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The Musical Universe: Number, Color and the Soul

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The Musical Universe: Number, Color and the Soul THE MUSICAL UNIVERSE: NUMBER, COLOR AND THE SOUL By Irene Wasyliw A Thesis Subm.itted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University © by Irene Wasyliw, December 1998 MASTER OF ARTS (1988) McMaster University (Music Criticism) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Musical Universe: Number, Color and the Soul AUTHOR: Irene Wasyliw, B.F.A. (York University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Keith Kinder NUMBEROFPAGES: 147 / 11 " Abstract Rooted in the historical philosophy of the ancient Greeks such as Pythagoras and Plato, and including later sources like medieval theorist Boethius, the idea of a sacred musical mysticism abound. Referred to by the ancients as the "music of the spheres," this idea is centered on co smic music govemed by proportional structures in the universe. Modem day thinkers such as Joscelyn Godwin, James Hurtak, Robert Lawlor and Manly Hall embrace the mystical traditions ofnon-linear thought (the realm of the spirit beyond the world ofform), linking the corporeal and incorporea1 natures of man with the sacred nature ofmusic. After an in-depth historical overview, ideologies will be presented by Pythagoras, Robert Fludd, Plato, the Cabbalists and Johannes Kepler, revealing their ,- visions of the Universe in connection to music, number, astrology, astronomy and theosophy. It will then be shown how the physical body in a1liance with the spirit are linked harmoniously to music, with further study revealing the inherent presence of such mathematical systems known as the Golden Proportion and the Fibonacci series. Fina1ly, an association between the orders of color and sound will be explored. Music is one of the most powerful ways of entering into the domain of the spirit (the macrocosm) where we experience a transcendence beyond our physical forms (microcosm) allowing us to experience and express the divinity and universality within us. 111 iv Acknowledgments There are many individuals who have contributed to the successful completion ofthis document that 1 would like to sincerely thank. Firstly, 1 would like to acknowledge the School of Art, Drama and Music at McMaster University for allowing my thesis ta flourish and unfold. 1 give my appreciation to my proposaI advisor, Dr. Susan Fast, who enlightened me in my independent reading course, led me to numerous sources and encouraged my ideas. From this course emerged a final paper which was the basis for this paper. 1 am especially grateful to my thesis advisor, Dr. Keith Kinder, whose editorial skills, wisdom and caring guidance made this paper unfold in a concise manner. 1 thank my second and third readers, Dr. William Renwick and Dr. Fred Hall, for their valuable insight. 1 am grateful ta my colleagues in the music criticism program (especially Melissa West and / Alex Carpenter) who brought a sense of humour and comfort into the world of academia; to my spiritual family offriends (most notably, Dr. Anthony Giallonardo, Dr. Keith Pyne, Kevin Pyne and Billy McLatchie) who supported the entire process and whose advice continues to be invaluable to me; ta Ron Strauss, Mary Jackson, Dr. Alan Walker, Joscelyn Godwin and The Academy For Future Science for their willingness to reply promptly to any questions or concerns 1 may have had. From the depth ofmy being, 1 am eternally grateful to my family for their constant love, support and patience. 1 especially thank Kelly Bray, my counterpart, for his encouragement and my brother Myron and my father for their belief in whatever endeavour 1 choose to pursue. This paper is dedicated ta my father, William Wasyliw. v List of Illustrations Chapter One Figure 1-1: Karl Geiringer, Numbers in Relation to Letters ......................... 16 1-2: Gioseffo Zarlino, The Harmony ofHuman Music ....................... 21 1-3: The dot, line and circ1e ...................................................... 27 1-4: Pyramidal Structure with pendulum ....................................... 29 1-5: James Hurtak, Soul-Spirit.. ................................................ 31 1-6: Ërno Lendvai, The Golden Proportion system .............. '" .. , ....... 49 1-7: Ërno Lendvai, The Fibonacci series and Bach' s The Art ofFugue .... 51 1-8: Roy Howat, The Golden Proportion in Debussy's La Mer ...... ...... 53 1-9: Ërno Lendvai, The Fibonacci series and Bart6k's Musicfor Strings, Percussion and Celesta ............ 55 1-10: Ernest G. McClain, The Tetractys .......................................... 57 1-11: Nichomachus, Pythagorean table of opposites ........................... 60 1-12: Albert von Thimus, Lambdoma ............................................ 