Murmurs of Earth

by Carl Sagan

  In the first movement of the Fifth, we hear a full symphony orchestra functioning in the service of passion within constraints seemingly as bald as those of natural law. Whether the laws that lend grace to this cataclysm are best considered inventions of Beethoven, or of his musical tradition, or of the natural world itself, are matters that will be debated as long as the symphony survives. It is a work sufficiently subtle that scholars remain divided on the question of exactly where its theme leaves off and its variations begin, and so symmetrical that its score is beautiful just to look at. Beethoven seems immune from a central deficiency of Western classical music, its underdeveloped rhythms; as in much of Beethoven’s music, the rhythmic constituents of the Fifth stand on equal footing with its thematic and harmonic constituents. “It is astonishing,” writes Tovey, “how many of Beethoven’s themes can be recognized by their bare rhythm without quoting any melody at all.”

  In addition to its other virtues, the first movement of the Fifth recommended itself for the Voyager record because of its brevity. It has been called “the most concise representation that has ever been accomplished in music.”

  Cavatina from the String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130

  Beethoven’s late quartets are like the islands of Polynesia, whose allure turned their inhabitants into navigators. You could spend a lifetime exploring them, and when you were gone, they would remain to tantalize subsequent explorers. The Voyager record offers, in the Cavatina, a lagoon of one island, the Thirteenth quartet.

  The word “cavatina” refers to an operatic song characterized by clarity, even tempo and simplicity. In Beethoven’s Cavatina, the first violin substitutes for the singer. Threads of characteristic Beethoven technique run through the piece, notably the rising phrase from B, to F found also in his piano sonatas Opus 106 and Opus 109, in an echo technique that recalls the woodwinds in the adagio of the Ninth Symphony, and in the structure of the movement as a whole, forecast in the andante of Florestan’s aria in Fidelio. But it emerges sounding like nothing else in his music.

  Most listeners would agree that here Beethoven stirs deep emotions—one student, Joseph Kerman, writes that “the Cavatina is his most emotional slow movement”—but the question is, which emotion? Certainly it is sad. Beethoven wrote it at a heartbreaking time, less than two years before his death, and he inscribed below the eight bars of its most wrenching passage the word beklemmt, meaning “afflicted” or “oppressed.” Charles Holtz, a constant companion of Beethoven’s in those years, said Beethoven remarked that he could move himself to tears simply by thinking about the Cavatina. The music scholar Joseph De Marliave described the movement as “an agonized entreaty, an intolerable longing for happiness and peace, a longing broken with sobs that break from the music with deeper intensity of feeling than even the living voice of the musician could express.” But sadness alone can’t define the Cavatina. Strains of hope run through it as well, and something of the serenity of a man who has endured suffering and come to terms with existence perceived without illusion.

  It may be that these ambiguities make for an appropriate conclusion to the Voyager record. We who are living the drama of human life on Earth do not know what measure of sadness or hope is appropriate to our existence. We do not know whether we are living a tragedy or a comedy or a great adventure. The dying Beethoven had no answers to these questions, and knew he had no answers, and had learned to live without them. In the Cavatina, he invites us to stare that situation in the face.

  * * *

  1 The outcome of cutting the record at 16⅔ r.p.m. is respectable, if not superlative, fidelity. Frequency response over most of the disc is 20-15,000 Hertz, plus or minus two decibels, falling off six decibels by about 17,000 Hertz; in the crowded inner grooves the roll-off by 15,000 Hertz reaches six decibels. Channel separation averages forty decibels. Extraterrestrial students might note, among the other quaint charms of the recording, that some of its selections are monophonic, some stereophonic. This state of affairs is open to the correct interpretation—that sound recording is a recent development on Earth—but also to incorrect interpretations—e.g., that some of the music was composed by a species having only one ear.

  2 Tempering appears to have been discovered independently in some other cultures, notably by Hsu Tsai-yu in China in about 1596.

  Voyager Record Music

  (in sequence)

  * * *

  1. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40.

  2. Java, court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers,” recorded by Robert Brown. 4:43.

  3. Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08.

  4. Zaire, Pygmy girls’ initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull. 0:56.

  5. Australia, Aborigine songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird,” recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes. 1:26.

  6. Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14.

  7. “Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38.

  8. New Guinea, men’s house song, recorded by Robert MacLennan. 1:20.

  9. Japan, shakuhachi, “Cranes in Their Nest,” performed by Coro Yamaguchi. 4:51.

  10. Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55.

  11. Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Saivallish, conductor. 2:55.

  12. Georgian S. S. R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,” collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18.

  13. Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima. 0:52.

  14. “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05.

  15. Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30.

  16. Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35.

  17. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No. 1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48.

  18. Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20.

  19. Bulgaria, “Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin,” sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59.

  20. Navajo Indians, Night Chant, recorded by Willard Rhodes. 0:57.

  21. Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, “The Fairie Round,” performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17.

  22. Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service. 1:12.

  23. Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen. 0:38.

  24. China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37.

  25. India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho,” sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30.

  26. “Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15.

  27. Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by the Budapest String Quartet. 6:37.

