Özet:

This study focused on Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s thoughts on the origin and birth of music. Like Aristotle, Rousseau traced the origins of arts, language, and music to imitation (mimesis) and aesthetic pleasure (delectation). He associated the origin of music and language with a shared origin arising from human cognition. A musicologist, composer, and naturalist enlightenment philosopher, Rousseau’s philosophical system was translated into his thoughts on music as well. He advocated that, just like education, politics, and economics, science and art should be based on nature, too. For this reason, he critically approached the new state of art, which seems overly complex and devoid of emotion in the axis of learning and performance (e.g., harmony, modern notation system, musical tones reduced to major-minor tonality, lyrics separated from music, and music reduced to instrumental music). Rousseau was, above all, a philosopher. Therefore, it would be unreasonable to expect him to have a full performance on music theory and composition. However, his essential role in musicology was due to the relation between his thoughts on music and his philosophy, steering the future. The reflection of his pure philosophy, which was compatible with nature, on his understanding of science and art is critical because it shows the linearity between his thoughts, discourses and practices. He considered music a means of grasping the truth and in that sense, he admired Antiquity. He designed simple notation methods in line with his idea of capturing the essence of music and passing it down to future generations rather than fixating on its flashy features. Rousseau appreciated lyrics and melody more than harmony because, to him, they were more suitable to imitate nature and non-temperamental systems.