Pythagorean Mathematics and Music

Author(s): Richard L. Crocker

Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism , Spring, 1964, Vol. 22, No. 3
(Spring, 1964), pp. 325-335
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/427236

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 RICHARD L. CROCKER

Pythagorean Mathematic
and Music

PART II

Concluded from the Winter issue

III There are three means in music: one is the

arithmetic, the second is the geometric, and th
IN AN ATTEMPT to see how art and number third is the subcontrary, which they call 'har-
monic.' The arithmetic mean is when there are
acted upon each other in their most charac-
three terms showing successively the same excess:
teristically Greek mixture-the pythago-the second exceeds the third by the same amount
rean theory of music-the first part of thisas the first exceeds the second. In this proportion
article tried to show how the general opera-the ratio of the larger numbers is less, that of
tions of early pythagorean arithmetic
the smaller numbers greater. The geometric
is when the second is to the third as the first is
mean
formed the basis for the pythagorean theory
to the second; in this mean, the greater numbers
of music. The arithmetic concept of quan-have the same ratio as the smaller numbers. The
tity as integer or "whole-number" and thesubcontrary, which we call harmonic, is as fol-
classification of ratios or integer-relation-lows: by whatever part of itself the first term
exceeds the second, the middle term exceeds the
ships provided the music theorist with a
third by the same part of the third. In this pro-
concept of musical interval and a way ofportion the ratio of the larger numbers is larger,
classifying intervals. The operation of add-
and of the lower numbers less.
ing intervals-that is, of combining ratios
-may, on the other hand, have arisen as a We know little about the history of these
musical operation. The needs of sound andthree means prior to Archytas. It seems at
number then became inextricably bound to-first glance that the arithmetic mean came
gether in the scale commonly called "py- first, since in some ways it is the simplest
and
thagorean": here simple operations applied the one most directly connected with
the integer series. In other ways, however,
to small-number ratios explained and justi-
fied a durable musical construction. the geometric mean is the simplest, and
there are good reasons for thinking that it,
There were, however, other Greek scales
besides this "pythagorean" one, and theserather than the arithmetic, was the original
other scales appear in connection with a py-one. Finding the geometric mean between
thagorean operation peculiar to music- two numbers is the reverse of compounding
that of placing a third term, or "mean," be-ratios. In that operation we had to find the
tween two terms of a given ratio. The firstextreme terms that would enclose two ra-
description we have of these means is bytios, or the same ratio twice, in continuous
Archytas (around 400 B.C.) in one of threeproportion; for example, 2:3 compounded
fragments remaining from his work onwith itself was expressed as 4:6:9. In find-
mathematics.25 ing the mean, we are given the two extremes

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 326 RICHARD L. CROCKER

and asked to find the term between them irrationality was well-known in the time
that divides the extremes into two equalof Theodorus-a generation before Archy-
ratios; given 4 and 9, the mean is 6. tas.28
Ob-
viously this operation presupposes the com-
This same irrational quantity, /2, ap-
pounding of ratios as already discussed-in
pears when we try to place a geometric
fact, for the pythagoreans the geometric
mean between 1 and 2 and could have been
mean was nothing but resolving the series
as well discovered this way as through the
implicit in the ratio of the extremes into application
its of the Pythagorean Theorem;
constituent parts, for within the realm in of
fact, Michel suggests that it was the musi-
integers a geometric mean can be placed
cal application of this problem, the divi-
only inside those extremes that already form
sion of the octave in "half," that was the
a compound ratio. We can find a geometric
starting point of the study of irrationals.29
mean between the extremes 4 and 9 because
In general, a geometric mean can be ex-
these numbers enclose the ratio 2:3 taken
pressed by an integer only when placed
twice. But try as we may, we can find no
between two terms that are both perfect
such mean between, say, 4 and 8. Among
squares or multiples of perfect squares.
the pythagorean operations described incondition is expressed in pythagorean
(This
Books VII, VIII, and IX of Euclid's Ele- terms by Euclid in the porism to proposi-
ments there is no geometric mean as such,tion 2, Book VIII.) The inability of arith-
only a discussion of ratios in continuousmetic to express geometric means that did
proportion. All the properties of such pro-
not meet this condition-and irrationals in
portions are thoroughly explored, showinggeneral-led to the development of the new
by implication the conditions under whichgeometry of which Euclid's concluding
a geometric mean could be found-but
books form the brilliant culmination. For
always from the viewpoint of series and pro-
even though the geometric mean between
portion. This is because the geometric 1 and 2 could not be numbered, it could
mean can be expressed in integers only un-
be drawn, that is, represented rigorously by
der certain conditions, namely, those that
a line in a geometric construction as, for
govern continuous proportion. example, in the right triangle already de-
At some early stage the pythagoreans scribed.
be- Hence the name of the geometric
came aware of the existence of quantitiesmean: it could be found for all ratios only
that could not be expressed by integers. within
The the discipline of geometry, not arith-
first such irrational ("without a ratio")
metic.
quantity to be perceived was what we callThere is preserved a very interesting
the square root of 2, or x/2. It was most
theorem of Archytas which demonstrates
likely discovered in the attempt to apply
that an epimore cannot receive a geometric
the Pythagorean Theorem to a right mean.30
tri- Here is a translation of the text as
angle whose sides were equal and each onepreserved by Boethius:
unit in length; the square on the hypote-
nuse, being equal to the sum of the squaresLet there be an epimore ratio A:B. Take C,
on the sides, was in this case not a squareD + E as the least terms of the same ratio. Since
C, D + E are the least terms of the ratio, and
number (12 + 12 = 2). Eventually it was
since they are epimores, D + E exceeds C by an
proved that the side of a square two units aliquot part of itself and of C. Let this part be
in area was not merely difficult but impos-D. I say that D is not a number but unity. For
sible to express by integers.26 This proof if
is it were a number, and a part of D + E, then
it would measure D + E, and therefore would
preserved in Aristotle,27 but it is generally
also measure E, that is, C. Wherefore D would
agreed that the proof goes back to an earlier
measure both D + E and C, which is impossible.
time, because Plato in his dialog Theaete-
For the least terms of any ratio are prime to each
other. D is therefore unity. Therefore D + E
tus says that Theodorus (middle of the fifth
exceeds C by unity. Therefore no middle term
century) proved the irrationality of square
falls between them that might divide the ratio
roots of numbers from 3 to 17 (excluding equally. Therefore neither can any mean term
4, 9, and 16). Plato's failure to mention the
be placed between other numbers in the same
square root of 2 is taken to show that itsratio so as to divide it equally.

