Construction Of The Number Of Western Musical Concept - From Ancient Greece To The Middle Ages

The number and the music is the core of the study on western ancient aesthetics, and they run through the three important periods, that is, the ancient Greece and the Middle Ages. In the research process of the mathematical thoughts, the rational exploration to the art of music never stopped, and ancient thinkers were attracted to study rationally the inherent characteristics of music. People started to explore the world rationally since the ancient Greece period, the number was treated as one of origins of the world owing to its abstract, and the number constituted the beauty of music, the sensuous art, in the form of proportion and harmony. Owing to the numerical and rational character of music, the ancient Greece formed the special outlook on world and morality. The fundamental purpose of Greek humanism is to shape the city with the universal spirit and the freedom of the individual. The Pythagoras used the music for the moral enlightenment, since then, the musical features have been the best tools for this purpose. The ancient Roman inherited the classicism of the ancient Greece, however, the Roman were not interested in abstract thinking, they broke the limitation of the awareness of city and forward to the Cosmopolitanism of the law and the politics. They began to weaken the rational thinking of the music, and therefore the debate between the rational and the irrational music view appeared. In the theological doctrine of the Middle Ages, both of mathematical thoughts and the outlook on music were shrouded in mysterious atmosphere, and the number was regarded as the God's wisdom and the principle of the God's Creation. Music was the best art for expressing the faith to God, and the ultimate aim was to deliver prayers to God.