Science and music. Introductory remarks

The article presents a brief introduction to "Science and Music", theme of the 44th Symposium of the "Society for History of Sciences" held in Munich in May 2007. The text begins with a brief reference to the numerous biographical connections between the two fields, but focuses primarily on topics that reveal music and the sciences to be results of shared cultural practices. Examples include: (1) shared objects in the material sense, meaning the use of particular instruments in both music and the sciences; (2) shared semantics, metaphors, and concepts, for example the use of the concepts like clang or tone color in acoustics and the psychology of audition, or talk of mood' and harmony' in both music and in literature; (3) direct interactions between mathematics, physics and music, for example in the electronic music of the twentieth century.