''Musurgia Universalis, sive Ars Magna Consoni et Dissoni'' ("The Universal Musical Art, or the Great Art of Consonance and Dissonance") is a 1650 work by the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

scholar

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jes ...

. It was printed in Rome by Ludovico Grignani and dedicated to

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (5 January 1614 – 20 November 1662), younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand III, was an Austrian soldier, administrator and patron of the arts. He held a number of military commands, with limited success, a ...

. It was a compendium of ancient and contemporary thinking about music, its production and its effects. It explored, in particular, the relationship between the mathematical properties of music (e.g. harmony and dissonance) with health and rhetoric. The work complements two of Kircher's other books: '' Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica'' had set out the secret underlying coherence of the universe and ''

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae ''Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae'' ("The Great Art of Light and Shadow") is a 1645 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was dedicated to Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans and published in Rome by Lodovico Grignani. A second edition was pub ...

'' had explored the ways of knowledge and enlightenment. What ''Musurgia Universalis'' contained, through its exploration of dissonance within harmony, was an explanation of the presence of evil in the world.

Composition and publication

Kircher compiled all the musical knowledge available in his day, making this the first encyclopedia of music. Since its publication it has been a valuable source of information to musicologists about baroque concepts of style and composition. It provides the earliest account of the

doctrine of the affections The doctrine of the affections, also known as the ''doctrine of affects'', ''doctrine of the passions'', ''theory of the affects'', or by the German term Affektenlehre (after the German ''Affekt''; plural ''Affekte'') was a theory in the aestheti ...

in music. As well as including a three-part fantasy of his own and a composition by

Emperor Ferdinand III Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608 – 2 April 1657) was Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1625, King of Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 to his death. Ferdinand ascended the throne at the begi ...

, Kircher reproduced many musical pieces to illustrate the styles he described, thereby preserving pieces by Frescobaldi, Froberger, and others. Kircher had a number of collaborators who assisted his research with their expertise, and by providing him with examples of different types of music. These included Antonio Maria Abbatini, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger and Giacomo Carissimi. ''Musurgia Universalis'' was one of Kircher's largest books. The work was published in two volumes with a total of 1,112 pages and many illustrations. It was one of the most influential books on music theory in the seventeenth century, and of the 1,500 copies known to have been published, 266 are still recorded in various collections. Three hundred copies of the first edition were distributed to Jesuit missionaries who gathered in Rome in 1650 for the election of the new

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

and carried back to many different lands. In 1656 a Jesuit mission to China took two dozen copies with it when it departed. A second edition was published in Amsterdam in 1662.

Concepts

The concepts presented in ''Musurgia Universalis'' overlap with Kircher's other works - they include musical cryptography (''

Polygraphia Nova ''Polygraphia nova et universalis ex combinatoria arte directa'' is a 1663 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was one of Kircher's most highly regarded works and his only complete work on the subject of cryptography, although he m ...

'') and

tarantism '' Lycosa tarantula'' carrying her offspring Tarantism ( ) is a form of hysteric behaviour originating in Southern Italy, popularly believed to result from the bite of the wolf spider '' Lycosa tarantula'' (distinct from the broad class of sp ...

('' Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica''). There was a detailed discussion of the phenomenon of the echo and its similarity to the reflection of light (''

''). His account of speaking tubes and amplification was developed in his later work '' Historia Eustachio Mariana'', concerning his installation of trumpets that broadcast a call to prayer at the shrine of Mentorella. Book eight explained a method for composition and writing harmony that Kircher maintained any person could use, whether they knew anything about music or not. He had invented this system while teaching mathematics at Würzburg University many years previously. This method had great appeal for Jesuits working as missionaries, who sought to use the power of music to draw converts to the Catholic faith by composing hymns in the languages of the people where they were working. Accompanying this method was a description of the arca musurgia, a kind of calculating machine that allowed users to apply Kircher's rules on composition and actually create music. A number of these machines were built and distributed to distinguished patrons together with the book. After providing the reader with many explanations of physical phenomena and their explanation, as in many of his other works Kircher used the final book to expound the spiritual dimension of everything he has revealed. In ''Musurgia Universalis'' he likens the creation of the world to the building of a great organ with six registers corresponding to the six days of creation on which God plays, creating harmony. The illustration shows the elaborately decorated organ with small circular panels illustrating each of the days of creation.

Structure

*Book one: on physiology, dealing with the structure of the ear, anatomy of the vocal organs, and the sounds made by animals, birds and insects, including the death-song of the swan *Book two: on philology, the origin of sound, the music of the Hebrews, and the ancient Greeks *Book three: on arithmetic, with the theory of

harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...

s, proportion, the ratios of intervals, the Greek scales, the Scale of

Guido d'Arezzo Guido of Arezzo (; – after 1033) was an Italian music theorist and pedagogue of High medieval music. A Benedictine monk, he is regarded as the inventor—or by some, developer—of the modern staff notation that had a massive influence on ...

