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BAMbill NOV 2009 2009 Next Wave Festival

Adam Fuss, 2009

BAM 2009 Next Wave Festival is part of New Works and Diverse Voices at BAM sponsored by: 2009 Next Wave Festival

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board

Karen Brooks Hopkins, President Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer

Presents

Approximate BAM Howard Gilman House running time: Nov 18, 20, 21, 2009 at 7:30pm two hours, no intermission An Opera by Libretto by Martina Winkel Bruckner Orchester Conducted by Dennis Russell Davies Featuring soloists and choir of the Upper Austrian State Theatre, Linz Dramaturgy by Klaus Peter Kehr, Felix Losert Costumes by Karel van Laere English titles by Chris Bergen

In German and Latin with English titles

World Premiere: Sep 20, 2009, Upper Austrian State Theatre American Premiere: Nov 18, 2009, BAM Howard Gilman Opera House

Commissioned by the Upper Austrian State Theatre and Linz 2009, European Culture Capital

BAM 2009 Next Wave Festival is part of New Works and Diverse Voices at BAM sponsored by Time Warner Inc.

Leadership support for the Next Wave Festival provided by The Ford Foundation.

Support for Kepler provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Additional support for BAM music programming provided by The Aaron Copland Fund.

Endowment funding for Kepler has been provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Opera and Music-Theater. Kepler

Soloists Kepler () Martin Achrainer 1 Cassandra McConnell Soprano 2 Cheryl Lichter Mezzo Katerina Hebelkova Pedro Velázquez Díaz Baritone Seho Chang Florian Spiess

Columbia Artists Management LLC Tour Direction: R. Douglas Sheldon | 1790 Broadway, New York, NY 10019 | www.cami.com

The Bruckner Orchester Linz is the Philharmonic Orchestra of the State of Upper .

Upper Austrian State Theatre Artistic Director: Rainer Mennicken Administrative Director: Thomas Königstorfer

The Bruckner Orchester Linz is supported by presto—friends of Bruckner Orchester Linz.