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Pythagorean Mathematics and Music 327
As Tannery pointed out, The geometric division, therefore, was
this theorem-
at least in the form given in
the logical one Boethius-
to try first. But musical con-
sonances
clearly belongs to a series of(except for the doubleIt
theorems. octave)
could as
presupposes certain things not be divided geometrically
already proved because
of the irrational
and suggests other things to be natureproven.
of the result. How,
then, were
Archytas does not actually they to befor
prove, divided?
ex-Two solu-
ample, that epimores tions
cannothad already
bebeendivided
provided by the
geometrically, only thatpythagoreans. One was to construct
all epimores, when a con-
reduced to lowest terms, have a difference tinuous proportion of some convenient size
of unity between their terms. Archytas then but smaller than the consonance to be di-
concludes with what seems to be a summaryvided, then subtract this proportion from
of a previous theorem. Euclid's Books VIIthe consonance. The continuous proportion
and VIII suggest several ways to supple-was formed on the whole-tone 8:9, giving
ment Archytas' theorem,31 which couldthe series 64:72:81. This was subtracted
easily have belonged to a chain of proposi- from the consonance of the fourth by means
tions similar to those presented by Euclid. of the series 192:216:243:256, leaving the
But what could have been Archytas' pur- limma 243:256. This is the scale we have
pose in making such demonstration? From seen attributed to the early pythagoreans
a purely arithmetic point of view there is -an attribution we now find supported by
perhaps a certain interest in showing that the fact that it used the simplest relation-
epimores cannot receive a geometric mean,ship of ratios, blandly accepting the com-
since all the other classes of ratios do per- plex limma that results.
mit one-at least in isolated cases. Aside
The other solution was to find some
whole number between the terms of the
from that, Archytas' theorem does not seem
characteristic of arithmetic; in any case,that
ratio it would divide the ratio roughly
in half. In effect, the difference of the terms,
was not included by Euclid in his summary
of pythagorean arithmetic. Archytas'not theo-
their ratio, was divided. It seems to me
rem is, however, peculiarly applicable
probableto that this division existed at first
only asita special case, not as a method. It
music (as Tannery pointed out). Assume
already proven that the octave couldwasnot
not,beI think, until the time of Archytas
divided by the geometric mean; then thatit is special case suggested the general
this
method
clear that Archytas' intent was to show thatof division Archytas called the
neither could any other consonance be so mean." The special case is, of
"arithmetic
divided, all the other simple consonances
course, the division of the octave by the
being epimores. fourth and fifth in the series 2:3:4. Long
At this point it is important to stress the
available as a model, this case enjoyed par-
primacy of the geometric division. ticular
In com- pre-eminence because of its position
paring ratios, the simplest relationship
within isthe integer series, within the tetrad
equality-just as with numbers. Two num-
itself, as well as corresponding to a basic
bers may be equal or not; if not, thendivision
oneof the octave in musical sound.
is greater; finally, it is greater by a part or
This division does not, of course, produce
parts of the lesser, which leads to athe six-
geometric mean. It is not even a close ap-
fold classification of ratios. Repeating the
proximation, for the two ratios differ by
comparison with ratios, two ratios 8:9. may It be
has definite musical advantages,
equal or not; if not, then one is greater-
however, for both ratios resulting from the
but now the comparison becomes muchare consonant, being epimores.
division
more complex. The point is, equality of
Furthermore, this arithmetic mean is always
ratios is the simplest relationship; both the
possible for epimores, for although no mean
construction of a continuous proportion
of any kind can be found between the low-
and the reverse operation, finding the geo- of an epimore (they differ by
est terms
metric mean, deal only with equal ratios.
unity), when these terms are multiplied by
Any other relationship of ratios 2,32
is more
an arithmetic mean automatically ap
complex. pears between them. This case is very differ-

