ABSTRACT
Eros and music are not solely harmonic principles per se. They are also defined as the means, the operative forces or agents, by which this harmony is to be attained, representing simultaneously the Idea and the agent of the Idea. The ambiguities of music's erotic action are summarized in Greene's Carde of fancie, within the dialogic frame between Love and Folly. The emphasis was primarily laid on the first two senses in the Early Modern doctrine – sight and hearing. This emphasis contains its own paradox, as is reflected by the ambiguity of music's erotic action. In a doctrine based on the importance of intermediaries, practical music was considered as love's preferred agent, as is made clear – among a sea of other sources – by the subordinate status of music in educational literature. The power of practical music on the passions is central to its mediating function.
