1/29/2024 0 Comments Electrum mirrorThis essay investigates the relationships between early modern alchemy and the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah, following its introduction to the Christian West by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola at the end of the fifteenth century, and its promulgation by Johannes Reuchlin in the early sixteenth century. Given that Khunrath is known above all as a practitioner of alchemy, the second part of this article considers several examples of music and song, beginning with a manuscript survival from Khunrath's work and ends with a brief examination of the most famous combination of alchemy and music, namely, the Atalanta fugiens of his admirer, Count Michael Maier (1568-1622). It examines the influence of pythagorean ideas on Khunrath's theurgical practices, identifies the christian-cabalist source of the polyglot hymn that he links to one of the theosophical images on the table of his Oratory, and offers some reflections about the use of music in this cabalistic dimension of his work. This article examines various references in Khunrath's writings that concern music and the related theme of harmony in the context of Khunrath's cabalistic and alchemical activities in his Oratory and Laboratory. The engraving of the Lab-Oratorium, in the Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom of the Paracelsian Heinrich Khunrath of Leipzig (1560-1605) - 'doctor of both medicines and faithful lover of theosophy'- is a well-known image for historians of early modern esotericism, but little has been said about the significance of the musical instruments in the foreground of the image.
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