Introduction

Robert Fludd’s Utriusque cosmi … historia (1617-26) has been the object of numerous studies but only few scholars have dealt with its musical aspects and in particular the ‘Temple of Music’. Fludd’s music philosophy has received most attention especially from historians of science and philosophy. The detailed copperplates have fascinated both the general public and scholars, even though they have rarely been studied in the context of what Fludd wrote about them. The illustration of the temple of music (Plate I.1) including the ‘whimsical devices, such as music dials, musical windows, musical colonnades, and other extravagances’ is often reproduced with only a superficial explanation.1 The lack of interest among music scholars may be due to Fludd’s reputation as a Rosicrucian enveloped in dark matters and ‘a man of a disordered imagination’ – a reputation already encountered among his first biographers such as Thomas Fuller, Anthony à Wood and later repeated by Hawkins.2 Fludd’s interpretation of the universe, illustrating the connection between macro-and microcosm as a monochord, created heated debates among the growing class of natural philosophers such as Kepler.3 Another

1 Quot. in John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (London, 1778/repr. 1963), 623; also Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (eds), ‘Fludd, Robert’ Grove Music Online (accessed December 2008).