Leonardo
The Fire of "Prometheus": Music-Kinetic Art Experiments in the USSR Author(s): Bulat M. Galeyev Reviewed work(s): Source: Leonardo, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1988), pp. 383-396 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1578701 . Accessed: 15/03/2012 08:55
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http://www.jstor.org The Fire of Prometheus: Music-Kinetic Art Experiments in the USSR
Bulat M. Galeyev
Abstract-In this article, the authordiscusses the principalSoviet experimentsin music-kinetic art. As can be judged from the available literature, most of these experimentsstill remain 'blank spaces' for Westernreaders. This article testifies to the existence of long-standingtraditions that have inspiredthe Soviet school of music-kinetic art and have contributedto its original features. Perhaps the results have not always been as successful or as extensive as one would want them to be, but the prospects for future developments look promising, if only on the basis of the theoretical foundationsthat were laid in Russia itself in the beginningof this century.To provide a context for his discussionof music-kinetic art consideredin this review,the authorhas included an article (see Appendix)in which he examines the history of the idea of 'seeing music' in Russia in previous centuries.
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I. INTRODUCTION _ Nowadays we sometimes sentimentally :i,~ think of the beginning of this century as some 'ancient' time. But, in fact, it was then that the foundations were laid not only for developments that are taking place today but for those that will take place tomorrow. In 1903, the Russian . scientist K.E. Tsiolkovsky published his , first theoretical work on space flights, and in 1905 the German physicist Albert Einstein proposed his special relativity theory. Upheavals occurred not just in science but in the arts as well, where the _ idea of synthesis had a revolutionary impact. "Russia is a young country and its culture is synthetic", wrote the Russian poet Aleksandr Blok at the beginning of f the century, calling upon artists not to withdraw into the guild of one particular art. Indeed, the entire artistic atmosphere of the time was imbued, as though with ozone, with the idea of synthesis. One need only recall the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, the theatrical experi- ments of Vsevolod Meyerhold or the theoretical revelations, theatrical pro- ductions and films of the young Sergei Eisenstein. Somehow or other, each was - indebted to the impetus provided by the futurological utopias of the Russian II. l : composer A.N. Scriabin, who dreamed _ P 1 about a universal synthesis of the arts
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Bulat M. Galeyev (physicist, artist), KAI, SKBl ^ "Prometei", ul. K. Marksa 10, Kazan 420084, USSR.
Received 30 July 1987...... Fig. 1. M.K. Ciurlionis, Sonata of the Pyramids:Allegro, tempera, 1908.
? 1988 ISACT Pergamon Press plc Printed in Great Britain. LEONARDO, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 383-396, 1988 0024-094X/88 $3.00+0.00 First, I would like to turn to the artistic forms and phenomena that still figure in science fiction as an invariable feature of the future, namely music-kinetic art (or the 'art of light') and the domains nearest to it which, up to this day, find themselves 'doomed to experimentation'.
II. EARLY EXPERIMENTS To my homeland's credit, some of the first tangible steps toward this art of the future were taken by M.K. Ciurlionis, V.V. Kandinsky and Scriabin [1]. The Lithuaniancomposer and artist Ciurlionis (1875-1911) created strikinglypicturesque canvases which, through their aspiration * itt nnapaT toward music, led to a redefinition of the boundaries of art. Suffice it to mention --JI. A. H. CKpuHU6.ia) the titles of some of his canvases:A Fugue, A Prelude, a series of Sonatas consisting of, like real sonatas, four parts- "Allegro", "Andante", "Scherzo" and "Finale". His artwork also displayed an Fig. 2. The 'light instrument'manufactured for A.N. Scriabin by his friends, 1911. Now it is in the Scriabin Museum. affinity to music in its exquisite colouring, structure and composite rhythm. But, as Fig. 1 shows, Ciurlionis's work remained within the realm of realistic, figurative through a work entitled Mysterium, in the world's eyes for which there are no art. which the whole population of our planet bounds." Perhaps it is not this kind of On the other hand, his contemporary was to participate. He envisioned global unity that Scriabin dreamed of but Kandinsky (1866-1944) ventured to take, Mysteriumperformed on a global scale in the condition of "daily spiritual wave" one might say, a desperate step: he the open air: the sunrise, sunset, stars and that is provided here. decided to abandon figurative, repre- all the ambient cosmic space would form part of the score of this unprecedented esoteric action, the effect of which was to bring about social shock. Time itself has introduced corrections into his forecasts: social upheavals, it turned out, do not occur at the sweep of a conductor's baton. Although there is much naivet&in Scriabin's aesthetic futurology, at the same time it contains some brilliant insights, which are being understood only today. To substantiate this point, I would like to review briefly some of the artistic experiments of the last decades in which the visual and aural components are of 'artificial origin' and the artists achieve mastery over and a synthesis of the new media-light projections and electrified sound. I do not intend to dwell on 'traditional' forms, such as photography, radio, cinema, television, which also owe their origin to the development of technology and have served as a stimulus to culture. In 1921, the Russian Futurist poet V. Khlebnikov wrote: "Radio has solved the problem that the church has failed to resolve-that of giving mankind access to the common soul, to the common daily spiritual wave." Then, as if anticipating the triumph of television, the poet prophesied: "If formerly radio has Fig. 3. The disc 'rotor' of V.D. Baranov-Rossine's'optophon'. He began experimentingwith this been the world's ears, it is now become light instrumentin 1914.
