However, the trace of such musical-alchemical thought not only in Khunrath, but in – for example – Dee’s letter to Maximillian II indicates it cannot have but underpinned the philosophical approach to the Great Work undertaken by many alchemists of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. There is the use of numerology and cabala in an alchemical context in works such as the Aesch Mezaraph and the previously mentioned Voarchadumia, and there are of course musical works such as Atalanta Fugiens and the aforementioned En Pulcher Lapis. However, any surviving examples of the application of musical principles to alchemical preparations are – as yet – unknown to me. There is the tantalising notion that, by harmonising their preparations and processes and sounding them out, alchemists could have been the earliest practitioners of a form of data sonification! In the case of the alchemy suggested by the Khunrath engraving (mentioned in the above post) it seems that the suggestion is that alchemical work relates to harmony: presumably the proportions of materials and astrological timings of operations should be harmonically concordant (and by extension harmonious in sound). Harmony and proportion were major guiding principle for medieval and Renaissance aesthetics. What follows is, likewise, idle observation and speculation, but perhaps an interesting starting point for something more rigorous… This post is a follow up to the idle observations on alchemy and music previously posted as Divine Feedback.
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