  References

  * * *

  Arnold, Denis, and Fortune, Nigel, eds. The Beethoven Reader. New York: Norton, 1971.

  Batley, E. M. A Preface to The Magic Flute. London: Dennis Dobson, 1969.

  Blom, Eric. Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 1955.

  Boyden, David. The History of Violin Playing from Its Origins to 1761. London: Oxford University Press, 1965.

  Brown, Robert. Private communication re “Kinds of Flowers.”

  Bukofzer, Manfred. Music in the Baroque Era. New York: Norton, 1947.

  Burk, John. The Life and Works of Beethoven. New York: Modern Library, 1943.

  Carrell, Norman. Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1963.

  Chailley, Jacques. The Magic Flute: Masonic Opera. New York: Knopf, 1971.

  Charters, Samuel Barclay. “Blind Willie Johnson,” liner notes to Folkways A
lbum FG3585.

  Cho Wen-chung. Private communication re “Flowing Streams.”

  Cohen, John. Liner notes to the album Mountain Music of Peru, Folkways Records FE4539.

  —–. Private communication re Peruvian wedding song.

  Colodin, Irving. The Critical Composer. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1969.

  Courlander, Harold. Negro Folk Music USA. New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.

  Cowell, Henry. Notes to Folk Music of the USSR, Folkways Record FE4535.

  Craft, Robert, and Stravinsky, Igor. Expositions and Developments, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1962.

  Daniélou, Alain. A Catalogue of Recorded Classical and Traditional Indian Music. New York: UNESCO, 1966.

  David, Hans, and Mendel, Arthur, eds. The Bach Reader, rev. ed. New York: Norton, 1966.

  Emsheimer, Ernst. “Georgian Folk Polyphony.” The Journal of the International Folk Music Council, vol. XIX, 1967.

  Feather, Leonard. The New Encyclopedia of Jazz. New York: Bonanza Books, 1955.

  Forbes, Elliot, ed. Beethoven: Symphony No. Five in C Minor. New York: Norton, 1971.

  Goffin, Robert. Jazz: From the Congo to the Metropolitan. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1944.

  Goldovsky, Boris. Accents on Opera. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1953.

  Graham, Desmond. “Cool Command,” Opera News, vol. 35, no. 21, March 20, 1971.

  Gray, Cecil. The Forty-Eight Preludes and Fugues of J. S. Bach. London: Oxford University Press, 1937.

  Grew, Eva Mary, and Grew, Sidney. Bach. New York: Collier, 1947.

  Grove, Sir George. Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies. New York: Dover, 1962.

  Harris, Rex. Jazz. London: Pelican.

  Holmes, Sandra LeBrun. Private correspondence.

  Holroyde, Peggy. The Music of India. New York: Praeger, 1972.

  Hood, Mantle. “Music of the Javanese Gamelan.” Paper presented at the Festival of Oriental Music and the Related Arts, UCLA, May 8-22, 1960.

  Horgan, Paul. Encounters with Stravinsky. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1972.

  Hutchings, Arthur. The Baroque Concerto. London: Faber and Faber, 1961.

  Iliffe, Frederick. The Forty-Eight Preludes and Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach. London: Novello and Company.

  Kalischer, A. C., ed. Beethoven’s Letters. New York: Dover, 1972.

  Kaufmann, Walter. Musical References in the Chinese Classics. Detroit Monographs in Musicology, Information Coordinators, 1976.

  —–. The Ragas of North India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968.

  Keller, Hermann. The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach. New York: Norton, 1976.

  Kerman, Joseph. The Beethoven Quartets. New York: Knopf, 1971.

  Kishibe, Shigeo. The Traditional Music of Japan. Tokyo: Japan Cultural Society, 1969.

  Kunst, Jaap. Music in Java: Its History, Its Theory and Its Technique. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973.

  —–. Music in New Guinea. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1967.

  Landon, H. C. Robbins. Beethoven: A Documentary Study. New York: Collier, 1974.

  Lao Tsu. Tao Te Ching. New York: Knopf, 1972.

  Lentz, Donald. The Gamelan Music of Java and Bali. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965.

  Lomax, Alan. Cantometrics: A Method for Musical Anthropology. Teaching cassettes and a handbook, by Extension Media Center, University of California, Berkeley, California.

  —–, and the Cantometrics Staff. Folk Song Style and Culture.

  Washington, D. C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1968; 2nd ed., New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1978.

  —–. Private communication and conversations re Voyager music.

  Lydon, Michael. Rock Folk. New York: Dial, 1971.

  Malm, William. Japanese Music and Musical Instruments. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1959.

  —–. “Practical Approaches to Japanese Music,” from Readings in Ethnomusicology, David McAllester, ed. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1971.

  Marcuse, Sibyl. A Survey of Musical Instruments. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.

  de Marliave, Joseph. Beethoven’s Quartets. New York: Dover, 1961.

  Meryman, Richard, ed. The Life and Thoughts of Louis Armstrong—A Self Portrait. New York: Eakins Press, 1971.

  Miles, Russell. Johann Sebastian Bach: An Introduction of His Life and Works. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962.

  Moberly, R. B. Three Mozart Operas. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1967.

