Re: Gould aboard Voyager 2

[Robert Clements <clemensr@mailhost.world.net>]

At 10:40 30/9/1996 -0700, Rick Ratowsky wrote:
>>    I would like to know from which book (one or two) from the well
>>    tempered clavierthe Cmajor prelude and fugue by Gould on the Golden
>>    record aboard Voyager 2 are taken ?
>>
>>Book I.
>>
>>BTW, I've tried moderately hard (looked in newspaper indexes, searched
>>the JPL web site) to find out if Gould had any particular reaction to
>>the Voyagers, or heck, even if he knew about it.  Couldn't find a word
>>from him about it.  Has anyone heard anything about that?
>>
>>I couldn't find the list of items included at the JPL web site (or
>>anything else), but I did run across it somewhere.  Music from around
>>the world, various centuries, much spoken words, etc.  Pretty
>>interesting list.
>
>I found the list (follows) at
>http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/music.html . Note that The WTC C Maj
>P&F is listed as from Book II, though I've seen it elsewhere given as Book
>I (Friedrich bio?). Which is it?? I have wondered if aliens would
>appreciate GG's (IMHO) rather quirky Book I prelude.(any aliens on f_minor
>list?) This site also refers to a book, "Murmurs of Earth" by Sagan, Drake,
>Lomberg et.al., which they call the "definitive work" on the Voyager disk.
>Info on GG within?
>
>        Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C,
>No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48

_Murmurs of Earth - the Voyager Interstellar Record_ is more _about_ the
making of the two discs (please note: _both_ Voyagers carried a disc, not
just _Voyager II_); but _does_ confirm that the _Prelude & Fugue in C_ was
from WTC Book 2 (in the 1978 (first) edition, the piece is dealt with from
pages 168-170). GG is only mentioned once, in passing... & _not_ in the
section referring to the prelude & fugue... on p258, an _original
suggestions_ list by Jon Lomberg includes the _Fugue No. 2 in C minor from
Glenn Gould, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1_.

No reason is given for the change from the Book 1 Fugue to the Book 2
Prelude & Fugue; but this change _may_ be the reason for the confusion over
which book the extract was taken from.

I believe that the book (& a CD-Rom version of the Voyager record) is still
available from the Planetary Society.

All the best,


Robert Clements
clemensr@mailhost.world.net