Boethius Essays - Musicology, Music Theory, Philosophy Of Music

Boethius Throughout history, every society has searched for some way to express its feelings and beliefs. Music has been an integral part of virtually every culture, so it is quite natural for people to have written about this subject. More literature has survived than actual music, which leaves modern scholars with the job of translating, interpreting, and trying to understand the writings of people prior to modern musical notation. Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius wrote and translated many books on subjects he felt were important to the education of future generations. Of particular interest is his book, The Fundamentals of Music (De institutione musica). Even though this book is no longer used as a basis for music education, it has had a lasting impact on music history and theory. Boethius was born either in or around Rome sometime around the year 480 AD. His father died when he was only seven, and he was taken in and raised by one of the wealthiest aristocrats of the time, Symmachus. Boethius received an exceptional education, married Symmachus's daughter, and led an esteemed career as a politician, writer, and scholar until he was imprisoned and executed in 524. ?Boethius's works may be divided into four categories, in chronological order: didactic works, treatises on the mathematical disciplines; the logical works, in essence translations or commentaries on Aristotle, Cicero, and Porphyry; the theological treatises, works expounding orthodox Christian doctrine by the philosophical method; and the Consolation of Philosophy, a purely philosophical treatise written in prison.?1 It is the first category, which deals with the mathematical disciplines, that contains his Fundamentals of Music. At the time Boethius wrote these books, music was considered one of the mathematical subjects, along with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. ?Boethius described these disciplines as the Quadrivium, the fourfold path to the knowledge of ?essences'- things unaffected by material substance.2? The fact that music was considered one of the mathematical disciplines is interesting to modern people, since it is now considered part of the arts, and on nearly the opposite end of the spectrum from math. Math is now considered strict, predetermined, rigid, and structured, while music is expressive, emotional, and subjective. However, people of the time assumed that the study of music would be limited to the mathematical characteristics of harmonic proportions. In this respect, music does have many characteristics that can be related to math, and it was on these observations that Boethius based a large part of his Fundamentals of Music. Some people have stated that Boethius's five books on music are merely translations of works by Pythagoras. This could not be true, because Pythagoras left no writings. ?But they are based on a strong tradition and on the work of later members of the Pythagorean school; from his education by his father-in-law Symmachus and in Athens Boethius was well acquainted with these, and it is evident from his writings that he was firmly convinced of the system's validity.3? A large section of Fundamentals of Music deals with musical instruments. Boethius outlines the development of the tetrachord and other instruments, and describes their relationships to mythological gods and astronomy. Boethius also wrote about the Greek beliefs in various modes having different impacts on human beings and their emotions. This was a primitive, but very intuitive and brilliant observation on the effect music can have on man. Pythgoreans believed, as did Boethius, that different modes had different results. Some modes ?induce sleep, while others ?purge ?the stupor and confusion of sleep' when they woke up.4? People of Pythagoras's time or of Boethius's era lacked the notation or knowledge of melodic movement to pinpoint exactly what qualities of each mode evoked specific feelings. However, the observations made were giant steps in the proper direction. Though much of Boethius's writing on music seems to be built on Pythagorean theories and observations, many of Boethius's ideas and notions seem to be original and are somewhat close to modern beliefs. ? Some of them are so close that the metaphors he uses are still quoted in textbooks on physics or harmony in use today.5? Boethius's observances on sound and hearing were centuries ahead of his time. He theorized about the motion of sound and sound waves, and ?one of these is the classic comparison of a wave of sound with the wave caused in water by a stone dropped into a pond.6? This theory could have been aided by Greek theories, but even so, all knowledge is built on previous knowledge, and Boethius's theory is