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 328 RICHARD L. CROCKER

ent from that a certain

of unmusical
the result. In dividing a
geometr
whole-tone, for example,
if it is not present between this mean pro- th
of a ratio, is duced
not present
two unequal semitones of which the bet
tiples of thoselarger wasterms. Finall
on top (since the numbers repre-
the arithmetic sent string-lengths,
mean the smaller
does number no
more exactly in
represents half,
a shorter it do
string and a higher
mately, pitch). the
and as Hence in theterms
series 16:17:18 the of
larger the approximation
interval on top, 16:17, is larger than the
the divisionone 38:39:40,
on the bottom, 17:18. The arithmetic
for e
still does not meanequal 39:40,
always places the larger ratio between bu
ancy is not very great.
the smaller numbers, as Archytas himselfThe
the musical theorist pointed out. In the case of the
can whole-tone put
mean are precisely this is perhaps not so bad, those
but in the divi- in
numbers. sion of the octave, 2:3:4, the arrangement
Derived from an important model, pro-of fifth over fourth proved objectionable-
ductive of epimores that stood in continu- or so we must conclude in view of what
happened. A third type of mean was de-
ous series even if not in proportion, always
capable of a rational solution, the arith- veloped which preserved the epimore ratios
metic division of epimores soon establishedbut inverted their order so that the smaller
was above the larger. Because it did so in-
itself as a useful approximation of the geo-
metric mean. It was especially useful be-
vert the ratios of the arithmetic division,
this third mean was at first called "sub-
cause its application was so simple. This
very simplicity is the main reason why contrary"; but then, we are told, it was
the arithmetic mean has usually been con- called the "harmonic" mean because it re-
sidered to be very old, preceding the geo-sulted in a more harmonious arrangement
metric mean in the evolution of Greek of the intervals.33
mathematics. Admittedly, the arithmetic
It is worthwhile noting the way in which
Archytas
operations necessary for finding this arith- describes the harmonic mean: he
metic mean are primitive. But the arith-
says, "By whatever part of itself the first
term exceeds the second, the middle term
metic mean itself is an operation seemingly
without purpose in arithmetic; further-
exceeds the third by the same part of the
more, it makes its first appearance third,"
notfor example 6:4:3, where 6 ex-
among arithmetic operations butceeds in the
4 by Vs of itself, and 4 exceeds 3 by
company of the other two means,1/one ofThis backhanded description must
of 3.
have the
which is the geometric. In this company some purpose, for it is easier to say
thatnum-
arithmetic mean deals not with simple the differences between the terms, 2
bers but with ratios, and insofar as it deals and 1, stand in the same ratio as the ex-
with ratios, the arithmetic mean is not a tremes, 6 and 3. It would seem that in de-
simple operation but a complex, sophisti-
scribing this mean, Archytas wished to em-
phasize the relationship of the ratios, 6:4
cated one. As an approximation of the geo-
metric mean it is best considered to be a and 4:3, rather than the differences between
temporary solution to the problem ofthe ir-terms, 6 - 4 = 2, and 4 - 3 = 1; in so
rationals, especially applicable to music.
doing he treated the harmonic mean more
Archytas says, "In music there are threelike the geometric mean than like the arith-
means." We can imagine that Archytas metic.
first For to speak of the differences be-
demonstrated epimores to be incapable tween
of the terms would have been to treat
exact division in half, then went on to the
de- harmonic mean as a more intricate
rive from the standard division of the oc- form of the arithmetic, where these differ-
tave a method for dividing these epimores
ences are equal; but to speak of the ratios
in rough approximation of the geometricis to treat the harmonic mean as a more
mean. We will see later how Archytas him-
intricate form of the geometric. One has the
self applied this new arithmetic mean. feeling that Archytas would have found an
Useful as it was, the arithmetic mean had analogous description of the arithmetic