Linz is the Cultural Capital of Europe for the year 2009. Notes

Kepler, composed by Philip Glass for the Upper by Kepler, with additional relevant passages Austrian State Theatre and “Linz09” (European by the Baroque poet Andreas Gryphius and a Capital of Culture), deals with the intellectual short excerpt from the Old Testament Book of cosmos of the great astronomer Genesis. who was a teacher of mathematics in Linz from 1612 to 1627, during which time he developed The original Linz stage production was his ground-breaking laws of celestial movement. conceived and directed by Belgian video The opera is not concerned with biographical artist Peter Missotten. This production is a details, but deals instead with the fundamental continuation of the long-term collaboration questions that Kepler was obsessed with, and between Philip Glass and Dennis Russell which he hoped scientific principles would help Davies. answer. The staged production is currently scheduled Social and political upheaval in the wake of the to run through January 2010 at the Upper Counter Reformation shaped the world in which Austrian State Theatre. Kepler, surrounded on all sides by war and religious strife, doggedly sought a divine order, which he was certain could be found in nature. Synopsis “God has based everything on numbers,” was the motto that stimulated his research. Philip by Felix Losert Glass was particularly inspired by Kepler’s conviction, “without real knowledge life is Fragments from the life and ideas of the scien- dead.” tist Johannes Kepler are contrasted with seg- ments from the story of creation and poems by Austrian librettist Martina Winkel based her Andreas Gryphius, which portray Europe during text on original words in German and Latin the Thirty Years War. Synopsis Following a Prologue with the text from Kepler’s Wissen ist das Leben tot.”/“Without true own draft of an epitaph for his grave, Act 1 pres- Knowledge life is dead.”) ents a sequence of Kepler’s texts showing him as a scientist: his curiosity about the divine blueprint Gryphius: Augen. Optisches Paradoxon/Eyes. for the world and the planetary system (“Was ist Optical Paradoxon (“Was Augen sehn ist die Welt”/”What is the World”); his conception nichts”/“What eyes see, nothing is”). of the planetary system as a sequence of nested polyhedrons, along which the orbits of the planets In Act 2 the man behind the scientist comes run (“Die Erdbahn ist das Maß”/“The earth’s orbit into view. Kepler partly earned his living as an is the unit of measurement”). Kepler is convinced astrologist. He also prepared astrological calcula- that he is praising God with his astronomical tions for himself (“Ich habe das Datum meiner research (“Theologus esse volebam”/“A theolo- Empfängnis errechnet”/“I have calculated the date gian I wanted to be”). In the text of the biblical of my conception”). Among his records there is a story of creation (“Am Anfang schuf Gott”/“In pitiless self portrait (“Dieser Mensch hat ganz und the beginning God created”), Kepler repeatedly gar eine Hundenatur.”/“This man has completely interjects his conviction that the bible is not to the nature of a dog”). A list of his enemies that be misunderstood as a source of scientific insight Kepler drew up seems to have no end. Kepler (“Die Schrift ist kein Lehrbuch”/“The Bible is does not only blame others for this (“Alle brachte no instruction book,” “In der Theologie gilt das ich gegen mich auf.”/“I agitated everyone against Wort der Autoritäten”/“In theology the word of me.”). Despite all this, however, Kepler seems not the authorities counts,” “Heilig ist das Officium to have afforded astrology any high status (“Die unserer Tage”/“Holy is the Officium of our time,” niedrige Astrologie ist eine Krücke”/“Base astrology “Nicht spricht die Schrift”/“Holy Scripture does not is just a crutch”). speak,” “Nur Narren fürchten”/“Only fools fear”). Gryphius: An die Sternen/To the Stars (“Ihr Lichter, Gryphius: Auf die Nacht/Upon the Night (“Nacht, die ich nicht auff Erden satt kann schauen”/“Ye süße nacht! die mir das licht entdeckt”/“Night, you lights, to watch from earth I never can get tired”). sweet night, who showest me ”). Systematic reflections bring Kepler to the idea that Kepler explains his scientific method (“Zuerst ent- the planets do not move, as previously thought, werfen wir uns in den Hypothesen ein Bild”/“First in circular orbits through space, but rather we design in our hypotheses an image”) and his along orbits in the form of “perfect ellipses” that intention of seeking to establish astronomy follow- evoke an inaudible “celestial music” (“Irrtümer, ing the example of recognized sciences (“Anstelle entstanden aus dem Dunkel meines Denkens.”/ der Himmelstheologie”/”Instead of a celestial “Errors originating from the dark of my thinking”). theology”). He is convinced that heaven is not a Kepler recognizes God in this wonderful creation place inhabited by “divine beings,” but rather a of the sky and prays to him (“Groß ist unser Herr”/ “clockwork” that can be scientifically explained “Great is our Lord”). (“Ich will zeigen”/“I want to show”). Kepler is certain that God created the human soul to enable Gryphius: Thränen des Vaterlandes/Tears of the scientific insight (“Gott schuf alles”/ “God created Fatherland (“Wir sind doch nunmehr gantz, ja everything”). mehr denn gantz verheeret!”/”So now we are com- pletely, yeah, more than that destroyed!”). Gryphius: Vanitas! Vanitatum Vanitas (“Die Herrlikeit der Erden/muß Rauch und Aschen werden”/“The The raging destruction of the Thirty Years War be- glory of this world/Must turn to smoke and ashes”). comes a threat to all mankind. Kepler knows there is no longer any secure refuge for him. All that is Further questions arise for Kepler (“Was nun, left for him is to return to his “peaceful studies” wenn auch die Erde in den Äther verdunstet?”/ (“Es ist bereits ein großer Trost, dass man uns “But what, if Earth as well evaporates into the nicht verbrennt”/“It is already a great comfort that ether?”). A principle motive of Kepler’s thirst for we are not burnt to death”). The Epilogue closes knowledge comes to the fore (“Ohne echtes the circle with the text of the epitaph. Bruckner Orchester Linz

Conductor Oboe Chorus Director Dennis Russell Davies Franz Scherzer Georg Leopold Martin Kleinecke First Violin General Secretary Heinz Haunold, Concertmaster Clarinet Oliver Deak Mario Seriakov, Concertmaster Kathrin Moser Piotr Gladki Josef Fahrnberger Public Relations Ingrun Findeis-Gröpler Gernot Fresacher MMag. Isabel Biederleitner Miklos Nagy Peter Beer Bassoon Secretary Jana Mooshammer Johannes Platzer Manuel Höfer, MA Prof. Reinhard Pirstinger Clemens Wöss Gordana Pirstinger Stage Crew Simone Schreiberhuber Horn Herbert Wiederstein Ana Nedeljkovicz Robert Schnepps René Höglinger Elisabeth Nusko Christian Pöttinger Thomas Fischer Second Violin Markus Hurmann COLUMBIA ARTISTS Jana Kuhlmann MANAGEMENT LLC Elisabeth Eibensteiner Trumpet Wolfgang Zimmermann Gerhard Fluch Tour Direction: Andrej Tarnok Johannes Peer R. Douglas Sheldon Sorin Stefan Regina Angerer-Bründlinger Senior Vice President Alois Mares

