The Great Book of Music

Page 8

...in certain collections and libraries, and what is known of them until now is little when measured against the total of what he wrote in various sciences and arts. Nothing remains of Al-Farabi's books on music except for this book which we are addressing in this preface, and which is famous by the name: "The Great Book of Music" original: "Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir.". It is rightly considered the greatest work on Arabic music written by the Arabs from the dawn of Islam to our present day.

Anyone looking into this book glimpses that Al-Farabi was not only a great philosopher and scholar—especially in the craft of theoretical music—but that he must have also been a practical performer of this craft. As for what is told about him—that he invented an instrument resembling the qanun The qanun is a traditional plucked string instrument, similar to a zither, played flat on the lap; it remains a staple of Middle Eastern ensembles. in shape, and that when he played it, its melodies stirred emotions in the soul that were pleasant, painful, or imaginative as he wished—we find nothing that invites us to believe it.

Perhaps this legend is due to his high standing in this craft, or because those who composed these myths about him looked into this book from the start, specifically what Al-Farabi related regarding an ancient instrument closely resembling the qanun on which a divided ruler was placed to measure the acoustic intervals original: "al-ab'ad al-sawtiyya," referring to the mathematical ratios between musical pitches. between the notes of the perfect scales original: "al-jama'at al-tamma," a technical term in medieval music theory derived from the Greek "systema teleion," referring to the complete range of notes in a musical system..

This description appears at the end of the second discourse of the first part of this book. However, what is beyond doubt is that Al-Farabi did indeed practice this craft. This experience made it possible for him to define principles and foundations and to penetrate the subtle details of subjects within the theoretical craft. Thus, his book in this science became one of the monumental works, preceded by no one before him and surpassed by no one after him. It is a massive manuscript of great fame in scholarly circles interested in the affairs of Arabic music, given the abundance of its material, the strength of its style, and its unique approach...