'The history of the science of music has not yet been written', declared Floris Cohen in his groundbreaking book Quantifying Music. Forty years later, we now witness a vibrant field of study and a rich body of scholarship uniting the histories of music and science. Over recent decades, however, the history of science has significantly expanded its scope and methodologies to include a wider range of cultural practices, social actors, and previously overlooked geographical regions. The concept of a 'history of knowledge' (or knowledges) has emerged as a challenge to the traditional notion of 'science' as a monolithic category, often tied to anachronistic, Eurocentric, and teleological narratives.
Building on this methodological framework, the conference aims to discuss the varied approaches to music as both a source and a tool of knowledge in the Enlightenment. It seeks to critically explore what eighteenth-century authors meant when they referred to music as a science and discussed it within the leading scientific academies. Yet it also seeks to address a series of practices that flourished outside the academies and are not included in traditional histories of the 'science of music'. Drawing on recent re-evaluations of the roles of commerce, artisanal and material practices in the creation and negotiation of knowledge, the conference will investigate the extent to which musical instruments were viewed as scientific instruments, epistemic tools, and embodiments of knowledge. It will also highlight the significance of music in the study of the body—ranging from medical sciences to performance—and its role in the gradual emergence of the human sciences during this period, particularly in the context of early anthropological and ethnographic research.
By integrating a diverse array of fields, practices, and geographical perspectives on knowledge-making, the conference aims to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative discussions on the scientific claims, methodologies, and challenges that shaped the interplay of music and knowledge during the Enlightenment. Discussions on how different epistemic models of music were confronted and negotiated across disciplines and cultures are particularly welcomed.
The conference is organized by
Amparo Fontaine (Post-doctoral fellow Marie Curie, EHESS-CRH, GEHM/ Universidad Católica de Valparaíso)
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101029971
Evénement en mode hybride. Pour obtenir le lien à la visioconférence, contact : amparo.fontaine (a) ehess.fr
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Jeudi 27 février 2025
10:30: Welcome and Introduction
11:00-12:40: The musical body
Chair: Rafael Mandressi (CNRS / EHESS, Centre Alexandre-Koyré)
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Halley Barnet (St. John's College, U.S.A)
Early Modern Theories of the Vibrating Nerve -
Elena Serrano (Institut d’Història de la Ciència, U. Autónoma de Barcelona)
Music and the Physiology of Emotions at 18th-century Hispanic World
12:00-12:40: Discussion
Lunch Break
14:00-15:00: Historical writing
Chair: Silvia Sebastiani (EHESS, Centre de Recherches Historiques)
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Maria Semi (Università di Bologna)
Coherence and knowledge making in music histories (1690-1801) -
Philippe Sarrasin Robichaud (McGill University)
Des recherches exactes et curieuses. The critical historiography of music in Pierre-Jean Burette’s edition of Pseudo-Plutarch’s De Musica
15:00-15:40: Discussion
Coffee Break
16:00-17:00: The ear’s empire
Chair: Antonella Romano (EHESS, Centre Alexandre-Koyré)
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Leendert van der Miesen (Bibliotheca Hertziana-Max Planck Institute for Art History)
A Natural History of Music? -
David Irving (ICREA & Institució Milà I Fontanals de Recerca en Humanitats, CSIC Barcelona)
The Emergence of the ‘European Ear’ in the Eighteenth Century
Vendredi 28 février 2025
10:00-11:00: Knowledge actors
Chair: Pauline Lemaigre-Gaffier (UVSQ-Université Paris-SaclayBr)
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Rebecca Cypess (Yeshiva University)
Women's Self-Fashioning and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Musical Knowledge -
Jean-Philippe Echard (Musée de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris)
Constructing Knowledge on Violins. Cozio, Lupot, and Savart
11:00-11:40: Discussion
Coffee Break
12:00-12:30: Theory Making
Chair: Théodora Psychoyou (Sorbonne Université, IReMus)
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Nathan Martin (University of Michigan)
Rameau’s Sensationalist Conversion Revisited
12:30-12:50: Discussion
Lunch Break
14:30-15:30: Nature's magic
Chair: Melissa Van Drie (ToRS, University of Copenhagen)
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Amparo Fontaine (EHESS-CRH / P. Universidad Católica de Valparaíso)
A Musical Cosmos? Mesmerism, Physics and Social Order -
Alexander Rehding (Harvard University)
Chladni’s Sound Figures and the Instruments of Music Theory
16:30-17:30: Closing discussion
Programme
Jeudi 27 février 2025
10:30: Welcome and Introduction
11:00-12:40: The musical body
Chair: Rafael Mandressi (CNRS / EHESS, Centre Alexandre-Koyré)
Halley Barnet (St. John's College, U.S.A)
Early Modern Theories of the Vibrating Nerve
Elena Serrano (Institut d’Història de la Ciència, U. Autónoma de Barcelona)
Music and the Physiology of Emotions at 18th-century Hispanic World
12:00-12:40: Discussion
Lunch Break
14:00-15:00: Historical writing
Chair: Silvia Sebastiani (EHESS, Centre de Recherches Historiques)
Maria Semi (Università di Bologna)
Coherence and knowledge making in music histories (1690-1801)
Philippe Sarrasin Robichaud (McGill University)
Des recherches exactes et curieuses. The critical historiography of music in Pierre-Jean Burette’s edition of Pseudo-Plutarch’s De Musica
15:00-15:40: Discussion
Coffee Break
16:00-17:00: The ear’s empire
Chair: Antonella Romano (EHESS, Centre Alexandre-Koyré)
Leendert van der Miesen (Bibliotheca Hertziana-Max Planck Institute for Art History)
A Natural History of Music?
David Irving (ICREA & Institució Milà I Fontanals de Recerca en Humanitats, CSIC Barcelona)
The Emergence of the ‘European Ear’ in the Eighteenth Century
Vendredi 28 février 2025
10:00-11:00: Knowledge actors
Chair: Pauline Lemaigre-Gaffier (UVSQ-Université Paris-SaclayBr)
Rebecca Cypess (Yeshiva University)
Women's Self-Fashioning and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Musical Knowledge
Jean-Philippe Echard (Musée de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris)
Constructing Knowledge on Violins. Cozio, Lupot, and Savart
11:00-11:40: Discussion
Coffee Break
12:00-12:30: Theory Making
Chair: Théodora Psychoyou (Sorbonne Université, IReMus)
Nathan Martin (University of Michigan)
Rameau’s Sensationalist Conversion Revisited
12:30-12:50: Discussion
Lunch Break
14:30-15:30: Nature's magic
Chair: Melissa Van Drie (ToRS, University of Copenhagen)
Amparo Fontaine (EHESS-CRH / P. Universidad Católica de Valparaíso)
A Musical Cosmos? Mesmerism, Physics and Social Order
Alexander Rehding (Harvard University)
Chladni’s Sound Figures and the Instruments of Music Theory
16:30-17:30: Closing discussion