Music of the Spheres Music of the Spheres Author Marley Chamberlain Supervising Editor Kate McPherson Editor Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Early Modern England EncyclopediaEMEE

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Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Marley Chamberlain, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

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Overview

The music of the spheres, also known as musica universalis (universal music), is an idea that originates as far back as 600 BC. The concept of this music is usually connected to celestial beings. This celestial music could mean audible music or the nonliteral music of heavenly beings; mortals were usually believed unable to hear the celestial song. In the early modern period, several mentions of music, specifically the celestial music of the spheres (or orbs), can be found in the plays of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Musical orbs, and the mortal inability to hear them, are specifically mentioned in Act 5 of The Merchant of Venice: There’s not the smallest orb which though behold’st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still choiring to the young-eyed cherubins. Such harmony is in immortal souls, But whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. (5.1.69–74)

The Spheres

In the early modern era, music of the spheres was viewed as a connection between the celestial and the mundane. The spheres are spherical shapes that can be seen in the sky, such as the sun, moon, and stars, believed to originate with the imagined physics of the universe, in which crystalline spheres held the celestial bodies as they circled the earth. Thinkers of the age believed the music of the spheres would have felt more significant when art was being performed in an outdoor or open theater.

Due to early modern performance practices, especially the prevalence of outdoor theaters which operated only in daylight hours, there were no external lights on stage apart from torches or candles carried by actors, so any mention of light from the sun, stars, or moon would have either been the literal daylight coming into the theater or the imagination of the actor and audience involved. In The Merchant of Venice, Lorenzo considers, How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night become the touches of sweet harmony (5.1.60–64).

The spheres were also a reference to the mathematical and scientific aspects of the sky. Fascination with the stars (their movement, distance, etc.) was very common in the period, and the mystical connection of the stars with other aspects of life would have been of great interest in the arts. Astrology was a very popular system of thinking, so many people ascribed events in their lives to the movement of the planets and stars. The music of the spheres was considered a phenomenon that brought together the spiritual, artistic, and scientific aspects of life.

The Music

Although the music of the spheres was usually a figurative concept rather than audible voices and instruments, music remained an important element in early modern plays. Music was thought to have celestial power and could be used for good and evil. Music of the spheres would usually symbolize harmony and balance in the universe.

King Henry VIII features a gentlewoman singing a song about the powers of music: Orpheus with his lute made trees And the mountaintops that freeze Bow themselves when he did sing. To his music plants and flowers Ever sprung, as sun and showers There had made a lasting spring. Every thing that heard him play, Even the billows of the sea, Hung their heads, and then lay by. In sweet music is such art, Killing care and grief of heart Fall asleep, or hearing, die. (3.1.5–15)

This song in the play shows the beliefs held about music’s power in the period. Music is described as having the power to control the billowing sea as well as human emotions. It is also notable that the stage directions instruct this verse to be sung by one of Queen Katherine’s gentlewomen. The queen confesses her sadness and asks for a song to help alleviate her suffering.

Key Print Sources James, Jamie. The Music of the Spheres : Music, Science, and the Natural Order of the Universe. Grove Press, 1993. Rogers, George L. The Music of the Spheres. Music Educators Journal, vol. 103, no. 1, 2016, p. 41. Sasson, Sarah. Music of the Spheres. Indiana University Press, 2012. Sulka, Emily. Shakespeare’s Philosophy of Music. Musical Offerings, vol. 8, no. 2, 2017, pp. 41–50. Ungureanu, Cristian. The Music of Spheres <supplied>God as A Geometer</supplied>. Anastasis: Research in Medieval Culture and Art, vol. 1, no. 1, 2014, pp. 52–68.
Key Online Sources Best, Michael. The Music of the Spheres. Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. University of Victoria. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/order/scale.html. Accessed 14 Sep. 2018. Samuel, Dana. The Music of the Spheres. Sensory Studies. https://www.sensorystudies.org/picture-gallery/spheres_image/. Accessed 10 Dec. 2025.