it you're losing a huge emotional space. I'll look your book at once.
- achillesheels 6y agoHe speaks profusely about tetrachords. I believe his best examination of the chromatic scale is in chapter 12. I have a version translated and commentated upon by Flora R. Levin which provides exquisite anthropological background of how the ancient Greeks thought of music and provides context for what amounts to as lectures given by Nichomachus.