Overview

Around the middle of the 18th century the leading figures of the French Enlightenment engaged in a philosophical debate about the nature of music. The discussion centred upon three different events occurring roughly simultaneously: the first was Rameau's formulation of the principle of the fundamental bass; the second was the writing of the ""Encyclopedie"", edited by Diderot and d'Alembert, with articles on music by Rousseau; and the third was the ""Querelle des Bouffons"", over the relative merits of Italian comic opera and French tragic opera. The dialogue was one of extraordinary depth and richness and dealt with some of the most fundamental issues of the French Enlightenment. This book traces the development of the ideas discussed and reveals the vigour with which they were debated. It aims to recoonstruct the link between music theory and criticism that has been lost over time and presents extensive passages from the debate in English translation for the first time. This book is aimed at students of Enlightenment; scholars in the fields of music, history of science, fine arts, literary criticism, philosophy, and history.

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9780198162810

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