Music and the Scientific Revolution
Read MoreThe French polymath and cleric, Marin Mersenne (1588–1648), believed that the universe was a perfect creation based upon God’s design, hence it was rational, orderly and harmonious. However, Mersenne’s conception of cosmic harmony rejected Pythagorean number mysticism to propose a universe comprising extended matter governed by precise mechanical laws. Music became one of the most important models for Mersenne’s cosmology as it manifested more clearly than anything else this mechanistic-harmonic order. Intended as a compendium of everything the musician need know, Mersenne’s Harmonicorum libri provides invaluable insights into both the practice and philosophy of music in the seventeenth century.
Author: Marin Mersenne
Title: Harmonicorum [Harmonics] (Paris, 1636)
Shelfmark: D.1.17
Provenance: Bequeathed to Queens’ College by John Smith
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