The Problem with 7 in Musical History

Here is the translation of an article by M.J. Chailley, published in
1958 in a book called _Acoustique Musicale_.

****
We know that the calculations of the Pythagorean monochord don't go
beyond the 3rd harmonic. [...] If the 5th harmonic was introduced by
Ramis de Pareja in the 15th century, and spreaded by Zarlino in the 16th
century, it was only as a justification of an interval and a mode, not
by real consonance.

The transition from one motion to the other is the result of Sauveur's
work, transposed by Rameau in the field of musical perception. Rameau
observed 7 and listened to it, but he refused to identify it with the
minor 7th of the 7+ chord because of it is out of tune. That's why he
analysed the 7+ chord as a dissonance, as the adjunction of another 6/5
to the natural 4:5:6 chord. The consequences of this postulate in
musical history is the pseudo-rule of the stacked thirds and its
derivates, until Schonberg. [...] The instinctive assimilation of 7/4 as
the minor seventh of the 7+ chord would not be different of the other
assimilations observed in history, including the 3rd of the minor chord,
of which the justification is historical, not physical.

The 7+ chord should be defined as being consonant, starting at a
certain historical moment in the musical development. The 9+ chords and
harmonic 11ths should also be accepted.
****

As you can see by this article, Rameau is the one who refused to use the
7th harmonic and proposed 9/5, locking musical theory into 5-limit.
Maybe his influence is to blame for the current state of music.

-Kami

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