At the heart of the work is the Ethica by , from which Franssens draws his text to investigate the relationship between human existence and the universal. The score reflects a holistic worldview, where individual "spheres" of life—represented by distinct musical layers—intertwine into a unified harmonic whole.
Open the new score to Movement I, bars 24–32. Sopranos hold a high G while altos descend by semitones every 8 beats. In older editions, this descent looked like a staircase. In the new engraving, you see the connecting each pitch—Franssens’ instruction that no attack should be audible. The sound is that of a celestial slide, not a keyboard. joep franssens harmony of the spheres score new
Franssens personally oversaw the digital re-engraving before his health declined. The new score fixes a notorious error in Movement II ("Passage") where the bass strings played a C-natural against the choir’s F-sharp. In the original, this created a dissonant tritone not intended by the composer. The restores the pure fourth. At the heart of the work is the
