Attempt at a New Theory of Music

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...the hearing of a simple sound simple sound: a pure tone without overtones is nothing other than the perception of many pulses following one another at equal intervals of time. Furthermore, the distinction between the low pitch original: "gravitatis" and high pitch original: "acuminis" of sounds is situated in the frequency of those pulses, such that the more pulses that strike the ears in the same amount of time, the higher the sound is judged to be.

Next, we have examined the various ways of producing sounds, which we have reduced to three types, and we have determined from first principles the speed of the pulses which a given sounding body transfers into the air. From this, it was possible to define the number of pulses which every sound accepted in music produces within the interval of one second. And in this treatise, we have presented an entirely new theory of the sounds produced by pipes or inflated flutes original: "fistulae seu tibiae", the agreement of which with experience is so great that it must necessarily be regarded as true. Furthermore, also