Music and Science in the Age of Galileo features twelve new essays by leading specialists in the fields of musicology, history of science, astronomy, philosophy, and instrument building that explore the relations between music and the scientific culture of Galileo's time. The essays take a broad historical approach towards understanding such topics as the role of music in Galileo's experiments and in the scientific revolution, the musical formation of scientists, Galileo's impact on the art and music of his time, the scientific knowledge of instrument builders, and the scientific experiments and cultural context of Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei. This volume opens up new areas in both musicology and the history of science, and twists together various strands of parallel work by musicians and scientists on Galileo and his time. This book will be of interest to musicologists, historians of science and those interested in interdisciplinary perspectives of the late Renaissance -- early Baroque. For its variety of approaches, it will be a valuable collection of readings for graduate students, and those seeking a more integrated approach to historical problems. The book will be of interest to historians of science, philosophers, musicologists, astronomers, and mathematicians.

Music and Science in the Age of Galileo features twelve new essays by leading specialists in the fields of musicology, history of science, astronomy, philosophy, and instrument building that explore the relations between music and the scientific culture of Galileo's time. The essays take a broad historical approach towards understanding such topics as the role of music in Galileo's experiments and in the scientific revolution, the musical formation of scientists, Galileo's impact on the art and music of his time, the scientific knowledge of instrument builders, and the scientific experiments and cultural context of Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei. This volume opens up new areas in both musicology and the history of science, and twists together various strands of parallel work by musicians and scientists on Galileo and his time. This book will be of interest to musicologists, historians of science and those interested in interdisciplinary perspectives of the late Renaissance -- early Baroque. For its variety of approaches, it will be a valuable collection of readings for graduate students, and those seeking a more integrated approach to historical problems. The book will be of interest to historians of science, philosophers, musicologists, astronomers, and mathematicians.

'Curious and Modern Inventions' offers an insight into the motivating forces behind music, tracing it to a new conception of instruments of all sorts - whether musical, artistic, or scientific - as vehicles of discovery.

Early seventeenth-century Italy saw a revolution in instrumental music. Large, varied, and experimental, the new instrumental repertoire was crucial for the Western tradition—but until now, the impulses that gave rise to it had yet to be fully explored. Curious and Modern Inventions offers fresh insight into the motivating forces behind this music, tracing it to a new conception of instruments of all sorts—whether musical, artistic, or scientific—as vehicles of discovery. Rebecca Cypess shows that early modern thinkers were fascinated with instrumental technologies. The telescope, the clock, the pen, the lute—these were vital instruments for leading thinkers of the age, from Galileo Galilei to Giambattista Marino. No longer used merely to remake an object or repeat a process already known, instruments were increasingly seen as tools for open-ended inquiry that would lead to new knowledge. Engaging with themes from the history of science, literature, and the visual arts, this study reveals the intimate connections between instrumental music and the scientific and artisanal tools that served to mediate between individuals and the world around them.

This book is a distinctively original biography of Galileo Galilei, probably the last eclectic genius of the Italian Renaissance, who was not only one of the greatest scientists ever, but also a philosopher, a theologian, and a man of great literary, musical, and artistic talent – “The Tuscan Artist”, as the poet John Milton referred to him. Galileo was exceptional in simultaneously excelling in the Arts, Science, Philosophy, and Theology. These diverse aspects of his life were closely intertwined; indeed, it may be said that he personally demonstrated that human culture is not divisible, but rather one, with a thousand shades. Galileo also represented the bridge between two historical epochs. As the philosopher Tommaso Campanella, a contemporary of Galileo, recognized at the time, Galileo was responsible for ushering in a new age, the Modern Age. This book, which is exceptional in the completeness of its coverage, explores all aspects of the life of Galileo, as a Tuscan artist and giant of the Renaissance, in a stimulating and reader-friendly way.

An “intriguing and accessible” (Publishers Weekly) interpretation of the life of Galileo Galilei, one of history’s greatest and most fascinating scientists, that sheds new light on his discoveries and how he was challenged by science deniers. “We really need this story now, because we’re living through the next chapter of science denial” (Bill McKibben). Galileo’s story may be more relevant today than ever before. At present, we face enormous crises—such as minimizing the dangers of climate change—because the science behind these threats is erroneously questioned or ignored. Galileo encountered this problem 400 years ago. His discoveries, based on careful observations and ingenious experiments, contradicted conventional wisdom and the teachings of the church at the time. Consequently, in a blatant assault on freedom of thought, his books were forbidden by church authorities. Astrophysicist and bestselling author Mario Livio draws on his own scientific expertise and uses his “gifts as a great storyteller” (The Washington Post) to provide a “refreshing perspective” (Booklist) into how Galileo reached his bold new conclusions about the cosmos and the laws of nature. A freethinker who followed the evidence wherever it led him, Galileo was one of the most significant figures behind the scientific revolution. He believed that every educated person should know science as well as literature, and insisted on reaching the widest audience possible, publishing his books in Italian rather than Latin. Galileo was put on trial with his life in the balance for refusing to renounce his scientific convictions. He remains a hero and inspiration to scientists and all of those who respect science—which, as Livio reminds us in this “admirably clear and concise” (The Times, London) book, remains threatened everyday.

A penetrating account of the confrontation between Galileo and the Church of Rome

The Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century has often been called a decisive turning point in human history. It represents, for good or ill, the birth of modern science and modern ways of viewing the world. In What Galileo Saw, Lawrence Lipking offers a new perspective on how to understand what happened then, arguing that artistic imagination and creativity as much as rational thought played a critical role in creating new visions of science and in shaping stories about eye-opening discoveries in cosmology, natural history, engineering, and the life sciences.When Galileo saw the face of the Moon and the moons of Jupiter, Lipking writes, he had to picture a cosmos that could account for them. Kepler thought his geometry could open a window into the mind of God. Francis Bacon's natural history envisioned an order of things that would replace the illusions of language with solid evidence and transform notions of life and death. Descartes designed a hypothetical "Book of Nature" to explain how everything in the universe was constructed. Thomas Browne reconceived the boundaries of truth and error. Robert Hooke, like Leonardo, was both researcher and artist; his schemes illuminate the microscopic and the macrocosmic. And when Isaac Newton imagined nature as a coherent and comprehensive mathematical system, he redefined the goals of science and the meaning of genius.What Galileo Saw bridges the divide between science and art; it brings together Galileo and Milton, Bacon and Shakespeare. Lipking enters the minds and the workshops where the Scientific Revolution was fashioned, drawing on art, literature, and the history of science to reimagine how perceptions about the world and human life could change so drastically, and change forever.

"The castrato phenomenon stretched from the late sixteenth century, when castrati first appeared in Italian courts and churches, through the eighteenth century, when they occupied a celebrity status on the operatic stage. Throughout this time, the voice of the castrato--hailed as uniquely strong, flexible and expressive--contributed to a dramatic expansion of the musical vocabulary and to finding new ways to embody the poetic text. For us today, the castrato also highlights the porous relationship of voices and instruments/machines and the inherent materiality of sound. In her revealing study, Bonnie Gordon asks what it meant that the early-modern period produced a caste of technologically altered male singers and she uses the castrato as a critical provocation for asking questions about the interrelated histories of music, technology, sound, the limits of the human body, and what counts as human"--