Aristoxenus Quotes
Aristoxenus of Tarentum was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher and music theorist of the fourth century BC, a pupil of Aristotle and a son of the Pythagorean musician Spintharus. His Elements of Harmonics, the most important Greek work on music theory and the only one to survive in any substantial form, broke with the Pythagorean numerical analysis of musical intervals to defend an empirical theory grounded in the perception of the musically trained ear. The quotes below are attributed to Aristoxenus, organized by topic.
Aristoxenus on Nature
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Attributed to Aristoxenus:
“Music is to be judged by the ear, not by the abstract reasoning of numbers.”
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Attributed to Aristoxenus:
“Rhythm is the soul of motion; without it, even speech is mere noise.”
Aristoxenus on Truth
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Attributed to Aristoxenus:
“The Pythagoreans built a beautiful theory of music; the ear at last must check it against the world.”
Aristoxenus on Virtue
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Attributed to Aristoxenus:
“The ethical effect of music is no fancy; it is observable in the daily lives of those who hear it well.”
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Attributed to Aristoxenus:
“Biography is moral philosophy by other means.”