MofA Week 3: Music in theory, theory in practice

Bird's eye view of the history of music in the Arab world

• Film: Dananeer (1940). Three levels of reading:
  • ...as a representation of 9th c Abbasid culture
  • ...as a representation of perceptions of "Arab history" in 1940
  • ...as a representation of Egyptian music in 1940

• Theory of music (science, metaphysics)
  • Caliph Ma'mun (r. 813-33) and Bayt al-Hikma
  • Influence of Greek philosophical treatises on Arab music theory
    • Music as part of quadrivium (music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy)
    • Word "musiqi" ("musiqa") enters Arabic from Greek, comes to imply theory
  • Key figures: philosophers
    • al-Kindi (d. 870)
    • al-Farabi (d. 950)
    • Ikhwan al-Safa (late 10th c)
    • Ibn sina (d. 1037)
    • Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (d. 1294)
  • Two kinds of theory:
    • Metaphysical
    • Sonic
    • We'll talk about the latter today
  • Influence of Greek treatises:
    • Pythagorean tuning
    • Double octave system
    • Tetrachords
    • General notion of systematic exposition