The <i>Arca Musarithmica</i> of Athanasius Kircher from the Seventeenth Century: Conceptual Connections to Contemporary Artificial Intelligence-Based Music Generation

This study investigates the conceptual relationship between the Arca Musarithmica – a seventeenth-century combinatorial music-generating apparatus devised by Athanasius Kircher (1602–80) – and contemporary artificial intelligence (AI)-based music generation systems. This apparatus is often recognized as a milestone in the partial mechanization of musical composition. However, comprehensive scholarly research examining its historical and conceptual significance as an antecedent to contemporary computational and AI-driven musical practices remains limited. The study investigates how the early use of fragmentation, mathematical representation, statistical quantification, randomization and specialization of music by Kircher aligns conceptually with core principles employed in modern AI music creation technologies. Through a systematic analysis of parallels and divergences between these historical and contemporary approaches, the study demonstrates that the apparatus constitutes a significant conceptual precursor to modern methods of computational creativity in music. Clear distinctions emerge regarding technological contexts, operational complexity and the degree of human intervention. This comparative historiographical analysis contributes to ongoing academic discourse on the origins and evolution of computational creativity, providing a nuanced historical perspective on contemporary AI music-generation practices.