Friday, 20. June 2008
The Music of the Spheres
In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice the young Lorenzo woos his sweetheart with talk of the stars:

"There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."

This is the music of the spheres - the idea that the stars and planets as they travel through space make beautiful music together.


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The music of the spheres played out of the classical world, through the medieval period and into the Renaissance. It affords us a glimpse into minds for whom the universe was full of meaning, of strange correspondences and grand harmonies.

Melvyn Bragg considers the celestial harmonies of the planets, a Pythagorean concept which fascinated astrologists, artists and mathematicians for centuries.
He is joined by:
  • Peter Forshaw, Postdoctoral Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London
  • Jim Bennett, Director of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford
  • Angela Voss, Director of the Cultural Study of Cosmology and Divination at the University of Kent, Canterbury


Listen to this programme in full here (42 minutes):



Broadcast was on 19 June 2008 at BBC 4, 'In Our Time'.
Also available for RealPlayer.


You may also like:
Skyscript:
Kepler and the Music of the Spheres
Geometry in Art & Architecture, Unit 3 - Paul Calter:
Pythagoras & Music of the Spheres
Essay by Angela Voss on The Music of the Spheres:
Ficino and Renaissance Harmonia
Sacerd Texts:
The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Color
An astronomical approach to the Music of the Spheres by Greg Fox:
Carmen of the Spheres
Google Books:
The Music of the Spheres: Music, Science, and the Natural Order of the Universe by Jamie James.


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Click the picture for a larger view


These are the duration in seconds of our star’s planets (and Pluto):
Mercury: 0.453028141, 0.906056282, 1.812112564, 3.624225128, 7.248450256, 14.49690051
Venus: 0.578586448, 1.157172895, 2.314345791, 4.628691582, 9.257383163, 18.51476633
Earth: 0.470244884, 0.940489769, 1.880979538, 3.761959076, 7.523918152, 15.0478363
Mars: 0.442216873, 0.884433746, 1.768867493, 3.537734985, 7.075469971, 14.15093994
Jupiter: 0.697366839, 1.394733678, 2.789467356, 5.578934712, 11.15786942, 22.31573885
Saturn: 0.432755629, 0.865511258, 1.731022516, 3.462045032, 6.924090064, 13.84818013
Uranus: 0.617729291, 1.235458581, 2.470917163, 4.941834326, 9.883668652, 19.7673373
Neptune: 0.605743574, 1.211487148, 2.422974297, 4.845948594, 9.691897187, 19.38379437
Pluto: 0.455707172, 0.911414343, 1.822828687, 3.645657373, 7.291314746, 14.58262949

And in hertz (cycles per second):
Mercury: 2260.345235, 1130.172618, 565.0863088, 282.5431544, 141.2715772, 70.6357886
Venus: 3539.6612, 1769.8306, 884.9153001, 442.45765, 221.228825, 110.6144125
Earth: 2177.588813, 1088.794407, 544.3972033, 272.1986017, 136.0993008, 68.04965042
Mars: 2315.605899, 1157.802949, 578.9014747, 289.4507373, 144.7253687, 72.36268433
Jupiter: 2936.761379, 1468.38069, 734.1903448, 367.0951724, 183.5475862, 91.7737931
Saturn: 2366.231498, 1183.115749, 591.5578744, 295.7789372, 147.8894686, 73.9447343
Uranus: 3315.368124, 1657.684062, 828.8420311, 414.4210156, 207.2105078, 103.6052539
Neptune: 3380.968593, 1690.484297, 845.2421483, 422.6210742, 211.3105371, 105.6552685
Pluto: 2247.057022, 1123.528511, 561.7642555, 280.8821277, 140.4410639, 70.22053193

In 2006, Greg Fox took the above orbital periods and divided them until their frequencies fell within the human acoustic range. This gave him six octaves of "planetary notes" for each planet. He called the resulting "music": "Carmen of the Spheres". It can be heard here or click the link above.

Greg Fox' "Carmen of the Spheres"
for nine sine waves totalling 64 minutes 12.246 seconds for stereo speakers.




The Mundane Monochord With Its Proportions And Intervals
from Fludd's De Musica Mundana:

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Category: Astrology & Astronomy Category: Music & Voices Category: Philosophy & Metaphysic




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