ABSTRACT
Of the Greek authors on music, Aristoxenus was the least read in the early Renaissance. Ptolemy, Aristides Quintilianus, Bacchius, pseudo-Plutarch, Bryennius, and even the anonymi of Bellermann were translated into Latin in the fifteenth century. There were several reasons for the delay in recognizing the importance of this pioneer of Greek harmonics. The first modern defender of Aristoxenus, Carlo Valgulio, in his proem to his translation of Plutarch's De musica, gives no evidence of having known the Harmonic Elements. The only passages by Aristoxenus that Valgulio quotes directly are fragments from the rhythmics and other writings embedded in Porphyry's commentaries on Ptolemy's Harmonics or in pseudo-Plutarch's treatise. The most important event for the fortuna of Aristoxenus was the publication of the Latin translation of his Harmonic Elements by Antonio Gogava in 1562 in a collection of translations that included also the Harmonics of Ptolemy.
