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Music of the spheres   /mjˈuzɪk əv ðə sfɪrz/   Listen
noun
Music  n.  
1.
The science and the art of tones, or musical sounds, i. e., sounds of higher or lower pitch, begotten of uniform and synchronous vibrations, as of a string at various degrees of tension; the science of harmonical tones which treats of the principles of harmony, or the properties, dependences, and relations of tones to each other; the art of combining tones in a manner to please the ear. Note: Not all sounds are tones. Sounds may be unmusical and yet please the ear. Music deals with tones, and with no other sounds. See Tone.
2.
(a)
Melody; a rhythmical and otherwise agreeable succession of tones.
(b)
Harmony; an accordant combination of simultaneous tones.
3.
The written and printed notation of a musical composition; the score.
4.
Love of music; capacity of enjoying music. "The man that hath no music in himself Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils."
5.
(Zool.) A more or less musical sound made by many of the lower animals. See Stridulation.
Magic music, a game in which a person is guided in finding a hidden article, or in doing a specific act required, by music which is made more loud or rapid as he approaches success, and slower as he recedes. It is similar to the game of hot and cold, but using music as the clue.
Music box. See Musical box, under Musical.
Music hall, a place for public musical entertainments.
Music loft, a gallery for musicians, as in a dancing room or a church.
Music of the spheres, the harmony supposed to be produced by the accordant movement of the celestial spheres.
Music paper, paper ruled with the musical staff, for the use of composers and copyists.
Music pen, a pen for ruling at one time the five lines of the musical staff.
Music shell (Zool.), a handsomely colored marine gastropod shell (Voluta musica) found in the East Indies; so called because the color markings often resemble printed music. Sometimes applied to other shells similarly marked.
To face the music, to meet any disagreeable necessity, such as a reprimand for an error or misdeed, without flinching. (Colloq. or Slang)


Sphere  n.  
1.
(Geom.) A body or space contained under a single surface, which in every part is equally distant from a point within called its center.
2.
Hence, any globe or globular body, especially a celestial one, as the sun, a planet, or the earth. "Of celestial bodies, first the sun, A mighty sphere, he framed."
3.
(Astron.)
(a)
The apparent surface of the heavens, which is assumed to be spherical and everywhere equally distant, in which the heavenly bodies appear to have their places, and on which the various astronomical circles, as of right ascension and declination, the equator, ecliptic, etc., are conceived to be drawn; an ideal geometrical sphere, with the astronomical and geographical circles in their proper positions on it.
(b)
In ancient astronomy, one of the concentric and eccentric revolving spherical transparent shells in which the stars, sun, planets, and moon were supposed to be set, and by which they were carried, in such a manner as to produce their apparent motions.
4.
(Logic) The extension of a general conception, or the totality of the individuals or species to which it may be applied.
5.
Circuit or range of action, knowledge, or influence; compass; province; employment; place of existence. "To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in 't." "Taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself." "Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe Our hermit spirits dwell."
6.
Rank; order of society; social positions.
7.
An orbit, as of a star; a socket. (R.)
Armillary sphere, Crystalline sphere, Oblique sphere,. See under Armillary, Crystalline,.
Doctrine of the sphere, applications of the principles of spherical trigonometry to the properties and relations of the circles of the sphere, and the problems connected with them, in astronomy and geography, as to the latitudes and longitudes, distance and bearing, of places on the earth, and the right ascension and declination, altitude and azimuth, rising and setting, etc., of the heavenly bodies; spherical geometry.
Music of the spheres. See under Music.
Synonyms: Globe; orb; circle. See Globe.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Music of the spheres" Quotes from Famous Books



... embarrassments too serious to be laughed out of the way, will, I fear, detain me this month. But the month is already gone before you can receive this. I hope your philosophy will not have forsaken you. Far from you be gloom and despondency. Attune your organs to the genuine ha! ha! 'Tis to me the music of the spheres; the sovereign specific that shall disgrace the physician's art, and baffle the virulence of malady. Hold yourself aloof from all engagements, even of the heart. We will deliberate unbiased, that we may decide with wisdom. I form ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis
... begins with the songs of the three Archangels—sonorous verses of majestic harmony, like some grand overture by Bach or Handel. These verses are, I think, meant to intimate the great harmonious order and procession of the natural and moral universe, as Pythagoras intimated them by his 'Music of the Spheres'—those eternal laws against which man, that tiny ...
— The Faust-Legend and Goethe's 'Faust' • H. B. Cotterill
... there not come to such an one—I know that it has come—that for which his spirit was athirst, the very breath of pure air, the very gleam of pure light, the very strain of pure music, for it is the very music of the spheres, in those same words, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come;" and he has answered, with a flush of keenest joy, Yes. Whatever else is unholy, there is an Holy One, spotless and undefiled, serene ...
— All Saints' Day and Other Sermons • Charles Kingsley
... thine; The eagle's vision cannot take it in; The lightning's glance, too weak to sweep its space, Sinks half-way o'er it, like a wearied bird: It is the mirror of the stars, where all Their hosts within the concave firmament, Gay marching to the music of the spheres, Can see themselves ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 429 - Volume 17, New Series, March 20, 1852 • Various
... Patron's maxims for his own? When ladies sing, or in thy presence play, Do not, dear John, in rapture melt away; 'Tis not thy part, there will be list'ners round, To cry Divine! and dote upon the sound; Remember, too, that though the poor have ears, They take not in the music of the spheres; They must not feel the warble and the thrill, Or be dissolved in ecstasy at will; Beside, 'tis freedom in a youth like thee To drop his awe, and deal in ecstasy! "In silent ease, at least in silence, dine, Nor one opinion start of food or wine: Thou knowest that all the ...
— Tales • George Crabbe


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