This post is a follow up to the idle observations on alchemy and music previously posted as Divine Feedback. What follows is, likewise, idle observation and speculation, but perhaps an interesting starting point for something more rigorous…
Harmony and proportion were major guiding principle for medieval and Renaissance aesthetics. In the case of the alchemy suggested by the Khunrath engraving (mentioned in the above post) it seems that the suggestion is that alchemical work relates to harmony: presumably the proportions of materials and astrological timings of operations should be harmonically concordant (and by extension harmonious in sound). There is the tantalising notion that, by harmonising their preparations and processes and sounding them out, alchemists could have been the earliest practitioners of a form of data sonification! Continue reading