384 Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus sentational art and to turn painting into genuine 'music for the eyes' (musique oculaire) by using colourful abstract forms. Here, too, the titles of his opuses reflect his musical aspirations-Composi- tions, Improvisations.He wrote about this in theoretical works, most especially in On the Spiritual in Art [2]. Kandinsky's works continue to provide a subject for discussion even today, for they bear out in an obvious manner Goethe's observation that "the sculptor can be confused by the painter who, in turn, can be confused by the mimick, and the three of them can muddle one another so that none will keep his feet". To expand upon Goethe's idea, one might argue that Kandinsky was 'muddled' not so much by music as by his natural elemental anticipation of music-kinetic art. Whatever the case, Kandinsky's experiments, being risky borderline phenomena as far as the fine arts were concerned, became, through the 'unre- presentation' of painting, one of the cornerstones for another new kind of art, Fig. 4. L.S. Termen showing how his 'termenvox' operates during the fourth All-Union music-kinetic art. Conference on 'Light and Music', 1979. Traditional painting overcomes its convention (here it is immobility) owing to the presence of image (figuration). But mental only when using the technique of "Pictures at an Exhibition", which he in abstract,colourful non-figurative images, light projections [3]. presented at the Bauhaus in 1928. 'spirituality' is achieved by introducing It is noteworthy that the Marxian art Kandinsky's lot was tragic and his motion. Only by gaining motion can historian A.V. Lunacharsky understood quest doomed to reach a deadlock. abstract forms be filled with meaning, all this long before others had. In 1913, However, Western readers may be become 'spiritual', 'humane'. Music- after visiting an exhibition of works by interested to learn that while he was still kinetic art, like music itself, is an the abstract painters known as Orphists, in Russia during the years immediately intonational art; and intonation apart he wrote: following the revolution, Kandinsky was from motion does not exist. If music, due co-head of the Institute for Artistic to its origins, is linked with the intonation Music of colours, a symphony of tints Culture where, in a special laboratory for of human speech and other natural and linear melodies is quite conceivable, 'monumental art', he explored the when with the sounds, then the dynamic plasticity of particularly merged objective regularities of the synthesis of music of sounds. But it is dynamics that light must be substantiated equally by the form the foundation of music-to draw music and painting and studied colour intonation of human gesture. It should be level with it the subtle artistic kalei- hearing (synaesthesia), the psychological noted that dance once was, and remains, doscope of the best Orphists should basis of this synthesis [7]. Later, in the an actual form of oculaire, the also become dynamic.... Let innovators West, he was unable to realize his plans. musique of us a chance to observe human the natural painting give Nevertheless, music-kinetic art is indebted body being and, alas, the splendid play of lines and colours the only instrument of visible music. It is engaged in that struggle of dancing to him in many ways, most significantly not accidental that antiquity has given the sounds, that abstract round dance for anticipating methods of audio-visual common denomination musika, chorea, which is found in music [4]. polyphony (internal counterpoint), which to the unity of music, word and dance; would form the foundation for the and in Hindu aesthetics, this syncretic It is worth noting that Kandinsky development of a viable new art. harmony is preserved in the still-valid himself was oppressed by the immobility At about the same time, and completely notion of sanghit, where both music and of his abstract paintings and voiced the independently of Kandinsky, Aleksandr word are perceived equally by hearing idea of 'animating' colourful shapes by Scriabin (1872-1915) asserted the signi- and by eye. In the past, the merging of uniting them with word, gesture and ficance of audio-visual polyphony. In musique orale and musique oculaire was music on a theatre stage (he termed this 1910, as a first step toward his Mysterium, natural. This unity later disintegrated, synthesis, not very aptly, 'monumental he wrote the symphonic poem Prometheus only to acquire a new content on a new art'). As early as 1914, his script of the with the special light-line Luce in its score. spiral of evolution, that of 'instrumental' composition YellowSound was published The idea of the Luce