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This arca has been extensively photographed. A complete set of photos of its contents have been made and are available from the
University of WĂźrzburg. The handwriting on its rods resembles the handwriting in the plates in Musurgia Universalis, although there are a few differences in transcription.
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Mechanical music-making is nothing more than a particular system invented by us whereby anyone, even the áźÎźÎżĎ
ĎÎżĎ may, through various applications of compositional instruments compose melodies according to a desired style. We shall briefly relate how this mechanical music-making is done and, lest we
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Jim
Bumgardner has created a data transcription and software simulation of the algorithms employed by the Arca which produces both MIDI files as well as PDF scores. The data was transcribed from the tables in Musurgia Universalis, the illustrations in "Organum Mathematicum", and photographs of the
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Years later, his belongings, bequeathed to
Cambridge, included an Arca. It is unclear if Pepys constructed or commissioned this, based on the instructions in the book, or if he purchased it or received it as a gift. His diary makes no mention of it (he stopped recording entries in 1669). It has
51:. Through simple combinatoric techniques it is capable of producing millions of pieces of 4-part polyphonic music. Like other calculating aids of the period, the Arca prefigures modern computing technology. It is among the earliest examples of "Artificial Creativity". The device anticipates
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to show how a small amount of musical material can be combined to produce a prodigious number of melodies. Kircher goes on to describe the Arca itself, which employs this technique, and includes a fold-out illustration of the device as well as a tables indicating the content of all the rods
153:. The Organum is a similar kind of cabinet which can perform more general calculations (arithmetical, astronomical, and so on), in addition to creating music compositions. The musical portion of the Organum Mathematicum is essentially the same as the Arca, although there are fewer rods.
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The arca is a box containing a set of wooden rods or slats (or "tariffa" as
Kircher called them). Each slat contains a set of numbers, which correspond to notes in a scale or mode, as well as an assortment of rhythmic treatments for those notes.
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was influenced by
Kircher's combinatorial techniques, as his own "Rules of Composition" bear some similarities. The Pepysian library does not currently keep their Arca out on display, and there are few photographs available of its contents.
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Kircher first described the Arca in his book "Musurgia
Universalis" (1650). Book 8 of this work (Musurgia Mirifica) is a longer treatise on using combinatoric techniques to construct music. Like the previous writings of
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Bohnert, Agnes Cäcilie: Die arca musarithmica
Athanasius Kirchers (Musikwissenschaft an der Technischen Universität Berlin, Bd. 10). Mensch und Buch Verlag: Berlin 2010. ISBN 978-3866647954.
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Up, and by coach through Ducke Lane, and there did buy
Kircherâs Musurgia, cost me 35s., a book I am mighty glad of, expecting to find great satisfaction in it.
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Boni, Erik: L'arca musurgica di
Athanasius Kircher alla Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze, from Accademie & biblioteche d'Italia, 15, 2020.
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Photographs of this arca were sent to David Levy for his book "Robots
Unlimited". It appears different, in construction, from the Wolfenbuttel arca.
111:(âEuripedaeanâ, âAnancreonicâ, âArchilochanâ, âSapphicâ and so on). Some of the rods are used for counterpoint in the "simple style" (or
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There are very few Arcas which date from the Baroque period. The known surviving ones are listed here.
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Samual Pepys described purchasing a copy of Kircher's Musurgia Universalis in his famous diary.
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waste time with prefatory remarks, we shall begin with the construction of the Musarithmic Ark.
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There are different sets of slats which contain musical phrases expressed in a variety of
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and computer compositional techniques of the 20th century (such as the "chance music" of
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281:, from Proceedings of Bridges 2009: Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture, Culture, 2009
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There are likely a few other Arcas in existence, but they are not well documented.
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A hymn constructed using the Arca Musarithmica, as produced by software simulation
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The Arca was followed by, and closely related to, another Kircher invention, the
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Birchensha, John: Writings on Music] Field and Wardhaugh, editors, 2010, page 42
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A fourth item of the arca has been found in the National Library of Florence.
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in the mid 17th century. Its purpose was to enable non musicians to compose
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Bumgardner, Jim: Kircherâs Mechanical Composer: A Software Implementation
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Bumgardner, Jim: Kircherâs Mechanical Composer: A Software Implementation
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Levy, David: Robots Unlimited - Life in a virtual Age, A.K. Peters, 2006
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Birchensha, John: Writings on Music] Field and Wardhaugh, editors, 2010
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of Kircher's 'Arca musarithmica' by Andrew A. Cashner, 2023.
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Levy, David, Robots Unlimited, A.K. Peters, 2006, pp. 48-51
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The Arca Musarithmica as depicted in "Musurgia Universalis"
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178:Samual Pepys, Diary, Saturday 22, February 1667/68
39:) is an information device that was invented by
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75:Front and back of one of Kircher's musical rods
119:), in which the 4 voices move independently.
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193:Herzog August Library, WolfenbĂźttel, Germany
165:Pepys Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge
184:been speculated that Pepy's music teacher
352:Kircher, Athanasius: Musurgia Universalis
300:Kircher, Athanasius: Musurgia Universalis
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59:), and can be thought of as a kind of
16:17th-century music composition device
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358:Schott, Gaspar: Organum Mathematicum
312:Schott, Gaspar: Organum Mathematicum
213:National Library of Florence, Italy
132:, this work utilizes the ideas of
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221:Reconstructions and simulations
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98:(1650), Book VIII, page 185
61:music composition algorithm
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117:fifth-species counterpoint
113:first-species counterpoint
67:Description and mechanism
385:17th century in science
234:digital implementation
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390:17th century in music
202:Braunschweig, Germany
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147:Organum Mathematicum
96:Musurgia Universalis
94:Athanasius Kircher,
395:Musical composition
343:Bumgardner pp. 5-6
227:WolfenbĂźttel Arca.
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63:in physical form.
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37:Musical Ark
379:Categories
257:References
241:Literature
57:John Cage
53:aleatoric
176:â
92:â
43:scholar
123:History
360:, 1668
354:, 1650
314:, 1668
302:, 1650
41:Jesuit
31:(also
27:The
35:or
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232:A
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