The Voyager: The Golden Record

This month marks the 42^nd anniversary of the launch of Voyager 2. It also marks the 7^th anniversary of Voyager 1’s entry into interstellar space. How does this relate to classical music? NASA placed a type of time capsule aboard Voyager 1 and 2 that they hoped would communicate to any extraterrestrials the story of Earth and mankind. This time capsule is in the form of a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk that contains both sounds and images carefully selected to portray this story. Many of the sounds are those made by nature – thunder, wind, water, various animals. They also included greetings spoken by people of 55 different languages. The music it contains includes world music and tunes from various eras, including a large portion of classical music. Composers such as J.S. Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky, and Beethoven are featured. Why do you think this music was selected? How would extraterrestrials interpret the items on this record? If you are interested in learning more about this Golden Record and what all in contains, I highly recommend checking out the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast. Their episode #65 “Voyager Golden Record” beautifully walks through the album, with interesting interviews from folks involved in the project. Check it out and leave your thoughts about their selections in the comments below!