Boethius, Musical writings

Andrew Barker

doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.7100

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Boethius, Musical writings

Andrew Barker

https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.7100
Published online: 07 March 2016

Extract

Boethius' Institutio musica, mainly paraphrased from Greek sources, deploys Pythagorean harmonics (see pythagoras), within the quadrivium, to promote understanding of music's extraordinary powers. Books 1–3 (introduction and mathematical demonstrations) and possibly book 4 (divisions of the monochord, modes) derive from a lost work by *Nicomachus (3). Book 5 (incomplete) renders *Ptolemy (4)Harmonica 1, very selectively: perhaps Harmonica 2–3 were intended to follow.

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Latin Literature
Philosophy

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date: 08 February 2023

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Boethius, Musical writings

Boethius, Musical writings

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