Composing the polyphony of ideas

'Though distrustful of logical chains of ideas, I loved the polyphony of ideas. As long as you don't believe in them, the collision of two ideas - both false - can create a pleasing interval, a kind of diabolus in musica. I had no respect for some ideas people were willing to stake their lives on, but two or three ideas that I did not respect might still make a nice melody. Or have a good beat, and if it was jazz, all the better.'
Umberto Eco writing in Foucault's Pendulum gives the lie to our hypermediated society which silences the all-important polyphony of ideas. Header photo shows Quator PercuCIMO in the Benedictine Abbey Church of Saint-Jean d’Orbestier in Château-d'Olonne, France. Adding to the polyphony of ideas in the 12th century church was the artwork by Bernard Philippeaux seen below. More on the importance of the diabolus in musica here.


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