What is the relation between Bach's music and math?

3 Answers

Curtis Lindsay, pianist, composer.

Answered Mar 28 2017 · Author has 2.8k answers and 5.4m answer views
J. S. Bach’s reputation as a math-y composer is largely derived from his dedication to the
methods of the “learned style” of imitative counterpoint—especially the canon, which is in
essence a round (“Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” “Frère Jacques”), and the fugue, which is a
composition built mostly from canons operating according to certain rules.

When a composer focuses on counterpoint, the emphasis is placed not on the vertical axis of the
music (chords and harmony), but on the horizontal axis (strands of melody), so that the object
of study becomes the interaction between various musical lines happening simultaneously. The
composer is mindful of the harmonic activity that is happening as the music unfolds, but the
harmony is occurring almost incidentally as the result of this interplay between melodies.

The canon is the core technique of imitative counterpoint. In canon, a melody is established
(the subject) and, as it continues on, a second entrance of the same melody occurs (the answer)
and interacts with the first iteration, giving the impression that the melody is “imitating” or
“chasing” itself. The imitation may be at the same pitch as the original melody, or it may be
transposed up or down by a given interval. The length of time which elapses between the
beginning of the subject and the entrance of its answer is another variable: the answer might
follow along only a beat behind the subject, or its entrance may be delayed by a much longer
period.

There are all sorts of ways to get creative with canons. The answer, instead of being an
absolutely verbatim copy of the subject, might actually be the subject played backwards, or
upside-down, or at double speed, or at half speed, or some combination of any of these. There
could be several different subjects and answers involved, not just one of each. The rules are
rigid, but by means of a few key choices, the available possibilities are endless.

(The 14 Canons on the Goldberg Bass exemplify in a microcosm the purely technical aspect of
J. S. Bach’s mastery of the canon, as well as his delight in playing with numbers. Note that in
the third canon, the harmony created by the counterpoint consists entirely of thirds, which
come in series of three at a time, punctuated afterward by a unison. That’s three levels of
three—and the number three Bach identifies with the Holy Trinity. There are a number of
incredible feats of musical engineering among these little canons; the fourteenth and last one is
positively superhuman in design.)

The real challenge is in making such music sound good: simply following the prescribed rules is
no guarantee that the result will be pleasing or interesting, so a great deal of aesthetic
refinement is required both to come up with suitable material and to determine which rules best
apply to it. This is where Bach excelled.

Bach (1685–1750) was by no means the inventor of this style of composition—he inherited it
from 17th-century North German predecessors like Buxtehude and Schütz—but he was (and
remains) the acknowledged grandmaster of the canon, and his work represents its zenith in
Western music. His particular genius was not only a matter of handling counterpoint expertly,
but of his ability to express a huge range and depth of emotion, and to produce well-balanced,
 beautifully-proportioned compositions, using these math-y techniques with unwavering
discipline.

It’s common, and tempting, to imagine classical composers as tortured iconoclasts, never
meeting a boundary they didn’t push. Some were like that, certainly. But Bach usually preferred
a conservative, studied, and economical approach. He was obsessed with discovering how much
he could accomplish, how much mileage he could get, out of fixed systems and established
procedures. This ethic was shaped in part by his devout Lutheran faith.

It should also be mentioned that Bach had a special interest in numerology. For example, he was
quite keen on the number 14, which is the sum you get when you assign an ordinal number to
each of the letters in his last name and add them up; this number is buried within the fabric of
his music in all sorts of interesting ways, some audible, others not at all.

I think it is a grave mistake to characterize Bach as a “cold” or “unfeeling” composer because of

his love for number-games and carefully codified procedures of composition. He was, in fact, a
marvelously diverse composer, fluent in many idioms and styles, and capable of both immense
drama and sly wit. Mathematicians do not see the world only in terms of equations, and Bach
did not view music only as a system of rules. He was the master of his musical calculus—it was
not the master of him.

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Malcolm Kogut, Musician

Answered Jun 14 2017 · Author has 2.7k answers and 1.1m answer views
Music as far as the notes go are all numbers. Most musicians learn to read letters but I have no
doubt, having never met Bach, that he thought in terms of numbers (especially since he also
wrote in FIGURED BASS). For instance, “Mary Had A Little Lamb” is 3212333222355 etcetera.
Thinking in terms of numbers, one can play those numbers in any key. Bach transposed his
melodies dozens of times within an arrangement. If he thought in terms of letters, since letters
are absolute, he probably wouldn’t have written such complicated fugues, counter melodies and
styles.

Harmony too is built upon numbers. A basic “C” chord is spelled CEG. In the key of “C” that
would be 1,3,5. There are also many mutations that can be added such as 9, 6, b5, 13, etcetera.

Chord progressions are also thought of in terms of numbers. C, Am, Dm, G7 is also 1, 6, 2, 5. If
you know your 1625 in every key, you can accompany “Heart and Soul” in any key. That and
1,000 other songs.

Pitches too are number based based upon how many times each pitch vibrates per second. When
Pythagoras first discovered pitches and the scale, despite the math and measurements being
perfect, the sound wasn’t totally pleasing to our ears. It wasn’t until Bach’s time that they
permanently fudged the tuning (number of vibrations per second) that we came up with our
current scale or temperament.

Bach decided to show off this tuning by writing a collection of songs for every key just to prove
that one instrument could successfully play in every key. The book is called the Well Tempered
Clavier.

Today, students are predominately taught the letter system and pedagogy has been dumbed
down. Those who study jazz are more apt to learn the number system. This is why many
classically trained musicians can’t play anything without music, improvise, transpose or fake it
because they don’t know what is under the hood of MUSIC.

Regardless how good a musician is or how well they read, if they don’t read numbers, some
consider them to be musically illiterate. Just as there are people who can speak but not write, or,
pple who ken reed but dont no how two spel. That doesn’t imply that they are dumb or can’t
communicate, but they are handicapped relative to someone who knows numbers.

Yes, I’m a frustrated SOB.

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David Patterson, I've sung the B-Minor Mass a couple of times

Answered Sep 5 2017
Another math connection. The B-Minor Mass is scored for 5 choral parts — 2 soprano, alto,
tenor, and bass (SSATB).

One section is the Credo. The text of the Credo has 7 syllables — “Cre-do in u-num De-um”. Bach
wrote a 7-part fugue with the five vocal parts and two extra parts given to the first and second
violins.