Josef Fuchsluger Trombone Karen Kloster Sayaka Kira Mayumi Shimizu Tour Coordinator Shushanik Aleksanyan Moshe Leibovitz Katharina Kiesenhofer Walter Schiffler Chris Minev Viola Albert Landertinger Executive Assistant Walter Haas Gunter Glössl Tuba Ann Woodruff Gerhard Paal Christian Penz Tour Manager Ulrike Landsmann Monika Hemetsberger Percussion Renee O’Banks Gerhard Pitsch Leonhard Schmidinger Backstage Manager Sabine Luger Alfred Steindl Joachim Brandl Markus Ridderbusch James Putnam Stefan Reichinger Driver Cello Sebastian Aigner Elisabeth Bauer Manuel Höfer Jim Uline Bernhard Walchshofer Hotel Advance Stefan Tittgen Piano Mitsuaki Vorraber Borys Sitarski Maestro! Travel & Susanne Lissy Touring, Bertin Christelbauer Harp Hotels Werner Karlinger Double Bass Flight Directors Stanislaw Pasierski Barbara Lintner Filip Cortes Executive Director International Air Alvin Staple Dr. Thomas Königstorfer Barabara Hirschvogel Sintec-Tur Herwig Krainz Artistic Director Domestic Air Dr. Heribert Schröder Flute Christian Landsmann Intendant of the Upper Ildiko Deak Austrian State Theatre Gudrun Hirt-Hochreiner Rainer Mennicken Who’s Who

Philip Glass 40 years of uninterrupted music directorships of Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Philip Glass is a various orchestras both nationally and internation- graduate of the University of Chicago and The ally for Davies. He is currently Chief Conductor Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, Glass spent and Music Director of the Bruckner Orchester two years of intensive study in Paris with Nadia Linz, Chief Conductor of the Upper Austrian State Boulanger and while there earned money by Theatre, and Music Director of the Basel Sym- transcribing Ravi Shankar’s Indian music into phony Orchestra in Basel, Switzerland. Addition- Western notation. By 1974, Glass had a number ally, Davies is Professor of Orchestral Conducting of innovative projects, creating a large collection at the Mozarteum, as well as Conductor of new music for The and Laureate of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. In for Mabou Mines Theater Company. This period the US, he continues as Conductor Laureate of culminated in and the the American Composers Orchestra, which he landmark opera, (BAM, co-founded. As conductor and pianist, Davies has 1984), for which he collaborated with Robert released over 60 recordings, earning numerous Wilson. Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his awards. Recording highlights for 2009 include the repertoire to include music for opera, dance, the- complete Bruckner Symphonies with the Bruckner ater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His Orchester Linz for Arte Nova/SONY BMG, and the scores have received Academy Award nominations complete Haydn Symphonies with the Stuttgart (, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal) and Chamber Orchestra for SONY Classical/SONY a Golden Globe (). Glass has BMG, bringing the eleven-year Mercedes-Benz received an Oscar nomination for his Notes score. Haydn recording project to completion. Davies Symphony No. 7 and Symphony No. 8 (BAM, was born in Toledo, OH, and graduated from The 2005)—Glass’ latest symphonies—along with Juilliard School. He is a Fellow of the American Waiting for the Barbarians, an opera based on the Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009). book by J.M. Coetzee, premiered in 2005. In the past two years several new works were unveiled, Martina Winkel including Book of Longing (Luminato Festival) Martina Winkel was born in Ybbs on the Danube; and an opera about the end of the Civil War she lives in . Winkel studied theater and art entitled (San Francisco Opera). The history in Vienna in addition to acting, voice train- English National Opera, in conjunction with the ing, and additional work in Indonesia. Freelance Metropolitan Opera, performed Glass’ work includes assignments with the Austrian in London and the Metropolitan Opera presented Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). In Vienna and the work in April 2008. Glass’ latest opera Kepler Berlin, her numerous jobs include assistant direct- premiered with the Upper Austrian State Theatre ing, dramaturgy, and traditional shadow theater. in September 2009. He continues to tour with the She is a founding member of Theater ohne The Philip Glass Ensemble. Grenzen in Vienna and Artistic Director of the In- ternational Puppet Theater Festival for adults, Die Dennis Russell Davies Macht des Staunens, with Airan Berg. Her work Internationally acclaimed musician Dennis Russell has been seen at international performances, co- Davies is avidly sought out for his extraordinary productions, and festivals in Vienna (Burgtheater, breadth of repertoire, technical brilliance, and Schauspielhaus, Wiener Festwochen), Singapore, fearless music-making. A maverick in his field, he London, Johannesburg, Capetown, Melbourne, is hailed as “one of the few conductors whose un- Moscow, Istanbul, Acre, Porto, Turin, Bologna, questioned commitment to music of our age has Budapest, Berlin, Munich, Luxemburg, among not severed his connections to the standard reper- others. Her video installations for exhibitions as tory.” An esteemed presence who consistently well as her work in visuals and music have been remains at the forefront of both orchestral and op- seen at Konzerthaus Vienna and Philharmonie du eratic worlds, Davies is also an accomplished pia- Luxembourg. nist, and is in demand by orchestras, composers, and fellow musicians worldwide for his inspiring Karel van Laere collaborations and interpretive mastery. A frequent Between 2005 and 2007 Karel van Laere guest conductor with major orchestras and opera participated in the “Expeditions” that take place companies throughout the world, 2009 marks annually in the Alba Theater House in The Hague. Who’s Who

