Abstract
The article contemplates on Max Weber's contribution to the issue of rationality and societal rationalization and its avail in the system of Western music.Using a relatively small space we introduce one of the most renowned and frequently cited sociologists of the Classic era, an extraordinary scientific capacity who spanned the spirit of a historian and lawyer as well as an economist, and who presented us with scientifically proven concept that rationality is an ability possesed by man, it is the very skill which has played a key role during the creation of compositional, interpretational and musical notation principles in Western culture music. Max Weber reveals the roots of rationality in his sociology of religion by exposing economic and social phenomena in contrast to religious phenomena.
Protestantism is seen as the most critical concept for the rationality of modern society; it is viewed as a religious movement which had a crucial impact on the evolvement of European civilization namely in the territory of the Occident, the ""West,"" within the context of capitalism, bureaucracy, and the development of Western music. Although Weber considered himself a layman in the area of music, he had a strong background in music education to an extent which allowed him demonstrate the ability to analyze different subsystems in Western music /musical scale, diatonic structures, music chords and other/ and to prove that man - given his rationality - is able to create and assert his own music elaboration, follow his interpretation purposes and assemble a music orchestra as a large music institution, localize ""bureaucratic"" aspects in Western music, identify its social impacts and recognize the fact that music holds its own history.