Music and the Scientific Revolution
Read More![Kepler’s ‘Universal Harmonies’ of the six planets. <br><br>
Kepler was intrigued by Pythagorean accounts of ‘the harmony of the spheres’. This was the ancient belief that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum in the course of their orbital revolutions. Informed by the new astronomy of Copernicus, Kepler argued that heavenly harmony was indeed to be observed (but not heard) in the elliptical motions of the six planets orbiting the Sun. Kepler identified a different scale for each of the planets by calculating their respective minimal and maximal orbital velocities as seen from the Sun. According to Kepler, had there been air in space, the pitches of the planets would rise and fall smoothly like a siren to form a kind of polyphony.
<br><br>
A recording of the harmony of the spheres can be heard <a href="http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21553618360003606"> here</a>.<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Johannes Kepler<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Harmonices mundi</i> [The harmony of the world] (Linz, 1619) <br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> <a href="http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21553618360003606"> D.1.35</a> <br>
<b>Provenance:</b> One of a set of Kepler volumes left to Queens’ by John Smith](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Music-Scientific-Revolution-Gallery/i-GHWWg6n/0/61d7d97f/M/D-001-035-017-M.jpg)
Kepler’s ‘Universal Harmonies’ of the six planets.
Kepler was intrigued by Pythagorean accounts of ‘the harmony of the spheres’. This was the ancient belief that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum in the course of their orbital revolutions. Informed by the new astronomy of Copernicus, Kepler argued that heavenly harmony was indeed to be observed (but not heard) in the elliptical motions of the six planets orbiting the Sun. Kepler identified a different scale for each of the planets by calculating their respective minimal and maximal orbital velocities as seen from the Sun. According to Kepler, had there been air in space, the pitches of the planets would rise and fall smoothly like a siren to form a kind of polyphony.
A recording of the harmony of the spheres can be heard here.
Author: Johannes Kepler
Title: Harmonices mundi [The harmony of the world] (Linz, 1619)
Shelfmark: D.1.35
Provenance: One of a set of Kepler volumes left to Queens’ by John Smith
![Kepler’s ‘Universal Harmonies’ of the six planets. <br><br>
Kepler was intrigued by Pythagorean accounts of ‘the harmony of the spheres’. This was the ancient belief that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum in the course of their orbital revolutions. Informed by the new astronomy of Copernicus, Kepler argued that heavenly harmony was indeed to be observed (but not heard) in the elliptical motions of the six planets orbiting the Sun. Kepler identified a different scale for each of the planets by calculating their respective minimal and maximal orbital velocities as seen from the Sun. According to Kepler, had there been air in space, the pitches of the planets would rise and fall smoothly like a siren to form a kind of polyphony.
<br><br>
A recording of the harmony of the spheres can be heard <a href="http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21553618360003606"> here</a>.<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Johannes Kepler<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Harmonices mundi</i> [The harmony of the world] (Linz, 1619) <br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> <a href="http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21553618360003606"> D.1.35</a> <br>
<b>Provenance:</b> One of a set of Kepler volumes left to Queens’ by John Smith](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Music-Scientific-Revolution-Gallery/i-GHWWg6n/0/61d7d97f/Ti/D-001-035-017-Ti.jpg)
![Much of the musical output of the great Flemish composer Philippe de Monte conformed exactly to the style Johannes Kepler had in mind when he referred to earthly music as an imitation of the divine harmony of the orbiting stars. De Monte’s consummate skill in polyphony (composing in parts) is particularly evident in the genre for which he is best known, the Italian madrigal. This was a kind of part-song setting for five or so voices, in which the music is intended to express the (usually amorous) sentiments of the verse. The eight books of madrigals in this volume reveal De Monte’s stylistic development over a thirty-year period beginning in 1554. Having initially deployed a complicated but conventional style of polyphony he later adopted a more up-to-date approach that exploited colourful harmonic language to convey the poetry of Petrarch and his many imitators. As Kapellmeister at the court of Rudolf II in Prague, it is likely that De Monte would have encountered Kepler when he was appointed there as Imperial Mathematician in 1601.
<br><br><b>Author:</b> Philippe de Monte<br>
<b>Title:</b> <i>Il primo libro de madrigali, a cinque voci</i> (Venice, 1580) [in a bound volume of part books from eight of the composer’s published collections of madrigals and sacred music] [On loan from Paul Harcourt, library volunteer]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Music-Scientific-Revolution-Gallery/i-k2m26MF/0/9a2cd8f9/Ti/Paul%27s%20book%20on%20madrigals-007-Ti.jpg)
![Title page of quinto part of Philippe de Monte's ninth book of madrigals.<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Philippe de Monte<br>
<b>Title:</b> <i>Il nono libro de madrigali a cinque voci</i> (Venice, 1580) [in a bound volume of part books from eight of the composer’s published collections of madrigals and sacred music] [On loan from Paul Harcourt, library volunteer]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Music-Scientific-Revolution-Gallery/i-JZnfPcc/0/2c6bf57b/Ti/Paul%27s%20book%20on%20madrigals-003-Ti.jpg)
![Quinto part of two madrigals by Philippe de Monte, 'Questa sera gentile' and ‘Fortunato colui'.<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Philippe de Monte<br>
<b>Title:</b> <i>Il nono libro de madrigali a cinque voci</i> (Venice, 1580) [in a bound volume of part books from eight of the composer’s published collections of madrigals and sacred music] [On loan from Paul Harcourt, library volunteer]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Music-Scientific-Revolution-Gallery/i-XDtHV8C/0/adc1381a/Ti/Paul%27s%20book%20on%20madrigals-004-Ti.jpg)
![Preface on the quinto part of Philippe de Monte's ninth book of madrigals for five voices together with his madrigal 'La pastorella mia'.<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Philippe de Monte<br>
<b>Title:</b> <i>Il nono libro de madrigali a cinque voci</i> (Venice, 1580) [in a bound volume of part books from eight of the composer’s published collections of madrigals and sacred music] [On loan from Paul Harcourt, library volunteer]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/Heavenly-Harmony/Music-Scientific-Revolution-Gallery/i-R6Nhftt/0/14f97ba8/Ti/Paul%27s%20book%20on%20madrigals-006-Ti.jpg)