Athanasius Kircher and the parrot's song

Note 006

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The German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) was known in his time as a polymath: an individual with knowledge of the most diverse and varied disciplines. Kircher published some 40 works on fields such as geology, medicine, linguistics, technology, cultural studies and comparative theology.

And music.

In 1650, the German published Musurgia Universalis, sive Ars Magna Consoni et Dissoni ("The Universal Musical Art, or the Great Art of Consonance and Dissonance"), in 10 books grouped in two volumes. In its 1112 pages, profusely illustrated and provided with numerous examples, he compiled all the knowledge about sounds and music of his time.

In the first book, which deals with human physiology (voice and hearing) and the sounds emitted by animals (including the then famous "death song" of swans), Kircher presented a curious illustration: "Diversarum volucrium voces notis musicis expresase" ("Voices of different birds expressed with musical notes").

In it he included the songs of five birds common in Europe at the time: "Gallicinium" ("Voice of the rooster"), "Vox parturientus Gallinae" ("Voice of the broody hen"), "Vox Cuculi" ("Voice of the cuckoo"), "Vox coturnicis" ("Voice of the quail") and a specimen without a label but which is clearly a parrot.

The rooster says "cuculicú", the hen says "to to toto to to to to", the cuckoo says "gucu", the quail says "bikebik", each one with its own score...

...and the parrot, without any score, simply says "Xaise". The old spelling of "Scheize". Shit.

Kircher showed, with that nice wink, that scholars also have their dose of humor. And that even the most brainy encyclopedic works can hide little surprises.

This post belongs to a compilation that has been published by El Zorro de Abajo Editora. That publication can be accessed thorugh the section "Articles" at Instrumentarium.

About the post

Text: Edgardo Civallero.

Publication date: 06.11.2023.

Picture: Animals' songs. In Musurgia Universalis, sive Ars Magna Consoni et Dissoni (Athanasius Kircher, 1650).