was quite simple: synthesis. Cinematography, using new in the anthology Der Blaue Reiter [5]. colour was to change in unison with tonal artificial material, revived the unity of the Unfortunately, he overlooked the pos- dynamics in accord with a system of 'visible word'; and genuine 'visible music' sibilities offered by the use of immaterial, colour-tonal associations suggested by has become music-kinetic art, which can easily controlled light projection [6]. the composer [8]. be characterized conventionally as the art Instead, he endeavoured to make heavy The naturalness of such analogies has of 'instrumental light choreography'. scenery mobile, as exemplified by his been pointed out by many composers [9]. Musique oculaire could become instru- stage production of the Mussorgsky/Ravel Associations between mood and light,
Galeyev, The Fire ofPrometheus 385 tonality and colouring, timbre and colour, if Scriabin himself had taken part in the principal landmarks in the development determined the structure of works by the premiere, he might have made corrections of music-kinetic art in the post-revo- Russian composer A.N. Rimsky- to the Luce part as a result of a more lutionary years. Korsakov, whose 'picturesque' music mature consideration of the work. But, at stands close to the works of Claude the time, the war in Europe impeded Debussy. Incidentally, in 1890, even communications between America and 1918 earlier than Scriabin's experiments, Russia. At the Academy of Arts, the artist Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the ballet-opera At the beginning of 1917, an attempt M.V. Matiushin explored the law of Mlada whose score contains verbal was made to perform Prometheus at colour movement and its interaction with instructions regarding colour changes in Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre using ordinary sound. Similar investigations were carried the stage lighting. These colour changes, theatrical lighting techniques. The next out simultaneouslyat the Moscow Institute analysis has confirmed, precisely cor- performance was also held at the Bolshoi for Musical Science (L.L. Sabaneev, E.A. related with his system of 'colour-tonal' Theatre; the concert, commemorating the Maltseva) and the Leningrad Institute of hearing. Rimsky-Korsakov did not claim anniversary of the October Revolution, the History of Arts (V.V. Karatigin, G.M. to have discovered a new art, and this took place on 6 November 1918: the Rimsky-Korsakov). 'light-music' intention went unnoticed. young republic celebrated its first anni- As for Scriabin, his first though naive versary with a work that had brought experience with Prometheus served as an about its own revolution in the arts. 1919 impetus for his subsequent rejection of The artist V.D. Baranov-Rossine, the idea of duplicating music with colour, associated with Meyerhold's theatre in i.e. the idea of audio-visual 'unison'. He III. CHRONOLOGY 1918-1987 Moscow, demonstrated his 'optophon', a turned instead to the idea of organizing I would like to recapitulate briefly the light instrument, in combination with colour into complex spatial patterns that would interact with music in complex counterpoint relationships [10]. Scriabin's untimely death in 1915 checked work on his new synthetic composition of this kind-The Preliminary Action. There is no way of knowing either what Scriabin's intention was or what limits he could have reached. His obituary read: "The Gods have not pardoned Prometheus, and the Gods have not pardoned Prometheus for bringing the people the fire of the New Art. ..." Ultimately, Scriabin's significance for the 'New Art' lay not so much in his light score for Prometheusbut in his subsequent ideas, which remained unknown to the general public [ 11]. From today's vantage point, it seems clear that no matter how thoroughly Scriabin may have thought out his ideas, it was highly improbable that he could have realized them alone. Ideally, one could picture some congenial alliance between Scriabin and Kandinsky (or Ciurlionis), but unfortunately they never met, even though they were contem- poraries. Today, it is taken for granted that music-kinetic art (as well as the art of the theatre, cinema and television) is the product of collective creative efforts: therefore, the prospects for music-kinetic art being produced by one person do not seem favourable [12]. The vicissitudes of Prometheusserve as a vivid indication of the dramatic road of music-kinetic art. In 1915, while Scriabin was still alive, the first performance of Prometheus with light was held in New York's Carnegie Hall. Up until then, the work had been realized with light only in M,(,: . ~t
386 Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus ....
