§34. TONE-SPIRALS AND TONE CURVES
§34. Tone-Spirals And Tone Curves
In §27, we discussed the three characteristic curves of the second
degree (parabola, hyperbola, and ellipse) within the configuration of
the “P”, i.e. using as a basis only the plane “P” system or its
quantitative and logarithmic numbers, to which values naturally always
correspond.
§34.1. Tone-Spirals on the Basis of String Lengths and Frequencies; the Decimal Tone-Spirals
We will now examine a few typical curves that are encountered in the angle (vector) diagrams of the “P”.
We already know these decimal tone-spirals from §33.3 and §33a. (I have
called this type of tone-spiral “decimal” and the one based on
tone-logarithms “logarithmic,” but this can easily lead to errors in
terminology-see §21.) We will now recapitulate them in Figures 290 and
291, in two variations: Fig. 290 with ratios according to string
lengths and Fig. 291 with ratios according to frequencies. If we create
such reciprocal diagrams, we must maintain some kind of order. Here,
the common element is established as the progression of tone-steps
upwards within 1 octave (= the circle), going clockwise from 360° = 0°.
Thus, the two spirals necessarily go in opposite (reciprocal,
mirror-image) directions; their forms are exactly reversed. Not so with
the geometric intervals of the tone-steps. Here, in the string length
diagram, the direction of the diminution (the interval shortening) is
clockwise, from left to right; in the frequency diagram, it goes
counterclockwise, from right to left. We know that this diminution is
the characteristic element of the law of harmonic quantization, and we
find it, among other things, in dividing the monochord, where the
division steps grow continually closer together as they ascend. The
question now is: which type of diminution is in agreement with the
diminution of the string length, if we think of the circle's
circumference as a monochord? Clearly, we must now use as a basis the
diagram of the string length spiral, Fig. 290 (which emerges from the
comparison with Fig. 274), where we find, for example, the note e in the second circle of index 5 at the correct place of string division (5/5 c 0°, 6/5 a 72°, 7/8 xfis 144°, 8/5 e
216°), i.e. at 216°. An instructive overview of the reciprocal
relationship of the above diagrams 290 and 291 is given in Fig. 292,
where we have noted the tones es, e, f, g, as, and a. The reciprocity is very noticeable here, as well as in the intervals, the corresponding angles, and their differences.

Figure 290

Figure 291

Figure 292
As for the mathematical character of these tone-spirals, it is based on
an Archimedean spiral. Which variant we use (string length or
frequency) depends, regardless of their autonomous meaning, on how we
can use them for ektypic analyses. The angles of both variants are
noted in the table of ratios at the end of this book; other tables show
only the frequency angle, since we are mostly working with frequencies.
§34.2. Tone-Spirals on the Basis of Logarithms (the Logarithmic Tone-Spiral)
In anticipation of the next chapter, we now discuss the logarithmic
tone-spiral. Comparing it with the decimal tone-spiral allows us to see
its differences and peculiarities properly. Refer to Fig. 293 for the
following. Since the circles, distances, and angles here correspond not
to the quantitative sizes of string lengths and frequencies, but
instead to the qualitative tone-values, the octave circles 1/1 c 2/1 c 4/1 c 8/1 c
... must be equidistant; because, indeed, we hear the octaves as
