Science Literacy Week is the perfect time to examine connections between disciplines, and broaden our definition of STEM to include STEAM, adding the arts into the sciences. With this in mind, let’s explore some musical depictions of the infinite and the unknown as we consider this year’s theme, From Sea to Space.
The sea has long captivated all sorts of musicians and composers. Claude Debussy’s La mer is an impressionistic evocation of many moods of the sea; from dawn to midday, evoking the play of light on the water; a lively game of waves, rippling and swirling; and ending with the dialogue of the wind and the sea, two powerful and connected elements. Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Op. 97, “Rhenish” is a musical journey along the Rhine River, while George Frideric Handel’s Water Music suites were composed for a royal outing along the River Thames. In a more contemporary mode, John Luther Adams’ Become ocean is an expansive commentary on climate change; beautiful, infinite waves of multi-orchestral texture that comments that “as the polar ice melts and sea level rises…we may quite literally become ocean.” Moving from depiction to medium, Tan Dun’s Water Concerto for water percussion and orchestra explores the many musical sounds that can be produced by water. Snewíyalh tl’a Staḵw (Teachings of the Water) is an a capella choral work conceived as a collaborative project and an act of reconciliation. Set in the Squamish language, this work features a score by Metis composer T. Patrick Carrabre and centres Indigenous teachings of what we can learn from water about relationships to the earth, and to its other inhabitants. Judith Lang Zaimont’s Symphony No. 4, “Pure, cool (water)” describes water in various states of matter and motion, brilliantly capturing river currents, raindrops, solid ice, and oceanic waves and torrents.
There is perhaps no-one who embodies the connection between space, science, and music more than Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. Known for science, and for singing, he has been broadcast from space, and also released an album called Space Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can, featuring music that he recorded on the International Space Station. Taking the opposite journey, we consider NASA’s Golden Record, Music from Earth, with a terrestrial origin made celestial by loading it onto the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecraft. Meant to showcase some of the best music humanity has to offer the universe, it includes work as divergent as J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Javanese gamelan, Peruvian panpipes, Navajo chant, Louis Armstrong’s Melancholy Blues, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in c minor, Goro Yamaguchi performing Tsuru no Sugomori (“Crane’s Nest”) on shakuhachi, and Edda Moser singing The Queen of the Night aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute. From the scientific, we veer to the astrological, and to Gustav Holst’s The Planets, Op. 32. This century-old epic orchestral work consists of seven movements, describing all known planets (except for Earth). An enduring classic, it has inspired other astral works, like John Williams’ scores for the Star Wars movies. Interstellar phenomena have inspired countless composers. Kaija Saariaho’s ethereal orchestral work called Asteroid 4179: Toutatis is about the asteroid whose orbit passes closest to the Earth; Terry Riley’s Sun Rings incorporates soundscapes that were recorded on spacecraft into musical textures performed by string quartet.
Continue exploring these connections and more during Science Literacy Week!
Curated by David Haskins, Music Librarian
Claude Debussy: La mer.
Performed by Charles Dutoit and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
La mer : trois esquisses symphoniques (score)
George Frideric Handel: Water Music.
Performed by Jeanne Lamon and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
Water Music; and, Music for the royal fireworks (score)
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E flat Major, Op. 97, “Rhenish”
Performed by Christian Thielemann and the Philharmonia Orchestra
Symphonie Nr. 3 Es-Dur op. 97 : Rheinische Symphonie (score)
John Luther Adams: Become ocean
Performed by Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Become ocean: for orchestra (score)
Judith Lang Zaimont: Symphony No. 4, “Pure, cool (water”)
Performed by Niels Muus and the Janáček Philharmonic
Gustav Holst: The Planets, Op. 32
Performed by Charles Dutoit and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
Terry Riley: Sun Rings