Abstract
THE supposed connexion between alchemy and music is much older than the sources quoted by Prof. Read1. A treatise in the ” Collection” of Greek alchemists2 deals obscurely with this subject, and it has been the object of an interesting study by Prof. Stephanides, of Athens3. The ultimate source is, of course, the ” Timaeus” of Plato, in which the compositions of materials are explained as due to mysterious harmonies. Plato was in later life much influenced by Pythagorean schools, as has been shown by Frank4. He was obsessed by the idea that mathematics is in some way or other the ultimate reality, and that Nature must be explained by mathematical laws, or even Nature is these mathematical laws. In this he seems surprisingly modern, or rather, modern views seem surprisingly Platonic. Most of the ideas of later alchemy are merely more or less denatured versions of the theories of the Greek alchemists, and if the music was intended for performance during the practical operations this may also be an old ritual.
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References
NATURE, 135, 967; 1935.
Berthelot, ” Collection des Alchimistes Grecs”, 2, 421.
Mov&etagrave; &iotagrave; Xvooí in ‘Eϵ &etatilde; ‘ϵϵí &omegatilde;v Bvvv&omegatilde;v ov&omegatilde;v, 4, 39–45 (Athens, 1927). Hammer-Jensen, ” Die alteste Alchymie”, Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selskab., Hist.-filol. Meddel., 4, ii, 144 (1921)—sie ist von Interesse hinsichtlich der byzantinischen Kirchenmusik.
” Plato und die sogennanten Pythagoreer”, Halle, 1923.
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PARTINGTON, J. Alchemy and Music. Nature 136, 107 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136107a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136107a0
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