Philosophy of Music

Taking the word philosophy in its broadest sense, a philosophical study of music must include an investigation of the means by which musical sounds are produced and propagated, in other words the science of acoustics, which is a branch of physics; of the means by which music is heard by the human ear, which is a question of anatomy and physiology; of the mental impressions produced by music, which in the first place is part of the study of experimental psychology; and lastly of the principles which have guided musicians in the pursuit of musical composition and musical performance as an art.
Dr. Pole?s book was written with the object of instituting ?a philosophical inquiry into the general structure of music, in order to ascertain how far it was based on physical data, or how far it had been the result of ?sthetic or artistic considerations.? He arrives at the conclusion ?that although the fabric of music has its foundations laid in natural phenomena, yet its super-structure is almost entirely a work of art.?
Dr. Pole?s book is therefore occupied to a large extent with purely physical investigations. He bases himself on the results obtained by Helmholtz, whose object it was to discover a physical and physiological basis for the theory of music.
It is a very remarkable fact that this book, which bears the impress of its original date on almost every page, should still be readable, with pleasure and with profit half a century after it was written. What makes it readable is not so much the actual information which it contains, as its admirable literary style and the invariably sceptical and scientific temper of the author?s mind.
Pole sets a valuable example to any one who might set out to write a ?philosophy of music? from the standpoint of the present day.