tone-spaces of equal distance. The tone-angle is calculated according
to the formula at the bottom left in Fig. 293. The distances between
the remaining tone-circles are always between 0 and 1000 (with 3
logarithmic spaces) and can most easily be indicated with millimeter
paper as an underlay, using 10 cm for each octave 0-1/1-2/1
etc. Three octaves are sufficient, and just one for the position of the
angle, as for all polar diagrams. However, several octave circles have
the advantage that they produce several rotations of the spiral, and
thus show their physiognomy more clearly. As for the division of tones
on the circular periphery of the logarithmic tone-spiral and the
logarithmic polar diagram, this is oriented according to “psychical”
distances, i.e. according to intervals as we hear them, not as we count
them. The “perspective” element of diminution falls away here, and the
eye sees the intervals distributed in the same way as the ear hears
them. It is interesting that this “logarithmic tone-spiral” is actually
not a logarithmic spiral, but an Archimedean one; therefore we must
differentiate it from “logarithmic spirals” in the purely mathematical
sense. We will discuss this further in the next section.
§34.3. The Tone-Curves of the Polar Arrangement
In sections 1 and 2 we constructed tone-spirals starting from the fixed
center of a circle. If we now allow this center to “wander” regularly
along the monochord string, a most remarkable curve appears, which I
call the “partial-tone curve” (Harmonia Plantarum,
p. 127) and which is shown in Fig. 294. Consider the entire length of
the curve as a monochord string of 120 cm. For the angle, we use only
the string-length angle. Halfway along the string, at the point 60
(cm), we place the angle 0° (= c), whose vector will correspond to the upper half of the string. The next tone is 16/15 h (always string length ratios). We first divide half of the monochord string into 15 parts, add 1/15 below, and find the string position for 16/15 h (the vector for this tone was erroneously omitted in the drawing). Its angle is found according to the scheme (x/y · 360) - 360, i.e. 16 · 360 = 5760 : 15 = 384 - 360 = 24° (16/15 h). This angle, with the corresponding vector, is missing from Fig. 294, as noted. The next value is 12/11 °h. To find the place on the string, we can now divide the half of the string again, in 11 parts, and add 1/11
to it. Or else we calculate: 60 : 11 = 5.454 · 12 = 65.44 cm, and
subtract this amount from the 120 cm monochord string, getting the
length 54.5 cm as a result, which we measure from the bottom up, thus
yielding the remainder of 54.5 cm for the tone 12/11 °h. Now we calculate the corresponding angle analogously to the above (12/11
· 360) - 360, yielding 32.7°. We add this angle (to the left or right),
draw the vector (ray), and add to this the remainder of the string, measured from below
(therefore always diminishing with the following ratios), from 54.5. We
proceed in the same way with all the remaining tones, and so construct
the partial-tone curve of Fig. 294. The tone-values can naturally be
chosen arbitrarily from any partial-tone diagram; only they must be
reduced to one octave first, and must be selected so that the vectors
are distributed upon the curve as evenly as possible, i.e. so that this
curve, as the line connecting the end-points of the vectors, can be
constructed as accurately as possible. Like the circular periphery of
the preceding tone-spirals, the partial-tone curve contains all
possible tones, and therefore an infinite number of tones reduced by
octaves.

