Albert of Thimus

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Albert von Thimus , also Albert Freiherr von Thimus , (born May 21, 1806 in Aachen , † November 6, 1878 in Cologne ) was a German appellate judge and politician.

Life

Grave in the Melaten cemetery

Albert von Thimus was the son of Philipp Anton von Thimus and Henriette von Fürth and the grandson of the former Aachen mayor Heinrich Josef Freiherr von Thimus-Zieverich . From 1852 to 1861 he was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives for the constituencies of Koblenz 1, 2 and 3. From 1870 until his death in 1878 he was again a member of the House of Representatives as a representative of the constituency of Dusseldorf 12 ( Neuss - Grevenbroich - Krefeld- Land). From 1871 to 1878 he was a member of the German Reichstag for the constituency of Düsseldorf 12 ( Neuss - Grevenbroich) and belonged to the faction of the center .

He pursued private studies, which culminated in his two-volume work: "The Harmonic Symbolism of Antiquity". A third volume is considered lost. His impulses for a different understanding of music were later taken up by Hans Kayser .

His grave is on the Melaten cemetery in Cologne (lit. V, between lit. D + E).

Harmonious symbolism of antiquity

Albert von Thimus set a decisive course in the 19th century in order to establish harmonics. He understood harmonics as a theory of proportions based on numerical relationships and expressed in music, architecture, art, culture, etc. Music is based on numbers and their relationships to one another. The same laws of music are also reflected in people and in the world. Through his research, von Thimus built a bridge that mediated between the 17th and 20th centuries. He understood his work as a reconstruction of original Pythagorean wisdom.

Von Thimus saw his task in deriving the Pythagorean school from harmonic roots and thus making a contribution to a unified and holistic worldview. He worked the Sefer Jezira , the I Ching , Egyptian, Oriental, Greek, Latin texts, etc. into his book, which he interpreted in a harmonious way.

Musical tradition of Albert von Thimus

Von Thimus is in a particular musical context. To understand his work, you have to understand the musical tradition that lies behind it. It is based on the division of music in three different ways. 1. Musica instrumentalis, the instrumental music that is performed and, if necessary, also composed by musicians. 2. Musica humana or human music. It describes the body-soul harmony and the unity of microcosm and macrocosm. 3. Musica mundana, the assumption of a spherical harmony , a music that encompasses the cosmos and a comprehensive world harmony. This division of music, which goes back to Boethius , points back to Pythagorean times.

In ancient Greece a conception of music was propagated, which Plato expressed in his work “ The State ”. He described the world and the soul in musical language. In his work “ Phaedo ” it is said of the soul that it is a harmony based on numerical relationships. It can be influenced by external effects - including music. This idea has continued into modern times and is mainly taken up in baroque music . Plato was convinced that numbers can be experienced musically, a view that goes back to Pythagoras . In the Middle Ages musical principles were also used in architecture. Villard de Honnecourt developed a canon of division in his sketchbook. Hans Kayser discovered that this is identical to the Greek Helicon. In the construction huts of the Middle Ages, which were responsible for building the cathedrals, a Pythagorean-Platonic conception of music culminated, which then led via Johannes Kepler to Albert von Thimus to harmonics. Hans Kayser, student of Engelbert Humperdinck and Arnold Schönberg , editor of “Der Dom - Bücher deutscher Mystik”, then conducted research on the basis of Albert von Thimus' results and developed a teaching system for harmony.

plant

  • The harmonic symbolism of antiquity . 2 volumes. 1868 and 1876. (Reprint: Hildesheim 1988, ISBN 3-487-04210-X )

Individual evidence

  1. Bernhard Mann (edit.): Biographical manual for the Prussian House of Representatives. 1867-1918. (= Handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 3). Collaboration with Martin Doerry , Cornelia Rauh and Thomas Kühne. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1988, p. 386
  2. ^ Fritz Specht, Paul Schwabe: The Reichstag elections from 1867 to 1903. Statistics of the Reichstag elections together with the programs of the parties and a list of the elected representatives . 2nd Edition. Carl Heymann Verlag, Berlin 1904, p. 172; see. also A. Phillips (Ed.): The Reichstag elections from 1867 to 1883. Statistics of the elections for the constituent and North German Reichstag, for the customs parliament, as well as for the first five legislative periods of the German Reichstag . Verlag Louis Gerschel, Berlin 1883, p. 107; see. also: Georg Hirth (Ed.): German Parliament Almanach . 9th edition of May 9, 1871. Verlag Franz Duncker, Berlin 1868, p. 269.

literature

  • Wilhelm BäumkerThimus, Albert Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 45.
  • Wolfram Frietsch: Newton's Secret. Science and esotericism - two sides of the same coin. Scientia nova, Gaggenau 2006, ISBN 3-935164-04-1 .
  • Rudolf Haase: History of Harmonic Pythagoreanism . Vienna 1969.
  • Rudolf Haase: The measurable harmony: Fundamentals of an empirical world harmony . Stuttgart 1976.
  • Rudolf Haase: Albert von Thimus (1806-1878) from Aachen as a music theorist. In: CM Brand, KG Fellerer (ed.): Contributions to the music history of the city of Aachen. Cologne / Krefeld 1954, pp. 21–26 (issue 6)
  • Gerhard Jahoda: Identical structures of Pythagorean number schemes . Vienna 1971.
  • Hans Kayser: Harmonia Plantarum . Basel 1943.
  • Hans Kayser: The harmony of the world. In: Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn (ed.): Eranos-Jahrbuch 1958. Volume XXVII: Mensch und Frieden . Zurich 1959, pp. 425–451.
  • Alfons Köster: The direct effects of the "harmonic symbolism" of Baron Albert von Thimus. In: Antaios. Volume VIII, Stuttgart 1967, pp. 450-457.
  • Karl Traugott Goldbach:  Thimus, Albert Freiherr von. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 30, Bautz, Nordhausen 2009, ISBN 978-3-88309-478-6 , Sp. 1485-1487.

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