A Treatise on the Science of Music

First published by the house of Novello in 1853, and later reprinted, this was one of the earliest treatises to take a scientific as well as a practical approach to the discussion of music. Written before Wagner had begun work on Tristan, this work can be seen as a response to the growing interest from the amateur in the 'science' of music. Little is known about the author, Daniel Reeves, who declares that that 'the idea of music comprises both an art and a science: the art consisting in the power of performing … ; the science, in an acquaintance with the system on which the constituent sounds … depend'. Using numerous examples, Reeves explains the basics of musical notation, and includes a lengthy mathematical analysis of the ratios of tones and intervals, underlining his belief that an understanding of music should be 'a necessary branch of every gentleman's education'.