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Pythagorean Mathematics and Music 329
mean if that had been possible. tuning. On In the other
any hand, it would be
case
he is careful to compare the sizes
hazardous of
to derive itsthe
meaning from the
ratios in the arithmetic mean and also those fifth-century use of harmonia for scale;35
in the harmonic mean: he says that in such the a meaning would be too technical, too
arithmetic mean the larger ratio is between practical for scientific purposes. Of all the
the smaller numbers, while in the harmonic possibilities, the most obvious remains: a
mean the larger ratio is between the larger harmonic division was one in which three
numbers. The importance of the means, pitches stood in the most harmonious rela-
tionship. In applying the "subcontrary"
for Archytas, clearly lies in their ratios, not
their arithmetic differences. mean to musical intervals and calling it the
The ratios themselves of the harmonic "harmonic" mean, the pythagorean theo-
mean are (for any given extremes) the
ristsame
was clearly seeking a basis for rightness,
as those obtained by the arithmetic.true
Hence
proportions in the arrangement of
the distinctive feature of the harmonic musical sounds.
mean is the order in which these ratios are
placed. The octave, for example, when IV
ex-
pressed as 6:12, can be divided both by
Plato, in a well-known passage of the
an arithmetic mean 9 and a harmonic mean
Timaeus,36 says:
8. One division is an upside-down version
of the other: the arithmetic mean divides
But two things alone cannot be satisfactorily
the octave into two consecutive epimores
united without a third; for there must be some
2:3 (6:9) and 3:4 (9:12), or the intervals
bond between them drawing them together. And
of all bonds the best is that which makes itself
fifth and fourth, with the fifth on top; the
harmonic mean divides the octave into the and the terms it connects a unity in the geo-
metrical proportion to effect this most perfectly.
same two consecutive epimores 2:3 (8:12)
For whenever, of three numbers, the middle one
and 3:4 (6:8), but with the fourth on top.
between any two that are either solids [cubes?]
or squares is such that, as the first is to it, so is it
Example 11
Arithmetic Harmonic
to the last, and conversely as the last is to the
mean mean middle, so is the middle to the first, then since
f 6 f 6 the middle becomes first and last, and again the
last and first become middle, in that way all will
fifth { fourth 6
necessarily come to play the same part towards
one another, and by doing so they will all make
a unity.
Now if it had been required that the body of the
fourth 4 fifth
universe would be a plane surface with no depth,
12 12 a single mean would have been enough to con-
nect its companions and itself; but in fact the
Stated world was to be solid in form, and solids are
different
is, always conjoined,
2:3:4) thenot by one mean, but by two.
tw
same consecutive
Plato is obviously speaking of the geometric
the number series itself, whereas in the mean, more specifically of the second and
series 6:8:12 they appear in reverse order.
third columns of example 8 or some similar
The fact that Archytas called this third
series. At the end of the passage quoted, the
kind of mean "harmonic"-and for musical
word "conjoined" might be more literally
reasons-seems to me to be of great impor-translated "harmonized,"37 which in itself
tance. There is obviously no question of a
is interesting, for it happens that the arith-
reference to harmony in the sense of chords;
metic and harmonic means converge on the
but there are several other meanings the
geometric. Even if irrational, the geometric
term "harmonic" might have had inmean 400 still can be shown to lie between the
B.C. Originally it seems to have meant two rational means. Tannery attributed this
"related to tuning" or, even more generally,
theorem to Archytas, on the basis of the way
"related to pitch."34 But there is no reason
Archytas divided the tetrachord.38 But Tan-
to use these very general meanings here, nery's
for account is not in accord with what
the other two means also relate to pitch weand
now know about the Greek scale; while

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 330 RICHARD L. CROCKER

Archytas divided this whole

may have into as many parts as was
know
vergence onfitting, each
the part being a blend
geomet of Sameness,
Difference, and Existence.
way of demonstrating
And he began the division in this way. First he t
may be significant
took one portion (1) from the whole,that and next a t
is spoken ofportion
as (2) double of this; the third (3) half as
"harmoni
for it is in much
just again as the second,
such and three times
a the se
first; the fourth (4) double of the second; the
metic and harmonic mea
fifth (9) three times the third; the sixth (8)
monize" the octave.
eight times the first; and the seventh (27) twenty-
This, in fact, is the most striking applica-
seven times the first. Next, he went on to fill up
tion of the means, producing the key con-both the double and the triple intervals, cutting
off yet more parts from the original mixture and
struction of pythagorean musical theory.39
placing them between the terms, so that within
Example 12 each interval there were two means, the one (har-
monic) exceeding the one extreme and being
tone exceeded by the other by the same fraction of
fourth X-, fourth the extremes, the other (arithmetic) exceeding
the one extreme by the same number whereby
6 8 9 12 it was exceeded by the other.
These links gave rise to intervals of 3:2 and
fifth fifth 4:3 and 9:8 within the original intervals. And
he went on to fill up all the intervals of 4:3 with
octave
the interval 9:8 (the tone) leaving over in each
a fraction. This remaining interval of the frac-
This construction, dividing as it does
tion hadthe
its terms in the numerical proportion
first consonance by the second and of 256:243in
third (semitone).
By this time the mixture from which he was
a curious, interlocking way, has every right
cutting off these portions was all used up.
to be called the harmony. Here the inner
It has
affinity of whole-number arithmetic often
and been concluded that Plato
is here laying
music finds its most congenial expression. It out the scale of ancient Greek
music. But tempting as it is for a music
need not surprise us that this construction
historian
is very ancient, going back before the math- to find a scale in Plato's cosmol-
ogy, it seems better to follow Cornford in
ematical operations just described-perhaps
back before the Greeks themselves. Early the significance of this passage
minimizing
pythagoreans typically seized uponfor actual musical practice.41 The diffi-
isolated
culties be-
instances of truths whose generality and discrepancies that arise from
came known only later. Instances which interpreting
in- Plato's construction as a musi-
volved small integers-like the 3-4-5 cal right-
scale having been sufficiently pointed
triangle-were apt to be regarded out
asby Cornford and others, it is clear that
mar-
velous until the more general theorems Plato'swere
real purpose was to invoke certain
developed. And while we cannot principles,
derive both mathematical and musical,
the meaning of "harmonic" mean from for the sake of the weight they gave his
the
fifth-century term harmonia for metaphor, scale, we without regard for their rela-
might, I think, argue the other way tionaround
to each other or to a specific musical
result.
to derive harmonia (scale) from harmonic
or harmonious mean; for the standard meas-
In the first place, Plato seems to be re-
ure or form of scales, no matter how di- porting pythogarean doctrine-at least
vergent, could already have been this arith- when speaking of mathematics. In the
Republic42 he gives us an indication of
metic-harmonic division of the octave. In
any case, it served as the foundationwhich
of elements of pythagorean doctrine ap-
Western theory for a long time to come.peal to him.
In another, celebrated passage of theThere is a perfection which all knowledge ought
Timaeus,40 Plato draws upon several ofto reach, and which our pupils ought also to at-
tain, and not to fall short of, as I was saying that
these mathematical operations in the meta-
they did in astronomy. For in the science of har-
phorical construction of the world-soul.
mony, as you probably know, the same thing
happens. The teachers of harmony compare the
And having made a unity of the three, again he

