Kircher, Athanasius. (1601–1680)
Musurgia Universalis
Rome: Francesco Corbelletti [II. Ludovico Grignani]. 1650. First Edition. Musurgia Universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni in X libros digesta. Qua universa sonorum doctrina, et philosophia, musicaeque... aperiuntur et demonstrantur. Tomus I [-II qui continet... musicam mirificam... magiam consoni et dissoni... harmoniam mundi]. 2 parts in one volume. Folio.Part I: 1f. (fine full-page engraved pictorial title by Baronius after a drawing by Paul Schor, incorporating a Canon Angelicus for 9 choirs of 36 voices), 1f. (recto title with vignette, verso contents), 1f. (fine full-page dedicatory engraving of Leopold-Guillaume, Archduke of Austria, by Paul Ponti after Paul Schor, dated 1649), 9ff., 690 (=692) pp. + 11 numbered plates (I-X, XIII) printed on one side of each of 10 leaves; Part II: 2ff. (title with vignette, fine full-page engraved frontispiece), 462 pp. + 18 ff. (indexes and errata) + 12 numbered plates (XI-XI, XIV-XXXIII) printed on one side of each of 11 leaves. The two volumes thus contain 3 unnumbered full-page plates together with 23 numbered plates printed on 21 leaves (plates IV and V are printed on a single leaf, as are plates XI and XII). The plates are all finely engraved and illustrate a variety of musical instruments, among them the harpsichord, organ, strings and winds. With numerous woodcut illustrations, diagrams, tables, etc. within text, including many of musical instruments. Musical examples printed typographically in diamond-head notation, including many of various musical forms including multiple contrapuntal part-writing. Some mispagination to Part I at pp. 554-560 and errors in pagination from page 577 on. Contemporary vellum (somewhat stained and rubbed. Some slight staining or browning, initially slightly tidemarked, folding plates some small tears in margin, title of part I with restored tear lower right.
Damschroder pp. 139-140. Cortot pp. 99-100. Hirsch I, 266. Gregory-Bartlett I, p. 135. Wolffheim I, 732. RISM BVI p. 449.
This extraordinarily wide-ranging seventeenth-century work on music was written by the German Jesuit priest and scholar Athanasius Kircher, a polymath who authored books on subjects including religion, geology, medicine, history, and music. The Musurgia universalis was Kircher's attempt to bring together the complete musical knowledge of his day, and includes much valuable material including musical examples, some of which are complete works, engraved plates of musical instruments, plans for the construction of organs, and even notation of birdsong. Arguably the most spectacular seventeenth-century book on music, it is a cornerstone of the literature.
“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… Much of Kircher’s contrapuntal doctrine derives from Zarlino, and in this and some other respects Musurgia universalis presents a synthesis of 16th- and 17th-century Italian and German compositional practices. A specifically German feature, however, is the description of the affective nature of music, in which Kircher brought the concept of musica pathetica into relation with the formal constructive elements of rhetorical doctrine... His ideas concerning the classification of musical styles, based on sociological as well as national characteristics, are also original and important for the study of Baroque music... Although he was apparently not a practising musician he was able to identify the best music composed and performed in his own (and earlier) times. In Musurgia universalis he quoted frequently extensive music examples from composers such as Agazzari, Gregorio Allegri, Carissimi, Froberger, Gesualdo, Kapsberger, Domenico Mazzocchi and Morales. Other aspects of his treatise that contribute to an understanding of 17th-century musical thought include the lengthy discussions of acoustics, musical instruments..., the history of music in ancient cultures and the therapeutic value of music." (George J. Buelow, Grove Online) (15261)
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