Help Sitemap Home Skip Navigation Contact Us Disability Statement

 
 
Sunday, 8th November 2009

Musical secret uncovered in chapel carving

Premium Article !

Your account has been frozen. For your available options click the below button.

Options

Premium Article !

To read this article in full you must have registered and have a Premium Content Subscription with the Edinburgh Evening News site.

Subscribe

Registered Article !

To read this article in full you must be registered with the site.

Sign In
Register
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image

Published Date: 30 April 2007
A FATHER and son team think they have found a secret piece of music hidden in carvings at Rosslyn Chapel.
Stuart Mitchell, 41 and his father Tommy, 75, from Edinburgh, said they had deciphered a musical code hidden in stones, like a "CD from the 15th century".

They are now set to perform the music in May in the chapel.

Pianist and composer Stuart noticed a series of angels at the foot of arches near the altar, each holding a musical instrument, and decided the cubes jutting out from the arches could represent musical notes.

He said: "What we have here is a recorded piece of music, it is almost like a compact disc from the 15th century."

Tommy Mitchell added: "If these patterns and cubes had not contained music, anything we turned up would have been purely random and would not have sounded hauntingly beautiful."



The full article contains 152 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 30 April 2007 9:07 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Rosslyn Chapel
 
1

Immutable Name,

of Toll-X 30/04/2007 13:53:44

Not necessarily. There are various aspects of music that have mathematical relations that you also find in geometry. For example, the three main notes in a major chord obey Pythagoras’ rule, not just the right-angled triangle.

Mathematical ratios that are “pleasing” in geometry (and thus archetecture and design) are very often the same ratios found to be pleasing in music (and indeed in visual art, such as the “golden ratio”).

2

Boy Wonder,

30/04/2007 18:21:46

From Wikipedia;
In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller. This ratio can be expressed as a mathematical constant, usually denoted by the Greek letter (phi), which is the algebraic irrational number with its approximate value.
The figure of a golden section illustrates the defining geometric relationship, expressed algebraically.
At least since the Renaissance, many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio — especially in the form of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the golden ratio —believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing. Mathematicians have studied the golden ratio because of its unique and interesting properties.

Other names frequently used for or closely related to the golden ratio are golden section (Latin: sectio aurea), golden mean, golden number, and the Greek letter phi (f).
Other terms encountered include extreme and mean ratio, medial section, divine proportion (Italian: proporzione divina), divine section (Latin: sectio divina), golden proportion, golden cut, and mean of Phidias.
In Ancient Times, numbers were magical and held the secret of the Music of the Spheres - Musica universalis (lit. universal music, or music of the spheres) is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies — the Sun, Moon, and planets — as a form of musica (the Medieval Latin name for music). This 'music' is not literally audible, but simply a harmonic and/or mathematical concept.
The Greek mathematician and astronomer Pythagoras is frequently credited with originating the concept, which stemmed from his semi-mystical, semi-mathematical philosophy and its associated system of numerology of Pythagoreanism. According to Johannes Kepler

3

,

30/04/2007 22:03:59
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason: Scotsman Import, Original comment id: 576423, Article id was mapped to record!

 

Comment on this Story

 

In order to post comments you must Register or Sign In

 
 
RSS Feed of this article's comments
Delivery formats: RSS, Atom, Javascript & Email
 
  

 
 

More Rosslyn Chapel

More Rosslyn Chapel >>

Today's Vote

Will there be anything extraordinary to be found beneath Rosslyn Chapel?
No, all the legends are a load of bunkum
Yes, undoubtedly the grail is down there
Yes, but only a bunch of skeletons

Web Links:

Featured Advertising



Sister Newspapers:
Press Complaints Commission

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.