46 Chapter 3
therefore capable of changing its outward form, so that base metals might receive the
tincture of gold.^12 Even when twentieth-century physicists realized the dream of transmut-
ing elements, they had to irradiate a stable element so that it became an unstable radioactive
intermediate isotope, which then could decay into the desired product. In so doing, they
used the new phenomena of radioactivity to bridge the stable elements via a common
substratum of “ prime matter, ” the electrons, protons, and neutrons they knew at the time.
Schooled in the Greek language and Aristotelian physics, Nicolaus Copernicus knew
the multiple meanings of metabol ē , which denotes change as well as revolution in the
sense of cyclical, circular motion. He also realized that the heliocentric cosmology required
an explanation of how the Earth could possibly move, against the evidence of our senses
and Aristotle ’ s arguments. Not until Newton ’ s laws was there a fully worked-out replace-
ment for Aristotle ’ s physics; in the interim, belief in a movable Earth had to justify its
seemingly paradoxical claims.^13 To do so, Copernicus gives new meaning to harmony in
De revolutionibus coelestis ( On the Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs , 1543).
Though he never completed his bachelor ’ s degree at the University of Kr á kow, Coper-
nicus probably studied the musical component of the quadrivium through the writings of
de Muris.^14 By that time, in Paris Aristotelian natural sciences had tended to replace the
quadrivial study of musical theory, but that was far less true in England and Central
Europe.^15 Because of this, Copernicus (and later Kepler) had the fortune to be educated
in areas where the older practice of musical-mathematical study remained in place. Though
Oresme himself was not generally read in succeeding centuries, writings by others in his
school, notably his teacher, Jean Buridan, and perhaps also his own, were studied in
Kr á kow during the fifteenth century, which became a notable center of astronomical
knowledge.^16 Thus, during his student days there, Copernicus may have had the opportu-
nity to learn something of the thoughts and speculations of these Parisians of the preceding
century, including their arguments that considered heliocentrism with great care.
Two passages in Copernicus indicate a significant musical connection. His early Com-
mentariolus (written about 1508 – 1514), which first expounded his view that the Earth
moves while the sun stands still, concludes that his theory suffices “ to explain the entire
structure of the universe and the entire ballet of the planets [ siderum chorea ]. ” As Oresme
compared heliocentric planetary motion to a circular dance ( chorea ) he called a carole,
Copernicus presents astronomy united with choreography and music using the same ter-
minology. Copernicus took the Latin phrase siderum chorea ( “ dance of the stars ” ) from
Martianus Capella, whose influential musical cosmology he also cites in his Revolutions.^17
In that book, after addressing the objection that we see the sun rise and set but do not see
the Earth move, Copernicus argues that the heliocentric theory determines the order
and distances of planetary spheres, the very problem that also troubled music theorists.
In the sun-centered arrangement, “ we discover a marvelous symmetry [ symmetriam ] of
the universe and an established harmonious linkage [ certum harmoniae nexum ] between
the motion of the spheres and their size, such as cannot be found in any other way. ”^18