this page honors Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

In his book The Harmony of The World (published in 1619), Johannes Kepler developed his imaginative ideas from all four of what were known at the time as the mathematical sciences: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The quotations are from his book.

Here are eight original musical selections. Click on the controls to listen to each composition in turn. HELP

... we ... speak of melody, that is harmonious intervals which are not abstract but realized in sound

For it is not only in sounds and in human melody that they yield their charm, but also in other things ...

... harmonic proportions also occur at their own time, and thus subsist not in BEING but in BECOMING.

... we express the ideas of the intervals alone, which have been implanted by nature, in music ...

... the whole nature of harmony ... is to be discovered among the celestial motions.

... it is also settled that all the planets are eccentric ... they change their distances from the Sun ...

For harmony is a certain relationship of unity: therefore they are united if they are all at one ...

Let this Titan [the sun] have what belongs to him ... the brilliant circle at the heart of the cosmos ...

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