Michael Maier. [Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier, translator]. Cantilenae Intellectuales De Phoenice Redivivo; Ou Chansons Inte...

Description

Maier's Alchemical Allegory of
Ressurection and Transformation

"The most mysterious of [Rudolph II's] court physicians was Michael Maier (1568-1622), an enthusiastic Paracelsan, alchemist, and reformer who served Rudolf during the years before 1612, then moved to England where he had friends in Robert Fludd and King James's doctor, Sir William Paddy. Between 1614 and 1620 Maier produced a series of remarkable emblematic works on alchemical subjects...They represent a climax of the movement which combined close observation and analysis of the material world with a background of occult explanations...Maier seems even to argue that the underlying reality of symbols is alchemical, indeed that the process of alchemy offers a progressive revelation of truth." -Evans, Rudolf II and his World.

"This relatively unknown book by Michael Maier is his allegorical exploration of the alchemical theme of resurrection and transformation. It consists of a sequence of nine sections, the Cantilenae or songs, each divided into three harmonized verses. These three verses are the alto (personified as Venus), the tenor, and the bass (personified as a lion). This parallels the structure of Maier's Atalanta fugiens with its three-part canons, Atalanta, Hippomenes, and the golden apples. The Intellectual Cantilenae was first published in Latin in 1622, and later in 1758 issued with a parallel French and Latin text. This was the last of Michael Maier's works to be published in his amazingly prolific sequence of twelve titles issued between 1614-22, the last nine years of his life." -Ian McLean.