Playing with numbers

Sunday, October 12th 2025, 19:00

KARTÄUSERKIRCHE DES WAISENHAUSES, THEODORSKIRCHPLATZ 7, BASEL

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Programm

• Arnold Schönberg (1874 - 1951) : Canons

• Dietrich Buxtehude (1637 – 1707) : Trio Sonata op. 2, Nr. 7 / Passacaglia in d-Moll für Orgel Solo, BuxWv 161 / Trio Sonata for two violins and Basso continuo / Cantata for Bass, two Violins and Basso Continuo

• Vinzenzo/Michelangelo Galilei (1575 – 1631): Ricercare for Organo Solo

• Franz Tunder (1714 – 1667): Da Mihi Domine​

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Ensemble Ad Fontes
Simone Anne Aeberhard, recorders – Mojca Gal, baroque violin – Bruno Hurtado Gosalvez, cello – Sebastian Mattmüller, baritone – Halldór Bjarki Arnarson, organ and harpsichord
 

Mathematics and  Music

Numbers have long held a magical fascination for composers. Dieterich Buxtehude, for example, was deeply drawn to the number seven: his trio sonatas in Op. 1 and 7, the seven-part Membra Jesu nostri, and the D minor Passacaglia—with its patterns of 4 measures and 7 notes, repeated 28 times—all reveal his systematic play with numerical structure. In the Passacaglia, he also returns to the number four, structuring the piece in four sections of 28 measures each—a subtle reference to liturgy, and perhaps even to the symbolism of the moon’s phases.

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Vincenzo Galilei, father of Galileo, was also guided by numbers. He sought to capture cosmic distances—such as those to Saturn—through musical proportions. Franz Tunder employed the proportio auris of the Renaissance and early Baroque, and Arnold Schoenberg carried the mathematical tradition forward with his twelve-tone technique and intricate canons.

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