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Pythagorean Mathematics and Music 331
sounds and consonances whichthe
are heard only,
"triples," wh
and their labor, like that of the astronomers, is in
vain.
constructing a sca
orean methods.
... I am referring to the Pythagoreans, of whom
I was just now proposing to inquire about har- This passage can be interpreted as a de-
scription of a musical scale only by assum-
mony. For they too are in error, like the astron-
omers; they investigate the numbers of the har- ing such a scale beforehand, then reading
monies which are heard, but they never attain
Plato's directions accordingly. But the sig-
to problems-that is to say, they never reach the
nificance
natural harmonies of number, or reflect why some of the passage seems perfectly
numbers are harmonious and others not. clear without imagining it to describe a
scale-if we have in mind the three means
Clearly it is the principles of the pythago-
of Archytas. Wishing to divide up, meta-
rean operations that concern him; he is in-
phorically, the stuff of the world-soul, Plato
terested in such lower science only insofar
invokes the three kinds of mean as the most
as it points towards a higher truth. Just as
powerful dividing operations of modern
we do not expect the Republic to describe a
science. These means were applied to-per-
social organization but rather justice, so we
haps created for-music by the pythago-
should not look for description of musical
reans. Plato, however, cares little for the
practice in the Timaeus.
application, being interested only in the
It is interesting that Plato does not give
principle,
the numbers in strict arithmetic order, but the "natural harmonies of num-
bers." Still, he must cite those principles
instead 1,2,3,4,9,8,27; as often pointed out,
by the forms in which they were well-
Plato gives first the primes, then the
known. So he refers first to the geometric
squares, then the cubes. The series stops
there-for mathematical, not musical rea- mean, by the theorem "one mean between
two squares, two between two cubes"; then
sons.43 As we already saw, the Greeks spoke
to the arithmetic and harmonic means, by
not of exponents but of squares and cubes.
their division of the octave; finally to the
As in the passage where he describes har-
method of geometric-mean-plus-limma, by
monizing two squares with one mean and the division of the tetrachord. The first
two cubes by two means, Plato is here
theorem belongs to arithmetic or geometry,
merely invoking an important mathemati-
the second and third to music. They are
cal principle (preserved by Euclid in Book
combined by Plato in a way that makes
VIII, propositions 11 and 12). That being
the case, it is hard to see how Plato's readers, sense only within his own metaphor.
if trained in mathematics, could fail to
V
complete the set of numbers Plato gives
with the means 6, 12, and 18.44 Combined differently, however, these
Example 13 same theorems do produce a scale-the
1 scale already described as typically pythag-
orean-and Plato is the first writer to indi-
2 3 cate the existence of this scale. But it is
generally assumed (I think rightly so) that
4 6 9 this scale was the standard one in the fifth
8 12century-at least in theory. We can assume
18 27
that Archytas regarded it so, and that in
proposing a different scale he intended to
Such is the meaning
improve the olderof the
scale both opera
from a theo-
describes. Plato retical
then says
and practical point ofthat
view. We the
and "triples"45knoware filled
that musical practice was in by th
undergoing
m-etic and harmonic mean.
radical changes at that This
time, particularly in
as we saw, could
the sizes ofbe applied
scalar intervals.46 We have seen to a
but for purelyArchytas
musicalconcerned with the
purposes
three means
plied by the pythagoreans
and with epimore ratios, and we especia
know
octave. It has no particular
from Ptolemy apzpli
that Archytas was of all the

