Phonurgia Nova ("New Science of Sound Production")[1] is a 1673 work by theJesuit scholarAthanasius Kircher. It is notable for being the first book ever dedicated entirely to the science ofacoustics,[2]: 21 and for containing the earliest description of anaeolian harp.[3] It was dedicated to the Holy Roman EmperorLeopold I and printed inKempten by Rudoph Dreherr.[4][2]: 17
Kircher was prompted to write the work becauseSamuel Morland had published a claim to have invented thespeaking trumpet. Kircher wished to defend his own priority in this invention, asserting that he had used a "tuba stentorophonica" for many years at the shrine ofSaint Eustace at theit:Santuario della Mentorella to broadcast calls for the faithful to come to mass.[5]: 67 [6]: 107 As evidence he referred to his own workMusurgia Universalis, published in 1650.[1]
The work is divided in two books. The first, thePhonosophia anacamptica offered a detailed examination of the phenomenon of theecho. He expounded his theory that sound moved insound waves, bouncing off surfaces like light off a mirror; indeed the first chapter opens with the maxim “Sonus lucis simia est” (“sound is like light”).[7] He also described the use of various designs of tube to pick up and amplify sound. As he developed his argument, Kircher described various devices of his own invention including speaking statues, musical instruments with internal mechanisms that generated unexpected harmonies, and the aeolian harp.[6]: 109 The second book,Phonosophia nova discussed the influence of music on the human mind, and the therapeutic use of music. Among other things he looked in detail attarantism.[1]
The frontispiece of the work depicts, at the top, a choir and orchestra of angels gathered around apyramid representing theHoly Trinity. Beneath them an allegorical figure of Fame flies across the heavens blowing her trumpet and carrying a banner proclaiming "Canit inclyta caeseris arma" ("She proclaims the Emperor's illustrious arms"). On the left sitsApollo surrounded by the nineMuses onMount Parnassus and below themPan leads a group celebrating abacchanalia. On the right a group oftritons escortPoseidon across the sea,kettledrums and trumpets accompany a cavalry charge, and a huntsman blows his horn while chasing deer. In the centre the figure standing appears to be Fame once again, standing on a pedestal blowing a horn. She also holds a trumpet, into whichputti are blowing from above, while beneath them a man speaks into a tube while facing the surface of the pedestal. An echo, denoted by a dotted line, carries the sound from the pedestal to the ear of a man reclining at the bottom of the illustration.[2]: 41–42
The original artwork for the portrait of Emperor Leopold I was by Franz Georg Hermann and the frontispiece was by Felix Cheurier. The engravings for both were undertaken by Georg Andreas Wolfgang the Elder.[2]: 57
