Peter Pesic
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262027274
- eISBN:
- 9780262324380
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027274.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Music played a significant role in the making of modern science. In ancient Greek natural philosophy, music formed the earthly meeting place between numbers and perception. For the next two ...
More
Music played a significant role in the making of modern science. In ancient Greek natural philosophy, music formed the earthly meeting place between numbers and perception. For the next two millennia, music remained a central part of higher education, united with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy in the quadrivium. Accordingly, innovations reverberated between all these fields. This book presents the “scientific revolution” more as a phase in the restoration and augmentation of the ancient project of musicalizing the world than a change in the basic project of natural philosophy.
After discussing the original Pythagorean synthesis of music, mathematics, and sense-experiment, the book presents cases in which prior developments in music led to some new direction in science from the fourteenth century to the twentieth. These include encounters between harmony and fifteenth-century cosmological controversies, between musical initiatives and irrational numbers, between vibrating bodies and emergent electromagnetism. The book presents new accounts of Johannes Kepler’s use of music, of René Descartes’s and Marin Mersenne’s interweaving of music and natural philosophy, of Isaac Newton’s imposition of the musical scale on color, of Leonhard Euler’s musical work in relation to his mathematics and optical theory, of Thomas Young’s musical optics, of Hermann von Helmholtz’s and Bernhard Riemann’s development of new concepts of space from studies of seeing and hearing, of atomic spectra as overtones, of Max Planck’s experiments with harmoniums and choruses in relation to his subsequent quantum theory, and of the continuing quest for cosmic harmonies in contemporary physics.Less
Music played a significant role in the making of modern science. In ancient Greek natural philosophy, music formed the earthly meeting place between numbers and perception. For the next two millennia, music remained a central part of higher education, united with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy in the quadrivium. Accordingly, innovations reverberated between all these fields. This book presents the “scientific revolution” more as a phase in the restoration and augmentation of the ancient project of musicalizing the world than a change in the basic project of natural philosophy.
After discussing the original Pythagorean synthesis of music, mathematics, and sense-experiment, the book presents cases in which prior developments in music led to some new direction in science from the fourteenth century to the twentieth. These include encounters between harmony and fifteenth-century cosmological controversies, between musical initiatives and irrational numbers, between vibrating bodies and emergent electromagnetism. The book presents new accounts of Johannes Kepler’s use of music, of René Descartes’s and Marin Mersenne’s interweaving of music and natural philosophy, of Isaac Newton’s imposition of the musical scale on color, of Leonhard Euler’s musical work in relation to his mathematics and optical theory, of Thomas Young’s musical optics, of Hermann von Helmholtz’s and Bernhard Riemann’s development of new concepts of space from studies of seeing and hearing, of atomic spectra as overtones, of Max Planck’s experiments with harmoniums and choruses in relation to his subsequent quantum theory, and of the continuing quest for cosmic harmonies in contemporary physics.
Peter Pesic
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262027274
- eISBN:
- 9780262324380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027274.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Music entered deeply into the making of modern science because it was a crucial element of ancient natural philosophy, through which it thereafter remained active well into the formation of the “new ...
More
Music entered deeply into the making of modern science because it was a crucial element of ancient natural philosophy, through which it thereafter remained active well into the formation of the “new philosophy” during the seventeenth century. The Pythagorean connection between music, numbers, and the sensual world remained potent in the quadrivium, the four-fold study of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music that was the centerpiece of higher education until about the eighteenth century. This chapter surveys the ongoing connection between music and its sister sciences in the quadrivium from Plato and the Pythagoreans to Nicomachus and Boethius. The mythical story of Pythagoras in the blacksmith shop arguably represents the earliest recorded experiment, in the later sense of that word. Ancient Greek distinctions between number and magnitude were crucial elements in the unfolding interaction between arithmetic, geometry, and music.
Throughout the book where various sound examples are referenced, please see http://mitpress.mit.edu/musicandmodernscience (please note that the sound examples should be viewed in Chrome or Safari Web browsers).Less
Music entered deeply into the making of modern science because it was a crucial element of ancient natural philosophy, through which it thereafter remained active well into the formation of the “new philosophy” during the seventeenth century. The Pythagorean connection between music, numbers, and the sensual world remained potent in the quadrivium, the four-fold study of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music that was the centerpiece of higher education until about the eighteenth century. This chapter surveys the ongoing connection between music and its sister sciences in the quadrivium from Plato and the Pythagoreans to Nicomachus and Boethius. The mythical story of Pythagoras in the blacksmith shop arguably represents the earliest recorded experiment, in the later sense of that word. Ancient Greek distinctions between number and magnitude were crucial elements in the unfolding interaction between arithmetic, geometry, and music.
Throughout the book where various sound examples are referenced, please see http://mitpress.mit.edu/musicandmodernscience (please note that the sound examples should be viewed in Chrome or Safari Web browsers).
Peter Pesic
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262027274
- eISBN:
- 9780262324380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027274.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
As the leading natural philosopher of the fourteenth century, Nicole Oresme’s references to music show its continuing importance as part of the quadrivium; his arguments concerning geocentric ...
More
As the leading natural philosopher of the fourteenth century, Nicole Oresme’s references to music show its continuing importance as part of the quadrivium; his arguments concerning geocentric cosmology considers its musical correlates and consequences. Music also figured importantly in his arguments about whether or not cosmic cycles can actually recur, reflected in the debate he staged between Arithmetic and Geometry. This chapter argues that Oresme finally sided with Geometry and in favor of incommensurability in the cosmic design, reflecting the biblical preference for a “new song” over incessant repetition. Oresme’s friendship with the eminent composer Phillipe de Vitry (a leading exponent of the ars nova) also marked his astronomical views. Oresme argued that issues of incommensurability ruled out cosmic recurrences such as the Platonic Year and also ruled out the simplest versions of the “music of the spheres.”
Throughout the book where various sound examples are referenced, please see http://mitpress.mit.edu/musicandmodernscience (please note that the sound examples should be viewed in Chrome or Safari Web browsers).Less
As the leading natural philosopher of the fourteenth century, Nicole Oresme’s references to music show its continuing importance as part of the quadrivium; his arguments concerning geocentric cosmology considers its musical correlates and consequences. Music also figured importantly in his arguments about whether or not cosmic cycles can actually recur, reflected in the debate he staged between Arithmetic and Geometry. This chapter argues that Oresme finally sided with Geometry and in favor of incommensurability in the cosmic design, reflecting the biblical preference for a “new song” over incessant repetition. Oresme’s friendship with the eminent composer Phillipe de Vitry (a leading exponent of the ars nova) also marked his astronomical views. Oresme argued that issues of incommensurability ruled out cosmic recurrences such as the Platonic Year and also ruled out the simplest versions of the “music of the spheres.”
Throughout the book where various sound examples are referenced, please see http://mitpress.mit.edu/musicandmodernscience (please note that the sound examples should be viewed in Chrome or Safari Web browsers).