The result of this work was Piece of Cake, which Cheryl Lichter was performed in 2007. His production Kaba’al Cheryl Lichter was born in Chicago. She received premiered in 2006, and several short films were her bachelor and masters degrees in Music Edu- produced based on this performance. Between cation, Voice, and Choral Conducting from Eastern September 2007 and March 2008, van Laere Illinois University, in Charleston, IL. In 1974, she was a member of the Performer House Theater won a Rotary International Graduate Scholar- School in Silkeborg, Denmark. He currently ship enabling her to study Voice and Opera at attends the Theater School Maastrich in the Neth- the University of Toronto. Her professional career erlands. Van Laere’s first collaboration with Peter began in the Stadttheater Trier following her en- Missotten was as a costume designer for the play gagement with the Upper Austrian State Theatre. De wilde weg in Antwerp. Die Zauberflöte with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle in Zürich remains one of her Martin Achrainer most successful accomplishments. Lichter was Martin Achrainer, originally from Kitzbühel, awarded the Culture Medal from Upper Austria for Austria, has been a member of the ensemble of her operatic achievements in 2004. the Upper Austrian State Theatre since 2006. He studied voice at the Vienna University of Katerina Hebelkova Music after completing acting and musical train- The Czech mezzo-soprano has been a member ing. Achrainer took further lessons with Brigitte of the ensemble of the Upper Austrian State Fassbaender. During his studies, the singer was Theatre since spring 2009. After training at the invited to take part in various international opera conservatory in Pardubice she studied voice at and concert productions. The young baritone’s the University for Music and Theater in Munich first fixed engagement was at the State Theater with Daphne Evangelatos. Beginning in 2000, Tyrol. Achrainer has developed a broad repertoire she was a member of the Opera School of the (opera/oratorio/lied) and has worked with leading university. During the course of her studies, she conductors (including Kurt Masur, Dennis Russell sang concerts in various countries and also took Davies, Dietfried Bernet, and Reinhard Schwarz). part in opera productions at the Munich Prinzre- The singer has won international awards, such gententheater as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), as the Hugo Wolf Award Vienna and Gradus ad Romeo (I Capuleti e Montecchi), and Angelina Parnassum. (La Cenerentola). She sang Carmen in Seville in 2003 for the first time which she also performed Cassandra McConnell in 2005 in Klagenfurt. She was a member of the Cassandra McConnell, born in New Castle, PA, ensemble of the Oldenburg State Theater and has has been a member of the ensemble of the Upper performed Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Komponist Austrian State Theatre since 2006. In previ- (Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss), Orpheus (Orphée ous seasons she performed Manon (Manon by et Eurydice by Gluck), and Lucretia (The Rape of Massenet), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Tatjana Lucretia by Britten). (Evgenij Onegin), Desdemona (Otello), and La Princesse (Glass’ Orphée). McConnell studied Pedro Velázquez Díaz voice at the Indiana University at the same time The Mexican tenor has been a member of the en- she also trained in dance and acting. Over a semble of the Upper Austrian State Theatre since period of five years, she greatly expanded her 2002. He was also a member of the stage experience and performed in many famous Hannover ensemble and studied voice and con- musicals. As an opera singer she has received ducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. After his acclaim for performances such as Giulietta (Les opera debut in 1998 as Pedrillo (Entführung aus Contes d’Hoffmann) and Helena (A Midsummer dem Serail) at the Tollwood Festival in Munich, he Night’s Dream). After her performance of Carmen worked at the Residenztheater in Munich as well at the New Yorker Two River Theater, The New as the Opera Studio of the Opéra National du Rhin York Times wrote: “Ms. McConnell is a knock-out in Strasbourg. Velázquez Díaz specializes in roles in this role.” The Zurich Opera brought her to from the Italian and French repertoire, includ- Europe by accepting her at the International Opera ing Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Don José Studio Zurich. (Carmen), Cavaradossi (Tosca), and Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. Who’s Who Roles such as Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Hans Throughout 2009, Linz’s year as the European (Die verkaufte Braut), and The Prince (Rusalka) Capital of Culture, the Bruckner Orchester LInz are also part of his repertoire. Pedro Velázquez will not only perform its variety of duties in Linz, Díaz was a guest performer at the Volksoper but has the important role of ambassador for Vienna, the Salzburg State Theater, and the State Linz and Upper Austria abroad. Having toured in Theaters of Kassel and Wiesbaden. 