“The Nature of Harmony”

A Translation and Commentary

Bibliographic Data

ID23596388
AuthorsBenjamin Steege (Columbia University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Pages55-91
Publication date2012-09-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Oxford handbook of neo-Riemannian music theories (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195321333.013.0002
OpenAlexW2729716092
ISBN9780195321333
LanguageEN
References cited21

This article provides and introduction and translation of Riemann's “The Nature of Harmony”. The translation in this article provides an easy access to an important Riemann's own theoretical evolution, which was written at the moment when a budding psychological perspective was beginning to supersede Riemann's earlier acoustical and physiological perspective. Just as Riemann attempts to place his theoretical program within a historical trajectory, the article locates his work within the wider and broader historical and intellectual discourse of nineteenth-century physics, physiology, and psychology, highlighting the implied and overt polemics with Helmholtz and others that course through its pages.

Art · Epistemology · Geometry · Harmony (color) · Helmholtz free energy · Perspective (graphical) · Physics · Pure mathematics · Riemann hypothesis · Sociology · Visual arts · Historical and Literary Studies · History and Theory of Mathematics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History