A PERFECT HARMONY

The universal languages of math and music.

Darling (Equations of Eternity, 1993) tackles the history of music through a scientific lens in his latest book, which he says “explores how something that, ultimately, can be reduced to mere equations and wave patterns conspires to have such a powerful emotional impact upon us.” He begins with a look at the Divje Babe flute, possibly “the world’s oldest surviving musical instrument,” found in a Slovenian cave in 1995. This kicks off a discussion of how music began. “Did language or music come first, or did they develop together?” he asks, noting that a recent theory suggests “that language evolved as a subset of music.” Further chapters cover the concepts of harmony, scales, and musical notation and the efforts of musicians such as Henry Cowell and Brian Eno to challenge prevailing musical convention. An especially fascinating section looks at the introduction of electricity to musical performance, which may have begun in 1748 with the “clavichord-like” Denis d’or. (Or maybe not. As Darling writes, “In fact, it seems far more likely, if the strings were electrified at all, that the intent was to spring a practical joke on the unsuspecting player rather than enhance the quality of sound.”) The author examines musical dissonance and its “sense of tension” (exploring theme tunes of Jaws and West Side Story), while a chapter about music and the brain cites musicians who continued to perform after being diagnosed with dementia. This is a wide-ranging book; its breadth of subjects alone proves Darling’s assertion that “music is part of the fabric of reality, an inherent component of the world around us.” Readers without a background in advanced mathematics might struggle to understand a few parts, but this is a mostly accessible—and quite interesting—work of science and history.

A genially written book that will appeal to general readers with an ear for music.