CMEMS presents "A Listener’s Guide to the Cosmos" with Andrew Hicks on March 15, 2019 at 12:00 PM in Hale Science 230.
From the big bang to the hushed woosh of gravitational waves, from the poeticism of the music of the spheres to the heuristic harmonies of the recently discovered K2-138 planetary system -- despite the cosmos' resolute silence, its sounds still captivate our imagination. "A Listener's Guide to the Cosmos" charts the history of the sounding universe and documents the wagers that humanity has made on the knowledge of the world's composition, and our place within its harmonious aggregate, based on aurality.
Andrew Hicks’ research focuses on the intellectual history of early musical thought from a cross-disciplinary perspective that embraces philosophical, cosmological, scientific and grammatical discourse in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and spans the linguistic and cultural spheres of Latin, Greek, Persian, and Arabic. His book Composing the World: Harmony in the Medieval Platonic Cosmos was published in 2017. His published essays range across the history of music theory, Pythagoreanism, the reception of Martianus Capella, textual criticism, and musical metaphors and modalities in Classical Persian literatures.
Following the event at 2:00 PM in the Visual Arts Complex 308, come to an informal discussion with Professor Hicks about his work, especially his recent book Composing the World: Harmony in the Medieval Platonic Cosmos. We will be giving away a few copies of the book to those who can attend, so please let me know if you would like one.
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