克拉尼(Ernst Friedirch Chladni, 1756–1827)，乃是在十八世紀末，出身於威登堡 (Wittenberg) 的聲學家。克拉尼以琴弓摩擦震動金屬盤產生的神祕圖形－所謂的「克拉尼音圖」(Chladnishe Klangfigur)－在當時歐洲知識界引起一陣好奇的旋風。克拉尼的實驗雖然因為涉及不同形狀物體的震動方式而在聲學史中占有一定地位，但在一般的聲學討論中，多少僅被視為趣味的歷史插曲；他本人也因為在理論上沒有特殊建樹終究一直沒有確定的歷史定位。然而，最近科學史界的研究卻一致指出克拉尼音圖的另一個重要歷史面向：克拉尼的音圖對於1800 年前後，歐洲思想界所致力探究的感官認知模式的轉變，有極重要的指標意義。在十八世紀中期之後，原來以語言為中心(logocentric) 的認知模式，由於生理學與解剖學等經驗科學發展，使得身體不同感官的認知功能與彼此的關係重新被檢討。在同時也被一起討論也包括原來與語言相連結的各藝術形式，特別是音樂，透過與人的身體感官的結合討論，頻頻被當時興起的經驗科學關注。克拉尼音圖所呈現的抽象、且不能以語言清楚解碼的圖形，在當時一方面被認為是一種神祕的符號，另一方面又被當成是能量轉化的形式表徵。本文檢視了當時經驗科學學者，也加上文學家如歌德、諾發里斯等人的說法來討論這些詮釋的美學與感官史意涵。本文並進一步提出，歐洲十九世紀的音樂美學的焦點的確在於音樂與人的主體性的關係，而此一關係在擺脫語言的限制之後，經過一個抽象化的過程，而與人類身體相結合；在此過程中，音樂被表達成為一種「能量」。藝術品在做為認知對象的過程中可以被各種機械度量的(measurable)，進而成為可以被系統性研究、控制、複製的對象，此一感官抽象化的過程，正是日後造成班雅明(Walter Benjamin) 所提的藝術品的機械複製時代的現代性基礎。另外，還能夠告訴我們有關音樂現代性在音樂美學歷史的關鍵地位，也就是有關絕對音樂的問題。

Ernst Florens Chladni’s mystic sound figures produced from his wondrous experiment were first publicized in his 1787 Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges (Discoveries on the Theory of Sound) presented to the Royal Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. These figures showed variations of sprinkled sand patterns surrounding the nodal points on a vibrating metal plate, which prompted the Paris Académie des sciences to offer a prize for their explanations. Chladni’s figures also stimulated more than a few contemporaneous speculations to proclaim them as visual representations of nerve and brain vibrations. Recent historical research on human senses henceforth designates Chladni’s Klangfiguren as visualized sounds that demonstrate the synesthetic trend around the turn of the nineteenth century.Nevertheless, there is one crucial aspect yet to be fully evaluated. Namely, these Klangfiguren were also interpreted as audible nervous and bodily energies turned visible; they were, following different theoretical con exts at that time, regarded as mediated representation of electricity. By tracing several “natural-scientific”interpretations of Chladni’s sound figures around the year 1800, this paper argues that viewing music as forms of energy has implications far richer than an obscure page in the history of science. In order to view music as energy, it is necessary to regard musical substance to be divided as abstract, measurable units. This interpretation suggests a transformation of music aesthetics from one associated with language to another related to “the aesthetics of instrumental music” that has arguably been termed as “absolute music” in the following two centuries. This paper regards interpretations of Chladni as important historical documents that call for a reassessment of the historical turn of “abstract music” as a quantifiable form of energy that signifies the affirmation of musical modernity.