2008—09 to Istanbul, Cologne, and Paris, among other European cities, the orchestra has embarked Seho Chang upon its second US tour in November 2009 under Seho Chang was born in Korea. He graduated the direction of Dennis Russell Davies. from the Korea National University of Art in 2004. He gained his first experience as a singer Other guest performances have taken the en- as Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), and Leporello and semble to Hungary, Germany, Italy, France, the Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni). In June 2008 he Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Spain, won the Schubert Award of the Richard Tauber Turkey, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Competition. He studies with Franz Lukasovsky at Japan, China, and the US, and to leading festivals the University for Music Vienna. such as the Carinthian Summer Music Festival, the Bratislava Festival, the Brighton and Bath Fes- Florian Spiess tivals, the Klangspuren in Schwaz, the Festival de The young bass Florian Spiess has been a Musica de Canarias, the International Beethoven member of the Upper Austrian State Theatre Festival in Bonn, and the Athens Festival. Ensemble since 2009. After gaining his first musi- cal experience as a soloist with the Vienna Boys Another focal point of the orchestra’s work is its Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben), he studied voice at CD recordings. The Bruckner Orchester Linz has the Tyrol State Conservatory and the University for made a name for itself over the decades with its Music in Vienna where his teachers were Robert recordings of works by Mozart, Schubert, Mat- Holl and Karlheinz Hanser. Spiess was also a thus, Schmidt, Korngold, and Holst. The orchestra frequent guest performer at the Tyrol State Theater recently released Glass’ Symphonies Nos. 6 and (Brigitte Fassbaender, director). Spiess has sung 8, , and a complete set of recordings at festivals such as the Festival Aix-en-Provence of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies in their original and the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. He has version under Chief Conductor Dennis Russell worked with leading conductors including René Davies. Jacobs, Mark Minkowski, and Konrad Junghä- nel and performed Osmin (Entführung aus dem In the course of its history, the orchestra has been Serail) and Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro). Florian conducted by guest conductors such as Clemens Spiess also sings in oratorios and lied recitals Krauss, Hans Knappertsbusch, Kurt Eichhorn (David Lutz, piano). (appointed as the Orchester’s honorary conductor in 1989), Sergiu Celibidache, Vaclav Neumann, Bruckner Orchester Linz Christoph von Dohnányi, and later by Serge The Bruckner Orchester Linz looks back on more Baudo, Horst Stein, Vladimir Fedosejev, Michael than 200 years of history and tradition, and Gielen, Heinrich Schiff, Bernhard Klee, Marek over the past few decades it has become one Janowski, Hans Wallat, and Franz Welser-Möst, of Central Europe’s leading orchestras. With its and shaped by principal conductors such as The- 110 musicians it manages not only the music odor Guschlbauer, Manfred Mayrhofer, and Martin for staged productions of Linz’s Upper Austrian Sieghart. Since the 2004—05 season Heinrich State Theatre, but also the orchestra concerts. Schiff has been the orchestra’s first guest conduc- The Bruckner Orchester Linz fulfills a number of tor. The orchestra’s Resident Conductor is Ingo prominent tasks, including participation in the Ingensand. Dennis Russell Davies was appointed Bruckner Festival, the Ars Electronica Festival, the as Chief Conductor of the Bruckner Orchester Linz Linzer Klangwolke and the Voestival. In the past in 2002. decades the orchestra has earned an outstanding reputation for itself both in Austria and abroad. Who’s Who The Upper Austrian State Theatre musical production of the theater. In numerous The Upper Austrian State Theatre sees its mis- productions chorus members have taken over sion in making it possible to experience familiar, small solo roles with great success. The chorus, forgotten, and never-before-encountered stories, whose members originate from thirteen different images, and sounds. As an ensemble theater it is countries, regularly performs concerts of choir also a platform for discovering young talent. music from the repertoire of opera, concert, and a capella music. What is especially important about the opera work at the Upper Austrian State Theatre is that it is Spoken theater is devoted not only to the classics, supported by one of the largest and best orches- but also and especially to young (particularly tras in Austria, the Bruckner Orchester Linz. It Austrian) authors. The dance company at the engages with the classical opera repertoire as well Upper Austrian State Theatre is distinguished as world premieres of Austrian and international by magical and picturesque dance realism. The composers. The opening of a new opera house— young people’s theater was established ten years planned for 2012—will provide new opportunities ago. With invitations to theater festivals, relevant to consolidate the theater’s path to the future. The awards, and performances that are regularly sold 42 women and men of the opera chorus, directed out, the ensemble has garnered an excellent by Georg Leopold, play a vital role in nearly every reputation far beyond their region.