61 1-13: Rudolph Haase, Lambdoma .................................. , ............. 62 ChapterTwo Figure 2-1: Man1y Hall, The Intervals and Harmonies ofthe Spheres ...............75 2-2: David Fideler, Harmonie Proportion ....................................... 77 2-3: Robert Fludd, The Macrocosm as Universal Man........................ 79 2-4: Robert Fludd, The Divine Monochord ................................ , ... 81 2-5: A - Robin Waterfie1d, Plato's Universe ................................... 98 B - Robin Waterfield; Greek spindle associated with whorl. ........... 98 vi 2-6: Manly Hall, Cabbalist arrangement of the Sephiroth, Number and Body ........................................................ 99 2-7: A.T. Mann, Platonic Solids ................................................ 102 2-8: Jamie James, Musical Pitch of Saturn and Mercury ...................... 106 Chapter Three Figure 3-1: Ted Andrews, Chakras ......... , ........... , ........... , .... '" ..... , ..... , 117 3-2: Manly Hall, The Tetragrammaton outlined in the Tetractys ........... 119 3-3: Alain Daniélou, Sanskrit words, moods and mode ...................... 122 3-4: Alain Daniélou, Modes, tones and colors ................................ 122 3-5: Percy Scholes, Rimsky-Korsakov and Skryabin tone-color charts ... 123 3-6: HP. Blavatsky, Relationship between pitch, color, the seven levels ofman and matter ..................................... 124 3-7: George Gurdjieff, Cosmic scale ........... '" ............................... 125 3-8: Joscelyn Godwin, The Scale as the Seven Rays .......................... 126 3-9: Manly Hall, Col ors and Musical notes ............................ , ....... 130 3-10: Manly Hall, Colors, Musical notes and planets .......................... 131 3-11: Ted Andrews, Astrological and tonal correspondence reflecting the energies of each individual sign .......... , ............. 132 3-12: Bertrand Castel: Colors and the diatonic scale .... , .................... 135 3-13: Bertrand Castel: Colors and the chromatic scale ....................... 135 3-14: Abbe Lacuria: Relationship between the seven divine attribut es, colors, tones and the Trinity ........................... 13 7 vii CONTENTS Acknowledgments ................................................................................... .iv List of Illustrations .................................................................................... v Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Chapter One: The Music of the Spheres - an Historical Context .............................. 4 - Sacred Sounds and Spirituality ........................................................... 4 - Boethius: musica humana and musica mundana ... .................................. 12 - Music and the Body: Embryology and Harmony ..................................... 17 - Censorinus ...................................................................... 18 - Gioseffo Zarlino ................................................................ 20 - Jacques de Liège ............................................................... 24 - Manly Hall: Concept of the Trinit y ...................................................... 26 - PhysicallSpiritual Matter and transformation through music ......................... 34 - Harmony modified by sense ofbeauty.................................................. 42 - Plato's numerological writing ........................................................... 44 - Law of music in proportion to mathematics: Pythagoras ...........................46 - The Golden Proportion and the Fibonacci Series .................................... .47 - Roy Howat: Debussy ........................................................ 51 - Ëmo Lendvai: Bartok. ..................................................... 54 - Tetractys .................................................................................... 56 - Plato: Number and the 'World-Soul' .................................................. 58 - Lambdoma .................................................................................. 61 viii - Theories on Ascension: Poimandres discourse ,, 66 - Discourse on the Eighth andNinth 68 - James J. Hurtak '" , , 70 Chapter Two: Music, Number and the Historical Visions ofthe Universe 73 - Pythagorean scale and the structure ofthe Universe 73 - Monochord: Pythagoras 77 - Robert Fludd 77 - Plato's '~yth ofEr" 83 - numerology , 86 - Harmony ofthe Spheres '" 94 - Cabbala 98 - Johannes Kepler 100 Chapter Three: Music and Color " 108 - Vibrations 109 - Olivier Messiaen - synaesthesia 112 - Hurtak: Nogan Shells 115 - Ted Andrews: Chakras , 116 - Hurtak: Mantras 118 - Ragas ofNorthem India 121 - Skryabin and Rimsky-Korsakov 123 - George Gurdjieff 124 - Spectrum ofSeven Rays: Joscelyn Godwin , 126 - Isaac Newton " 126 ix - Louis Bertrand CasteL
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