The Eight - Six (Philidor's Tale continued)

(Page 173) "I initiated myself," said Bach calmly. "Oh, I know that there are secret societies of men who spend their lives trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe, but I am not a member. I seek truth in my own fashion." Saying this, he reached over and plucked Euler's formulaic ches map from the piano. With a nearby quill he scratched two words across the top: Quaerendo invenietis. Seek, and ye shall find. Then he handed the Knight's Tour to me. "I do not understand," I told him in some confusion. "Herr Philidor," said Bach, "you are both a chess master, like Dr. Euler, and a composer, like myself. In one person, you combine two valuable skills." "Valuable in what way?" I asked politely. "For I must confess, I've found neither to be of great value from a financial standpoint!" I smiled at him. "Though it is hard to remember sometimes," Bach said, chuckling, "there are greater forces at work in the universe than money. For example - have you ever heard of the Montglane Service?" I turned suddenly to Euler, who had gasped aloud. "You see," said Bach, "that the name is not unfamiliar to our friend the Herr Doktor. Perhaps I can enlighten you as well." I listened, fascinated, while Bach told me of the strange chess service, belonging at one time to Charlemagne and reputed to contain properties of great power. When the composer finished his summary, he said to me: "The reason I asked you gentlemen here today was to perform an experiment. All my life I have studied the peculiar powers of music. It has a force of its own that few would deny. It can tranqulize a savage beast or move a placid man to charge in battle. At length, I learned through my own experiments the secret of this power. Music, you see, has a logic of its own. It is similar to mathematical logic, but in some ways different. For music does not merely communicate with our minds, but in fact changes our thought in some imperceptible fashion." "What do you mean by that?" I asked. But I knew that Bach had struck a chord within my own being that I could not quite define. Something I felt I'd known for many years, something buried deep inside me that I felt only when I heard a beautiful, haunting melody. Or played a game of chess. "What I mean," said Bach, "is that the universe is like a great mathematical game that is played upon a tremendous scale. Music is one of the purest forms of mathematics. Each mathematical formula can be converted into music, as I've done with Dr. Euler's." He glanced at Euler, and the latter nodded back, as if the two shared a secret to which I was not yet privy. "And music," Bach continued, "can be converted into mathematics, with, I might add, surprising results. The Architect who built the universe designed it that way. Music has power to create a universe or to destroy a civilization. If you don't believe me, I suggest you read the Bible." Euler stood in silence for a moment. "Yes," he said at last, "there are other architects in the Bible whose stories are quite revealing, are they not?" "My friend," said Bach, turning to me with a smile, "as I've said, seek and ye shall find. He who understands the architecture of music will understand the power of the Montglane Service. For the two are one." *********************************************************************************** David has listened closely to the story. Now, as they approached the fretted iron gates of his courtyard, he turned to Philidor in dismay. "But what does it all mean?" he asked. "Waht do music and mathematics have to do with the Montglane Service? What do any of these things have to do with power, whether on earth or in the heavens? Your story only serves to support my claim that this legendary chess service appeals to mystics and fools. Mucha s I hate to tie such appellations to Dr. Euler, your story suggests he was easily prey to fantasies of this sort." Philidor paused beneath the dark horse chestnut trees that hung low over the gates of David's courtyard. "I have studied the subject for years," the composer whispered. "At long last, though I've never been interested in biblical scholastics, I took it upon myself to read the Bible, as Euler and Bach had suggested. Bach died soon after our meeting, and Euler immigrated to Russia, so I was never again to meet the two men to discuss what I had found." "And what did you find?" said David, extracting his key to unlock the gates. "They'd directed me to study architects, and so I did. There were only two architects of note within the Bible. One was the Architect of the universe. That is, Gog. The other was the architect of the Tower of Babel. The very word 'Bab-El' means, is discovered, 'Gate of God.' The Babylonians were a very proud people. They were the greatet civilization since the beginning of time. They built hanging gardens that rivaled the finest works of nature. And they wanted to build a tower that would reach to heaven itself, a tower that would reach to the sun. The story of this tower is the one, I felt sure, that Bach and Euler alluded to. "The architect," Philidor continued as the two men passed through the gates, "was one Nimrod. The greatest architect of his day. He built a tower higher than any known to man. But it was never completed. Do you know why?" "God smote him down, as I recall," David said as he crossed the court. "But how did He smite him down?" asked Philidor. "He did not send a bolt of lightning, a flood, or a plague, as was His custom! I shall tell you how God destroyed the work of Nimrod, my friend. God confused the languages of the workers, which until then had been one language. He struck down the language. He destroyed the Word!" ************************************************************************************** This is the end of Philidor's tale. I would like to add one other Bible story in which "music" (sound) is used to destroy a civilization. Perhaps you will recall the tale of Joshua and Jericho. Joshua was instructed by God to have his army march around the seemingly inpenetrable walls of the city for a prescribed seven days: for the first six days the army and seven priests playing seven rams' horns marched around the city once; on the seventh day the seven priests once again played their horns as they marched around the city with the army seven times, but not a word was spoken, only the music of the rams' horns was heard. And then, at a signal, all the Israelites let lose a great war cry. And the walls of Jericho crumbled and fell down. Interesting...