Music and the Making of Modern Science by Peter Pesic (review)

Abstract

MUSIC AND SCIENCE Music and the Making of Modern Science. By Peter Pesic. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2014. [viii, 347 p. ISBN 9780262027274 (hardcover), $40; ISBN 9780262324373 (e-book), $20.] Illustrations, bibliography, index.Music and the Making of Modern Science is a provocative title. What Peter Pesic means by is gradually revealed during the course of his In the introduction (p. 6), he says, beyond the current sense of music as particular specimens of fine arts the sonic realm, the ancient concept of mousik-e was far more inclusive of and philosophical studies. Though, what follows, I perhaps should have used throughout this Greek term to emphasize its larger meaning, I decided to use our word 'music,' which was understood that more inclusive way by many of the historical actors the book. Specifically, at the end of chapter 1 (p. 20), Pesic refers to music as a mathematical harmonic science. In early and middle chapters, he refers to mundana. In the final chapter (p. 282), he confirms that in the sisterhood of the quadrivium, 'music' meant the dispassionate 'music of the spheres' (musica mundana) rather than the expressive art of moving the passions, both known since antiquity. It helps, therefore, to read Pesic's case studies of modern scientists since 1600 with a medieval mind. A better title for the book would be Musica Mundana and the Making of Modern Science.The question of how long the influence of musica mundana persisted after the Renaissance is interesting. Graduates of music programs may recall-or simply reread the opening chapters of their music history textbooks such as Donald Jay Grout's A History of Western Music-that musica mundana was one of three musicae posited by Boethius (ca. A.D. 480-524). Then, the remainder of those textbooks, musica mundana is seldom if ever mentioned, likewise musica humana, but the descendants of musica instrumentalis (as Western classical music) are featured. Yet writings about musica mundana loom large early primary sources for music; translations of many of them are among the most significant offerings from the publishing firm the American Institute of Musicology. While Pesic's book is published by a scientific press, it reaffirms several classic writings for music readers.The book's thesis (p. 1) is that music- musica mundana, mostly-has informed explorations science, not the other way around. Its chapters convey a sense that the methods initially developed for musica mundana were adapted for scientific inquiries through the late nineteenth century. Medieval astronomers from Nicole Oresme (ca. 1320-1382; chap. 2) through Johannes Kepler (1571-1630; chap. 5) were educated thoroughly musica mundana, which had its antecedents Boethius's interpretations of Pythagorean traditions of wholenumber string ratios and of Plato's comments about music (especially the opening books of The Republic) (chap.1). Nicolaus Copernicus's (1473-1543) rearrangement of the solar system from geocentric to heliocentric led his surviving friends and foes to appropriate from music terms like harmonia to describe his influence (chap. 3). Meanwhile, Francois Viete's (1540-1603) development of algebra heralded a transformation of the number from a means of counting to a symbol for calculation; and unlike the counting numbers, the new calculating symbols could be used to stand for rational and irrational numbers. Likewise, Pesic touts, a few composers of the sixteenth century, including Nicola Vicentino (1511-ca. 1576), explored enharmonic tunings that used both rational and irrational string ratios (chap. 4).Rene Descartes (1596-1650; chap. 6) and his correspondent Marin Mersenne (1588- 1648; chap. 7) regarded the basic musical intervals derived from earthly physical overtones as primary over the elegant-looking whole-number ratios favored by the Pythagoreans. Isaac Newton (1642-1726/7; chap. 8), Leonhard Euler (1707-1783; chaps. …