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 332 RICHARD L. CROCKER

pythagoreans the
interval 7:9 was the nextone most
after the fourth
music.47 We should now be able to under- itself (6:8) and could be conveniently sub-
stand how and why Archytas built the scale tracted from it, leaving the small epimore
he did.
27:28. But instead of placing the intervals
Archytas started with the consonance 7:8 of and 8:9 in arithmetic series, Archytas
the fourth, just as did the older scale, fitting
inverted them, placing the smaller on top,
these fourths together with a tone in be- according to the harmonic division 56:63:
tween to form an octave in the "harmony" 72, where 72 exceeds 63 by the same part
of example 12. But Archytas gave three of di-itself (one-eighth) by which 63 exceeds
56. Thus the old geometric series was re-
visions of the fourth, not just one, being the
first theorist to do so. These three are called
placed by a new series in which the sizes of
"diatonic" (the one most like the old scale),
the intervals were determined by the arith-
"chromatic," and "enharmonic." In the metic mean and their order by the har-
chromatic and enharmonic divisions, the monic mean.
top interval became progressively larger,Having found a way to preserve the gen-
the middle interval smaller. Archytas de- eral shape of the old scale while substitut-
signed the three divisions as a set, relating
ing a simpler epimore at the bottom, Archy-
them clearly to each other through a com- tas then kept this interval at the bottom
mon bottom interval. Here are the ratios of the other genera. In order to form the
for each kind or genus of tetrachord, chromatic
as and enharmonic tetrachords, he
handed down by Ptolemy.48 varied only the relative sizes of the upper
Example 14
intervals-which meant, in effect, changing
the pitch of only one note. This one note
Diatonic Chromatic Enar
monic
bore the name lichanos, "indicator" (at
Mese 8 27 4 least in the tetrachord used to illustrate

9 7
the genera)-a name that may have been
derived originally from the use of the index
Lichanos 32 224 finger to produce this note, perhaps by
sliding up or down a string to vary its
5 35
pitch. In any case it is striking that the
lichanos, all by itself, indicated the nature
Parhypate 8 27 243 27 36 27
of Archytas' tetrachords, while the note
Hypate 28 28 next below, called parhypate, simply held
28
its place alongside the bottom note, hypate.
Looking firstLater
atin Archytas' diat
the fourth century, Aristoxenus
find that whilecaused
the top interval
the parhypate is
to move also, but not
as the old scale (8:9),
as much the
as the lichanos; middle
in some cases he
is larger (7:8) and the
held it firm, bottom
preserving something of int
the
sequently smaller (27:28).
function of Archytas' parhypate. The o
using the simple geometric
In Archytas' set of tetrachordsmean
the li-
sulted in the complex limma,
chanos moved between 243
clearly established
Archytas clearly wished
limits. to
Starting at a point avoid;
a tone (8:9) lower
a simpler limma, apparently
than the top in
note mese, the lichanos de-
form a better relation with
scended until its distance the
from the mese o
era, chromatic and enharmonic. In order was the interval 4:5. This interval, obvi-
to obtain a simpler limma, he was willing
ously, is the largest epimore after the fourth
to sacrifice the continuous proportion
(3:4). If the lichanos descended lower, it
formed by the top two intervals, replacing would form no other epimore with the
it with the arithmetic series 7:8:9. This se- mese until it came to the hypate itself. But
ries divided the interval 7:9 with the arith- in the enharmonic genus this interval be-
metic mean 8, producing two almost-equal tween mese and lichanos was a melodic,
epimores 7:8 and 8:9-one of them being
scalar interval: it was not divided by any
the same as the tone of the old scale. The pitch in between, the voice or instrument

