Abstract
In the 18th century, it was assumed that nature has a rational organization and mechanical basis. French composer and music theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau is the founder of tonal harmonic theory.
Rameau's success in explaining the complex of empirical musical practices using simple natural principle was considered for an extraordinary achievement. The system of fundamental bass (basse fondamentale) has Rameau first formulated in 1722 in his treatise Traité de l'harmonie.
A major part of the theoretical argumentation was inspired by contemporary science, and philosophical ideas: Cartesian philosophy, materialistic mechanics, experimental physics, pantheistic doctrine. Rameau argued that all music has essentially the harmonic structure.
Each harmony is generated from the fundamental tone - in Traité de l'harmonie, the basic musical regularity was argued by dividing the monochord, while in the later writings by the acoustic phenomenon of upper harmonics generated by the sounding body, corps sonore. For this mechanical basis could be derived all other musical parameters - melody, counterpoint, modes and even rhythm.
The favorable reception of this music theory was strengthened also by Rameau's contemporaries among the educated non-musicians. This new music theory was for them like a model of philosophy that substantiated the belief of this period that nature is controlled by a small number of quantifiable and interconnected mechanistic principles which can be discovered by the careful analysis and calculation.