: ;'' ",~'~ ...... :,.. In he held other ~::b~' ,,, _ s a smusic (Fig. 3). 1924, light .- . . '~~i:*.:: _concerts at the Bolshoi Theatre. ' 4.~,,i.~:: .... Soon 'fF- ? _thereafter, he moved to Paris and later N perished during the Nazi occupation. The ... ~:"TZFF .. 'optophon' is now in the collection of the Centre in Paris. i ...... ';, R W;:: . t Pompidou
1922 The Soviet inventor and musician L.S. Termen (a.k.a. demonstrated ,.7!! Theremin) his Diamond Fund alarm system to '.~ ~> t 2 t; f x 7~ ~Lenin:as soon as one's hand approached r:;.::~!!ii~'~ ~9Al~~ } the antenna, the generator produced a 0 X W.'4;:,:~::,!:~~..~. '~ 'sound signal. If one moved one's hand in
.11 N 4 *asmooth pattern, the device changed into ::. . : .! ,> . . N1.,::..1~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~:.anastonishinginstrument.Leninshowed ~ ~ :::.0::.~ D an interest in this extraordinary music : ? __, -_ that seemed to be coming 'from the air' *;:4__.:'_and ;.? performedGlinka's "Skylark". Later, this instrument became known worldwide under the name 'termenvox' (Fig. 4). Interestingly, Termen usually per- formed his electronic music concerts in combination with light. During his residencein the United States (1928-1938), he set up a Soviet-American joint-stock company to produce termenvoxes. He also organized an art studio in New York
'.~ ...... _~_:~ ~ Xand~ worked on a new instrument called a _-j.... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~: 0Z~ 'terpsiton' which created music in :...... ~' ...... response to a dancer's movements. He continued to carry out his experiments ? ~ with he has , :-,+...... _..:~:.~:.:: ...... :~:~:::...... ;~ ,. light, and, related, Albert :., the ,:: i: . W Einstein, X t " r s :: .... accompanied by English .,, ...... : 7,.< ' ? ~ "!' *2' vartist M.-A. Bute, visited his studio to *--w ~ ".~~~~~~~~~:;su.. 4;~ ...... :'" . . . :' :t'~'''...' " rz'.... ' '* ' : . in music-kinetic performances :s .;.* .*"; sparticipate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A~~~~[13]. Termen has recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday and has many plans which may hold yet more surprises.
1928 G.I. Gidoni, an artist from Leningrad, delivered an unusual lecture at the Academy of Sciences to demonstrate his light grandpiano:
At lastthe radiant Febus Apollo (leader :. I _ [jof _~~~~~~ _ all muses) acquires, apart from his ,i~A~:jIlyre, iiiiiiii :'~ .!~.iiii::Z~:, the art rightfully belonging to him, the great art of light and colour. He may at last give up his lyre. Sacriligious though it may sound, today the rheostat shall take the place of Apollo's lyre!
(Just think what Gidoni might say were he to see one of today's laser devices.) .. _...... During the period 1930-33, Gidoni --w-R.RT ~~~~~~~~publishedhis book The Art of Light and Colour [14] and organized a laboratory bearing the same name as his book (and B staffed by only one person) affiliated with the Academy of Sciences. Here he designed a model of a huge light monument to the Fig. 6. (a) Scriabin'sdaughter at the controlpanel of hermusic-kinetic art device,1948. The Revolution: a semi-transparent globe deviceis nowdismantled. (b) The light apparatus on the ceilingof the museum.(Archive photo) placed on top of a structure made up of a
Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus 387 cog-wheel, a hammer and a sickle (Fig. 5). The spectators would be able to perceive audio-visual music both within and without this gigantic globe. The model was shown to government members, and :n: they endorsed it. Unfortunately, realizing the project proved an insurmountable ...... ,_I u_=_...- task at the time; only much later, at the exhibitions Expo-58 and Expo-70, did something along the same lines appear, but on a smaller scale. Gidoni's life had much in common with that of the American 'lumia' artist Thomas Wilfred, who in 1930 set up the Art Institute of Light (with a staff just as 'large' as Gidoni's) and dreamed about building a 'Temple of Light' with a huge visual carillon, a projectthat also remained unrealized. Nevertheless, the names of both Gidoni and Wilfred will be remembered in the history of 'space-age art' just as those of Gagarin and Armstrong have entered into the history of astronautics [15].
