Montesquieu and Rameau. Music and politics

Résumé 0

“What is called union in a political body is of a very ambiguous nature; true union is harmony such that all parts, different though they may seem, contribute to the general good of society, just as dissonances in music contribute to the overall harmonious effect” ( Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence). This thought, which was probably inspired by a reading of Machiavelli and dismisses Bossuet, has not escaped the attention of Montesquieu scholars, though they have not paid attention to the musical metaphor. Yet, it resonated in the mind of a man with a musical education from his Juilly days onwards, who became a great lover of opera. This interest in music is evinced by his travel notes jotted down in Italy and in England, by the catalogue of his library at La Brède and in book III of L’Esprit des lois, which deals with the principles of monarchic government.