Episode 219 – Composing the Cosmos, with Meredith Rigby

In this episode, JF and Phil are joined by their beloved assistant and invaluable collaborator Meredith Rigby (formerly Meredith Michael) to discuss her recently completed doctoral dissertation, Composing the Cosmos: 20th Century Musical Mythologies of Outer Space. Meredith explains how classical music, in the last century, became a privileged zone for exploring the meaning, threat, and promise of the starry void after the collapse of the old cosmologies.

Music: "Fogcutter" from Pierre-Yves Martel's Weird Studies Vol 3 (pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-stu…).

Support Weird Studies (patreon.com/c/weirdstudies) on Patreon.

Upcoming Events

Registration is open for Erik Davis's course on Philip K. Dick (weirdosphere.org/course/do-androids-dream-of-r…)'s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , starting October 1, 2026, on Weirdosphere.

On September 26, 2026, join JF and Phil at the Brooklyn Public Library for a live recording (bklynlibrary.org/calendar/dream-symposium-2026…) on dreams and Dostoevsky. Part of the Dream Mapping Symposium, organized by The Dream Mapping Project (thedreammappingproject.com) and the Dream Library Foundation (thedreamlibrary.net).

On October 3 and 4, ⁠HitchCon 26⁠ (macguffin.media/hitchcon/26) will feature talks on Hitchcock and David Lynch. Speakers include JF and Victoria Nelson.

References

Meredith Rigby, "Composing the Cosmos: 20th Century Musical Mythologies of Outer Space" (proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2F…)

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (bookshop.org/a/18799/9780674986916)

Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution (bookshop.org/a/18799/9780486400365)

Jerry Goldsmith, Theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation

Richard Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra

Gustav Holst, "Mars" and "Neptune" from The Planets

Lili Boulanger, "Les Sirènes"

Alan Leo, The Art of Synthesis (archive.org/details/artofsynthesis00leoa)

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