715 research outputs found
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The House of Experiment in Seventeenth-Century England
History of Scienc
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'A Holding, Uniting-Constant Friend': The Organ in Seventeenth-Century English Domestic Music
This thesis presents an investigation into the nature and use of the consort organ in English secular instrumental music of the seventeenth century with a view to informing present-day performance practice. Whilst the English string consort repertoire has been widely studied from the perspective of the viol and violin, the role of the organ and organist has remained neglected. This study seeks to redress this through the examination of manuscript sources, contemporary writing and extant instruments to illuminate a variety of performance practice issues. The development and organology of the instrument is considered, focussing particularly on the distinctive methods of construction and voicing that were designed to enhance the instrument’s role in playing with string ensembles. The contexts of chamber music at the court, in domestic establishments, and in theatres, choir schools and music meetings are examined from the perspective of the consort organ. Manuscript sources, contemporary historical sources and the consideration of extant instruments in relation to their original locations and associated repertoire are interrogated for performance practice information. The role of the consort organist, from both a musical and sociological standpoint, is also discussed with reference to contemporary sources. The findings reveal that seventeenth-century usage of the organ differed from present-day practice in relation to a number of key areas including pitch, temperament, registration and expression, and that the organist’s role encompassed a wide range of skills that are rarely explored in modern performances or editorial realisations. The study concludes that a revised approach to the use of the consort organ in present-day performance of the seventeenth-century English consort repertoire is required
The Origins of Mathematical Societies and Journals
We investigate the origins of mathematical societies and journals. We argue that the origins of today’s professional societies and journals have their roots in the informal gatherings of mathematicians in 17th century Italy, France, and England. The small gatherings in these nations began as academies and after gaining government recognition and support, they became the ancestors of the professional societies that exist today. We provide a brief background on the influences of the Renaissance and Reformation before discussing the formation of mathematical academies in each country
Experiment and speculation in seventeenth-century Italy : the case of Geminiano Montanari
This paper reconstructs the natural philosophical method of Geminiano Montanari, one of the most prominent Italian natural philosophers of the late seventeenth century. Montanari's views are used as a case study to assess recent claims concerning early modern experimental philosophy. Having presented the distinctive tenets of seventeenth-century experimental philosophers, I argue that Montanari adheres to them explicitly, thoroughly, and consistently. The study of Montanari's views supports three claims. First, experimental philosophy was not an exclusively British phenomenon. Second, in spite of some portrayals of experimental philosophy as an ‘atheoretical’ or ‘purely descriptive’ enterprise, experimental philosophers could consistently endorse a variety of natural philosophical explanations and postulate theoretical entities. Third, experimental philosophy and mechanical philosophy were not, as such, antagonistic. They could be consistently combined in a single philosophical enterprise
The Capture of Spring: Hooke’s “Vibrative Pulse Communicated”
In 1678, Robert Hooke published a treatise on his metaphysics of vibration. Lectures de Potentia Restitutiva or Of Spring contains not only experimental and geometrical demonstrations of the spring law (which mutated into Hooke’s law after his time), but also a principle at the heart of his dynamic matter theory – Congruity and Incongruity. Namely, that harmonious and discordant forces unify, shape and separate vibrating matter. This thesis reconstructs Hooke’s production of congruity and incongruity, and the spring law, analysing the inversions, reversals and paradoxes moulding his knowledge-making practices. I argue that artificial instruments and apparatuses capable of magnifying and measuring never-before-seen minute bodies and motions also made the creation of a novel geometry necessary. I attempt to show how Hooke addressed these challenges by reassessing and reconfiguring the role of traditional Euclidean geometry, and reformulating practical-geometrical definitions to create a geometry that could demonstrate the spring law. Specifically, I focus on Hooke’s studies of vibrating bodies and vibrations, and his practical geometry. By investigating Hooke’s studies within the context of his matter theory, I show that, in an epistemological inversion, Hooke used optical instruments to shift frames of reference from the microscopic to the celestial and vice versa for his knowledge production. Further, Hooke’s work is a cohesive whole centred on his studies of the similitudes between vibrating phenomena. Finally, his knowledge-making practices are a conflation of his predominant careers as an experimentalist and geometer. By constructing natural laws from physical reality, thereby implying that nature, artificial instruments, and laws such as the spring law are related, Hooke legitimised the application of instruments and mathematics to the study of nature. This process was far from straightforward or self-evident
Geography and the Paris Academy of Sciences: politics and patronage in early 18th-century France
This essay considers the politics and patronage of geography in early-modern France. It examines how the Paris Academy of Sciences, widely acknowledged as the 18th century’s pre-eminent scientific society, came to recognise geography as an independent science in 1730, a century before the establishment of the first geographical societies. Although the Academy was centrally concerned with cartography from its inception in 1666, it initially afforded no official status to geography, which was viewed either as a specialised form of historical inquiry or as a minor component within the hegemonic science of astronomy. The rise of Newtonian mathematics and the associated controversy about the shape of the earth challenged the Academy’s epistemological foundations and prompted a debate about the educational and political significance of geography as a scientific practice. The death in 1726 of Guillaume Delisle, a prominent Academy astronomer-cartographer and a popular geography tutor to the young Louis XV, led to a spirited campaign to elect Philippe Buache, Delisle’s prot�eg�e, to a new Academy position as a geographer rather than an astronomer. The campaign emphasised the social and political utility of geography, though the Academy’s decision to recognise this new and distinctively modern science was ultimately facilitated by traditional networks of patronage within the French Royal Court
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