Figure 293

Figure 294
§34.3a. The Tone-Cycloid
Instead of the shorter remainders of the string, we can also remove the
longer ones. That is, we take the upper, longer segment of the
monochord string in the circle, instead of the lower, shorter segment,
and draw it along the vector. If we do this in the same way for all
tones, the result is an even more interesting curve, which I call the
“tone-cycloid”-an irregular ellipse almost circular in form (see Fig.
295). The partial-tone curve, to which it is reciprocal in terms of the
monochord string, is drawn inside the cycloid for better comparison.
This tone-cycloid is especially interesting in various ways. Assuming
that it is indeed an ellipse, I have first constructed the ellipse from
the narrowest and widest diameters of the cycloid-a process that can be
found in every mathematics textbook. If one lays this regular ellipse
upon the cycloid, one can see that with a few widenings and
indentations, the cycloid aligns with the ellipse. In Fig. 307a the
ellipse is printed on transparent paper, allowing comparison with the
cycloid. If we had simply derived and established the cycloid as a
curve drawn from observation data, as the expression of some natural
phenomenon (e.g. the paths of the planets), without knowledge of its
regular harmonic information, then obviously the ellipse would be
highlighted as a mathematical relation. For the deviations of the
ellipse, one would doubtless look for “disturbance factors”-to stick
with the example of planetary orbits-in this case accepting
gravitational effects from other planets, etc., as an explanation.
However, in the cycloid we have a legitimate clarification of these
irregularities in the harmonic emergence of the curve itself.
Between cycloid and corresponding ellipse, however, even closer
relationships exist. The monochord axis is divided by the cycloid into
3 equal “octaves”: the 2 octaves of the monochord itself and an
additional octave of the segment lengthened below from the monochord.
This “octave” appears again in the ellipse as the distances of the two
focal points F and F1
from the two axis points B and A of the ellipse curve. The angles at
which the major (A B) and minor (C D) ellipse axes intersect the
monochord line at E and G are both 45°, and with the center of the
ellipse, S, an isosceles right triangle SEG is constructed, whose
height E G (at the tone f)
divides in half. I hardly believe that these relationships could be
merely coincidental. Remarkable above all is the vertical position of
the monochord line that produces the cycloid, and the center S of the
corresponding ellipse, apparently existing in complete isolation.
Assuming that we can see the prototype for the paths of the planets in
this harmonic cycloid-a figure that the ancient harmonists must have
known of, considering the Greeks' great talent for geometric
constructions, even if they intentionally kept their other important
harmonic theorems secret-then from the Pythagorean viewpoint, the
center S of the ellipse must be given the name of the secret
Pythagorean “antihelion” or “central sun”-a concept with which no one
has been able to do anything up to this point, and which emerges
inevitably and obviously from the harmonic cycloid and its ellipse. If
we pursue this astronomical-symbolic ektypic further, then we come to
further important “sphere-harmonic” realizations regarding the
Pythagorean octave that played such a great role in ancient times.
Here, inside the cycloid, we see this as a generating element. Modern
literature always mentions the “scale” and the “7 planets” as the two
fundamental concepts of the ancient harmony of the spheres. This is
understandable on the basis of the existing exoteric ancient sources,
whose writers had no knowledge of the true esoteric backgrounds. But if
we return to
Figure 295
ancient
Pythagorean thought and begin to study in Pythagorean terms, it is
everywhere apparent that Pythagoreanism was a very different and
exquisitely harmonically ramified domain of thought and observation,
which absolutely did not bow to such primitive idols as people today
imagine. Thus it is evident to me that the generating space for the
ancient harmony of the spheres was not the “scale” that occupies the
octave space, but instead the “octave” itself, and that the
corresponding important diatonic steps and their tone-values and
vectors (circle-spheres) were chosen within this space, so as to arrive
at a comparison and an interpretation of the bodies visible in the
skies. Now we see, in Fig. 295, that there are significantly more than
seven important tone-values within the octave. In future harmonic
study, however, this tone-cycloid with its ellipse is not only valuable
for historical analyses, especially those arising out of the harmony of
the spheres, but far more so for a prototypical interpretation of the
planetary orbits. To develop each planet's harmonic vector, its
distance from the sun, and its characteristic ellipse from the
tone-cycloid would require a specialized and intensive harmonic
undertaking on the part of a learned astronomer, for which the above
can only serve as an encouragement. If this were to succeed, a complete
union between modern astronomy and Pythagoreanism would be
achieved-something that Kepler attempted in his Weltengeheimnis, partially realized in his Third Law, and in which he believed with every fiber of his being during his lifetime.
§34.3b. The Primordial Leaf
If we now take the angles that we have previously set on one side of
the monochord (here the left, but one can also use the right side,
obtaining a mirror image of the same figures) for the partial-tone
curve and the cycloid, and place them symmetrically on the middle of
the axis, then the result is the tone-curve of the “primordial leaf”-a
description that will be retained here for simplicity's sake, since it
has already been shown in Harmonia Plantarum
(p. 125) as the harmonic prototype of the leaf in general. Here again
we can construct two different figures, depending on whether we use the
longer or shorter-“plagal” or “authentic” (see §29.1)-remainders on the
vectors of the respective tone-locations on the monochord string. Both
figures are shown together in Fig. 297. For reasons of exactitude, the
inner figure of the primordial leaf is printed separately, and its
development is described (Fig. 296).
PE7

String lengths on a 120-cm monochord reduced by octaves, and their remainders
PE7

