Dave Soldier & Johannes Kepler: Motet, Harmony of the World

Motet: Harmony of the World
0:00 Part I
2:50 Part II
6:00 Part III
8:15 Part IV
music Johannes Kepler (1619) / Dave Soldier (2022)
lyrics from Eis Hēlion “Hymn to the Sun” by Proclus (c. 480 A.D.)
translation and language coaching in Greek by Maria Combatti
Sung by Ekmeles
Mercury: Charlotte Mundy, soprano
Venus: Elsa Sutherland, alto
Earth: Kate Maroney, alto
Mars: Steven Bradshaw, tenor
Jupiter: Jeff Gavett, baritone and director
Saturn: Steven Hrycelak, bass
Poduced, Recorded & Mixed by Dražen Bošnjak, Golden Gun Studio, NYC
Mastered by Zlaya Loud

This four part motet is composed according to Johannes Kepler’s Harmonies of the World (1619), in which he reports his discovery of the elliptical shape of the planets orbits around the sun and also derives a basis for the polyphonic music of the Renaissance. He demonstrates that if the planets moved in circles around the sun as suggested by Copernicus, the sounds they produce would be dissonant. He felt that the “master artisan” would not design a system in which the planets did not revolve in consonance, and this was the stimulus for his discovery of how the planets genuinely orbit.

Kepler realized that the planets move in ellipses and so would change in musical pitch according to their distance from the sun, like a lute’s string dampened at different lengths on the neck. If this occurred, the planets would occasionally be in tune with each other. His calculations of the shapes and speeds of the rotations and the planet’s relative distances from the sun inspired Newton’s efforts to describe force, acceleration and gravity, and so provided the foundation for virtually all contemporary technology and physics, from subatomic forces to the understanding of the entire universe.

In Chapter 7 of Book V, Kepler asked that a composer write a motet based on the planetary motions he deduced, with Mercury sung as a soprano, Venus and Earth as altos, Mars as a tenor, and Jupiter and Saturn as basses. “Shall I have committed a crime if I ask the single composers of this generation for some artistic motet instead of this epigraph? The Royal Psalter and the other Holy Books can supply a text suited for this. But alas for you! No more than six are in concord in the heavens. For the moon sings here monody separately, like a dog sitting on the Earth. Compose the melody; I, in order that the book may progress, promise that I will watch carefully over the six parts. To him who more properly expresses the celestial music described in this work, Clio will give a garland, and Urania will betroth Venus his bride.”

Kepler quotes Proclus througoutt the book, and I have chosen his Hymn to the Sun for the lyrics.

Part 1 is based on the harmonies of the aphelions (orbit furthest from the sun) and parahelions (closest to the sun). We proudly show how these chords are not at all consonant, but in my opinion, have their own sort of beauty.
Kluthi, faous tamia, zōarkeos, ō ana, pēgēs
autos echōn klēida kai hulaiois eni kosmois
hupsothen harmoniēs ruma plousion exocheteuōn.

Part 2 is intended to evoke choral motets by Orlando Lassus, who Kepler mentions in the book to be an exemplary composer of modern music that is rationally derived from the laws of the universe: This part is closest to what Kepler desired.
Zōsamenoi de planētes aeithaleas seo pursous
aien hup’ allēktoisi kai akamatoisi choreiais
zō(i)ogonous pempousin epichthoniois rathamiggas.

Part 3 is phrased in hexameter, the meter of the hymn, with a 7 beat cycle.
Seirēs d’ humeterēs basileus theopeitheos oimēs
exethoren Phoibos; kitharē(i) d’ hupo theskela melpōn
eunazei mega kuma barufloisboio genethlēs.

Part 4: In Book V, Chapter 6, Kepler’s diagram indicates the musical ranges of the six planets and the Earth’s moon. Kepler does not ask for lyrics except that “the Earth sings mi and fa as on our planet misery and famine obtain”. The planets rotate around the listener using Dražen Bošnjak's technology at speeds related to the log transformation of their orbital periods. Please wear headphones to hear the rotation of the planets in this Part.
-Dave Soldier, New York City 2022