Galileo’s Eyeglass by Jay Alan Walls is a celebratory work for orchestra commemorating Galileo Galilei’s discoveries of the largest moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn in 1610.  The one-movement composition is divided thematically into four parts.

Through a glass darkly

The title of the opening section evokes the foggy image of the four largest moons of Jupiter which Galileo could just make out through his new, state-of-the-art telescope. Borrowed from the Apostle Paul, the words of the title serve as a fitting description of the clouded vision of the religious establishment that would soon become a lifelong thorn in Galilei’s side as his emerging view of the of the planetary system came into conflict with theirs.

Galileo, The Assayer:

Philosophy is written in this grand book that is continuously open before our eyes (I speak of the universe), but the book cannot be understood if one does not first learn to interpret its language, and to comprehend the symbols with which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures, without which it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word; without these, one wanders vainly in a dark labyrinth.

Apostle Paul, I Cor. 13:12 (KJV):

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Medicea sidera

Part two, translated Medicean stars, bears the name Galileo gave Jupiter’s four largest moons. Hoping to gain favor with the Medici family of Florence, the scientist christened them in their honor.

Galileo, Sidereus nuncius*:

Behold therefore, four stars reserved for your illustrious name, and not of the common sort and multitude of the less notable fixed stars, but of the illustrious order of wandering stars, which, indeed, make their journeys and orbits with a marvelous speed around the star of Jupiter, the most noble of them all, with mutually different motions, like children of the same family, while meanwhile all together, in mutual harmony, complete their great revolutions every twelve years about the center of the world….

smais mr milmep oet ale umibunen ugttauir as

Turning his gaze toward Saturn, Galileo observed that it was not perfectly round. Not sure of what he had found, but wanting to ensure his place in history for this discovery, he sent an anagram, the title of part three of Galileo's Eyeglass, to Johannes Kepler to verify his primacy. Although never deciphered properly at the time, when unscrambled, the letters spell out “Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi,” or “I observed the highest planet to be triple-bodied.” Through his early telescope, the rings appeared to be smaller, companion bodies on either side, or bulges around the Saturn's waist.

Galileo, Letter to Belisario Vinta:

I render endless thanks to God that it pleased him to make me alone the first observer of something marvelous, kept hidden for all these centuries.

An infinite world

The final section draws its title from Galileo's description of the vastness of the universe he was just beginning to comprehend. The exuberance of the concluding themes seeks to embody musically the scientist’s thrill of discovery and his victory over a mountain of obstacles. Despite his conflict with church leaders in Rome, for example, Galilei maintained a constant faith in the Creator of this astonishing cosmos.

Gen. 15:5 (NKJV):

Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.

Galileo, Sidereus nuncius**:

…you will behold through the telescope a host of other stars, which escape the unassisted sight, so numerous as to be almost beyond belief....

To accentuate the historical and artistic context of Galileo’s momentous life, Walls transcribed and interspersed throughout the composition music originally written for lute by Galileo’s musician brother, Michelangelo Galilei. The scientist himself was no amateur musician, as his father, a member of that elite group of Florentines who created modern opera, instructed his son in the art of music from a young age.

Galileo’s Eyeglass, the culmination of Walls’ doctoral studies in music at the University of North Texas, is lovingly dedicated to the memory of the composer’s father-in-law, John C. Little, a distinguished professor of science at Abilene Christian University. He was a great scientist, scholar, and teacher in his own right, but an even greater man of faith.