Philip Glass' New Opera Connects Music to Science

December 7, 2009 

Philip Glass is often acknowledged as the composer who brought art music to the public. In his latest opera "Kepler", inspired by the life and scientific contributions of Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler, Glass brings music to science.   

Kepler, a key figure in the 17^th century scientific revolution, is best known for his Astronomia Nova (1609)in which he articulated his first two laws of planetary motion. These laws, along with Galileo's telescopic observations, also made in 1609, helped overturn the Ptolemaic model of a geocentric universe. In celebration of the 400^th anniversary of these great works, 2009 was dubbed the International Year of Astronomy. 

Glass is no stranger to the subject, having studied mathematics at the University of Chicago. His 2002 opera Galileo Galilei also dealt with the dramatic overturn of the Ptolemaic system. 

"Kepler was half poet and half scientist," said Mr. Glass in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

He was a theorist who loved mathematics; a religious man whose observations put him at odds with his society. The opera addresses both his personal and public struggle at times using Kepler's own words.

In the interview Glass discussed the similarities between complex science and music. "The beauty of mathematics is something that mathematicians talk about all the time, and the elegance of a mathematical theorem is almost as good as its proof," he said. "Not only is it true, but it's elegant. So you get into almost aesthetic questions."

Source: Wall Street Journal (November 24, 2009) and New Scientist (November 27, 2009).