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| 0618-2049-01 | A Philosophical History of Western Harmony | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FACULTY OF HUMANITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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University credit hours: 2.0
Course description
The class is dedicated to the history of western thought and practice of 'Harmony', in it's philosophical, musical and mathematical forms. We will begin with an introductory dealing with the Pythagorean-Platonist origins of the European musical tradition, and an investigation of the cosmological debates surrounding the creation of the diatonic musical scale. We will then focus on 5 main junctions in the modern development of harmony, through emphasis on the invention of technologies for time measurement, equal temperament, and musical notation: Descartes and the creation of the second (Harmonic Oscillator), Leibniz and the pre-established harmony of the well-tempered piano, Kant and the Harmony of the faculties, Wittgenstein and notation systems, and finally Benjamin and the unique temporality of music considered in light of the newly invented sound recording technologies.
Prerequisites: None
Prerequisites: None