Musurgia Universalis (1650) is probably Athanasius Kirchers most famous work. It deals with music from almost every possible aspect: historical, physical, technical, medical, mythological, mathematical and so on. There are articles on musical instruments from different times and cultures, harmonic science, tuning of instruments, acoustics, instrument making, musical theory, the "music" of birds and other animals, tonal systems from antiquity and onwards etc. It also contains some historical documents, as a reproduction of the music to Pindaros' First Pythian Ode (this was declared to be a "falsification" in the 1930's) and a translation of Abraham ben Ghia Hanassis history of Jewish music. The theory and practice of automatic instruments and of a device that could compose music are treated, and so is Tarantism, a disease that was belived to be caused by the sting of the Apulian tarantula, a big spider.
Pindaro First Pythian Ode
Pindaro Music transcription
In his Musurgia Universalis, Kircher published a musicae veteris specimen: the first verses of Pindar Pythian Ode, which he claims to have transcribed from a Ms. of IX century seen in the Basilian monastery of S. Salvatore at Messina. However, the disappearance of this Ms., following the devastation suffered by Messina between 1674 and 1678, has led many Philologists to doubt the good faith of Kircher, and think it as a clever fake work. However, the troubles of Messina fully justify the Ms. disappearance; If anything, one might doubt the music dating it contains. In the other part, Kircher's musical doctrine was remarkable; He also created a gimmick with which everyone could write music in different styles: Pindar Ode is a practical application?
Ebook Here
No comments:
Post a Comment