Dictionary

music of the spheres en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A continuous, glorious, harmonious set of sounds that are not audible to ordinary human beings, said in ancient and medieval Western cosmology to be produced by the movement of the celestial bodies.
   • We once believed in the music of the spheres but now we hear silence—static and silence. 2006 March 12, Harvey Shapiro, "God Poem" in The Sights Along the Harbor (excerpt), New York Times (retrieved 17 Jan 2016)
   • Like that same mystic music of the spheres, Which no one hears, so loudly though it rings 1824 March 26, [Lord Byron], Don Juan. Cantos XV. and XVI., London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and H[enry] L[eigh] Hunt, […], →OCLC, canto XV, stanza LXXVII:
   • Like most dreamers, to whom it is given sometimes to hear the music of the spheres, Heyst, the wanderer of the Archipelago, had a taste for silence. 1915, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Victory: An Island Tale:
   • He said that, the people of their island had their ears adapted to hear "the music of the spheres . . .". 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV):
   • For sure the milder planets did combine On thy auspicious horoscope to shine . . . And then, if ever, mortal ears Had heard the music of the spheres 1685, John Dryden, "To Mrs Anne Killigrew"
2. (figuratively, uncountable) Sublime, mysterious music.
   • As its imagery becomes more surreal and mystically abstract, Mr. Glass's ethereal electronic score, which suggests a Himalyan music of the spheres, gathers force and energy. 1997 December 24, Stephen Holden, “Movie Review: Kundun”, in New York Times, retrieved 17 Jan 2016:
   • The last works of Beethoven—the Symphony No. 9, the "Missa Solemnis," the late string quartets, the final piano pieces and the variations—are music of the spheres, mercurial, mysterious and never to be entirely understood. 2002 Sept. 19, Tim Page, "'Diabelli' Variations: Beethoven Heard the Cosmic in the Trivial," Washington Post (retrieved 17 Jan 2016)
   • A further wave of fluorescent balloons gently deflated, exhaling into miniature harmonicas to breathe an eerie music of the spheres. 1996 October 17, Judith Palmer, “Culture: EVENT The Incident ICA, London”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 17 Jan 2016:

Forms

Synonyms

musica universalis · harmony of the spheres

Translations (25)

la mūsica mundāna (music produced by celestial bodies) · es armonía de las esferas (music produced by celestial bodies) · sv sfärernas harmoni (music produced by celestial bodies) · it musica universale (music produced by celestial bodies) · cy cytgord y bydoedd uwchben (music produced by celestial bodies) · nl wereldmuziek (music produced by celestial bodies) · nl muziek der sferen (music produced by celestial bodies) · it armonia universale (music produced by celestial bodies) · de Sphärenmusik (music produced by celestial bodies) · it armonia delle sfere (music produced by celestial bodies) · cy cynghanedd y bydoedd fry (music produced by celestial bodies) · it musica delle sfere (music produced by celestial bodies) · cy y gynghanedd nefol (music produced by celestial bodies) · la mūsica ūniversālis (music produced by celestial bodies) · nl harmonie der sferen (music produced by celestial bodies) · cmn 音樂宇宙 /音乐宇宙 (music produced by celestial bodies) · gl harmonía das esferas (music produced by celestial bodies) · et sfääride muusika (music produced by celestial bodies) · de Sphärenharmonie (music produced by celestial bodies) · fi sfäärien musiikki (music produced by celestial bodies) · ro muzica sferelor (music produced by celestial bodies) · fr harmonie des sphères (music produced by celestial bodies) · fr musique des sphères (music produced by celestial bodies) · pl muzyka sfer niebieskich (music produced by celestial bodies) · el μουσική των σφαιρών (music produced by celestial bodies)