Harmonia Mundi I
Well, I suppose the best way to ease myself into blogging is to start with a list
of links - the first post in a series I'll be calling Harmonia
Mundi... a cliché, I know, but I suppose clichés are the essence of tradition.
The tradition I'm talking about here is that of esoteric music. A loaded term,
for sure, but one of my primary interests. What do I mean by esoteric music? I'm
still rather vague about that one, to be honest, but I suppose the main classifying
factor is whether the music (in terms of theory or aesthetic) chimes with the
Pythagorean/Hermetic tradition that has dominated western esotericsm since the
middle-ages. That is to say, primarily the areas relating to the music of the
spheres. I'm sure there will be more time to ramble on about this in future, but
for now, let's at least scratch the surface a tiny bit... here's a few links chosen
at (almost-)random!
Kepler-related
Historically it looks like I'm coming at this subject backwards, but that's just the way my bookmarks are sorted!
Earthly Music and Cosmic Harmony: Johannes Kepler’s Interest in Practical Music, Especially Orlando di Lasso, Peter Pesic, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Volume 11, no. 1 - very interesting academic paper on Kepler, Lassus, astronomy and a muezzin!
Preface to Book I of Kepler's Harmony of the World, trans. Christopher White
Kepler's Harmony of the World, trans. Aiton/Duncan/Field - fully viewable text on Google Books
The Book of Earths, Edna Kenton (1928) - very concise overview of Kepler's theory of nested Platonic solids, along with Fludd's interpretations of the music of the spheres.
At some point in - I think - the 1970s, Willie Ruff and John Rogers used synthesisers to realise Kepler's universal harmony - an explanation of their technique and a sound sample can be heard here... appropriately cosmic.
Fludd-related
Fludd, the English Rosicrucian sympathiser and opponent of Kepler was certainly a traditionalist when it came to music, as his famous illustration of the Temple of Music may indicate - as Jamie James wrote - "It is an admirable accomplishment on its own terms, but to Fludd's contemporaries, who were listening by now to the technically sophisticated operas of Montiverdi, the erotic lute songs of John Dowland, and the keyboard fantasies of Orlando Gibbons and Girolamo Frescobaldi, the polyphonic orthodoxy of 'The Temple of Music' must have seemed as quaint as Grandma's Bloomers." (pp.132-3) I don't think Fludd would have cared, though, since his conception of music was part of a universal cosmic order, which had no place for chromaticism and dissonance - the heavens were a place of harmony. Here's a brief discussion and commentary on the Temple of Music.
Athanasius Kircher
Well, I couldn't mention Fludd without next pointing readers toward the similarly gorgeously illustrated Musurgia Universalis, Volumes I and II - a weighty encyclopedia of 17th century musical theory by our prolific Jesuit friend.
Ficino
The great exponent of Orphic singing for the purposes for attracting planetary influences (e.g. astrological magic)... Some great introductory essays here in support of a CD interpreting Ficino's take on the Orphic hymns... and of course, be sure to look at the all-time-classic study of "this kind of thing" - D.P. Walker's Spiritual and Demonic Magic: From Ficino to Campanella.
General music of the spheres
The Diatonic Solar System, Vladimir Pakhomov - Plato, planetary precession, the harmonic series... heady stuff.
Using Ancient Greek Modes for Care of the Soul, by John Opsopaus. The indefatiguable Mr. Opsopaus provides a very practical guide to the modes and their relation to the humors of medieval medicine. Interesting that the modes themselves described seem to be the traditional Church modes, probably most practical though, since the subject of the traditional Greek modes seems horrifically complex... (and from my brief researches, ill suited to Western, equally tempered instruments)
Other traditions
Atalanta Fugiens was probably the first multi-media work. An alchemical emblem book, which unlike many similar works, accompanied each emblem and epigram with a three-part fugue... To ponder for a moment - I wonder if there's any relation to the fugues here and the guidelines laid out by either Fludd or Kircher?
Dane Rudhyar, a theosophist, wrote several books and essays on music, which are available on line (- and which I've yet to read properly!)
Janis Dambergs, a Lullian scholar, has created some fascinating music inspired by Raymond Lull's Book of the Seven Planets.
Kepler-related
Historically it looks like I'm coming at this subject backwards, but that's just the way my bookmarks are sorted!
Earthly Music and Cosmic Harmony: Johannes Kepler’s Interest in Practical Music, Especially Orlando di Lasso, Peter Pesic, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Volume 11, no. 1 - very interesting academic paper on Kepler, Lassus, astronomy and a muezzin!
Preface to Book I of Kepler's Harmony of the World, trans. Christopher White
Kepler's Harmony of the World, trans. Aiton/Duncan/Field - fully viewable text on Google Books
The Book of Earths, Edna Kenton (1928) - very concise overview of Kepler's theory of nested Platonic solids, along with Fludd's interpretations of the music of the spheres.
At some point in - I think - the 1970s, Willie Ruff and John Rogers used synthesisers to realise Kepler's universal harmony - an explanation of their technique and a sound sample can be heard here... appropriately cosmic.
Fludd-related
Fludd, the English Rosicrucian sympathiser and opponent of Kepler was certainly a traditionalist when it came to music, as his famous illustration of the Temple of Music may indicate - as Jamie James wrote - "It is an admirable accomplishment on its own terms, but to Fludd's contemporaries, who were listening by now to the technically sophisticated operas of Montiverdi, the erotic lute songs of John Dowland, and the keyboard fantasies of Orlando Gibbons and Girolamo Frescobaldi, the polyphonic orthodoxy of 'The Temple of Music' must have seemed as quaint as Grandma's Bloomers." (pp.132-3) I don't think Fludd would have cared, though, since his conception of music was part of a universal cosmic order, which had no place for chromaticism and dissonance - the heavens were a place of harmony. Here's a brief discussion and commentary on the Temple of Music.
Athanasius Kircher
Well, I couldn't mention Fludd without next pointing readers toward the similarly gorgeously illustrated Musurgia Universalis, Volumes I and II - a weighty encyclopedia of 17th century musical theory by our prolific Jesuit friend.
Ficino
The great exponent of Orphic singing for the purposes for attracting planetary influences (e.g. astrological magic)... Some great introductory essays here in support of a CD interpreting Ficino's take on the Orphic hymns... and of course, be sure to look at the all-time-classic study of "this kind of thing" - D.P. Walker's Spiritual and Demonic Magic: From Ficino to Campanella.
General music of the spheres
The Diatonic Solar System, Vladimir Pakhomov - Plato, planetary precession, the harmonic series... heady stuff.
Using Ancient Greek Modes for Care of the Soul, by John Opsopaus. The indefatiguable Mr. Opsopaus provides a very practical guide to the modes and their relation to the humors of medieval medicine. Interesting that the modes themselves described seem to be the traditional Church modes, probably most practical though, since the subject of the traditional Greek modes seems horrifically complex... (and from my brief researches, ill suited to Western, equally tempered instruments)
Other traditions
Atalanta Fugiens was probably the first multi-media work. An alchemical emblem book, which unlike many similar works, accompanied each emblem and epigram with a three-part fugue... To ponder for a moment - I wonder if there's any relation to the fugues here and the guidelines laid out by either Fludd or Kircher?
Dane Rudhyar, a theosophist, wrote several books and essays on music, which are available on line (- and which I've yet to read properly!)
Janis Dambergs, a Lullian scholar, has created some fascinating music inspired by Raymond Lull's Book of the Seven Planets.