102 Chapter 6
Though Descartes himself may have continued to have such interests, at least as solicited
by Mersenne, the music may have drained from his imagined cosmos. If the sun is only
one of a vast number of stars, there may be nothing special about the “ harmony ” of our
particular solar system; the relative distances and periods between its planets might be
utterly different in other solar systems. Kepler ’ s cosmic harmonies sought musical inter-
relations of orbital radii and periods, on the model of understanding a motet by Lasso
through awareness of its salient melodic and modal qualities. The significance of the
cosmic “ motet ” — the harmonic ordering of the motions of the planets — is diluted, even
negated, if our solar system is only one among many, seemingly random, possibilities.^39
The story of Descartes ’ s vortex-universe sets the stage for a recurring dilemma: the quest
to understand the harmony of the cosmos can lead to a plurality of worlds whose very
multiplicity challenges any overarching universal music.