Tone-values and angles by string lengths

Figure 296

Figure 297
The first small square at the top contains the tone-values and angles
of the partial-tone plane of index 7, based on string lengths, which
have a reciprocal relationship to the vibration numbers (frequencies).
The second square at the top gives the corresponding string lengths,
reduced by octaves-calculated for a monochord 120 cm long-and the
remainders of these string lengths. For example: 1/3 of the string length will produce the duodecimal (2nd upper fifth) g, and 2/3 of the string length produces a tone an octave lower, thus the 1st upper fifth g. 1/2 of the circumference of the circle, i.e. the string bent into a circle (360°), yields 120°, 2/3, since we reduce all the tones within one octave, i.e. all g-values
are on the vector 120°. The same goes for the position of tones on the
monochord, if I wish to bring them all into one octave. 1/3 g is 40 cm of the 120-cm monochord string, and the remainder of the string is 80 cm long. 2/3 g is 2 × 40 = 80, the octave below g; but since we want to bring all tones into an octave of 1-1/2 (0-60 cm string length or 0°-360° of the circle's circumference), all g-values
remain at a string length of 40 cm and a remainder of 80 cm. Fig. 296
is now easy to construct. Draw 40 units from the bottom up on a middle
axis of 60 units to fix the tone g.
Set the corresponding angle 120° symmetrically on this point, and set
the lengths of the two angle legs equal to the corresponding string
length-likewise 40 units. One proceeds analogously with all tones, thus
getting the primordial leaf as the line connecting all the endpoints of
the angle legs obtained. The greater the partial-tone coordinate index
one uses, i.e. the more one fills out the octave with tones, the more
precisely the primordial leaf can be constructed. Its form, however,
always remains the same. But this means nothing other than that the
primordial leaf is a form-expression of the very nature of tones-a
discovery that deepens and confirms the fundamental ideas of Goethe's
morphology of plants in a completely new way.
The construction of the outer curve of the primordial leaf (Fig. 297)
emerges of itself according to what is said above and in §34a. As one
can see in Fig. 297, the outer and inner curves of the primordial leaf,
in contrast with the partial-tone curve and the cycloid, have a
morphologically reciprocal relationship, except that the apex of the
smaller inner curve points upwards, while the outer curve's apex points
downwards.
§34a. Ektypics
In many of my works, I have discussed the nature of the spiral
extensively, and here I will only recapitulate fundamental matters and
summarize the ektypic data. Mathematically, the spiral is imagined as a
point P, moving at a given speed along a straight line which is
continually rotating, at another given speed, around a center-point Z.
Depending on the magnitude and ratio of those two speeds, the various
spirals-Archimedean, logarithmic, etc.-then emerge with their various
formulae. Even in this definition, one can recognize a certain paradox
of the spiral: it is, so to speak, the geometric symbol of two
divergent, opposing movements, a kind of frozen time-geometry, a
capturing of the temporal in the spatial. As we consider it further,
the concept of “speed” separates into two components: something
reaching outward, in one direction, a vector, and something that holds
itself in, with a circular tendency. Or one can also say that in the
point moving on the spiral, two elements constituting the spiral meet:
an element of direction (angle) and an element of distance (from the
central point), whereby temporal turns into spatial in both cases. Thus
the more or less “dynamic” behavior of all spirals is understandable.
It arises from those two divergent tendencies of the linear striving
forward and the circumpolar circling, the expansive and attractive.
Characteristic for the harmonic developments, then, are the spirals
that result from the thought processes just described, which can also
be found in both halves of the “P” diagram. Think, also, of the very
significant spirals of the cochlea in our inner ears! On the basis of
harmonic developments, as we have seen and will see again in §36, there
are characteristic tone-spirals (taking this term generally), and the
same appears as in harmonic number analysis: all tone-values have a
psychical evaluation, and allow for analyses of a certain type,
especially through their octave reductions (a typical harmonic
operation not known to mathematics or the mathematical sciences). (See
“Tonspektren” and the atom model therein.) These analyses can only be
arrived at with great difficulty, if at all, by means of the familiar
mathematical spirals.
The ektypics of the spiral in nature can be seen in so many examples,
from almost all areas of knowledge, that we will give only a few
examples here: the spiral cloud as the prototype of galaxies, spiral
movements and laws in physics, the spiral of the harmonic atom model
(tone-spectra) as the “motor” of the optical emission of the spectra,
spirals in the morphological construction of diatoms, plants, and
animals (the curves of blossoms, snails, the construction of the helix,
the spiral vascular structure of plants), the idea of “spiral”
developments of historical-morphological isotopes, the idea of the
spiral as a universal religious symbol (P. Sarasin: Helios und Keraunos, 1924, p. 67 ff.), and many others.
People have tried, if not very often, to figure out the universal
morphological significance of the spiral. But apart from the various
mathematical spirals, which have no advantage over each other in terms
of their formulae, all these attempts have remained mired in the
mathematical concept of quantity, similarly to those attempted by means
of the golden section, etc.-and from this viewpoint, no one can see why
the spiral in particular should have such universal significance.
However, if we trace the tectonics of this form back to certain
psychical values, as we can do in harmonics, and if we see this form
not only physiologically (the cochlea) anchored in the “filter” of this
psychical value, but also in one of its most important modifications,
namely the tone-spiral and logarithmic spiral (see §18.3b) as a
morphological expression of this psychical value, then we see something
completely different and much more authoritative in every regard; and
we now understand that such a pronounced value-form must also have its
value-formal counterparts in all of nature, and that it ties in with
our spiritual and religious image-concepts.
§34b. Bibliography
H. Kayser: Hörende Mensch, 89-92 and Tables IV and V; Klang, 81-84; Abhandlungen: “Tonspektren,” pp.111-189 and the relevant tables; Grundriß, 120, 121, 240-253 (group-spiral); Harmonia Plantarum, 124-127, 142 ff., 152 ff., 270 ff. Harmonikale Studien II (the violin scroll).