Fig. 7. The controlpanel of the music-kineticart instrumentset up in the 'Rossiya'cinema- 1932 concerthall, where Prometheus was performed,1975. In the ancient small town of Tver (now Kalinin) near Moscow, P.P. Kondratsky's book Colorostatics, which deals with, among other things, the prospects of endeavoured single-handedly to maintain Both Murzin and Termen realized that colour dynamics, was published. Experi- the fire of Prometheus. In 1940, the film electronic music has an inherent affinity ments with lumia music instruments director Sergei Eisenstein presented a with light. Unusual concerts were held in supported his findings. lumia music production of Wagner's Die the Scriabin Museum. Not all efforts were Walkire and published his book The immediately successful; the search was VerticalEditing [16]; he then began work difficult and many musicians were only 1934 on a new concept, that of'non-indifferent just beginning to comprehend Scriabin's The 'Kinemachrome' system was nature'. Both this concept and his book daring ideas. developed at the Leningrad State Optical are devoted to audio-visual film editing, Institute for use in the huge Palace of but because of Eisenstein's profound Soviets of the USSR, which was being analyses, they go even further and delve Since 1960 designed for the center of Moscow. In the into the theory of light and music The cybernetic boom of the 1960s, assembly hall, capable of accommodating synthesis. when engineers began to speak seriously 15,000 spectators, lumia concerts were to The fire of the new art was barely about the possibility of machines engaging be performed. At last, it seemed that the glimmering in the Scriabin Museum, in creativeactivities, rendered the situation moment had come for realizing the located on a quiet Moscow lane. The more complex. Norbert Wiener, the dreams of Scriabin's followers. composer's daughter was designing father of cybernetics, warned of the The outbreak of World War II put an lighting equipment for a performance of emergenceof a tribe of vehement 'machine end to all these plans. It was no longer an Preliminary Action. In 1946-48, her worshippers', which he saw as a threat for auspicious time for dreams, not even in lighting device, though not complex, was the USSR as well [17]. the United States, far from the hostilities; being assembled in one of the museum's A laboratory of 'colour music' was set Wilfred's Art Institute of Light was rooms (Fig. 6). This timid little flame up at one of the institutes of the Academy mobilized for the aims of military drew around it all those who still believed of Sciences in Moscow. Its director, K.L. medicine. The fate of his Soviet colleagues in the 'art of luminous sounds'. Leontiev, maintained that composers and was harsher still. As for the steel E.A. Murzin, a war veteran and artists were no longer necessary; one framework of the Palace of Soviets, on engineer, came to work for the Scriabin needed only to 'input' into his apparatus which construction already had begun, it Museum. As early as the 1930s, he had the music of Scriabin or any other was used for making anti-tank devices to begun working on a photo-electronic composer and the computer would put defend Moscow-this time it was the god music synthesizer. (When he completed out the single 'most reliable' version of Mars who interfered with the dream of the instrument in 1957, he named it 'ANS' the light accompaniment [18]. However, the radiant Apollo. in honour of Aleksandr Nicolaevich he overlooked the fact that it was a Scriabin.) Whereas with the 'termenvox' human being, after all, who prepared the the music is created by moving one's hand computer program he used for his 1940s and 1950s in the air, here it is drawn, like an compositions. After a few years, Leontiev There remained only a handful of engraving upon glass, and something relinquished this idea, and his per- individuals who, by fits and starts, unprecented emerges-space timbres. formances of Prometheus in 1962 and
388 Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus 1975 were given under manual control in quantities of unsophisticated music and Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, keeping with Scriabin's score (Fig. 7). light 'synchronizers'-hardly the type of Stravinsky, Boulez) and of lumia-music But at that time, in the 1960s, many fire Prometheus was meant to engender. films [19], the most recent being Space people, both in the USSR and abroad, Scriabin's flame was taken up by other Sonata (1981) (Color Plate B, No. 2), believed in the idea of music-kinetic art hands. In 1962, the group Prometei which was accompanied by electronic created 'by a machine'. Some automatic (Prometheus), of which I am a chief music. The films are unusual not only psychedelic toys are left over from this member, was formed in Kazan. We chose because of their images but because of the period of electronic expansion, such as the name 'Prometei' to underscore our techniques used: although black-and- the devices used with dance music in objectives. After an initial performance white objects are shot using standard discotheques. Throughout the world, of Scriabin's"Poem of Fire", we presented black-and-whitefilm, the resultingpositive industrialized countries were producing a series of lumia music concerts (Scriabin, film is multi-coloured. In 1979 our group Prometei established a studio and music-kinetic art museum in Kazan; though the museum is small, it proves that the new art has deep historical roots (Fig. 8a). A unique 'spatial music' device operates in the main hall: the sound shifts smoothly along any con- ceivable trajectory within the hall in response to the movement of one's hand over the control panel (Fig. 8b). Prometei has used light in the design of some of the new architecture (Fig. 9), and we have produced decorativemusic-kinetic devices (Fig. 10) [20]. We also carry out research into colour hearing (synaesthesia) and experimentswith children'painting music'. The group publishes monographs on the history, theory and technique of the new art as well [21]. Similar activities were pursued by the members of the Kharkov music-kinetic art studio, which was organized in 1969 A by Yu.A. Pravdiuk. His technique is close to those used by Wilfred (U.S.A.) and F. Bentham (England) for their music- kinetic art concerts. The repertoire of the Kharkov studio includes dozens of light- _IJI painting interpretations of music by Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Wagner, Dvo?rak. Among Pravdiuk's recent works is the music-kinetic art production of A. Ribnikov's rock opera Juno and Happy-go-lucky (1984), based on Andrei Voznesensky's poem telling of the long-standing ties between Russia and the U.S.A. In the last two decades, music-kinetic art concerts have been held regularly in Leningrad, Uzhgorod, Alma-Ata, etc. Laser art concerts are given in a hall of the Cosmonautics Memorial Museum in Moscow. In a number of universities and institutes, such halls function as part of an intensive teaching program. Several documentary films devoted to music- kinetic art have been released recently, for example, ColourandMusic by Scriabin (Moscow) and Possession (Kazan). There is a similarity between music-kinetic art and the experimental film Space-Earth- . 