Granazi

by Herman Rechberger

Antikythira

Gears

for two pianos

Description

The composition "Gears", Γρανάζι (Granáz in Greek) was inspired by the so called Antikythera device. The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek analogue computer and orrery used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses for calendar and astrological purposes decades in advance. It could also be used to track the four-year cycle of athletic games which was similar to an Olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games. The artefact was retrieved from the sea in 1901, and identified on 17 May 1902 as containing a gear wheel by archaeologist Valerios Stais, among wreckage retrieved from a wreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera. The instrument is believed to have been designed and constructed by Greek scientists and has been variously dated to about 87 BC, or between 150 and 100 BC, or to 205 BC, or to within a generation before the shipwreck, which has been dated to approximately 70-60 BC. The device, housed in the remains of a 34 cm × 18 cm × 9 cm wooden box, was found as one lump, later separated into three main fragments which are now divided into 82 separate fragments after conservation works. Four of these fragments contain gears, while inscriptions are found on many others. The largest gear is approximately 14 centimetres in diameter and originally had 223 teeth. It is a complex clockwork mechanism composed of at least 30 meshing bronze gears.

Instrumentation

2pno

Category

Chamber Works

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Archive number

MF33318

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