Chapter I

Epistemology and Archaeology of Western Music

From Pythagorean origins to the consolidated tonal system

2.1 The Pythagorean School and the Harmonization of the Cosmos

The foundation of Western music theory is inseparable from the birth of philosophical science itself in Ancient Greece. In the 6th century BC, Pythagoras of Samos and his disciples held that the universe was structured out of intrinsic numerical relationships. For the Pythagorean School, music was not merely an aesthetic or sensory phenomenon, but the audible expression of the mathematical laws that govern the cosmos — an idea that came to be known as Musica Universalis (the Music of the Spheres).

2.2 The Monochord Experiment and Mathematical Proportions

The empirical milestone that unified mathematics and music came through the development and study of the monochord — a laboratory instrument made of a single string stretched over a resonating box, fitted with a movable bridge that allowed the string length to be divided into exact parts.

2.3 The Medieval Transition, the System of Modes and Guido d'Arezzo

With the fall of the Roman Empire and the subsequent cultural hegemony of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, Greek musical knowledge was filtered and adapted for liturgical use. Plainchant (or Gregorian chant) became the dominant musical texture: a monophonic melodic line, with no instrumental or harmonic accompaniment, sung strictly a cappella.

2.4 The Consolidation of the Tonal System in the Baroque and J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier

Between the 14th and 17th centuries, polyphony evolved into the science of counterpoint, and musical perception began to shift from the purely horizontal dimension (melodic) to the vertical one (harmonic).