La musique comme reflet de l'harmonie du monde

Van Wymeersch, Brigitte [UCL]

Questions concerning music occupy an important place in Plato's works. The objective of the present analysis is to show that musical aesthetics developed in this was are fundamentally connected with a precise idea of nature and only acquire their full significance when inserted into a representation of the world based on the concept of harmony, the principle of cohesion of the elements and of beings. It is the importance of this relationship between aesthetics and the image of the world which Zarlino (1517-1590) grasped thoroughly. Although his work is mainly known as a synthesis of the counterpoint rules of his era, equally remarkable is his desire to insert into this representation of the world the stylistic rules then in use and in this way to conciliate, in spirit of fidelity to Plato, musical practice and speculative music.