Western Music, Cosmic Meaning, and the Great War
Western Music, Cosmic Meaning, and the Great War Charles A. O’Connor III Georgetown University he ancient Greeks thought that mathematical laws governed music and the universe, producing the T unheard “music of the spheres” from planetary revolutions, and they thought that audible music reflected the physical and spiritual harmony of the entire world.1 Greek bards celebrated their gods and heroes in music, and Aristotle believed that music affected moral behavior.2 The Israelites claimed that David’s harp cured the madness of Saul and their trumpets toppled the walls of Jericho.3 This intimate relationship between music and the universe has permeated Western culture through the ages. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Lorenzo invites Jessica to hear “the sound of music” on a moonlit night: Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with pattens of bright gold: There is 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 the muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.4 Because music is thoroughly ingrained in Western culture, it can provide a unique insight into the evolving Western perception of the universe—the worldview held by the composer as well as the 1 E.g., Pythagoras, Plato, and Ptolemy. J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 9th ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 2014), 9-14; Plato, Republic, 10 (617). 2 Burkholder, Grout, and Palisca, A History of Western Music, 14; Aristotle, Politics, 8 (1340a-b); Odyssey, 8 (62-82).
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