This page was last edited on 10 september 2014, at 18. Its purpose was to enable non musicians to compose church music. Mundus subterraneus is the most geological of kircher s works. Athanasius kircher at stanford proudly powered by wordpress. Bird songs 1650 archival inkjet on matte finish fine art paper.
We have selected the printing of athanasius kircher s musurgia universalis, printed in two volumes and illustrated with over 30 leaves of. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. Its popularity was greatly aided by a german translation of a major part of it in 1662. Celebrated for the versatility of his knowledge and particularly distinguished for his knowledge of the natural sciences, b. Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni. Although his reputation has waned over the centuries, kircher was a leading intellectual figure of his day, authoring dozens of treatises on a multitude of topics and corresponding with scholars. It was a work of encyclopedic breadth, combining material of unequal quality, from accurate cartography to mythical elements, such as a study of dragons. The name of a voluminous work, published at rome in the year 1650, by the jesuit father, athanasius kircher. Like many of kircher s other works, it was a book filled with fascinating descriptions and illustrations, in this case of soundmaking. As a polymath with an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and. Even after pumping the air out of the jar, kircher could still hear the bell, so he concluded incorrectly that air was not required to transmit sound.
Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. Athanasius kircher, musurgia universalis iowa research online. The name of a voluminous work, published at rome in the year 1650, by the jesuit father, athanasius kircher, and translated into german, by andreas hirsch, of hall, in suabia, in 1662. Internationale forschungsbibliografie zu athanasius. He was educated at the jesuit college of fulda, and entered upon his noviciate in that order at mainz in 1618. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Kircher, athanasius 16011680, german scholar and mathematician, was born on the 2nd of may 1601, at geisa near fulda. Athanasius kircher, musurgia universalis rome, 1650. Musurgia universalis is a combination of a scholarly study of the history of music and musical instruments and an attempt at a scientific. Athanasius kirchers beautiful musurgia universalis 1650. The arca musarithmica also arca musurgia or musical ark is an information device that was invented by jesuit scholar athanasius kircher in the mid 17th century.
Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni in. Athanasius kircher musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni free ebook download as pdf file. The title page is a compendium of philosophical conceptions linked to the theme of the harmony of the universe. Athanasius kircher, musurgia universalis, 1650 university of reading. Speaking tubes connected to statues athanasius kircher. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Ma master of arts thesis, state university of iowa, 1956. Search for library items search for lists search for contacts search for a library. In the three books which make up the volume, kircher includes his mathematical system for composing music, descriptions of the many ingenious musical instruments he had invented or. Kircher wrote about music as an essentially conservative german rationalist, who saw it as a natural.
As kircher s reputation grew, so did voices of opposition. The musurgia universalis sets out kircher s views on music. Athanasius kircher 16021680 musurgia universalis, rome, 1650 florence, biblioteca nazionale centrale, magl. The baroqueera jesuit scholar athanasius kircher 16021680 was a significant contributor to early modern culture in a. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Frontispiece from liber i of athanasius kircher s musurgia universalis, engraved by baronius of rome after a drawing by john paul schor. Athanasius kircher 16021680 was a german jesuit scholar a refugee from wartorn germany, kircher arrived in rome just after galileos condemnation, where he was heralded as possessing the secret of deciphering hieroglyphics. Platos atlantis is represented as an island in the middle of the atlantic ocean. Athanasius kircher sj musurgia universalis, 1650 socks. Media in category athanasius kircher the following 54 files are in this category, out of 54 total. The second volume of musurgia universalis treats less of theory and more of practical matters than did the first volume. Athanasius kircher and others saw specific dance music good magnetic vibrations as being the cure and he includes in this picture part of a score antidotum tarantula of the recommended tarantella i believe he expands on this later in his musurgia universalis tome. Athanasius kircher 2 may 1602 28 november 1680 was a german jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. The name of a voluminous work, published at rome in the year 1650, by the jesuit father, athanasius kircher, and translated.
Pages in category athanasius kircher the following 3 pages are in this category, out of 3 total. Athanasius kircher musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni. Just yesterday we quoted an athanasius kircher s excerpt from his musurgia universalis rome. The book includes plans for constructing waterpowered automatic organs, notations of birdsong and diagrams of musical instruments. Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni in x.
Speaking tubes connected to statues, from musurgia universalis, vol. In he was called to vienna by the emperor to succeed kepler as mathematician to the habsburg court. This book is notable for containing early plates of the earths interior, and views of spectacular eruptions of mt. The quatercentenary of the birth of the jesuit polymath, father athanasius kircher 16021680, seemed an appropriate moment to examine one of the most famous volumes of his works in special collections the musurgia universalis published in two volumes in rome in 1650. Musurgia universalis, by athanasius kircher rare music.
Kircher has been compared to fellow jesuit roger boscovich and to leonardo da vinci for his enormous range of interests, and has been honoured with the title master of a hundred. The musurgia universalis 1650 sets out kircher s views on music. Through simple combinatoric techniques it is capable of producing millions of pieces of 4part polyphonic music. Kircher has been compared to fellow jesuit roger boscovich and to leonardo da vinci for his enormous range of interests, and has been honoured with the title master of a hundred arts. Athanasius kircher, musurgia universalis, 1650 special collections featured item for november 2004 by tim eggington, former rare books librarian kircher, athanasius, 16021680. Athanasius kircher s musurgia universalis 1650 was one of the largest and most widely circulated works of music theory in the seventeenth century. In this post, we look at how the freemasons contributed to society in the world of politics, art, business and more. He believed that the harmony of music reflected the proportions of the universe. Buelow, kircher, in grove musurgia universalis, one of the really influential works of music theory, was drawn upon by almost every later german music theorist until well into the 18th century. Mundus subterraneus, in xii libros digestus internet archive.
In musurgia universalis 1650 with numerous sheet music examples from contemporary music, kircher presents his views on music and the theory of affects. Musurgia universalis page in the teaching with unique collections site. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Kircher, a german jesuit who spent much of his life in rome, was a polymathic scholar, following in the tradition of mersenne, and attempted to form a systematic. See also the frontispiece of his arithmologia on numerical mysteries. A dictionary of music and musiciansmusurgia universalis. Monteverdi to mozart position musurgia universalis in the burgeoning music scene of the 17th and 18th centuries.
A similar tendency can be seen in kircher s musurgia universalis 1650, which attempted to build on the work of such wellknown scholars as kepler and mersenne in exploring the idea of universal harmony. The concept of musica pathetica figures significantly in the encyclopedic musurgia universalis published in 1650 by athanasius kircher 16011680. Consider kircher s place in the history of thought on music and the cosmos, with such ideas stretching back to pythagoras and plato. Unlike posters, they will not yellow with time, but will. The musurgia universalis, the title of a book from which we took this name, was written in 1650 by athanasius kircher, a jesuit scholar, musician, mathematician, inventor, and musicologist, who lived from 16011680. This seminal works of musicology in two volumes seem to have been hugely influential on the works of j.
1533 1056 481 1418 1484 1041 1011 1180 1034 203 1033 981 437 688 253 1185 903 210 1075 369 1475 87 1097 753 480 1388 319