New System of Musical Theory
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The New System of Musical Theory (Template:Lang-fr) published in 1726, is the second treatise on musical theory written by the composer Jean-Philippe Rameau.[1][2]
Rameau wrote the work four years after the publication of his first theoretical work, the Treatise on Harmony Reduced to its Natural Principles (Template:Lang-fr) (1722). The Treatise had expounded a theory based on the standard Pythagorean tuning.[3]
However, some time after publishing his Treatise, Rameau became aware of the work of the scientist Joseph Sauveur who had described the phenomenon of overtones and codified the harmonic sequence scientifically.
. on the harmonic resonance of the sound body, which corroborates the principles identified in his[whose?] first book[clarification needed], on the level of physics and auditory perception. The perception of harmonics (or consonances) during the emission of the fundamental sound had also been noted previously by the Jesuit scholar Marin Mersenne[4][clarification needed]
He presented the New System as an introduction to the earlier work.[3]
The title Rameau chose for his second work was taken from Fontenelle's report on Sauveur's work.
The New System did not really develop the new principle of the “corps sonore”. Some I mportant new theoretical ideas were introduced, including geometric proportion and the concept of the subdominant. However, there was no substan- tial theoretical investigation of the corps sonore. Rather, it served as a supplement and elaboration of the Treatise.
While the entire theoretical approach of Mersenne's treatise was based exclusively on mathematical considerations, Rameau evoked in his New System the physical phenomenon of harmonic sounds, i.e., "consubstantial" with the fundamental sound. Their inevitable presence is based on Nature and justifies, for the author, the notion of "perfect harmony".[5][clarification needed][citation needed]
References
- ^ "Nouveau système de musique théorique - Rameau". jp.rameau.free.fr. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
- ^ "Free sheet music : Rameau, Jean-Philippe - Nouveau système de musique théorique (Music theory)". www.free-scores.com. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
- ^ a b Chandler, B. Glenn (January 2017). "Jean-Philippe Rameau and the Corps Sonore" (PDF). Athens Journal of Humanities and Arts. 4 (1): 7–24. doi:10.30958/ajha.4.1.1. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ Elie, Jean. "Marin Mersenne et sa contribution à la théorie de la musique : consonances et dissonances". escholarship.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
- ^ Hayes, Deborah (1974). "Rameau's "Nouvelle Méthode"". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 27 (1): 61–74. doi:10.2307/830515. ISSN 0003-0139.