The 🎶music of creation.

[Ricardo]

I was reading another thread about the music of the Ainur and that got me thinking.

There is a physics theory, just a theory, it hasn't been proven experimentally. It's called string theory, there are some more refined versions like superstring theory and M theory.

It doesn't matter, what matters is the concept. The theory says that the most fundamental part of reality are tiny, tiny strings, these strings vibrate like the string in a guitar or violin, or piano, and depending on that vibration (and other factors but let's not go into that) they become what with know as elemental particles, electrons, photons, quarks, etc. The specific properties are tied to that vibration.

And those are the building blocks of the entire universe: strings --> particles -> atoms -> molecules -> complex things.

So at the very elemental level, reality is just a bunch or strings vibrating. Of course, they don't produce any sound, for once, they are incredibly tiny, and you need air to propagate sound, but all the same, they vibrate, like the strings of a guitar, if we could become really small and were in an environment with air we should hear a music.

It strikes me the similarities with the music of the Ainur. If I understood correctly it wasn't the music itself that created the universe, it just visualized it for the Ainur. It was Iluvatar who did it but what the Valar saw was what they tried to build in Arda.

It's a silly idea but I am puzzled by how Tolkien conceived the music as a fundamental element in the creation of the universe.

I am probably not making any sense but there you go.

BTW, I put it in the Silmarillion because it is there where the creation is explained.

 

[Deimos]

I was reading another thread about the music of the Ainur and that got me thinking.

There is a physics theory, just a theory, it hasn't been proven experimentally. It's called string theory, there are some more refined versions like superstring theory and M theory.

It doesn't matter, what matters is the concept. The theory says that the most fundamental part of reality are tiny, tiny strings, these strings vibrate like the string in a guitar or violin, or piano, and depending on that vibration (and other factors but let's not go into that) they become what with know as elemental particles, electrons, photons, quarks, etc. The specific properties are tied to that vibration.

And those are the building blocks of the entire universe: strings --> particles -> atoms -> molecules -> complex things.

So at the very elemental level, reality is just a bunch or strings vibrating. Of course, they don't produce any sound, for once, they are incredibly tiny, and you need air to propagate sound, but all the same, they vibrate, like the strings of a guitar, if we could become really small and were in an environment with air we should hear a music.

It strikes me the similarities with the music of the Ainur. If I understood correctly it wasn't the music itself that created the universe, it just visualized it for the Ainur. It was Iluvatar who did it but what the Valar saw was what they tried to build in Arda.

It's a silly idea but I am puzzled by how Tolkien conceived the music as a fundamental element in the creation of the universe.

I am probably not making any sense but there you go.

BTW, I put it in the Silmarillion because it is there where the creation is explained.

Excellent observation.
Tolkien (as we all know) was pretty taken with Norse mythology and other mediaeval Northern cultural practices.
And if I'm not mistaken , at least Quenya is heavily rooted in Finnish.
In Norse mythology there is creation song called the Kalevala (note the -vala in the word) that Tolkien himself said was a direct influence for the Ainulindalë, . He mentions this in Letter 163 and more generally in Letter 144.
Also , in 1914, a young JRRT gave an academic lecture titled “On ‘The Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes”.
The Kalevala was direct source for the Tale of Turin Turambar, but also for motifs such as eagle rescues and magical (powerful) songs.
Go to Tolkien and the Kalevala for lots more info on this.
Also Google something like "Scholars on Tolkien and the Kalevala".

SO all this should answer your "puzzlement" as to how Tolkien conceived the music as a fundamental element in the creation of the universe. 🙂

 

[Ricardo]

Excellent observation.
Tolkien (as we all know) was pretty taken with Norse mythology and other mediaeval Northern cultural practices.
And if I'm not mistaken , at least Quenya is heavily rooted in Finnish.
In Norse mythology there is creation song called the Kalevala (note the -vala in the word) that Tolkien himself said was a direct influence for the Ainulindalë, . He mentions this in Letter 163 and more generally in Letter 144.
Also , in 1914, a young JRRT gave an academic lecture titled “On ‘The Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes”.
The Kalevala was direct source for the Tale of Turin Turambar, but also for motifs such as eagle rescues and magical (powerful) songs.
Go to Tolkien and the Kalevala for lots more info on this.
Also Google something like "Scholars on Tolkien and the Kalevala".

SO all this should answer your "puzzlement" as to how Tolkien conceived the music as a fundamental element in the creation of the universe. 🙂

Yes, what strikes me is the common conception of music as a source (or inspiration) for creation, a conception that is a least theoretically expressed by fundamental physics laws.