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 Pythagorean Mathematics and Music 333
moving stepwise from mese
(thirdto lichanos
century B.C.) or just
Didymus (first cen-
as it did from parhypatetury
to B.C.),
hypate.
we wouldItfind
was an increasing con-
cernthis
important, therefore, that for epimore
largeratios and the arithmetic
inter-
mean. This which
val be as simple as possible, reached a climax
wasin the divisions
done by making it an epimore. proposed byThus
PtolemyArchy-
himself, particularly in
tas made the enharmonic interval mese- his favorite tetrachord, 9:10:11:12, which
lichanos partake both of the melodic na- stands as far from practice and as
probably
ture of small epimores like 8:9 and the
close to certain principles of pythagorean
consonant nature of large ones like 2:3. He
arithmetic as any in Greek theory.50 All the
thereby avoided the interval 64 (:72) : 81 are epimores made of relatively
intervals
that would result if the enharmonic were
small numbers, arranged in a continuous
formed on the basis of the old scale. This
arithmetic series of four terms-a uniquely
interval 64:81 would never be a simpleelegant
in- expression of those pythagorean
terval because its complex nature could
principles. Even though we cannot judge
only be understood as a compound of fairly
two the stylistic effect of Ptolemy's di-
whole-tones. vision (he himself admits it sounds a little
Archytas' intent now becomes clear. Heodd), we can easily see that it obliterates
the traditional structure of the tetrachord.
wanted to use epimores wherever he could,
especially 8:9 and 4:5, which served asThe intervals are too much alike; the rela-
limits to the movement of the lichanos. The tive functions of the different notes are lost.
common interval 27:28 having been estab- Ptolemy's concern seems all directed to-
lished from the diatonic, the interval 35:36
wards the principles rather than the prac-
in the middle of the enharmonic is a matter
tice. In comparison, Archytas' divisions
of necessity-but even so it is an epimore.
seem arithmetically awkward, but that is
The chromatic genus was clearly a way- because Archytas was using principles to
station. As late as Aristoxenus (320 B.C.),
explain sounds, not sounds to express prin-
the nature of the chromatic tetrachord wasciples.
fluid: Aristoxenus described three types Archytas
of was in some ways the last py-
chromatic, then allowed in principle anthagorean.
in- Up to his time Greek mathe-
finite number. In the time of Archytas,matics
the was more or less synonymous with
situation could have been only a little more
pythagorean arithmetic; after Archytas, the
stable. According to Ptolemy, Archytas new de- geometry made possible powerful gen-
scribed his chromatic lichanos as lying a that reduced arithmetic to a spe-
eralities
limma (243:256) below the diatonic licha-cial branch of mathematics-and inciden-
nos. That fixes its location as well as any-
tally reduced the pythagoreans to relative
thing could, since the lichanos is then a
insignificance. Archytas himself mentions
tone (8:9) above the hypate, having moved four types of mathematics-arithmetic,
thither from a point the same distance geometry,
be- spherics, and music.51 Since Ar-
low the mese.
chytas placed the description of the means
As Winnington-Ingram pointed out,49 presumably at the beginning of his treatise
this system of Archytas reflects a deep con-
on music, we can imagine that arithmetic,
cern with the realities of musical practice.
for him, treated the generation of series and
No abstract theorist would have come the up classifying and compounding of ratios
with a system so complicated and irregular.
in typical pythagorean fashion, while music
Yet this system results from a direct appli-
dealt with the division of ratios according
cation to musical practice of typically py-
to the three means. Geometry-plane, solid,
thagorean theorems and operations. Archy- or spherical-was the new science of irra-
tas appears as the Greek theorist who tionals, or rather of magnitudes in general
achieved the most happy combination ofas opposed to magnitudes that could be
theory and practice-even if that practice is numbered. Such was the origin of the quad-
but dimly visible to us. If we examined the rivium, in which pythagorean arithmetic
other divisions of the tetrachord handed
and musical theory found a final resting-
down by Ptolemy, those of Eratosthenes place.

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 334 RICHARD L. CROCKER

virtue. Their calculations

Wonder is sometimes were solidly
expre
Greeks went based
as upon
far observed
asfact. Furthermore
they d
that they never
they were able discovered
to explain these facts in
series and-using string-lengt
fairly satisfactory way-one that can be im-
frequencies-performed all
proved upon, but not by the overton
tions backwards
theory which in ignoranc
still has a lot of explaining to
relationshipsdoof on its own account. But the
musical striking
soun
one knows, string-
aspect of the whole and
matter (so frequ
far, I think
the inverse ofnoteach
observed) isother.
that when the Greeks
Two en-
lengths are countered
in the ratio
unsatisfactory 2:3
results, they de-
velopedratio
quencies in the a mathematical 3:2,tool thatthewould
producing the overcome higher frequ
the difficulties of their approach
verse relationship is simply
Far from being prisoners of their own cal-
the behavior culus,
of they the invented a new calculus in
string, f
tors of lengthresponse
(that to experimental
is, wave anomalies. When
le
quency are so closely
they observed relate
that three pitches in arith-
two aspects of the same
metic progression did not produce phean opti-
This inversemum relationship
division of the octave (contrary, is
pre-
when only sumably,
two to all hopes are
pitches and expectation
com
ratio is born of theby
governed pythagorean
the method),
same they
in both cases: the ratio of 2 to 3 has the same
constructed a progession that would pro
properties no matter which way it is ex- duce the desired division, then gave thi
pressed. But if three pitches are such thatprogression the name-"harmonic"-they
their string-lengths are in arithmetic pro-thought it deserved.
gression (for example, 2:3:4), their fre- It is not so remarkable that the Greeks
quencies will be in harmonic progression went as far as they did, but it is remarkable
that we have not gone much farther. Ex-
(3:4:6); if the string-lengths are harmonic,
cept for the use of the 12th-root of 2 to
the frequencies will be arithmetic. It is the
justify equal temperament, and of ex-
last case that attracts our attention, par-
ponents and logarithms to ease the labor of
ticularly when it involves the triad, for we
argue that it is only natural for the majorinterval calculations, modern theorists have
triad to be represented in frequencies by made surprisingly little use of the extraor-
the simple arithmetic progression 4:5:6. Wedinary wealth of mathematical operations
feel that the relative awkwardness of the developed since antiquity. It may be that
these operations are not needed for music;
corresponding harmonic series for string-
ratios 10:12:15 proves that the Greeksbut even so, it is remarkable that most of
had
the basic operations of our traditional
hold of the wrong end of the stick-or
rather the string-hence are more to be can be carried out, if a little labori-
theory
ously,
pitied than blamed for their fumbling cal-with pythagorean arithmetic. This is
culations. because the pythagorean application of
Now it is clear that what we hear are arithmetic to sound was true science: when-
frequencies, not wave lengths. Any ever we undertake to explain music with
theory
of interval perception must take theintegers,
fre- we necessarily begin with the sim-
quency of a pitch as the perceptibleple truths the pythagoreans set forth.
event.
On the other hand, it is equally clear that
the frequency is determined by the wave
length, not the other way around (if 25A
other
full discussion of the means is given by P.
factors are held constant): the violinist
Michel, De Pythagore a Euclide (Paris, 1950), pp.
produces the desired pitch by moving hisThe fragment of Archytas (and the other
365 if.
fragments) are in H. Diels, Die Fragmente der Vorso-
finger so as to control the string-length.
kratiker, 3d ed. (Berlin, 1912), I, 334; trans. in K.
Thus in dealing with string-lengths, the
Freeman, Ancilla to the Presocratic Philosophers
Greeks were indeed dealing with a(Cambridge,
causal, 1956), pp. 79 if.
operational factor-even if by necessity not
28 Michel, pp. 412 ff., 420 if.; T. L. Heath The