1 ??i*?-?- ??*?-----.- - 1 Space (Moscow), which recalls the time travel episode from S. Kubrick's 2001: A B Space Odyssey. Music-kinetic art forms Fig. 8. (a) One of the rooms in the Kazan Music-Kinetic Art Studio. (b) The equipmentthat the basis for the plot of the 1981 feature operates the 'space music' in the main hall of the Kazan Music-Kinetic Art Studio. film The Nemukhin Musicians, derived
Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus 389 from a fairy tale by V. Kaverin. And in experiments within the framework of a is ready to ensure the proper conditions 1982, a television production of Pro- special research center [23]. It is also (socio-economic, pedagogical, etc.) for metheus with light was realized under the substantiated by bibliographic surveys on achieving the desired harmonic develop- auspices of Leningrad television. music-kinetic art [24]. Since 1742, it turns ment of humanity and hence of an Today's forms of the art of dynamic out, there have been more than 1000 individual. The road to this objective is light are diverse; Scriabin hardly could publications in Russian, counting just neither easy nor straight. One thing is have foreseen all that modern technology books and articles alone. And each year certain, though: it is possible to arrive at has made possible today. But in a more sees an increase in the number of works this long-awaited and fruitful union of general way, his predictions are coming devoted to the new art. Moreover, the science, technology and art provided the true. His dream of some form of fluid standards governing the theoretical god Mars does not interfere with the god architecture prefigured, for example, the considerations of the problem have risen Apollo. music-kinetic art fountains that today noticeably [25]. I was shocked to see a recent television decorate squares and public gardens in Now to ask a simple yet perplexing presentation of a U.S. documentary many Russian cities (and even in some question: why has music-kinetic art video-recording that featured the first collective farms and settlements). lagged behind the cinema and television test of the orbital laser weapon: a dazzling His idea of synthesizing architecture in its development, especially considering greenflash accompanied by Tchaikovsky's and light and of fusing them with speech that all three were conceived at roughly majestic chords! Is this the type of light and theatre resembles the dramatized son the same time, i.e. the beginning of the and music synthesis on a global scale that et lumiere performances in which voices twentieth century? The answer I would humankind is to look forward to? and noises shifting in space 'act' in place give is that the techniques used for the "We who have worked with lumia", of actors. The Prometei group first cinema and television are open to wrote Wilfred in 1947, "firmly believe it experimented with son et lumiere in 1970 unification and standardization. A film will someday symbolize the emergence of with the presentation of Forever in produced in the USSR, for instance, can a humanity with a right to the name, quite People's Memory, performed in Kazan be shown in any American cinema theatre possibly", he continues with bitter and dedicated to the twenty-fifth anni- and vice versa. The situation is different misgivings, "the chastened survivors of versaryof the victory over Nazi Germany. for music-kinetic art. One cannot separate the last atomic rampage". I can only More recently, our colleagues have the act of creating the work of art from agree with his words that "to lay the installed a permanent light-and-sound producing the instruments.The techniques smallest stone in the foundation, to bring complex in Samarkand [22]. of music-kinetic art (if one leaves out the tiniest flame from the eternal fire to Scriabin dreamed of bringing his 'acts' psychedelic toys) are not susceptible to light the way, is a truly noble calling" not merely into the open air but into unification; each music-kinetic art instru- [27]. If there is no threat of war, if nuclear heaven and the clouds as well. A similar ment is unique, as is any work of art. And testing grounds fall silent, if humankind's type of aspiration seemed present in the each time a new work is produced, one is intellectual powers serve the cause of laser experiments that were conducted at obliged to think once again of new peace, then perhaps our most fantastic the most recent World Festival of Youth techniques, methods and technology. dreams can become reality. and Students, especially when the festival's And the closest possible unity between The father of Soviet 'practical cos- 'ox-eye daisy' started rotating in the night artisticand technical creativityis essential, monautics', S.P. Korolev, after having sky over thousands of people. be it for an individual or a team [26]. read a description of a 'light symphony' Most of these experiments were demon- Are these specific features and dif- in science-fiction writer I. Efremov's strated at the All-Union Festival of'Light ficulties really insurmountable? They novel TheNebula of Andromeda,proposed and Music', which was held 20-30 certainly are not, provided a community to use music-kinetic art on board future September 1987 in Kazan to com- memorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Prometei's founding. Music-kinetic art concerts were held in conjunction with the exhibition 'Art and Technology' (similar to the 'Electra' exposition held at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 1984).
