Music in the Divine Comedy II.

Extract

II.

In addition to singing and dancing, one other species A of music is introduced in Dante’s Heaven, though less is said of it than might, perhaps, be expected. This is the music of the spheres. The idea that the movement of the planetary spheres caused them to emit sound was first scientifically expounded by Pythagoras, but the myth of sphere-music is of earlier origin, for the seven strings of the lyre and seven pipes of the syrinx are said to have been made to correspond with the seven notes of the spheres. The Pythagorean doctrine, though rejected by Aristotle, was accepted by many philosophers, and becoming widely known through the teaching of the neo-pythagorean Nicomachus of Gerasa (second century A.D.) had a considerable influence on the musical theories of the Middle Ages. The comparatively small use which Dante makes of it may be accounted for by the fact that the ‘master of those who know’ (Inf. iv, 131) declared it to be false. It is natural to think that the idea of sphere-harmony, based as it is on numerical proportion, would have attracted Dante, with his love of the symbolism of numbers, and the mere fact that he introduced it at all, in defiance of the authority both of Aristotle and of St. Thomas, shows that it made indeed a strong appeal to him.