Harmony of Spheres

Twelve-Star built by the rhythms of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune

An idea that was widely held in the Middle Ages which associated each planet in the solar system with a particular note in the musical scale. The harmony of the spheres was based on the concept of analogy which is central to astrological thought, and it supported the idea that the intervals between the planets were related to the chromatic scale.

Among the most prominent proponents of this idea was William Shakespeare. He describes in his comedy "The Merchant of Venice":

Look how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:

There's 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 this muddy vesture of decay

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

See also

• Johannes Kepler
• Number Mysticism

Cosmic rhythms

Weblinks

• The Music of the Spheres (Keplerstern/ Hartmut Warm 2015)
• The Venus Transits. The Pentagonal Cycle of Venus (Nick Fiorenza)
• All Solar system periods fit the Fibonacci series and the Golden Ratio (Tim Channon's blog, 2013)
• Φ in the sky: how to interpret Golden Aspects ("Dubbhism": how planets and musicians interact; using Landscheidt's Golden Ratio, 2017)
• Zodiac - 12 melodies of the star signs (Karlheinz Stockhausen; Liam Hockley, clarinet).
• The Planets, Op. 32 (orchestral suite by Gustav Holst; youTube)
• The Sound Horoscope (Astrodienst)

Bibliography

• Joscelyn Godwin (ed.): The Harmony of the Spheres. A Sourcebook of the Pythagorean Tradition in Music Inner Traditions International, Rochester VT 1993, ISBN 0-89281-265-6.