A virtual exhibition by the special collections department of the univerity of glasgow. The musurgia universalis sets out kircher s views on music. From his birthplace he was accustomed to add the latin epithet bucho, or buchonius, to his name, although later he preferred calling himself fuldensis. The subject of this exhibition is a hand coloured copy of musurgia universalis. Athanasius kircher biography history, school, book, old. Athanasius kircher 16021680 during his lifetime, the jesuit scholar and polymath athanasius kircher was regarded as a physical embodiment of the learning of his age. Athanasius kircher wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The analysis of the musical objects indeed is the point of. Athanasius kircher 16021680 musurgia universalis, rome, 1650 florence, biblioteca nazionale centrale, magl.
The analysis of the musical objects indeed is the point of convergence of the sciences of music, where they formulate and verify their hypotheses. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. 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. Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni in. Kircher adds acoustical physics and heavenly music to mundane, human and instrumental music. Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni. Title musurgia universalis, sive ars magna consoni et dissoni, in x libros digesta composer kircher, athanasius. This page was last edited on 25 november 2014, at 16. Bach 16851750 and beethoven 17701827 written in a transition point between sacred. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license.
At his death in 1680 natural philosophy died with him. We have selected the 1650 printing of athanasius kirchers musurgia universalis, printed in two volumes and illustrated with over 30 leaves of plates and hundreds of intext engravings. I am grateful to margaret culbertson, uh art and architecture library, for suggesting the topic and providing the rowland source. He was ahead of his time in proposing that the plague was caused by an infectious microorganism and. This document has been generated from xsl extensible stylesheet language source with. Click on a datetime to view the file as it appeared at that time. I have seen some copies of the musurgia there are at least four of them here in sweden, but never anything like this one. Just yesterday we quoted an athanasius kirchers excerpt from his musurgia universalis rome. One of the worlds great polymaths, he knew hebrew, aramaic, coptic, persian, latin, and greek as well as various modern languages.
This seminal works of musicology in two volumes seem to have been hugely influential on the works of j. 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. Musurgia publishes on all subjects dealing with music considered from an analytical or theoretical point of view and aims at anyone cannot be satisfied with resenting music without understanding it. Kircher wrote about music as an essentially conservative german rationalist, who saw it as a natural. The germanborn jesuit scholar athanasius kircher c. Jun 28, 2012 kircher kircher musurgia universalis frontpiece. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you.
Socks is a project by fosco lucarelli and mariabruna fabrizi of microcities, architecture cityscape, landscape. Athanasius kircher, musurgia universalis, 1650 special collections featured item for november 2004 by tim eggington, former rare books librarian kircher, athanasius, 16021680. Lee library collections at brigham young university see other formats. In the musurgia, kircher tells of having performed an experiment that convinced him of the impossibility of a vacuum in nature. The title page is a compendium of philosophical conceptions linked to the theme of the harmony of the universe. Except where otherwise noted, the content on this site is licensed under a creative commons attributionsharealike 3. The works begins from an investigation on natural sound and voice physiology book i, proceeding to speculations about the origins of music book ii and focusing in the iii and iv books, on theoretical. A refugee from wartorn germany, where he had been born in fulda, kircher arrived in rome just after galileos condemnation and was heralded there as possessing the secret of deciphering hieroglyphics. A productive link between our discussion of rca model 104 and sonic technologies of the preelectric past can be made via the treatise phonurgia nova kircher 1673roughly, new soundmakingwritten. Another is the popular musurgia universalis rome, 1646, one of his longest works, which marks a crucial juncture in the development of music. Whenever possible we try to attribute content images, videos, and quotes to their creators and.
He also invented the first megaphone he made an early study of egyptian hieroglyphs, and has been considered the founder of egyptology. The harmony of the birth of the world harmonia nascentis mund from musurgia universalis giclee print by athanasius kircher. Catholic answers is pleased to provide this unabridged entry from the original catholic encyclopedia, published between 1907 and 1912. Kircher s work in geology included studies of volcanoes and fossils. The following web site provides a concise kircher biography. Celebrated for the versatility of his knowledge and particularly distinguished for his knowledge of the natural sciences, b. Jun 28, 2012 just yesterday we quoted an athanasius kircher s excerpt from his musurgia universalis rome. Nato a geisa, in germania, entro nella compagnia di gesu nel 1616. This weeks selection for the inspiring illustrations thread speaks for itself and needs very little introduction. Item held in the henley parish collection, university of reading library special collections athanasius kircher was a german jesuit scholar who. The correspondence of athanasius kircher 2,741 letters emlo. It is a valuable resource for subjects related to theology, philosophy, history, culture, and more.
As a polymath with an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and. The musurgia universalis, an encyclopaediasize work composed by ten books divided in two tomes of 1152 pages altogether. 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. A dictionary of music and musiciansmusurgia universalis. The quarterly journal musurgia was created in 1994 by the editorial board of the former journal analyse musicale. Kircher, athanasius 1602 1680, german jesuit polymath and collector. The musurgia universalis 1650 sets out kircher s views on music. Kircher, athanasius article about kircher, athanasius by. Kircher was a german jesuit scholar and a true renaissance man. Athanasius kircher sj musurgia universalis, 1650 socks. Its popularity was greatly aided by a german translation of a major part of it in 1662. Catholic encyclopedia 19athanasius kircher wikisource. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Musurgia universalis, by athanasius kircher rare music.
Considered by many to be the greatest polymath in an encyclopedia age, athanasius kircher was a scholar who aspired to expertise in many different domains of knowledge and sought connections among them in a quest to recover ancient pansophia universal wisdom. 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. In 1602, the year of jesuit polymath athanasius kirchers birth, the study of nature was called natural philosophy. The name of a voluminous work, published at rome in the year 1650, by the jesuit father, athanasius kircher, and translated. Athanasius kircher mutationes, et sic in infinitum in. The harmony of the birth of the world harmonia nascentis. He also universails the logistics of the ark voyage, speculating on whether extra livestock was brought to feed carnivores and what the daily schedule of feeding and caring for animals must have been. Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni in x. Media in category musurgia universalis the following 21 files are in this category, out of 21 total. Apr 09, 20 this weeks selection for the inspiring illustrations thread speaks for itself and needs very little introduction. Oct 05, 20 celebrated for the versatility of his knowledge and particularly distinguished for his knowledge of the natural sciences, b. Find art you love and shop highquality art prints, photographs, framed artworks and posters at. Athanasius kircher sometimes erroneously spelled kirchner was a 17th century german jesuit scholar who published around 40 works, most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine.
He had the good sense to distribute 300 copies to the jesuit delegates from around the world who happened to be in rome for the eighth general congregation of the jesuit society 16451646 which. Lee library collections at brigham young university. Athanasius kircher sometimes spelt kirchner may 2 1601. Volume 1 of musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni. 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. This document has been generated from xsl extensible stylesheet language source with renderx xep formatter, version 3. The book includes plans for constructing waterpowered automatic organs, notations of birdsong and diagrams of musical instruments.
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