Baroque

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Musical Concepts: Concepts and Classifications

The Harmony of the Spheres

In the Baroque period, the old understanding of the "harmony of the spheres" is modified. This theory dates back to Pythagoras who believed that the movement of the planets created tones corresponding to their harmonic relationship. Already Aristotle denied the existence of the actual sound of the stars due to the lack of friction in space.

In the Christian middle ages, the heathen-ancient concept of the harmony of the spheres was associated with the heavenly extolation of God (musica coelestis) and the angel choirs (musica angelica, Jacobus van Luik). Later in the middle ages, in accordance with Aristotle, the harmony of the spheres was no longer used to describe a real sound, but an abstract science (Adam von Fulda). This tradition carried on into the baroque, through Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).

The Harmony of the World

In the 5th book of his Harmonices mundi (1619) Kepler calculates harmonic relationships of the planets related to their movement which sound together to form a 'symphony of the world'. By comparing the different speeds of the planets on their elliptical courses towards the sun (perihelius) and away from it (aphelius), he calculates that each planet has a certain numerology which corresponds to that of a particular interval. Kepler considers that the 'harmony of the world' signifies the beauty of the creation and a praise to God.

The Science of Music

Most musical concepts can be traced back to Boethius (c.524) who brought the ancient sciences, in his own format, into the middle ages. He divided music into:

The musica mundana and humana later became musica theorica (theoretica) or speculativa (13th century), the musica instrumentalis became musica practica.

In the baroque, musica speculativa is taught in the latin schools and at the Universities in the framework of the artes liberales . The 7 liberal arts comprise 3 language sciences (trivium) grammar, rhetoric, dialectic (logical argumentation) and 4 number sciences (quadrivium) arithmetic's, geometry, astronomy and music. The widely disseminated musica speculativa by Johannes de Muris (Paris 1323) which stems from Boethius, is still taught in the 18th century.

Since the late Middle ages, musica practica is divided into:

• Musica plana: monodic Gregorian chant
• Musica mensurabilis: multi-voiced music; also called figurative music (after the figures, the mensural notes)

Boethius' musica humana becomes the vocal music, and his musica instrumentalis the instrumental music.

Music becomes a Fine Art

In the Renaissance and the Baroque, the practical side of music dominates, but in the Baroque, musica speculativa becomes more popular because of all of the astromonic and acoustical research going on (Galilee, Mersenne, Sauveur). For Schütz, music still takes it's place amoungst the artes liberales like 'the sun amongst the seven planets' (1641). Also, despite the typically baroque study of the affections, Leibniz considers the mathematic aspect to be dominant: 'Music is a number game of the subconscious' (1712). Despite this however, the strong esthetic and sensual nature of music soon lands it in the domain of the 'Fine Arts'.