, the system of

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

, and the ancient Greek modes *Book four: on geometry, discussion of the

monochord A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string ( chord). The term ''monochord'' is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument ...

, and its divisions *Book five: on organology, based book xii of the Harmonicorum by

Marin Mersenne Marin Mersenne, OM (also known as Marinus Mersennus or ''le Père'' Mersenne; ; 8 September 1588 – 1 September 1648) was a French polymath whose works touched a wide variety of fields. He is perhaps best known today among mathematicians for ...

, containing a dissertation on instrumental music *Book six: on composition,

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

, and other branches of composition, containing a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

that can be sung by twelve million two hundred thousand voices *Book seven: on discernment, covering the difference between ancient and modern music *Books eight: on wonders, including a mathematical method (‘musarithmica’) that allows the most inexperienced to compose with perfection *Book nine: on the magic of consonance and dissonance and their effects on the mind and body including

*Book ten: on analogy, discusses the harmony of the spheres, and of the

four elements The classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Angola, Tibet, India, a ...

, the principles of harmony exemplified in the proportions of the human body and the affections of the mind, together with practical description of the aeolian harp, which Kircher claimed to have invented.

Illustrations

An engraved portrait of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm faces the frontispiece of volume one, was designed by Johann Paul Schor and engraved by Paulus Pontius, a student of

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

. It is dated 'Antwerp 1649'. Each of the work's two volumes had its own frontispiece. For volume one this followed the design common to many of Kircher's works, depicting a threefold universe with the divine at the top, the celestial in the middle and the earthly below. At the top the eye of God overlooks all from within a triangle which bathes choirs of angels in divine light. Two angels hold aloft a banner proclaiming the

sanctus The ''Sanctus'' (, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' (, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition and parts of it are sometimes called "Benedictus". ''Tersanctus'' (Latin: "Thr ...

as a 'Canon angelicus 36 vocum... in 9 choros distributus' ('a 36-voice canon of angels, divided into nine choirs'). Beneath this sits

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

on the celestial sphere, holding the

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

that symbolises harmony and pushing away the

panpipes A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

associated with his rival

Marsyas In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (; ) is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double oboe (''aulos'') that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of ...

. Together with the signs of the zodiac, the sphere carries a quotation from the

Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

(38:37): 'Quis concentum coeli dormire faciet?' ('Who shall make the concert of heaven to sleep?'). At the bottom left of the image

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...

sits, with one arm resting on this

theorem In mathematics and formal logic, a theorem is a statement (logic), statement that has been Mathematical proof, proven, or can be proven. The ''proof'' of a theorem is a logical argument that uses the inference rules of a deductive system to esta ...

and the other pointing towards a group of smiths, the sound of whose Pythagorean hammers striking metal is said to have first given him the notion of the mathematical basis of harmony. In the centre are a ring of dancing pans on land, and to their right, a triton dancing in the water with

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

s. On the right there is an illustration of an echo, a topic discussed in the work, with a shepherd reciting a line from Virgil ("pascite, ut ante, boves") and a listener mishearing only the last part of the final word. The echo rebounds from the side of

Mount Helicon Mount Helicon (; ) is a mountain in the region of Thespiai in Boeotia, Greece, celebrated in Greek mythology. With an altitude of , it is located approximately from the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. Some researchers maintain that Helicon ...

, where

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

strikes the rock with his hoof, bringing forth the stream of

Hippocrene In Greek mythology, Hippocrene () is a spring on Mount Helicon. It was sacred to the Muses and was said to have formed when the winged horse Pegasus struck his hoof into the ground, whence its name which literally translates as "Steed/Horse ...

that flows down to the figure of Muses surrounded by musical instruments. The frontispiece for volume two was designed by Pierre Miotte. It depicts

Orpheus In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...

with his lyre and the three-headed guardian of the underworld,

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...

. The motto around his pedestal reads 'Apollo's right hand holds the lyre of the world, his left fits high to low; thus good things are mingled with ill.'

References

External links

* *Scan of ''Musurgia Universalis'
Volume 1Volume 2

German translation of ''Musurgia Universalis''translation of the section on musical instruments
*Jim Bumgardner, "Kircher’s Mechanical Composer: A Software Implementation"Kircher’s Mechanical Composer: A Software Implementation 2009. https://jbum.com/papers/kircher_paper.pdf {{Authority control Musicology 1650 in science 1650 works Obsolete scientific theories Athanasius Kircher