Editing Musica universalis (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Pythagoreanism#Music and harmony|Microcosm–macrocosm analogy}}

[[File:The music of the spheres.jpg|thumb|[[Italian Renaissance|Renaissance]] [[engraving]] ([[Franchinus Gaffurius|Gafurius's]] ''Practica musice'', 1496) showing [[Apollo]], the [[Muses]], the [[Celestial spheres|planetary spheres]] and [[Mode (music)|musical modes]]]]

The concept of the "music of the spheres" incorporates the [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] principle that mathematical relationships express qualities or "tones" of energy that manifests in numbers, visual angles, shapes and sounds—all connected within a pattern of proportion. [[Pythagoras]] first identified that the [[Pitch (music)|pitch of a musical note]] is an inverse proportion to the length of the string that produces it, and that intervals between harmonious sound frequencies form simple numerical ratios.<ref>{{harvnb|Weiss|Taruskin|2008|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=q1eobgND8H4C&pg=PA3 3]}}.</ref> Pythagoras proposed that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum based on their orbital revolution,<ref>{{harvnb|Rackham|1938|pages=277–8}} (II.xviii.xx): "...occasionally Pythagoras draws on the theory of music, and designates the distance between the Earth and the Moon as a whole tone, that between the Moon and Mercury as a semitone, ... the seven tones thus producing the so-called diapason, ''i.e.''. a universal harmony".</ref> and that the quality of life on Earth reflects the tenor of celestial sounds which are physically imperceptible to the human ear.<ref>{{harvnb|Houlding|2000|page=28}}: "The doctrine of the Pythagoreans was a combination of science and mysticism ... Like [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] they viewed the Universe as one integrated, living organism, surrounded by Divine Air (or more literally 'Breath'), which permeates and animates the whole cosmos and filters through to individual creatures ... By partaking of the core essence of the Universe, the individual is said to act as a microcosm in which all the laws in the macrocosm of the Universe are at work".</ref> Subsequently, [[Plato]] described astronomy and music as "twinned" studies of sensual recognition: astronomy for the eyes, music for the ears, and both requiring knowledge of numerical proportions.<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|2010|page=252}}: Plato's ''Republic'' VII.XII reads: "As the eyes, said I, seem formed for studying astronomy, so do the ears seem formed for harmonious motions: and these seem to be twin sciences to one another, as also the Pythagoreans say".</ref>

[[Aristotle]] characterized the theory as follows:<ref name=Aristotle>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/heavens.2.ii.html |title=On the Heavens |chapter=Book 2, Part 9 |author=Aristotle |translator= J. L. Stocks}} Hosted at the Internet Classics Archive.</ref>

{{bq|Some thinkers suppose that the motion of bodies of that size must produce a noise, since on our earth the motion of bodies far inferior in size and in speed of movement has that effect. Also, when the sun and the moon, they say, and all the stars, so great in number and in size, are moving with so rapid a motion, how should they not produce a sound immensely great? Starting from this argument and from the observation that their speeds, as measured by their distances, are in the same ratios as musical concordances, they assert that the sound given forth by the circular movement of the stars is a harmony. Since, however, it appears unaccountable that we should not hear this music, they explain this by saying that the sound is in our ears from the very moment of birth and is thus indistinguishable from its contrary silence, since sound and silence are discriminated by mutual contrast. What happens to men, then, is just what happens to coppersmiths, who are so accustomed to the noise of the smithy that it makes no difference to them.}}

Aristotle rejected the idea, however, as incompatible with his own cosmological model, and on the grounds that "excessive noises ... shatter the solid bodies even of inanimate things", and therefore any sounds made by the planets would necessarily exert a tremendous physical force upon the body.<ref name=Aristotle/>

[[Boethius]], in his influential work ''De Musica'', described three categories of music:<ref name=":2">Boethius. ''De Institutione Musica'', I. 2.</ref>

* ''musica mundana'' (sometimes referred to as ''musica universalis'')
* ''musica humana'' (the internal music of the human body)
* ''musica quae in quibusdam constituta est instrumentis'' (sounds made by singers and instrumentalists)
Boethius believed that ''musica mundana'' could only be discovered through the intellect, but that the order found within it was the same as that found in audible music, and that both reflect the beauty of God.{{sfn|Scruton|2013|pages= 249–250}}