A look at the history of ideas as a marriage of music and science.
Levenson (Ice Time, not reviewed) chronicles the human quest for
order in the world, from the idealism of Pythagoras to contemporary
computer programs for musical composition and performance.
Pythagoras is credited with the discovery of the harmonic series,
the basis for the musical scale, which, writ large, suggested a
music of the spheres - the eternal, unchanging perfection of the
universe. And so for a millennium, during the Church's iron rule,
the dominant music was Gregorian chant and "science" was considered
"revealed knowledge" - something more spiritual than material. But
musical horizons were broadening; notation and polyphony and
duration were invented, and instruments grew in sophistication. The
measurement of time, the invention of clocks and other mechanical
devices, laid the groundwork for the experimental science of the
Renaissance. Levenson pairs developments in music and in musical
instruments with the development of science and scientific
instruments like the microscope and telescope. The music/science
metaphor continues with parallel chapters of latter-day
developments, concluding with such striking inventions as
genetically engineered mice that, lacking their own immune systems,
accept fetal human immune cells and are now used to study AIDS. He
concludes with a history of synthesizers and computer-aided
compositions such as those played by Yo Yo Ma on an electronic
cello. Ultimately, his point is that art and science come together
as acts of human creativity that satisfy aesthetic demands. In so
doing, science strives for beauty while recognizing that its truth
is ever evolving, substituting a truth for the truth. Levenson
occasionally dwells too long on the details of instrument-making
and could well have indicated other parallels to illustrate his
theme - the history of painting and sculpture, for example. Still,
his theme and variations are very well orchestrated and worth
hearing. (Kirkus Reviews)
In Measure for Measure, Thomas Levenson offers a compelling account
of how scientific thinking development from the day 2,500 years ago
when Pythagoras discovered the musical scale to the present day.
The story unfolds through the tales of instruments scientific and
musical: the organ, the microscope, the still, the scales,
Stradivari's miraculous violins and cellos, computers, and
synthesizers. What emerges is a unique portrait of science itself
as an instrument, our single most powerful way of understanding the
world. Yet perhaps the most important invention of modern science
has been the power to countenance its own limitations, to find the
point beyond which science can explain no more, to rediscover that
science, like music, is an art.
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