IV. CONCLUSION Although I have tried to give a broad view of the subject, my account is incomplete due to its brevity. I should point out that both in the USSR and in other countries, music-kinetic art, the art of light, has not become an accessible and everyday phenomenon and its achieve- ments leave much to be desired. It is, however, a new art still in its early stages of development. An encouraging sign is that the public's interest in the problem of synthesis is not waning. This is borne out by publications that point to the need for Fig.9. A modeldesigned by Prometei showing the music-kinetic art design for the exterior of the coordinating all individual kinetic-art Kazan Conservatory, 1975.
390 Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus Fig. 10. 'Disco',1983, one of the music-kineticart devicesdesigned by Prometeithat has beenproduced in quantity.
space stations. In fact, the three-volume that in 1980 all the bells of a white-walled moons-Earth satellites of different joint Soviet-American publication Space Moscow would ring out Scriabin's designs and colours. And this has almost Biology and Medicine, published a few Prometheus. Was this fantasy? Already in become a reality. If one were to take even years ago, actually contains a section on the 1920s, there were attempts to perform the smallest share of the sums currently music-kinetic art-the art of the space 'hooter symphonies' actually using factory being spent on armaments, it would age, of a peaceful space age. Permit me to hooters. Permit me again to give free rein suffice for staging a performance of a fantasize: spaceships are being launched to my fancy: over the transparent genuine space sonata, using superpowerful from Cape Canaveral and the Baikonur parallelepipeds of skyscrapers, over the continuous-action lasers and the face of launch site to repeat the 'Apollo-Soyuz' cities, there arise in the night sky enormous the Moon forming a natural screen handclasp-a joint Marsventure, perhaps; northern lights-an aurora borealis surrounded by shimmering starsjoined in in the comfortable spaceship compart- controlled by a music-kinetic artist a round dance-a space sonata for the ments, audio-visual music will flicker on performing Scriabin'sPrometheus. Again, entire planet-Scriabin's Mysterium. It the screens-possibly Prometei's Space why not? In accord with the joint research could be timed to the beginning of the Sonata. And why not ...? program 'Arax', Soviet and French third millenium, already near at hand. These, of course, are not the only scientists already have stimulated artificial Surely humanity is worthy of such a things that might happen. At the beginning flashes of northern lights in the sky. holiday. At any rate, we are striving of this century, a Russian poet forecast Visionary artistsdream of huge artificial towards it!
Galeyev, The Fire ofPrometheus 391 APPENDIX At the Sourcesof the Idea of 'Seeing Music' in Russia
Bulat M. Galeyev
The entire issue of the newspaper all other phenomena of nature including project brought about a storm of Sanktpeterburgskievedemosti, No. 35, 29 the cosmos, which they thought of as a discussions in scientific circles all over April 1742, is dedicated to the coronation huge harmonically tuned instrument of Europe. His extraordinary ideas were of Elizabeth I. Among other news items is divine origin. According to the received favorably by the composers the following brief communication from Pythagoreans all the 'planets' (including Rameau, Telemann, Gretry. Critics of the world of science: both the Moon and the Sun) rotated Castel's musique oculaire included such aroundthe Earthalong orbits proportional celebrated contemporaries as Rousseau, Thismorning the ImperialAcademy of to the gradations of the scale, continually d'Alembert and Diderot, who expressed Sciencesheld a publicmeeting to bring producing the inaudible sounds of the so- their sharply negative attitudes toward the festivities to a close. Mr. Kraft, called 'music of the spheres'. The students his ideas in the famous professorof physics,delivered a speech Encyclopaedia. on the eye-pleasingclavichord recently of Pythagoras even managed to obtain Voltaire sarcastically nicknamed him the inventedin France.He alsoendeavored concrete data about this extraterrestrial 'Don Quixote of mathematics'. to resolve, on a physical basis, the space music: according to one version, The above-mentioned academicians Can if following question: colours, Saturn produced a sound similar to the from St. Petersburg subjected Castel's arrangedin a particularmanner, provide note the Sun- a deaf person with the same type of B, Jupiter-C, Mars-D, musique oculaire to a thorough analysis. enjoymentas we experiencewhen our E, Mercury-F, Venus-G, the Moon- The discussions were based on Castel's earsperceive a harmoniousconsonance A. It is amazing that a similar type of well-known publications in French of musicaltones? This was answered by musical cosmology developed, inde- journals as well as on a certain letter DoctorWeitbrecht, of professor physio- pendently of the in ancient 'from which had been as logy. ... Pythagoreans, Paris', received, Oriental cultures, principally in India and reported by Kraft, by the Russian These "Speeches delivered during the in China [30]. This yet again testifies to Academy of Sciences in 1741, exactly one public meeting of the Imperial Academy the existence of a distinct unity in the year earlier. (Judging by the evidence, of Sciences on 29 April 1742" have been development of diverse cultures [31]. Russia at the time was not familiar with preserved. Up until now, they have not During the Middle Ages and the Castel's principal work [33] nor with the been given due attention, having received Renaissance, the 'music of the spheres' book of his interpreter G.