Chorus of the Upper Austrian Tenor State Theatre Jang Ik Byun Georg Leopold, Chorus Director Eugen Fillo Bonifacio Galvan-Rodriguez Soprano Csaba Grünfelder Junko Baba Seogmann Keum In Kyoung Cho Christian Mayer Sarlota Führlinger-Kovács Andrzej Petryka Ekaterina Karanescheva-Arguirova Miguel Angel Sanpedro Hyang Jung Kim Petar Stefanov Danuta Leopold-Moskalik Jonathan Whiteley Antoaneta Mineva Naomi Miyoshi Bass Kerstin Rasche Jochen Bohnen Gabriele Salzbacher Boris Daskalov Ulrike Weixelbaumer Siegfried Dietrich Ulrike Wernicke-Brincoveanu Jordan Donchev Evelyn Zincke Florian Gruber Johann Gruber Alto Marius Mocan Karin Behne Markus Schulz Yuliya Grote Andrzej Ulicz Namsalma Khabtagaeva Hans Wolfinger Kateryna Lyashenko Joanna Müller Jadviga Scheinpflugova Bettina Swoboda Johannes Kepler Courtesy of the Archives, California Institute Technology

tion, a mathematician whose published findings Johannes Kepler— mix jubilation with crushing self-doubt, and a science fiction writer in Shakespeare’s age, Kepler Eyes Fixed to the Sky both embodied and helped to bring about a vital shift from a medieval cosmology to a modern one. by Kate Daloz Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, Nearly 400 years ago, Johannes Kepler wrote, 1571 in Weil, at the south-westernmost corner “Geometry is unique and eternal, a reflection of of Germany, a place still rumbling with the the mind of God.” For Kepler, the universe was aftershocks of the Protestant Reformation. Kepler’s a place of symmetry, the movement of stars and grandfather Sebald, a furrier from a crumbling planets organized around an invisible architecture, noble family, was an early and outspoken designed by God but decipherable by man. This Lutheran. His father Heinrich, “a man vicious, vision of ordered beauty stands in stark contrast inflexible… and doomed to a bad end,” according to the war, poverty, and religious persecution that to Kepler’s own assessment, was a soldier who unsettled Kepler’s own life. For him, his math- mistreated Kepler’s mother and eventually disap- ematical striving towards a perfect celestial knowl- peared. His mother Katherine was “small, thin, edge—including the laws of planetary motion for swarthy, gossiping, and quarrelsome,” and later in which he is best known—were a “sweating and life underwent a harrowing trial for witchcraft. panting pursuit of the Creator’s tracks.” As an The young Kepler was small and sickly, brilliant astrologer whose passion for precise data helped and painfully self-aware. Describing himself in the begin the Scientific Revolution, a devout Lutheran third person, he wrote, “His appearance is that of who sought to find God through rigorous calcula- Johannes Kepler Photo: University of Virginia

