MUSIC OF THE SPHERES AND METAPHYSICS OF MUSIC: AN ANALYSIS

BY: SYEDA SHIREEN

12-11-2017

The context of music of the spheres originated with Pythagoras in 5Th century BC. According to
the author Robert Reilly in his article “The music of the spheres or the metaphysics of music”,
Pythagoras by plucking a stretched piece of cord using ratios, mathematically deduced the
harmonic structure of music. Pythagoras this way based and related his discovery to exact ratios
of whole numbers and concluded that music just like numbers was the ordering principle of the
world. The metaphysics of music that came into being as a result of the above discovery made by
Pythagoras was explained by Aristotle in the following manner “the elements of numbers to be
the elements of all things, and the whole heaven to be a musical scale and a number.”1 In other
words, it was believed that the harmony present in the universe was a result of the rotations of
the heavenly spheres where each sphere produced sounds at various levels and that man’s
production of music also added to the harmony of the universe. Thus the notion music of the
spheres defined music “as a discovery rather than a creation because it relied on preexisting
principles of order in nature for its operation.”2 This was a crucial component in creating music
at that time as it was believed that any deviance from the set mathematical notions or structure of
music would led to disharmony in the spirit and the universe since everything was believed to be
interconnected. This way as Cicero claims music of the spheres became “a form of communion
with divine truth.”3
Joseph Von Schelling (1775-1854), a German philosopher4 came centuries later and from an era
of pre industrialization where art, education, architecture, religion, science and society in general
around the world had become quite diverse and developed in contrast to the 5th century. The
notion of music of the spheres once again became relevant when Joseph von Schelling deduced
his metaphysics of music similar to that of Pythagoras in the aspect that it is a reflection of
universal principles of rhythm, melody and harmony with harmony being the centrifugal force. 5
He saw music as a symbolic representation of the Absolute and a combination of infinite and

1
“The Music of the Spheres, or the Metaphysics of Music” by Robert Reilly, THE INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW—Fall
2001
2
“The Music of the Spheres, or the Metaphysics of Music” by Robert Reilly, THE INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW—Fall
2001

3
“The Music of the Spheres, or the Metaphysics of Music” by Robert Reilly, THE INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW—Fall
2001
4
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schelling/
5
Schueller, Herbert M. “Schelling's Theory of the Metaphysics of Music.” The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism, vol. 15, no. 4, 1957, pp. 461–476. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/427158
finite.6 However in “Schelling’s theory of the metaphysics of music” by Herbert M. Scheuller,
Schelling regarded “Music is more than mathematics…..it is a real self-counting of the soul in
the sense that it is connected with self-realization.” Whereas Pythagoras focused on connecting
with the harmony of the universe by following a set mathematical structure, Schelling on the
other hand focused on man connecting to himself first to be able to connect with the universe.
Schelling deduced his own method of relating music compositions or elements needed to make
music compositions to the universe and this is what makes his metaphysics different from the
one that was proposed by Pythagoras and which was later taken forward by Aristotle and Plato.
As explained by the author Scheuller, Schelling regarded harmony as a combination of melody,
rhythm and modulation and that harmony is superior and an opposite of melody. This idea was
different as in the 18th century it was assumed that melody is superior to harmony since
simplicity was often thought as a governing principle. But Schelling regarded melody, tune and
rhythm one and the same, as each includes itself. And claimed that the “Absolute is harmonious
potencies which proceed by means of opposites”. In short, Schelling regarded music as the
highest form of art as “it is closer to the universe than are the other arts….it dissolves in itself in
speech and reason. Sound becomes “Sense”. Viewed in another way, it is the primary power of
speech and reason. (It becomes self-realization through sound in time and thought)…..Universal
unities express themselves through particular art forms, and that the first which the imagination
of unity-in-plurality takes to form in order to present the universe is music.”7
Following on the same principles of the presence of universal harmony and music of the spheres
but from the approach of Christianity author Donald Paul Hustad in his book “Creation, culture
and the music of the spheres” offer a whole new perspective to the ideology of music of the
spheres laid down by Pythagoras. The text gives a detailed historical account of the development
of western music theory from the medieval church of late 2nd century A.D and how “music’s
principal function was to be a worship gift returned to god.”8 This was different from the initial
understanding of the music of the spheres proposed by Pythagoras because here music’s function
has elevated “because Christ is higher than the created cosmos”9. The text further talks about
how the church’s music techniques and compositions changed during the periods of middle ages
to renaissance, to movements of pietism, rationalism, romanticism, up to 20th century.
However as Robert R. Reilly mentions “when the forms of musical expression change radically,
it is always because the underlying metaphysical grasp of reality has changed as well. Music is,
in a way, the sound of metaphysics, or metaphysics in sound”. The emergence of impressionist
style in music as mentioned by the author Martina Stratilkova in her article “Husserlian notion of
inner perception, sound qualities and the philosophy of music in Geiger” where the author
mentions in details of the change in the technical aspect of music due to the influence of art
movements. “…the impressionist style in music can be viewed in the context of developments in

6
Schueller, Herbert M. “Schelling's Theory of the Metaphysics of Music.” The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism, vol. 15, no. 4, 1957, pp. 461–476. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/427158
7
Schueller, Herbert M. “Schelling's Theory of the Metaphysics of Music.” The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism, vol. 15, no. 4, 1957, pp. 461–476. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/427158
8
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/23557242.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A8ac68fae5438d4167d2eda1343161e7e
9
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2012/02/music-of-spheres.html
acoustics of that time, with the emphasis on overtones, musical resonance and vibrations, which
are to be seen in chords used by impressionist composers. This produces a new sense of musical
space, in effect giving a greater sense of the physical reality of sound. 10 This symbolizes the
change in the technical aspect in music due to the switch in acceptance of a religious/ heavenly
context to much simpler and ordinary themes and genres originating from human life and nature.
The modern day genres of music such as pop, jazz, rock, classical, folk, country, hip hop etc. are
all produced by humans but are different since their context is different from one another.
It is interesting to note how one context in a certain era held a greater importance influencing its
own technicalities and features in music understanding. That context seemed promising, essential
for life; providing a foundation/ reason for human existence. From the earlier theory of music of
spheres to the introduction of Christianity, even something as divine as religion did evolve with
the changes in perception and beliefs in religion. It can hence be stated that music being a
powerful medium of expression can take on any context that holds greater value in the reality of
mankind. One of the reasons why music of the spheres has not been that significant to modern
times across cultures is because a music piece is not just a harmonic melody but rather a result of
an influence of politics, culture, economics, social factors, context, music history, progress of
other art forms, nationality and background of a composer.
Bibliography
Stratilková, Martina. "Husserlian Notion of Inner Perception, Sound Qualities and the Philosophy of
Music in Geiger." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 47, no. 2 (2016):
207-22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44234970

Reilly. R. Robert. “The music of the spheres, or the metaphysics of music” Intercollegiate Review 2001
https://isistatic.org/journal-archive/ir/37_01/reilly.pdf
Schueller, Herbert M. “Schelling's Theory of the Metaphysics of Music.” The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism, vol. 15, no. 4, 1957, pp. 461–476. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/427158

10
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/44234970.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ae6f16c7cdd8c8819940afebf09f1acf7