Pleiades
The Pleiades (M45) is an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus (catalogued as M45 in the Messier Catalogue). About 430 light-years away, it is the brightest open star cluster visible in the night sky. In Japanese, it is known as Subaru.
Sisask inserted Seven Musical Moments “The Pleiades” (1986) between Lyra and Aries. Since it was assigned its own opus number, Op. 11, separate from Starry Sky Cycle – Northern Sky, Op. 10, it can also be performed as an independent suite.
The seven principal stars of the Pleiades are named after the seven daughters of Atlas, the Titan, and Pleione, the Oceanid nymph. I have added their names to the NASA image above. In Sisask’s work, the names of these seven sisters are used directly as the titles of the seven movements, in the following order:
1. Electra — 4th magnitude • 17 Tauri • 370 light-years2. Maia — 4th magnitude • the eldest of the Seven Sisters • 20 Tauri • 383 light-years3. Taygeta — 4th magnitude • 19 Tauri • 409 light-years4. Alcyone — 3rd magnitude • Eta (η) Tauri • 410 light-years5. Merope — 5th magnitude • the youngest of the Seven Sisters • 23 Tauri • 380 light-years6. Asterope — 6th magnitude • 21 Tauri • 372 light-years7. Celaeno — 5th magnitude • 16 Tauri • 377 light-years
The stars shine with a bluish-white color because of their extremely high temperatures. They appear hazy and bluish because their starlight is reflected by interstellar dust. Most of the seven principal stars are also variable stars whose brightness changes over periods of several days. The magnitudes listed above indicate their apparent brightness—the smaller the number, the brighter the star.
Sisask’s music of the Pleiades captures and expresses the unique character of each of the seven stars far more than images alone can. Conversely, listening to his music may inspire you to wonder what each of these seven stars is really like.
To understand how Sisask determined the order of the movements, I first examined the distance of each star from Earth and its apparent magnitude. I then noticed that Alcyone—the brightest and most distant of the seven stars—was placed at the center of the suite. Before it come the brighter stars, arranged in order of increasing distance from Earth, while after it come the fainter stars, all at roughly the same distance from Earth and difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
Sisask used graph paper in the first edition to record the positions of the stars in the Pleiades accurately. I hope he will forgive me for adding a few annotations to his diagram. The numbers indicate the order of the movements. The red triangle connects the first three stars, while the blue triangle connects the three stars that follow Alcyone. In both triangles, the stars are connected in a clockwise direction. I find that this makes it much easier to remember both the positions of the stars and their names. When performing the complete suite, imagining these spatial relationships also helps us appreciate the depth of space. You are, of course, free to imagine the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology if you wish. However, although Sisask was familiar with the myth, he does not seem to have been particularly concerned with it.
By the way, at this point I ran into an unexpected problem. Neither Sisask’s first edition manuscript nor the first printed edition published by Edition 49 gives the names of the stars—only numbers for each movement. Could it be that he simply forgot to write them down?
As for the titles, I was eventually able to confirm them from a CD recording by Lauri Väinmaa. Since he was both a close friend of Sisask and the first pianist to record Starry Sky Cycle, I have no doubt that the titles are correct.
Why not forget about the Seven Sisters altogether and give the stars names of your own? :)
Throughout this blog, I have also included images of the Pleiades in the chapters on Taurus, Aries, and Perseus. Now is a good opportunity to take another look at them.
Finally, it seems clear that Sisask placed The Pleiades before Aries in Starry Sky Cycle – Northern Sky simply because the two are adjacent in the sky.
The Pleiades (M45) is an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus (catalogued as M45 in the Messier Catalogue). About 430 light-years away, it is the brightest open star cluster visible in the night sky. In Japanese, it is known as Subaru.
Sisask inserted Seven Musical Moments “The Pleiades” (1986) between Lyra and Aries. Since it was assigned its own opus number, Op. 11, separate from Starry Sky Cycle – Northern Sky, Op. 10, it can also be performed as an independent suite.
The seven principal stars of the Pleiades are named after the seven daughters of Atlas, the Titan, and Pleione, the Oceanid nymph. I have added their names to the NASA image above. In Sisask’s work, the names of these seven sisters are used directly as the titles of the seven movements, in the following order:
1. Electra — 4th magnitude • 17 Tauri • 370 light-years
2. Maia — 4th magnitude • the eldest of the Seven Sisters • 20 Tauri • 383 light-years
3. Taygeta — 4th magnitude • 19 Tauri • 409 light-years
4. Alcyone — 3rd magnitude • Eta (η) Tauri • 410 light-years
5. Merope — 5th magnitude • the youngest of the Seven Sisters • 23 Tauri • 380 light-years
6. Asterope — 6th magnitude • 21 Tauri • 372 light-years
7. Celaeno — 5th magnitude • 16 Tauri • 377 light-years
The stars shine with a bluish-white color because of their extremely high temperatures. They appear hazy and bluish because their starlight is reflected by interstellar dust. Most of the seven principal stars are also variable stars whose brightness changes over periods of several days. The magnitudes listed above indicate their apparent brightness—the smaller the number, the brighter the star.
Sisask’s music of the Pleiades captures and expresses the unique character of each of the seven stars far more than images alone can. Conversely, listening to his music may inspire you to wonder what each of these seven stars is really like.
To understand how Sisask determined the order of the movements, I first examined the distance of each star from Earth and its apparent magnitude. I then noticed that Alcyone—the brightest and most distant of the seven stars—was placed at the center of the suite. Before it come the brighter stars, arranged in order of increasing distance from Earth, while after it come the fainter stars, all at roughly the same distance from Earth and difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
Sisask used graph paper in the first edition to record the positions of the stars in the Pleiades accurately. I hope he will forgive me for adding a few annotations to his diagram. The numbers indicate the order of the movements. The red triangle connects the first three stars, while the blue triangle connects the three stars that follow Alcyone. In both triangles, the stars are connected in a clockwise direction. I find that this makes it much easier to remember both the positions of the stars and their names.
When performing the complete suite, imagining these spatial relationships also helps us appreciate the depth of space. You are, of course, free to imagine the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology if you wish. However, although Sisask was familiar with the myth, he does not seem to have been particularly concerned with it.
By the way, at this point I ran into an unexpected problem. Neither Sisask’s first edition manuscript nor the first printed edition published by Edition 49 gives the names of the stars—only numbers for each movement. Could it be that he simply forgot to write them down?
As for the titles, I was eventually able to confirm them from a CD recording by Lauri Väinmaa. Since he was both a close friend of Sisask and the first pianist to record Starry Sky Cycle, I have no doubt that the titles are correct.
Why not forget about the Seven Sisters altogether and give the stars names of your own? :)
Why not forget about the Seven Sisters altogether and give the stars names of your own? :)
Throughout this blog, I have also included images of the Pleiades in the chapters on Taurus, Aries, and Perseus. Now is a good opportunity to take another look at them.
Finally, it seems clear that Sisask placed The Pleiades before Aries in Starry Sky Cycle – Northern Sky simply because the two are adjacent in the sky.
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