Aristoxenus

Philosopher and music theorist

Born: 375-360 b. c.e.; Tarentum (now Taranto, Italy)

Died: Date unknown; probably Athens, Greece Category: Music; philosophy

Life Aristoxenus (ar-ihs-TAWK-see-nuhs) received his earliest musical training at the hands of his father, Spintharus, who enjoyed some reputation as a musician. He later studied with Lamprus of Erythrae, of whom little is known. Aristoxenus moved to Athens, where he studied with the Pythagorean Xenophilus. He also studied at the Lyceum with Aristotle. Because Aristoxenus later competed, although unsuccessfully, with Theophrastus, a colleague, for headship of the Lyceum around 322, it may be assumed that Aristoxenus was a superior student and respected in scholarly circles.

Aristoxenus was a prolific writer, with one source attributing more than 450 works to him, although only a few fragments have survived. The writings cover a variety of topics, including works on music, biography, history, and philosophy. The most important of the extant fragments pertain to music. Numbering among the music fragments that survive are parts of three books titled Harmonika stoicheia (The Harmonics, 1902). In addition, there is a fragment on rhythm, consisting of approximately 250 lines.

Aristoxenian theory articulated a system that addressed the issues of pitch, intervals, genera, systems, modes, and modulation as they applied to melody. The smallest consonant interval recognized in his system was a perfect fourth, which also formed the fixed outer boundary of a four-note unit called a tetrachord. The tetrachord was a kind of building block. The combining of the tetrachords produced three important larger theoretical structures known as the Greater Perfect System, the Lesser Perfect System, and the Immutable System.

Aristoxenus’s approach to the theory of music, conceived around 320 b. c.e., was unique for his time. A superior student of Aristotelian logic who was familiar with the “new math,” geometry, Aristoxenus turned both logic and geometry to his advantage as he defined the way subsequent theorists were to look at the discipline of music. His treatise was not simply an exercise in abstract logic. He elevated the musician’s “ear” to a level equal with the intellect. By doing so, he recognized the value and importance of the commonsense judgment of the practicing musician.

Aristoxenus’s writings clearly challenged both the teachings of Pythagoras, who flourished around 530 b. c.e. and whose reputation and writings were legendary by the time of Aristoxenus, and those of a group known as the Harmonists. The supporters of Pythagoras’s theories about music were scientists and mathematicians who were not interested in explanations or observations about the interplay of musical elements or about the science of music itself. They believed that understanding numbers was central to understanding the universe, and, therefore, it was quite logical to express musical intervals, of key importance to the Pythagoreans, in terms of mathematical ratios.

The Harmonists, criticized by Aristoxenus for failing to establish a rigorous system, were interested in the practical and empirical aspects ofmu-sic theory but fell short of articulating an acceptable system. They were preoccupied with the identification and measurement of microintervals, which emphasized the study of certain scales to the exclusion of others.

A key factor in Aristoxenus’s approach was his description of sound as a continuum, or line, along which the pitch could come to rest at any point, permitting him the freedom to create intervals of varying sizes without regard to whether the interval could be expressed using rational numbers. While abstract mathematical expression of a musical interval had become most important to the Pythagoreans and the Harmonists, Aristoxenus focused instead on the development of a system that would afford him the freedom and flexibility to identify subtleties of scalar structure. He based his system on judgments made by the ear and then represented it through geometric application.

Influence Aristoxenus was the earliest writer on music theory known to address practical musical concerns. When he took the unique position that the ear, along with the intellect, should be used in the study of music, he established a precedent that ultimately altered the course of music theory. In effect, he redefined what music theory was, taking it out of the hands of the scientists and mathematicians and creating a new discipline that focused only on the interrelationship of musical elements. His arguments, which owed

Much to Aristotelian influence and methodology, enabled him to produce a

Clearly defined and organized system of music theory.

Further Reading

Aristoxenus. Aristoxenou harmonika stoicheia = The Harmonics of Aristoxenus. Edited by Henry Stewart Macran. New York: Olms, 1990.

Barker, Andrew. “Music and Perception: A Study in Aristoxenus.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 98 (1978): 9-16.

Crocker, Richard. “Aristoxenus and Greek Mathematics.” In Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music, edited by Jan LaRue. New York: Pendragon Press, 1978.

Franklin, John Curtis. “Diatonic Music in Greece: A Reassessment of Its Antiquity.” Mnemosyne 55, no. 6 (November, 2002): 669-702.

Gibson, Sophie. Aristoxenus of Tarentum and the Birth of Musicology. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Henderson, Isobel. “Ancient Greek Music.” In Ancient and Oriental Music, edited by Egon Wellesz. Vol. 1 in TheNew Oxford History of Music. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Lippman, Edward. Musical Thought in Ancient Greece. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975.

Rowell, Lewis. “Aristoxenus on Rhythm.” Journal of Music Theory 23 (Spring, 1979): 63-79.

Winnington-Ingram, R. P. “Aristoxenus.” In New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. 2d ed. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2001.

Michael Hernon

See also: Aristotle; Philosophy; Pythagoras; Science; Theophrastus.