Religion in Sound: Exploring the Relationship Between Music and Religion in the Composition Harmony of the Spheres by Joep Franssens
Religions July 18, 2026 M.J.M. Hoondert, Nataliia Vdovychenko
Music can generate non-institutional religious experience through aesthetic and performative practice. Analyzing Joep Franssens' composition Harmony of the Spheres, the article argues that its slow harmonic movement, repetition, tonal affirmation, unintelligible text, spatial sonority, and evocation of timelessness invite immersive listening and self-transcendence. A digital ethnographic reading of YouTube listener responses shows that listeners frequently interpret these musical techniques through religious and spiritual language, referencing God, angels, heaven, the sublime, peace, and mystical experience. The article contends that the work functions as "religion in sound" rather than explicitly confessional music, enabling transcendence and unbound spirituality outside traditional religious institutions.