Describes the legacy of Pythagoras, the ancient Greek mathematician and mystic who contemplated the order and symmetry behind musical beauty, discussing Platonists, string theory, and Bertrand Russell.
"Professor of Music at Colgate University and a widely respected musicologist, Godwin here traces the idea, held since ancient times, that the whole cosmos is in some way a musical or harmonious entity."--Publisher's description.
Magic enjoyed a vigorous revival in sixteenth-century Europe, attaining a prestige it had not held for over a millenium and becoming, for some, a kind of universal philosophy. Renaissance music also suggested a form of universal knowledge through…