Extracts from Kitāb al-madkhal fī al-mūsīqī من كتاب المدخل في الموسيقي Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān فارابي، أبو نصر محمد بن محمد بن ترخان

Content

A compendium of extracts from the preface and introduction to the Kitāb al-Mūsīqī al-Kabīr (كتاب الموسيقي الكبير), a major treatise on music by Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān al-Fārābī ( أبو نصر محمد بن محمد بن ترخان الفارابي, c. 870-950).

The present text includes discussions of the division of music into practical and theoretical, and of the mathematical aspects of relationships between notes.

The text was completed in Shāhjahānābād (Delhi) on 3 Jumādá I 1073/14 December 1662 by the scribe Sayyid Abū Muḥammad ibn Sayyid Fatḥ Muḥammad Samānī (سيد أبو محمد بن سيد فتح محمد ساكن سماني), and was personally collated by the commissioner and owner of the volume, Diyānat Khān, on 22 Rajab 1073/2 March 1663 in Lahore.

Begins (f. 238v, line 10):

وينبغي الآن نبتدأ في الكتاب الأول فنقول كل صناعة نظرية فأنها تشتمل على مبادئ وعلى ما بعد المبادئ

Ends (f. 240r, lines 15-16):

فنسبة تسعة إلى ثمنية هي النسبة الباقية وتلك هي نسبة كل وثمن كل فهذا جميع ما يحتاج إليه

في هذه الصناعة من الأعداد...

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 240r, lines 16-23):

...تمت (!) الكتاب في يوم جمعة ٣ شهر حميد (!) الأولى سنة ١٠٧٣

بمستقر الخلافة شاه جهان آباد لقباد بن عبد الجليل

البدخشي الملقب بديانتخان بخط فقير

سيد أبو محمد بن سيد فتح محمد

ساكن سماني

قابلته بالأصل وأنا قباد بن عبد الجليل الحارثي

ثاني وعشرين رجب سنة ١٠٧٣

في بلدة لاهور

Extent and format

Ff. 238v-240r

It is part of

A collection of fourteen treatises on music theory in Arabic and Persian

556 images

Ref: Or 2361

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 2361, ff 238v-240r

History of this record

Date(s)

3 Jumādá I 1073 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Related material

Finding aids

• Farmer, Henry George, The Sources of Arabian Music. An Annotated Bibliography of Arabic Manuscripts which Deal with the Theory, Practice, and History of Arabian Music , (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965), No. 160, p. 28
• Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 823, XII, p. 561
• Shiloah, Amnon, The Theory of Music in Arabic Writings (c. 900-1900): Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in Libraries of Europe and the U.S.A . (Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 1979), pp. 107-08

Select Bibliography

Edition:

• Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad, Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr , ed. by Ghaṭtās ʻAbd al-Malik Khashabah (al-Qāhirah: Dār al-Kātib al-ʻArabi li-l-Ṭibāʻah wa-l-Nashr, 1967)

Translation:

• D’Erlanger, Baron Rodolphe, La musique arabe , Vols I and II (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1930)

People & organisations

Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Fārābī

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Extracts from Kitāb al-madkhal fī al-mūsīqī من كتاب المدخل في الموسيقي Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān فارابي، أبو نصر محمد بن محمد بن ترخان, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 2361, ff 238v-240r, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100131607039.0x000003> [accessed 4 October 2024]

Link to this record

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