Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
K e m p e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l c h a m b e r M u s i c s e r i e s
The International Chamber Music Series is underwritten, in part, by the William T. Kemper Foundation
PURCELL Song Tune “See, even night herself is here,” from Fairy Queen
Rondeau from Abdelazer
The Galileo Project: Music of the Spheres was created as magnificent music for his opera Phaeton. We include
Tafelmusik’s contribution to the International Year of excerpts from the opera in our concert as an example of
Astronomy, marking 2009 as the 400th anniversary the cultural inheritance that the world of baroque music
of Galileo’s development and use of the astronomical received from the observations of ancient stargazers.
telescope. The performance uses music, words and The first important opera, Claudio Monteverdi’s
images to explore the artistic, cultural and scientific Orfeo, was composed in 1607 and published in Venice
world in which 17th- and 18th-century astronomers in 1609, the year that Galileo travelled from Padua
lived and did their work. to Venice to offer his newly created telescope as a gift
In late 16th-century Florence, the house of the to the Venetian Doge. Monteverdi and Galileo were
lutenist and composer Vincenzo Galilei (father of exact contemporaries and near the end of their lives
the famous Galileo) was a fertile breeding ground for Galileo arranged for Monteverdi to procure a beautiful
important innovations in the realms of music and of Cremonese violin (probably built by Nicolo Amati) for
science. Vincenzo’s experiments with the expressive his nephew Alberto Galilei, the son of Galileo’s brother
power of accompanied solo song influenced the creation Michelangelo who composed the lute solo in the first
of opera as a musical form and the style of music that we half of our programme. Monteverdi, Tarquinio Merula
now describe as “baroque.” and Biagio Marini were the most important composers
He also conducted repeated trials with lute strings in Galileo’s world and we present some of their most
to find the mathematical formulas that express the beautiful works as a backdrop to his own account of his
relationships between length, tension and musical discovery of the moons of Jupiter and the events that
pitch. He is thought to have been assisted in these followed.
experiments by his oldest son, Galileo Galilei, a brilliant In spite of the efforts of the Inquisition to suppress
young teacher of mathematics who went on to apply his discoveries and writings, Galileo’s influence was soon
his expertise to world-changing discoveries about the felt throughout Europe and the telescope was adopted
universe. as a tool for astronomical research. England’s most
Galileo inherited his spirit of scientific inquiry and important astronomer, Isaac Newton was born within
love of playing the lute from his father, therefore, it is a year of Galileo’s death and was buried in 1727 in
fitting that a musical tribute should honor an astronomer Westminster Abbey near the tomb of Henry Purcell. This
whose intellectual and artistic vitality stemmed from a period saw the establishment of a Royal Observatory in
place where music and science intersected. Performances Greenwich, Newton’s creation of the reflecting telescope,
of The Galileo Project around the world have brought us his discoveries about the properties of refracted light,
into contact with scientists, star-gazers and music lovers and his development of the principles of universal
in many diverse communities, greatly enriching our gravitation.
orchestral life. Newton used the musical analogy of a seven-note
Ancient civilizations depended on an awareness of scale in explaining the seven colours of the rainbow, but
the natural world for their livelihood and survival, and unlike Galileo, he does not appear to have been a music
enjoyed an intimate relationship with the daily, monthly lover. After having been to hear Handel play a concert,
and yearly patterns of the night sky. The Greeks and he complained that there was nothing to admire except
Romans identified characters in their mythological the elasticity of his fingers.
stories with planets and stars, and gave them names George Frideric Handel made more of a sensation
that we still use today. In Ovid’s story of Phaeton, the when he travelled from his adopted country of England
impetuous son of the sun god Apollo, the minutes, to his homeland of Germany in order to play at a
hours, days and seasons are personified as denizens of the glittering royal wedding celebration in Dresden in
palace of the sun. September of 1719. It was a month-long “Festival of the
At Versailles, the French “Sun King,” Louis XIV, Planets” with numerous operas, balls, outdoor events and
created his own palace of the sun, a building that special concerts in honour of each of the known planets:
strongly reflected the cosmology of the ancient world Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
in its statuary and decoration. Jean-Baptiste Lully, the (Uranus was discovered in 1781 by oboist, organist,
resident composer at Versailles, wrote some of his most composer and amateur astronomer, Sir William Herschel
Found a word or phrase that you are unfamiliar with? Check out our extensive
Glossary beginning on page 118 to discover the meaning.
