Musical Aspect of Creation in the Perspective of Harmonia Mundi

Abstract

Harmonia mundi is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies as a form of music. In Greek philosophy, since music is an expression of order and harmony, it is analogous with the harmony of nature, and is sympathetic with it. For Christians, the harmony of creation mirrors the Creator. For St. Augustine concordance and harmony, both in music and in creation, are icons of the perfect concord realized in divine life. In the Middle Ages a special mention is reserved for St. Hildegard von Bingen, for whom the creation’s accomplishment is the resonance of the harmony of human praise in God. The connection between the order of creation, the order of numbers and that of musical composition, which is to be found throughout Western thought for centuries, was developed in the Baroque era by important theorists, among whom was Johannes Kepler. It was the form of music itself, with its internal order, which made it part of the cosmic harmony, and, therefore, a mirror of divine wisdom. Western music traditions has indeed displayed that “cosmic character” which Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger considers appropriate for celebration of the Liturgy. He expounded a cosmological vision of worship. The music of the Church is the divine praise of the Logos in the cosmos. As a recent historian of the relation between music, theology and cosmology he has shown the Pythagorean account of music, as a revelation of divine order of creation. Thus the Classical merge into the Christian world is not dismantled.