ABSTRACT
The first chapter of the book delves into the world of listening and musical science in the early modern period, showing how Marin Mersenne turned music into the art of measuring sounds. It departs from an underexplored passage in his Questions theologiques from 1634 in which he imagines an independent field of study for sound, called psophologie. Although this science would call for countless experiments and empirical observations, the role of the ear remained highly ambiguous for Mersenne; although it functioned as a conduit for knowledge, hearing could only give an approximation and demanded guidance.
