Attempt at a New Theory of Music

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...they find no sweetness at all. But if anyone should wish to infer from this that no reason whatsoever can be given for that sweetness which we perceive from music, he would certainly be judging far too precipitously. For since, in this current time, musical composition is exceedingly complex and folded into almost innumerable parts, it is not permitted to pass a complete judgment—neither regarding our own approval nor the aversion of the barbariansIn this 18th-century context, the author uses "barbarians" to refer to non-European cultures whose musical systems differed from the Western classical tradition.—until the individual component parts have been carefully considered and examined.

However, when we take the starting point of our judgment from the simplest consonancesMusical intervals that sound stable and pleasant to the ear. from which all music is composed—such as the octave, fifth, fourth, thirds, and sixths (both major and minor)—we find no disagreement at all among any nations. On the contrary, everyone by unanimous consent considers these intervals more pleasing to the hearing than dissonancesIntervals that sound harsh or unstable, requiring resolution., such as the tritone original: "tritonum"; an interval of three whole tones, historically known as the "Devil in music" due to its perceived harshness....