In this book, Max Weber explores the evolution of music through its very materials – scales, instruments, techniques, and inventions, in relation to cultural behaviors, religions, myths, or beliefs.

From Pythagoras' monochord and ancient Greek music to Byzantine modes, from the polyphony of the peoples of Africa to Arabic scales, from the music of the Middle Ages to the modern tempered scale, everything passes through the relationship of the dichotomy of rationality–irrationality, a relationship that historically runs through the art of music.

Max Weber, one of the most innovative thinkers of the 20th century, an analyst of societies, economic relations, and religion, in this lesser-known study accurately dissects music as a phenomenon and as a human construction of central importance to the evolution of civilization and ultimately of Humanity.