The celestial or divine monochord, engraved by Mathew Merian for Robert Fludd’s Utriusque cosmi … historia
(History of the Macrocosm and Microcosm, Oppenheim, 1617-1618). The diagram links the notes of the Greek musical
scale with the orbits of the planets, suggesting a mathematical basis for the harmony of the spheres.
Pre-Concert Lecture, November 9 at 1 p.m. Hundreds of people of all ages attend the Library’s
Galileo, Kepler, and the Harmony of the Spheres public programs each year to expand their awareness
with William B. Ashworth, Jr. and understanding of science and technology. A
Beginning in 1609, Galileo used the newly-invented not-for-profit, privately funded institution, the
telescope to discover craters on the moon, satellites Library is open to the public free of charge.
around Jupiter, and stars in the Milky Way. At
about the same time, Johannes Kepler discovered the BIOS
laws that regulate the motion of the planets around William B. Ashworth, Jr.
the sun. For Kepler, his discoveries were part of a William B. Ashworth, Jr. is Associate Professor of
search for the harmony of the spheres, an idea that History at the University of Missouri—Kansas City,
had been around since Pythagoras, and which Kepler and Consultant for the History of Science at the
fervidly embraced. Galileo showed us a new kind Linda Hall Library. He has a PhD in the History of
harmony of, revealing that earth and heavens are Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
one, and not the two separate worlds envisioned by and has a special interest in Renaissance and Baroque
Aristotle. The illustrated talk will discuss the ancient science, especially early scientific illustration.
origins of the idea of a harmony of the spheres, He teaches courses at UMKC on the Scientific
look at the role it played in the work of Galileo Revolution and the Darwinian Revolution and,
and Kepler, and examine why, by the time of Isaac for the Linda Hall Library, he advises on rare book
Newton, the idea of a harmony of the spheres had acquisitions, organizes exhibitions, writes exhibition
faded from the scientific world. catalogues, offers a regular lecture series, and writes
two daily blogs on scientific anniversaries, one of
which can be accessed on the LHL website.
Visions of the Spheres – A Display of Images from
Original Documents of the Renaissance
Shareholder’s Room at the Folly Theater Bruce Bradley
Ancient concepts of the stars and planets placed Bruce Bradley is the Librarian for History of Science
them in crystalline spheres, centered on and at the Linda Hall Library, where he serves as curator
moving around a stationary earth. This graphic for the library’s special collection of rare books in the
display of images from rare books from the time history of science and technology. He administers
of Galileo illustrates that concept of the cosmos an active program of rare book acquisitions, oversees
– the one that Galileo learned -- and how Galileo the security and preservation of the collection, and
and others changed it with revolutionary thinking assists library researchers and visitors in need of
and observations. New images of the stars and of access to the collection. Through the acquisitions
the cosmos allowed their viewers to imagine a new program, the library was able to acquire at auction
universe that was truly out of this world. a first edition of Galileo’s Sidereus nuncius (Starry
Messenger, Venice, 1610), the first book by Galileo to
Curator: Bruce Bradley, Linda Hall Library of report on his startling observations with a telescope.
Engineering and Science Other books by Galileo and by his contemporaries
have also been acquired for the collection. Bruce
The Linda Hall Library works with visiting groups and gives special classes
The Linda Hall Library (LHL) is the world’s and presentations on aspects of the history of science
foremost independent research library devoted to and rare books. He participates in the library’s
science, engineering and technology. Since 1946, exhibition program of rare books, which is offered
scholars, students, researchers, academic institutions, to local visitors and, through the library’s website,
and businesses throughout the Kansas City region, to virtual visitors around the world. He has degrees
the nation, and around the world have used the in history and library science from Carleton College
Linda Hall Library’s collections to learn, investigate, and the University of Illinois.
invent, explore and increase knowledge.