ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter presents the work of Marin Mersenne and the main themes of this book. Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636–37) can be counted among the central scholarly works on music of the early modern period, positioning music at the forefront of the empirical sciences while at the same time being steeped in notions of divine harmony. For Mersenne, music’s ability to be both quantified and experienced aesthetically made it the central science through which the divine harmonies present in the universe could be demonstrated. Interrogating how music obtained this central position, this chapter introduces Mersenne’s concept of harmony, his intellectual and institutional surroundings, and his defense of music as a science.
