Francesco Patrizi, Unrequited Love, and the Power of Music

Of Francesco Patrizi philosophy, the parts concerning world harmony and the power of music are most fascinating as they reflect a stage in the reception history of the two doctrines in which it became increasingly difficult to combine the demanding Pythagorean-Platonic metaphysics they involve with rapidly changing ideas about the cosmos, man and music. The true challenge for Patrizi as a Neoplatonic scholar thus lies in discovering the secret harmonic master plan of creation by using the standards of idealism, without denying the given of both physical nature and musical practice. By addressing both Patrizi’s critique of Marsilio Ficino and his own new ideas, this paper aims at providing insight into Patrizi’s transformation of the doctrine of the harmony of the spheres. I will argue that the ‘untuning of the sky’ (John Hollander) provided Patrizi with opportunities to formulate a new theory about the power of music, in which the magic of the harmonic macrocosm was shifted into the realm of the self of a gifted musician.