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 Pythagorean Mathematics and Music 335

Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements

37 Michel, p. 383. (Cambridge,
1908), III, 1 ff. 8 "Du r6le de la musique grec," Memoires sci-
27 In the Prior Analytics, I,III,23;
entifiques, 81 ff., Michel,
78. p. 423.
28 Plato's text and summary 39 Michel, p.
of396.opinions
This construction given
is mentionedin
Michel, pp. 455-522; see also Heath, Euclid's Ele- in Plato's Epinomis, trans. J. Harward (Oxford, 1928),
ments, III, 2 ff. p. 107, as well as in the passage from the Timaeus
29 Michel, p. 421. cited in note 40.
30 Boethius, De institutione musica, III, Ch. 11; ed. 40 35b-36b; Cornford, Plato's Cosmology, pp. 66 ff.
Friedlein (Leipsig, 1867), pp. 285 ff. See Tannery,See also Cornford's extended commentary.
"Un traite grec d'arithmetique anterieur a Euclide," 41 See also G. S. Claghorn, Aristotle's Criticism of
Memoires scientifiques, III, 244 ff.; Michel, pp. 384 ff.Plato's Timaeus (The Hague, 1954), pp. 104 ff. A. E.
81 For example, proposition 8 of Book VIII: If be-Taylor, A Commentary on Plato's Timaeus (Oxford,
tween two numbers there fall numbers in continued 1928), pp. 136 ff., stresses the musical interpretation.
proportion with them, then, however many numbers 4Republic, VII (trans. Jowett).
fall between them in continued proportion, so many 43 Cornford, Plato's Cosmology, pp. 67 ff.
will also fall in continued proportion between the 44 Traditional commentary arranges Plato's num-
numbers which have the same ratio with the original bers in a triangle, without filling in the means. See
numbers. Heath, Euclid's Elements, II, 357. Taylor, A Commentary, p. 137.
32 Cf. the analog of this operation in Euclid's Ele- 45Not "powers of 2 and 3," nor "squares and
ments, Book X, definition 2; Heath, III, 10, also p. 3. cubes"; diplasion and triplasion can refer either to
33 Michel, pp. 373 if., 389; Iamblichus states ex- multiples of 2 or 3, hence 4 = 2 X 2, 8 = 2 X 4,
plicitly that Archytas and Hippasos called this etc., or to a ratio compounded with itself, for ex-
mean "harmonic" because it had to do with har- ample, 2:3 twice is 4:9, thrice is 8:27. See Heath,
mony and melody, while Nichomachos attributes Euclid's Elements, II, 133.
the term "harmonic" to Philolaus. See also Michel's 4 See I. Henderson, "The History of Greek Mu-
very interesting discussion of an infinite harmonic sic," in The New Oxford History of Music, I: An-
progression, pp. 391 ff. cient and Oriental Music, ed. by E. Wellesz (Lon-
84 R. P. Winnington-Ingram, "Greek Music don,
(An-1957), pp. 394 ff.
cient)," in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Mu-47 I. Dfiring, Ptolemaios und Porphyrios iiber die
sicians, ed. E. Blom, 5th ed. (London, 1954),Musik
III, (Gdteborg, 1934), p. 46.
776 ff. 48 Ibid., p. 47.
8Ibid.
49 "Aristoxenos and the Intervals of Greek Music,"
I331c-32b; trans. F. M. Cornford, Plato's Cos- Classical Quarterly, XXVI (1932), 206 ff.
mology (London, 1937), pp. 44 ff. See also the ex- 50 Dfiring, op. cit., pp. 53 ff.
tended commentary, pp. 45 ff. 1 Diels, I, 331.

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