This genius explains exactly what makes Beethoven’s music so exquisite… through maths

6 April 2016, 15:15

The TED video reveals the truth behind the relationship between music and maths, explained through Beethoven’s stunning ‘Moonlight’ Sonata.

It’s no secret that music and maths go hand in hand, but why is this? Thanks to a recent TED-ED video we can now finally begin to understand how Beethoven (despite losing his hearing) continued to produce some of the most celebrated works of the classical era with maths.

Using Beethoven’s phenomenal work the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata (No. 14), the TED-ED video explains just how maths is used within the composition. “The harmonic patterns represent the mathematical relationship between the pitch frequencies of different notes, which form a geometric series.”

Watch the video below to find out more