* See Orpheus and Pythagoras chapter of Mark Evan Bonds´ book Absolute Music
** These notes have also been added by myself
Harmony
** Pythagorean diatonic scale would be more precise
STRESS
In The Complete Pythagoras we read that Pythagoras used certain melodies to switch and move "the passions of the soul in a contrary direction". Afflictive emotions "such as sorrow, rage, pity, over-emulation, fear, manifold desires, angers, appetites, pride" were regulated "through appropriate melodies, as if through some salutary medicine." It is also said that before his disciples went to sleep at night, Pythagoras would use the power of music to "liberate them from the day’s perturbations and tumults, purifying their intellective powers from the influxive and effluxive waves of corporeal nature, quieting their sleep, and rendering their dreams pleasing and prophetic." |
Creativity & Creative Genius
In the chapter on Creativity, Toro mentions Pythagoras in relation to genius, describing him in a poetic manner as having "the ear that perceives the cosmic music in the silence of reality." "The genius of the species* communicates through certain individuals to continuously transmit the same message with absolute rigour. The theorem of Pythagoras, the melodies of Orpheus, Petrarch´s Sonnets, Bach´s Cantatas, Leonardo da Vinci´s drawings, Rilke's Elegies and Einstein's formulas consistently convey the same message - that something is full of meaning, that there is a unity, a melody and an unbearable beauty in the flow of the universe. The genius of the species manifests itself in exceptional individuals, to repeatedly express its harmony code." |
Music
"The Greek legend of Orpheus also alludes to the human being's relationship with the music of the universe and to this legendary ecological intimacy. The poet and musician appeased the wild beasts with the harmonies of his lyre, seduced the hearts of men and women, made the fruits ripen, even the stones shuddered under the resonance of his music. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras was the first to establish objective relationships between between Music and Mathematics and, through numbers, to link the sounds produced by human beings with the astronomical relationships of the earth, the sun and the moon. The musical chords, which correspond to simple numerical proportions, suggested the notion of a harmony of the Cosmos as a totality. Pythagoras visionary concept of the Music of the Spheres was, in turn, tributary of the millenary cosmology." |