Music and the Cosmos

This feature looks at some of the ways people have used music to explore the cosmos and and bring it into their artistic lives. 

Collections Sampler

These objects from the Smithsonian collections represent ways in which artists, musicians, and scientists have reached out to the cosmos and tried to capture the poetic relationship between music and our universe.

  • The Mothership, George Clinton, Peter Larkin, Jules Fisher, 1990s, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Love to the planet
    The Mothership

    The famous stage prop used by Parliament-Funkadelic.

  • "Why is the Moon Always Shining," sheet music, Mary E. Flynn, Stephen St. John and Frank Davis, 1922, Schenectady Music Publishers, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
    "Why is the Moon Always Shining" Sheet Music

    This sheet music for the song "Why Is the Moon Always Shining (When I Want to Love My Girl)" was written and composed by Mary E. Flynn, Stephen St. John and Frank Davis.

  • Voyager "Sounds of Earth" record cover, 1977, National Air and Space Museum, Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Voyager "Sounds of Earth" Record Cover

    The Voyager "Sounds of Earth" record is an analogue disc record containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, attached to the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft.

  • The Moon at Shujaku Gate, from the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1886, Kokkeido, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Robert O. Muller Collection
    The Moon at Shujaku Gate

    A print from the series, One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, by artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.

  • "In the Beginning," from the portfolio, "Creation," Tim Rollins and K.O.S., 2004, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Anne and Ronald Abramson
    "In the Beginning," from the portfolio, "Creation"

    Tim Rollins founded the artist collective Kids of Survival. Working with at-risk area kids, Rollins chose Franz Josef Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation, to be their source of inspiration. As they listened to the music, the group made drawings and prints and contemplated the beginning of the universe.

  • Violin and bow with sun designs, Wixarika (Huichol), San Andrés, Mexico, 1915-1923, National Museum of the American Indian.
    Violin and bow with sun designs

    A violin and bow with sun designs by the Wixarika (Huichol) people. Collected in 1923 by an MAI field agent. 

View More Cosmic Collections

Digitized Sheet Music from the Air and Space Museum

The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum library collection of Bella C. Landauer Aeronautical Sheet Music is now freely available online. As part of the Smithsonian's partnership with Gale, this collection was digitized and made available to the public on the Internet Archive. The digitized collection includes over 300 sheets of aeronautically-themed sheet music and covers. Visit our blog post about the collection to explore a selection of the digitized sheet music.

 

johnson_cloud_kisserdetail800.png
Detail of cover, "Cloud-Kisser: Rag, Two-Step," Chas L. (Charles Leslie) Johnson, composer; 1876-1950. Inland-Walton Engraving Co., engraving; Bella C. Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Sheet Music (Smithsonian Institution. Libraries).

 

Albums

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has a vast collection of albums, including the four you see here. These four are perhaps the best examples in this spotlight of the artistic relationship between humankind's exploration of the cosmos and the creative and mathematical aspects of music. 

This spotlight was created by Kate Duffus Stein on behalf of Smithsonian Music.