Música, Linguagem e Nação. Apresentação dos textos: "A Origem da Melodia" e "Sobre a eloquência", de Jean-Jacques Rousseau

This paper is an introduction to our translation of two texts by Rousseau. These texts are different in size and importance, but both can help us understand the link between the questions concerning language (and languages) and the question of morals and politics in the works of the ‘citizen of Geneva’. The first text to be presented is The origin of melody. It is a first draft of what would become the Essay concerning the origin of languages. The second is titled On eloquence, and is part of the ensemble grouped under the title Mélanges de Littérature et de Morale, which is in the Tome II of Pléiade’s complete works by Rousseau.