Rhythm and number

Use in the book

The sentence definition gives number to distinct, varied, countable parts and rhythm to a measure that voice or gesture can beat. Later number is the ear’s means toward harmony in the soul, and the end may sometimes be reached without that means. Meaning can also introduce variety into an otherwise uniform rhythm, like continually renewed waves in a stream. The translation warning makes this distinction practical: imposing fixed rhythm and number on an original that lacks them may be an infidelity, even if the result sounds elegant.

Places to read

1. I, p. 92–93, entry 9, ¶1Countable divisions and a beatable measure distinguish number and rhythm.
2. II, p. 510, entry 9, ¶1Number is a possible means toward harmony, not its identity.
3. I, p. 429, entry 4, ¶1Changing thought introduces variety into uniform rhythm.
4. II, p. 652, entry 10, ¶1A translator’s fixed rhythm can misrepresent the original.

Translation in this edition

The English translation keeps number rather than replacing it everywhere with rhythm. Arithmetic or cosmic number is a separate sense treated under Number. The stream comparison supplies no precise metrical scheme.

Variety and uniformity

French: variété; uniformité.

Meaning can introduce variety into a uniform rhythm, like equal-width waves continually renewed in a stream. The later voice/hand/brush comparisons also allow a unity and uniformity that please, distinguished from the boredom of repeated tone, manner and color. The English translation keeps both variety and uniformity without making one automatically good and the other bad. Recognizable authorship and renewed movement matter more than a simple numerical alternation.

Places to read: I, p. 429, entry 4, ¶1; II, p. 730, entry begun p. 729, no. 9, ¶2.