Augustine's De Musica in the 21st Century Music Classroom

Bibliographic Data

ID3523065
AuthorsJohn Macinnis (0000-0002-8864-9351, Dordt University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume6
Issue1
Pages211-220
Publication date2015-03-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel6010211
OpenAlexW2080971176
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited4

Augustine's De musica is all that remains of his ambitious plan to write a cycle of works describing each of the liberal arts in terms of Christian faith and is actually unfinished; whereas the six books extant today primarily examine rhythm, Augustine intended to write about melody also. The sixth book of De musica was better known in late Antiquity and the Middle Ages than the first five, and it takes up philosophical questions of aesthetics related to the proportionate ordering discernable throughout creation. After a brief introduction summarizing De musica's content and its importance in subsequent Christian writings, my presentation outlines and explains how I have used this document in my own music classes. For example, my students learn that a vital notion in Augustine's writings, and in Neoplatonism more broadly, is the spiritual benefit of academic study. That is, through study of music, one gains insight into the created order, but, more importantly, one's soul is strengthened and trained to perceive higher realities of the cosmos such as the ordering of the planetary spheres and the progression of celestial hierarchies, which span the spiritual distance from God to humanity

Aesthetics · Art · Choir · Extant taxon · Faith · Literature · Musical · Sacred music · Soul · The arts · Theology · Visual arts · Augustinian Studies and Theology · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Philosophy

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