The Mathematical Basis of the Arts
Joseph Schillinger
Philosophical Library
'The Mathematical Basis of the Arts' is Schillinger’s masterwork. It represents 25 years of his discoveries and research. This book was completed and prepared for publication by Schillinger a year before his death in March 1943 at the age of 47.

The unprecedented migration of European knowledge and culture that swept from East to West during the first decades of the 20th Century included figures such as Prokofiev and Rachmaninov, great composers who were the product of the renowned Russian system of music education. Schillinger came from this background, dedicated to creating truly professional musicians, having been a student of the St Petersburg Imperial Conservatory of Music. Unlike his more famous contemporaries, Schillinger was a natural teacher and communicated his musical knowledge in the form of a precise written theory, using mathematical expressions to describe art, architecture, design and (most insistently, and with most detail and success) music.

His mathematical principles were applied to various fields other than music, as Schillinger believed that all forms of art, not only music, were governed by the same underlying mathematics. His 658-page work 'The Mathematical Basis of the Arts' (1943) goes into extended detail explaining his ideas.