Newtonian Music
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Newton's ‘colour wheel’ diagram (Bk 1, Pt 2, Plate 3) famously depicted a diatonic scale beginning on the note D. For each note an equivalent colour is indicated (beginning with red) with the intervals between each degree of the wheel shown to be measurable in terms of diatonic whole number ratios. Newton believed he had made his ‘discovery’ of a correlation between sound and light by comparing sound vibrations with those caused by the interaction of light with ether.
Author: Isaac Newton
Title: Opticks or, A treatise of the reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours of light (London, 1704)
Shelfmark: A.14.27
Provenance: Formerly owned by Isaac Milner (1750–1820)
![Written by one of the greatest composers of the eighteenth century, this treatise on harmony was acquired by Isaac Milner, undoubtedly not to study actual music, but as a means to perceive Newtonian science in action. In addition to composing operas and other kinds of music, Jean-Philippe Rameau was important as a theorist. In accordance with the imperatives of the Age of Reason, Rameau sought to establish the metaphysical basis of music. At a time when musical language had become more complex owing to the greatly expanded use of chords and keys, this task proved onerous. During the course of a long career, Rameau produced numerous treatises in which he rejected Pythagorean theories only to replace them with something similar. For Rameau the principle underlying music was to be found in the overtones of the ‘Corps Sonore’ (by which he meant the sounding string). By presenting his findings as a work of experimental science, Rameau sought to associate himself with methods made famous by Isaac Newton in his <i>Opticks</i>. It was for this reason that Rameau became known as the ‘Newton of Harmony’, although in reality his methods owed more to the seventeenth-century French philosopher Descartes. <br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Jean-Philippe Rameau <br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Démonstration du principe de l'harmonie </i>[Demonstration of the principle of harmony] (Paris, 1752) <br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> <a href="https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21606041220003606"> D.16.29</a> <br>
<b>Provenance: </b> Formerly owned by Isaac Milner (1750–1820)](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Newtonian-Music-Gallery/i-9rnLZM4/0/ea8b2816/Ti/D-016-029-006-Ti.jpg)
![Rameau sought music’s foundation in three fundamental harmonics generated by a sounding string: the octave (2nd), twelfth (3rd), and seventeenth (5th). For him the ‘triple geometric progression’ (harmonics 1-3-9-27-81) as shown in this diagram formed the basis of diatonic melody. Here, the major scale ‘ut re mi fa sol…’ is supported by bass notes that progress by intervals of a fifth: 'ut sol ut fa ut…' <br><br><b>Author:</b> Jean-Philippe Rameau <br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Démonstration du principe de l'harmonie </i>[Demonstration of the principle of harmony] (Paris, 1752) <br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> <a href="https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21606041220003606"> D.16.29</a> <br>
<b>Provenance: </b> Formerly owned by Isaac Milner (1750–1820)](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Newtonian-Music-Gallery/i-t2Z6cQh/0/f847bd3c/Ti/D-016-029-001-Ti.jpg)
![Book label acknowledging the bequest of this book by Isaac Milner in 1820 following his death. <br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Jean-Philippe Rameau <br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Démonstration du principe de l'harmonie </i>[Demonstration of the principle of harmony] (Paris, 1752) <br>
href="https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21606041220003606"> D.16.29 <br>
<b>Provenance: </b> Formerly owned by Isaac Milner (1750–1820)](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Newtonian-Music-Gallery/i-2DhQzvw/0/7ac71034/Ti/D-016-029-004-Ti.jpg)