Untune the Sky: Dr. Sebastian Moro Tornese and Mr. Stephen Rego on Music and the Neoplatonic Cosmos

Brief Overview

Host Dr. Danielle Layne interviews Palinode friends/colleagues Dr. Sebastian Moro Tornese and Mr. Stephen Rego about their scholarship and interests in Neoplatonism and music. Though the conversation remains rooted in Platonic dialogues such as the Timaeus and Republic, it becomes clear throughout that the influence of these great works on the history of music and the philosophy thereof is extensive.

Detailed Summary

00-2:30: Introductory Content

2:31-6:25: Overview of the texts and topics of today’s podcast: The Republic, music, the soul, harmony, the cosmos, The Timaeus, the world soul, Proclus, mathematics, Pythagoreanism

6:26-18:30: Music, virtue, and the flourishing life; Music as therapy; Paradigmatic examples

18:31-27:10: Platonism as musical; Rilke; Wagner

27:11-35:30: Dionysus and Apollo in Neoplatonism, in ancient music, in Nietzsche

35:31-40:25: Dionysus and Apollo in Stephen and Sebastian’s work; in relation to Nietzsche, eternal recurrence

40:26-52:30: On Proclus’ Commentary on the Timaeus in relation to the infinite, Dionysian, Apollonian, music, gender, esp. the feminine, mysteries of Isis, Novalis, the Sirens, night

52:31-1:00:10: Love, Platonism, madness, Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Dionysus, male and female

1:00:11-1:11:00: The importance of looking beyond the Timaeus for the intertwinement of philosophy, poetry, and music; Gregorian Chant, polyphony, opera, Ficino, Beethoven, Nietzsche’s Dionysian Dithyrambs, architecture, Palinode’s Primavera Project, Botticelli

1:11:01-end: Guilty pleasures: What do these scholarly music lovers listen to? And concluding content, including mention of Sebastianmoro.com and the Neoplatonism Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/276541459136873/ )