BELPHEGOR’S PRIME

Belphegor’s prime (1000000000000066600000000000001, or 1030+666*1014+1) is a palindromic prime number discovered by mathematician Harvey Dubner. It is named after Belphegor, one of the Seven Princes of Hell. It contains several superstitious elements that justify its name: the number 666 at its heart, regarded by Christian mythology as the Number of the Beast (the Devil), surrounded on either side by 13 zeroes, widely considered an unlucky number. Moreover, it has 31 digits (13 reversed). All motives, whether melodic, harmonic, or rhymical, were derived directly from Belphegor’s prime number structure or from its mathematical generalization. The piece also uses inside-the-piano extended techniques (pizzicati and harmonics), as well as psychoacoustic procedures, as discussed in other metaludios.