Music as Divine Order
Read MoreGregor Reisch's representation of the art of Music. Alongside Lady Music and a vivid picture of practical music making, Pythagoras is shown in the foreground weighing hammers. According to legend, Pythagoras had discovered the mathematical basis of music (and the universe) when he passed by a blacksmith’s shop. Hearing musical consonances between the sounds made by the different hammers as they struck the anvil, he later found that octave intervals had been achieved by hammers whose weights differed by a ratio of 2:1; the fifth by a ratio of 3:2; the fourth by 4:3. Whilst in reality these musical ratios reflect the differing lengths of sounding strings rather than the weights of hammers, this tale nevertheless proved influential.
Author: Gregor Reisch
Title: Margarita philosophica [Pearl of wisdom] (Basel, 1583)
Shelfmark: C.14.24
Provenance: Gift of Edward Martin, President of Queens’ College 1631
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