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Towards a Context for Ibn Umayl |
Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 02-13-2025, 03:41 PM - Forum: Articles on alchemy
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Towards a Context for Ibn Umayl, Known to Chaucer as the Alchemist ‘Senior’ by Peter Star
"Ibn Umayl’s position in alchemy accords with Hermetic doctrines, and may have developed as a traditionalist reaction to developments in alchemy around the time of Jabir ibn Hayyan. The paper offers an overview of the influence Ibn Umayl on western literature, beginning with a quotation from The Canterbury Tales which shows knowledge of Ibn Umayl."
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/45306
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Desert Wind Rare Books |
Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 02-13-2025, 03:27 PM - Forum: Alchemy texts
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"I am Christian Fassbender, an avid book enthusiast since the moment I first learned to read. After years of reading & collecting books, I transitioned to become a bookseller in 2021. Like many in this field, it has inspired me in ways I would have never expected."
https://desertwindrarebooks.com/
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Opera: Angel Magick by John Harle |
Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 02-13-2025, 02:42 PM - Forum: Alchemical symbolism and imagery
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An opera about John Dee by saxophonist John Harle.
"John Dee and his "scryer", Edward Kelly, are preparing for the climactic phase of their experiments in summoning Angels, who Dee believed would be able to reveal to him the secrets of the universe. In such seances, it was traditional for the Magus (Dee) to conduct the ritual, and the Scryer to look into the stone. The Magus would then record what the Scryer saw and heard. Much of the libretto of Angel Magick derives from Dee’s meticulous notes of these sessions.
The opera is in seven parts, marked by the naming of seven planets, and their appropriate angels."
https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/...ohn-Harle/
https://www.johnharle.com/angel-magick.htm
(embedded videos can be viewed on YouTube).
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Opera-Ballet from 1678: The Seven Planets |
Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 02-12-2025, 09:34 AM - Forum: Alchemical symbolism and imagery
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Tantalising snippet here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVxWRu94mKk
"During the reign of John III, more than a hundred years after the publication of Nicolaus Copernicus' revolutionary work, some scholars still believed in the geocentric model of the cosmos. This view of the universe was reflected in other fields of science and art. Proof of this is the opera-ballet ‘Seven Planets’ (‘Musicalische Opera und Ballet von Zusammenkunst und Wirckung derer Sieben Planeten’), which premiered in Dresden during the carnival in 1678. Its author was probably Christian Bernhard, a composer who studied in Gdańsk at the time of Jan Heweliusz's activities there. The piece is based on the patterns of French court ballet, whose protagonists were historical, allegorical, mythological and fantastic characters. The ‘Seven Planets’ feature personifications of the celestial bodies known to contemporary audiences: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon. The appearance of each of them is accompanied by a procession of dancers in various roles, such as kings, beggars, sorcerers, shepherds, suitors, horsewomen, and even the seasons and points of the compass. The piece shared the fate of many occasional compositions of the time and has probably not been performed since its premiere. The baroque orchestra Cornu Copiae, conducted by Karolina Habało, together with dancers from the Varsavia Galante ensemble, bring the forgotten Dresden opera-ballet back to life. The artists have decided to present a slightly more contemporary vision of the work, inspired by the content of its prologue. In the prologue, Cupid declares himself the true ruler of the universe. Therefore, in the dance sequences, which are enriched with French music of the period, we will not see multitudes of colourful figures from the past, but rather contemporary scenes of a loving relationship between two people." (DeepL)
Attributed to either Bontempi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Andrea_Bontempi
or Bernhard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Bernhard
Short score here:
https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansi...f/159793/1
Instrumental score here:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Ballett_von_Zusam...ni_Andrea)
Libretto and illustrations here (entry of the Alchemists at page 42/58):
https://shorturl.at/EklUc
Set designs presumably by Harms:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Oswald_Harms
See more of Harms' work here:
https://dn790005.ca.archive.org/0/items/...00harm.pdf
Reference in Ivanna Spencer's book here:
https://www.google.je/books/edition/Seve...frontcover
Related thesis by Jeffrey Cooper here:
THE SEVEN PLANETS IN BACH, BUXTEHUDE, AND A DRESDEN BALLET OF 1678
https://uh-ir.tdl.org/items/c3467548-c17...fe10c54586
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