In his 1650 book Musurgia universalis, Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher introduced the world to his Arca Musarithmica. This device, a forerunner of generative AI, could automatically compose liturgical music. In this lecture Joel Bacon will discuss Kircher’s extraordinary ideas on music and artificial creativity, and perform a musical work composed on the spot by a model of the Arca Musarithmica. The lecture will feature a rare copy of Musurgiauniversalis from CSU’s Montfort-Runyan Music Collection, with Clarissa Trapp presenting the lavishly illustrated book. 

Joel Bacon is the Stewart and Sheron Golden Chair of Organ and Liturgical Studies and the Fr. Don Willette Chair of Catholic Studies at Colorado State University. In 2026 he was named a University Distinguished Professor. 

Clarissa Trapp is the Instruction and Outreach Archivist and Assistant Professor at Colorado State University Libraries.