  Morgenstern, Sam, ed. Composers on Music. New York: Pantheon, 1956.

  Munrow, David. Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. London: Oxford University Press, 1976.

  David Munrow obituary, Musical Times, vol. 117 (July 1976).

  Nettl, Paul. Mozart and Masonry. New York: Philosophical Library, 1957.

  Orito, Hizan. “Shakuhachi.” Distributed at the October 17, 1971, meeting of the Koto Music Club of New York.

  Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China, vol. 4, pt. 3. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1970.

  Panassié, Hugues. Louis Armstrong. New York: Scribner’s, 1971.

  Radcliffe, Philip. Beethoven’s String Quartets. New York: Dutton, 1968.

  Raim, Ethel, and Koenig, Martin. Liner notes to Village Music of Bulgaria, Nonesuch Records.

  Rawcliffe, Reverend D. A. ‘ “Notes on a Set of Records of Solomon Islands Music,” mimeographed letter, undated.

  Rhodes, Willard. Liner notes to the album Music of the Sioux and the Navajo, Folkways Records FE4401.

  Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: Norton, 1940.

  Sackheim, Eric. The Blues Line. New York: Grossman, 1969. (Mrs. Johnson’s account of Blind Willie Johnson’s death comes from here, p. 459).

  Sadie, Stanley. Mozart. New York: Grossman, 1970.

  Schweitzer, Albert. J. S. Bach. New York: Dover, 1911.

  Seaman, Jerald. “Russian Folk Song in the Eighteenth Century.” From Music and Letters, vol. 40, Oxford University Press, July 1959.

  Siegmeister, Ellie. The New Music Lovers’ Handbook. Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Harvey House, 1973.

  Sonneck, O. G., ed. Beethoven: Impressions by His Contemporaries. New York: Dover, 1967.

  Spitta, Philipp. Johann Sebastian Bach. London: Novello & Company, 1889.

  Stevenson, Robert. “Ancient Peruvian Instruments.” Galpin Society Journal, vol. XII (June 1959).

  —–. Music in Mexico. New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1952.

  —–. The Music of Peru. Washington, D.C.: Pan American Union, General Secretariat of the Organization of American States, 1960.

  Stravinsky, Igor. An Autobiography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1936.

  Taylor, Deems. “Review of ‘The Rite of Spring.’ ” The Dial, September 1920.

  Tovey, Donald Francis. Essays in Musical Analysis. London: Oxford University Press, 1935.

  “Tributes to David Munrow.” Early Music, vol. 4, no. 3 (July 1967).

  Turnbull, Colin. Liner notes to Music of the Ituri Forest, Folkways Records FE4483.

  —–. Private communication re pygmy girls’ initiation song.

  Vlad, Roman. Stravinsky. London: Oxford University Press, 1960.

  Wilkinson, Charles. How to Play Bach’s Forty-Eight Preludes. London: New Temple Press.

  Yurchenco, Henrietta. Private communication re “El Cascabel.”

  Look here, upon this picture, and on this … the front of Jove himself

  —William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4

  Our Earth is a worldlet, a tiny ball of rock with a heart of liquid iron and an astonishingly thin skin that contains atmosphere and ocean, mountains and abyssal trenches, microbes and men. It orbits the Sun in the inner solar system along with a few other similar objects: Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, and the asteroids. There are minor differences—largely in the details of the thin exterior layers—but these small planets, rocky and metallic, are essentially all the sam
e. They are called the terrestrial planets, after their prototype, Earth.

  Beyond Mars and the asteroid belt we enter a different regime of the solar system. It is farther from the Sun, and things are colder. We encounter terrestrial-sized objects that may be at least partly rocky. In the outer solar system there are four planets that dwarf the Earth and that clearly represent an entirely different sort of object. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are composed largely of hydrogen gas. In the case of Jupiter, the gas is compressed to a liquid, and toward its interior, to a metal. The mass of Jupiter is 317 times the mass of Earth. A half-dozen Earths could fit into a single storm system on Jupiter, its Great Red Spot.

  Despite their gargantuan sizes, these four jovian or Jupiter-like planets spin very rapidly, Jupiter rotating once every nine hours and fifty-five minutes. When such a large, gaseous object spins so rapidly we are sure to have interesting patterns of motion; and we see in Jupiter an array of bands and belts parallel to the planet’s equator, regions of falling and rising air, vaporizing and condensing volatiles. In addition, Jupiter and Uranus and perhaps Saturn are constantly giving off more radiation than they are receiving from the Sun. The distinction between a star and a planet is this: a star shines by its own emitted light, while a planet shines by light reflected from its star or sun. By this definition the jovian planets are planets in the visible part of the spectrum to which our eyes are sensitive; but in the infrared or heat part of the spectrum a case may be made that they are starlike. The excess energy may come from the fact that these worlds are imperceptibly, slowly, gravitationally contracting, as stars are thought to do in their earliest histories. The interior temperatures of Jupiter and its fellow jovian planets cannot possibly be high enough to drive the thermonuclear reactions that make the Sun shine. But there is a real sense in which Jupiter may be described as a star that failed. The jovian planets certainly occupy some middle ground between terrestrial planets and stars.