Jack Campin wrote:
>
> > There have been various interpretations on what the Pythagorian scale is
> > Can anyone tell me where to find out what Pythagoras said in a reliable
> > translation?
>
> No text by Pythagoras survives. His ideas on music were documented much
> later by Archytas and Aristoxenus.
>
> As the New Grove entry points out, there were many tuning systems in the
> Middle Ages and later that were labelled as Pythagorean while being no
> such thing. Pythagoreanism fitted into so many other conceptual schemes
> (e.g. astrology) that dropping the label was inadvisable.
>
> The New Grove also points out that it is very unlikely that Pythagoras
> really invented anything musically new - practicing Greek lyre players
> didn't need a mathematician/philosopher to tell them how to tune up.
>
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Many thanks (again) Jack,
I've also seen it questioned as to whether the ancient Greeks knew what
an octave was.
Bruce Olson
Old English, Irish and, Scots: popular songs, tunes, broadside
ballads at my website (no advs-spam, etc)- www.erols.com/olsonw
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