Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 17:44:49 +0000
To: [log in to unmask]
From: [log in to unmask] (J. V. Field)
Christopher Arthur, a maths graduate from Texas who is now a computer
programmer and has an interest in Kepler, has written a program that
uses NASA's ephemeris information and the method of reduction given
in Kepler's _Harmonice mundi_ to derive a musical version of the
current state of the resonances among the motions of the planets. The
sounds will doubtless not make it to the Top Ten, but I thought they
might be of interest as a demonstration of a known phenomenon. The
web address is
https://sourceforge.net/projects/harmony/
As far as I can see, what Mr Arthur has done is entirely above
board, scientifically and historically.
Kepler's method conforms perfectly with desirable modern
scientific standards, involving no fudging of any kind. (Kepler
thought that lying was a sin.) To get the various notes within the
same octave he simply subtracts whole octaves as required. His
write-up, in which he is using the planetary speeds he has deduced
from Tycho Brahe's observations, is in _Harmonice mundi_ (Linz.
1619), Book 5. I found out about Christopher Arthur's work because
he wrote to tell me about it; he had been using the translation of
the _Harmonice mundi_ to which I contributed.
J. V. Field
School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media
Birkbeck College
43 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PD
fax: +44.20.7631.6107; tel(ans mach)/fax: +44.20.7736.9198
email [log in to unmask]
home page http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hafvm/staff_research/jvf.html
