The Beginnings of Rhythm and Meter According to Aristides Quintilianus
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Aristides Quintilianus was a Greek philosopher from the late Antique period, the writer of the treatise “On Music,” comprised of three books – the most thorough systematic description of the discipline of music preserved up to the present day. Basing himself entirely on the outlooks of his predecessors in regards to the key categories of the musical science, Aristides Quintilianus develops his own discourses into a complete well-grounded system. He examines consistently the general issues – concerning the place and the significance of music amid the other arts and sciences, about the manifestation into life of the laws of the cosmos sanctioned by the demiurge, etc., – as well as the “technical side” of the art of music – harmony, rhythm and metrics. The present article is devoted to examining rhythm and metrics (Book I, Chapters 13-19) presented by Aristides in the context of a broad milieu of ideas based on the Pythagoreans, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle and Aristoxenus. It is known that rhythm as a science about music, which has been preserved up to the present day in a very fragmented manner, is asserted for the first time in the works of Aristoxenus, along with his theory of harmony. Consequently, the most detailed conception of rhythm at present is demonstrated by Aristides Quintilianus. The treatise develops the categories and conceptions of the theory of meter and rhythm, which are partially derived from the teaching of harmony and partially developed analogously to it, and traces out the inseparable connection of music with poetry and the other arts. Rhythm is examined by Aristides as a phenomenon of order of physical phenomena existing in the states of motion and rest, perceived by means of seeing and hearing. Identically to Aristotle’s conception, rhythm in its pure form manifests itself only in dance or pantomime. Meter, in correspondence with the traditional outlook, is developed by Aristides as an integral system – from elements of sound (“sound-letters”) to syllables, feet and varieties of meters. He follows the rhythmical laws of sounds of human speech and of the art of music.
Keywords: Aristides Quintilianus, antiquity, harmony, metrics, rhythm, Neo-Pythagoreanism, Neo-Platonism
Article Details
Copyright
The rights on the results of intellectual activity and equated means of individualization are protected in accordance with Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The authorship, author's name, executor’s name, inviolability of the work and result of execution are protected by the rules of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation of the author or executor, regardless of providing legal protection of such results of intellectual activity at the time of their forming.
Copyright laws regulate the civil legal relations for using works of science, literature and art. Such relationships are formed as the result of the author’s writing his or her texts. In this case the author can rightfully claim copyright of the work.
The author has certain rights to reuse the work (see: “Ethical Aspects in Terms of Multifold Publications).
Licenses
All copyrights on the articles belong to their authors. The author transfers the rights on using the article the publisher.
PDF versions of scholarly articles of the journal PMN are published by using the license Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives cc by-nc-nd, allowing loading and distributing works on the assumption of indicating the authorship. The works may not be changed in any way or used for commercial interests.
Criteria for Authorship, Co-authorship
The term “author” refers to all persons (co-authors) who have made a substantial contribution to conducting the research and creation of the manuscript and responsible for its content. The person (author) who has submitted the manuscript to the editorial board shall bear responsibility for the complete list of the group of authors and the changes made to the manuscript in accordance with the results of the peer reviewing and editing.
1. Authorship is based on the following criteria:
1) The author made a substantial contribution to the research activity and development of concept, collected the data, made analysis and interpretation of the data.
2) The author carried out the writing of the text of draft articles and edited it attentively and substantially.
3) The author approved the final version of the article prior to its submission.
4) The author bears responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript.
2. The authors shall guarantee that the submitted manuscript is the original work.
3. Scholarly reviews for some issue or other should be objective, present material in a wide range and at the same time take into account the views of the author of the review.
4. The authorship of scholarly publications is obligated to reflect accurately the contribution of individuals to the research activity, with specific information about the authors.
5. The authors may not mislead the readers by publishing acknowledgements of gratitude to people who were not actually involved in writing the work. Other persons who made contribution to the work, but are nevertheless not the authors, may be listed in the rubric of “Acknowledgements,” with indications of the type and extent of their activities.
6. Authors are obligated to provide a description of their contribution to the publication.
7. The order of authorship must be a joint resolution of co-authors. The authors should be ready to explain the order of their enumeration and listing.
8. The authors shall be entirely responsible for the correct definition of authorship acting in accordance with the rules adopted in their institution.
9. Investigators must ensure that only those persons who meet the criteria for authorship (that made a significant contribution to the work), shall be considered the authors, and the researchers who do not merit authorship will be excluded from the list of authors.
References
2. Afonasin E. V. Moderat iz Gadiry. Fragmenty i svidetel’stva [Moderatus of Gades. Fragments and Testimonies]. ΣΧΟΛΗ. Filosofskoe antikovedenie i klassicheskaya traditsiya [SCHOLE. Studies of Ancient Philosophy and the Classical Tradition]. V. 3, issue 1. Novosibirsk, 2009, pp. 73– 90.
3. Makovel’skiy A. O. Drevnegrecheskie atomisty [The Ancient Greek Atomists]. Baku: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk Azerbaijanskoy SSR [Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR], 1946. 399 p.
4. Marru A.-I. Istoriya vospitaniya v antichnosti (Gretsiya) [History of Upbringing in the Ancient World (Greece)]. Translated from the French by A. I. Lyubzhin, M. A. Sokol’skaya, A. V. Pakhomova. Moscow: “Greco-Latin Cabinet” Yu. Shichalin Press, 1998. 413 p.
5. Platon. Kratil [Plato. Cratylus]. Translation by T. V. Vasil’eva. Platon. Sobr. soch.: v 4 t. [Plato. Collected Works in 4 Volumes], vol. 1. Moscow: Mysl’, 1990, pp. 613–681.
6. Sossyur F. de. Kurs obshchey lingvistiki [Saussure F. de. Course in General Linguistics]. Translated from the French A. M. Sukhotin. Ed. R. I. Shor. 4th Edition. Moscow: LIBROKOM Press, 2009. 256 p.
7. Tsypin V. G. Aristoksen. Nachalo nauki o muzyke [Aristoxenus. The Beginnings of the Science of Music]. Moscow: Moscow State Conservatory Press, 1998. 223 p.
8. Aristidis Quintiliani de Musica libri III, cum brevi annotatione de diagrammatis proprie si dictis, figuris, scholiis cet., codicum MSS edidit Albertus Iahnius, Dr. phil. hon., sodal. Acad. Monac., etc. Berolini: Calvary & Co., 1882. 100 p.
9. Iahnius Albert. Introductio litteraria. Aristidis Quintiliani de Musica libri III, cum brevi annotatione de diagrammatis proprie si dictus, figuris, scholiis cet., codicum MSS edidit Albertus Iahnius, Dr. phil. hon., sodal. Acad. Monac., etc. Berolini: Calvary & Co., 1882, pp. V–XI.