Kepler’s model of the solar system from a little lap dog. His body is agile, wiry and well- the sun and not the earth stood at the center of proportioned… He is malicious and bites people the universe. with his sarcasms… In this man there are two opposite tendencies: always to regret any wasted At 24, Kepler went to work as a professor of time and always to waste it willingly.” In an ac- mathematics in Graz, Austria. Soon after, he count of his childhood, he lists among a litany of married Barbara Müller, a young widow he illnesses, injuries, and parental neglect only two described as “simple of mind and fat of body.” It good memories: of “being taken by [his] mother was not a happy marriage. Barbara gave birth to to a high place” to see the famous Comet of 1577 five children, only three of whom survived past when he was six, and when he was nine, of “be- infancy. As a teacher, Kepler struggled to keep ing called outdoors… to look at the eclipse of the his students’ attention, but it was while lecturing moon. It appeared quite red.” His eyes remained that he struck upon his first great innovation in fixed on the sky for the rest of his life. astronomy.

At thirteen, Kepler was sent to seminary where he In Mysterium Cosmographicum, published when excelled, but made no friends. Later, at the Uni- he was 25, he laid out his theory that the five versity of Tübingen, he “argued with men of every Platonic solids—polyhedra with sides of exactly profession,” and made a daring public defense of equal size and shape—fit perfectly in the intervals Copernicus’ controversial 1543 hypothesis—that between the planets. Figuratively, if the paths of Johannes Kepler the planets were represented as spheres, they telescope, which Galileo was soon to introduce); could be layered like nesting dolls, alternating the data he collected there—eventually, the with the solids. Thus, a large sphere represent- positions of hundreds of stars—he kept a closely ing Saturn would contain a cube, inside of which guarded secret. fit the sphere representing Jupiter, which in turn would contain a tetrahedron holding the sphere of In 1600, partly spurred by religious persecution Mars, descending all the way down to Mercury. in Austria, Kepler sought and eventually secured Though this theory quickly falls apart (among a job with Tycho. Tycho put his new assistant to other problems, it only accounts for six plan- work studying Mars—a particularly frustrating ets—Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto were yet to be assignment because its retrograde, “backward”- discovered), Mysterium was the first published seeming motion was impossible to reconcile with endorsement of Copernicus. the prevailing notion that the planets Kepler saw religious reflections in moved in perfect circles around the a heliocentric universe: “The sun earth (despite his genius, Tycho never in the middle of the moving stars, completely abandoned a geocentric himself at rest and yet the source model of the universe). When Tycho of motion, carries the image of God died unexpectedly in 1601, Kepler took the Father and Creator,” he wrote. over as imperial mathematician—by Though he never identified univer- his own admission, “usurping” Tycho’s sal gravity, he described a “motive data against the wishes of his heirs— force” emanating from the sun and and began the most productive period pulling the planets into motion—an of his life. Allowing Tycho’s meticulous idea which Newton would later ex- observations to lead him towards a pand. Kepler continued to fine-tune Anonymous portrait of Kepler, ca. 1610 logical explanation, Kepler produced Mysterium for the rest of his life. not only his first and second laws of planetary motion, but what some consider the first example As soon as he had obtained printed copies, of empirically-driven scientific method. Kepler sent his work to the leading scholars of the day—including Galileo, who acknowledged , published in 1609, laid out in receipt, but ignored Kepler’s attempts to begin a characteristically agonizing detail and er- correspondence (and later, his repeated requests ror which had led Kepler to his two laws: first, that for a telescope). In addition to studies of optics, the planets travel in elliptical orbits with the sun magnetism, meteorology, and Old Testament at one focus; and second, that a line drawn from chronology, he began to explore connections the sun to a moving planet always sweeps across between astronomy and music. As he worked, he the same amount of area in the same amount of grew increasingly frustrated with the imprecise time. Together they upended the classical notion data available to him. Only one scholar possessed of a carousel of heavenly bodies on a steady path a depth of reliable information about the position around the earth and replaced it with a vision of and movement of the stars—Tycho Brahe. planets which hurtle faster as they whip past the sun and glide away again. Tycho, the imperial mathematician and astrono- mer, was an eccentric Danish nobleman who Soon after Astronomia was published, Kepler’s life wore a prosthetic nose of gold and silver and em- was once again thrown into upheaval. In 1611, ployed a psychic dwarf as a jester. At seventeen, his patron, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, he had decided to make his life’s work the precise was dethroned by his brother Matthias. Disease, tabulation of stellar and planetary movements. He imported by invading armies, killed Kepler’s wife filled his observatory with state-of-the-art and young son. The new emperor had less use equipment of his own design (not including the for an astronomer than his predecessor, but didn’t Johannes Kepler abolish the position altogether—he simply moved astronomers calculating the mass of objects in the grieving family to Linz, Austria. space.

