The Polyphony of Starlings

Rose Liz, Printemps, Verdure by Guillaume Machaut

Douglas de Lancastre de Lima Mayer, GS, Senior with a major in Modern European History

Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EWwQTJAK7c (not the same song as the one on canvas but very close)

Visual Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4f_1_r80RY (without the sound)

“Starlings Murmuration” is a mysterious natural process in which birds flock together in a relatively compact and fluid formation. The formation isn’t stable, instead it’s composed of various groups of hundreds of starlings that wonderfully interweave and separate to create a unique ever-changing pattern. A true organized chaos!  

Similar to polyphony, “Starlings Murmuration” is the combination of different factions to create a harmonic whole. Much like the melodic lines of Rose Liz, Printemps, Verdure, the starlings complete each other to offer an incredible display of perfect synchrony. It is as if the creator of polyphony himself was inspired by the marvel of the starlings.