Music as Science
Cynthia Verba · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2016
There was considerable agreement among the philosophes that Rameau had achieved a breakthrough in music theory precisely because of his application of scientific principles. Despite this consensus, however, the realm of music as science underwent a series of conflicts or debates that were closely analogous to those in the aesthetic realm. Whether the subject was art or science, the Cartesian concept of truth or knowledge—still widely accepted in France until well into the eighteenth century—was increasingly exposed to serious scrutiny or challenge. A principal concern of this chapter is the gradual breakdown of Cartesian rationalism within the scientific realm of music and with d’Alembert’s promotion of Newtonian empirical science. It will be shown that Rameau himself contributed to that breakdown—that despite his Cartesian claims and rhetoric, it was musical practice that ultimately determined his rules and laws of harmony.