While Kepler was relieved to escape the chaos of Prague, he would never again have the luxury of The last years of Kepler’s life were wracked undisrupted study. Soon after arriving in Linz, he by misfortune. As Counter-Reformation ten- remarried the 24-year-old Susanna Ruettinger, sions increased violence between Catholics and seventeen years his junior, whom he had chosen Protestants, Kepler found himself caught between over ten other eligible women because she prom- worlds—he refused to convert to Catholicism, but ised “to be thrifty and… to love her step-children.” he estranged himself from other Lutherans with They had four more children together and it seems his refusal to accept certain doctrines and was to have been a happier marriage than his first. nearly excommunicated. In 1626, Linz was be- sieged and his family was forced to leave. Kepler But soon, he was forced to travel home to never fully settled down again. For a few tumultu- Germany where his mother was facing trial for ous years, he worked as a personal astrologer for witchcraft. An accusation of poisoning garnered General Albrecht von Wallenstein (while Kepler other complaints—she had killed children with believed astrology gave insight into personal the evil eye, she had ridden a calf to death, she character, he openly rejected any direct causality had planned to make a goblet from her father’s between stars and events; nonetheless, his often skull. Eventually, she was led to a torture chamber eerily prescient horoscopes were always in high where an executioner described in ghastly detail demand). Somehow, he also found time to return what she was about to undergo. This turned to a fictional work begun 20 years earlier: Som- out to be a test; in still refusing to confess, she nium told of a young astronomer’s flight to the passed. After fourteen months of imprisonment, moon where he found an intelligent race of giant she was finally freed. lizards. It was never completed, but is considered by many to be the first work of science-fiction. Despite the strain on Kepler’s time and resources, he managed to complete a work he had begun 20 In November of 1630, Kepler fell ill in Ratisbon, years earlier: Harmonice Mundi (Harmony of the Germany where he had stopped during a mean- World). In it, he continued his exploration into the dering journey, undertaken in search of a job and geometrical relationships he was sure “provided in hopes of collecting on some debts. A witness the Creator with the model for decorating the later wrote that in his fever, “he did not talk, but whole world,” this time expanding into music, pointed his index finger now at his head, now meteorology, and astrology. “The heavenly mo- at the sky above him.” He died a few days later. tions are nothing but a continuous song for several Not long afterwards, the cemetery where he was voices (perceived by the intellect, not by the ear),” buried was destroyed in the Thirty Years War. His he wrote. “Man, in imitation of his Creator, has at self-penned epitaph had read: last discovered the art of figured song.” I measured the skies, now the shadows I Harmonice also includes Kepler’s third law—the measure precise mathematical relationship between a planet’s orbital “year” and its distance from the Sky-bound was the mind, earth-bound the sun. Here, Kepler’s discovery resulted from sheer body rests. trial-and-error. He knew his formulation worked, but he couldn’t explain why. It took Newton, Kate Daloz is a founding member of Neuwrite: nearly 60 years later, to see that the relationship Columbia Scientists and Writers. Her most recent between orbit and distance follows from universal article, “The Dowser Dilemma,” appears in The gravitation. Today, Kepler’s third law is vital to American Scholar, Spring 2009.