-F. Telemann only brief mention [28]. However, experienced a revival. Its most noticeable [34].) familiarity with the "Speeches" makes it recurrence was in the teachings of J. Kraft began his criticism by turning to evident that they deserve a more thorough Kepler who, in his "Harmony of the Galileo, who had noted a definite consideration-especially in light of the Universe" ("Harmonices Mundi", 1619), relationship between the observed oscil- present revival of interest in the idea of which contained his three famous laws, lations of the pendulum and its length, an 'seeing' music ... revealed again and 'definitively' the score indisputable fact yet one that irritated What is this clavichordoculaire devised of this planetary symphony, this time, Kraft in that Galileo used relationships by the French Jesuit monk L.-B. Castel, however, not in its geocentric but in its and terms such as 'fifth' and 'octave'. "It known for his work in mathematics and heliocentric version [32]. is true", reasoned Kraft, "that he has physics? For clarification, one must turn Isaac Newton, who fell under the spell presented an agreement, but it is one that to even more distant times. of Kepler's "Harmony of the Universe", is lifeless, neither alive nor musical. Pythagoras (6th century B.C.), through compelled himself to 'hear' echoes of the Instead of a living and fullblooded body his experiments with string, discovered 'music of the spheres' in the spectrum as there are dead and dry bones; instead of that the structure of the musical scale is in well, dividing it specifically into seven magnificent palaces, a base shelter of keeping with strict numericalproportions. colours, and not any other number of branches".In his criticism,Kraft, speaking As is obvious today, Pythagoras's colours (even though in Europe at the as a physicist, argued seriously that the discoveryrepresented for Europeanscience time it was customary to single out five low frequency of the oscillations of in general the first physical law to be independent colours; other peoples, by Galileo's pendulum accounted for their expressed in an explicit mathematical the way, even today divide the spectrum inaudibilityand consequently the impossi- form [29]. Thus it is not surprising that, differently). bility of admitting them into the realm of considering this law as unique and Newton was by no means thinking of music. And he linked the emergence of an universal, Pythagoreans used the pro- creating a new art on the basis of this audible sound with the frequent 'vibra- portions of musical acoustics to explain analogy of "seven tones of the scale- tions' of the string. He saw the ideas of seven colours of the spectrum" (a transferring musical proportions into the fortuitous analogy, as we see it, devoid of realm of colours as providing an even any true physical content). This was left greater basis for criticism: "I do not Translated from the Russian "Y HCTOKOBimeC to Castel (1688-1757) who, after reading believe", he said, "that there would exist <
392 Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus no fifth", Kraft concludes, "there is no to amuse the eyes by the hearing we will the same time, however, many of them " music. ... undoubtedly get a revolt. questioned the hypothetical possibility of Nor did Kraft ignore the above- seeing music altogether; many, but not mentioned fact of dividing the spectrum Weitbrecht believed that if Galileo did all. Weitbrecht, although he had leveled into seven colours, which had been wish to hear 'music' in the oscillations of harsh criticism at Castel, concluded his undertakenby Newton. However, attemp- the pendulum, then this music was speech with the following words: "It may ting to justify Newton, he pointed out "imaginary and philosophical". This is easily come about that some kind of that "we do not immediately perceive" precisely how Castel regarded his own enjoyment will be found for our eyes that " the zones dividing the spectrum into idea, for he considered himself a philo- will delight us no less than music.... separate colours but rather discover them sopher and readily renounced his fame as M.V. Lomonosov, who was present at "by means of our mind", and that the inventor of the new instrument. this memorable session, also did not Newton himself "did not think of Until the end of the nineteenth century, ignore this problem. He subsequently establishing musical agreement from it was a matter dealing only with the ideas noted in one of his physics papers: colours". One might just as well, of seeing music (and not with the art "Colours agree amazingly with music ..." maintained Kraft, imagine a person "who itself). I should also point out that for [36]. And in an ode commemorating the on sheets of paper would write down Castel's supporters and critics this idea anniversary of the coronation of empress numbers forming a harmonic or some was first and foremost a philosophical Elizabeth I, he introduced these lines, other progression and then, after shuffling problem and, more specifically, one that which were incomprehensible to readers: them, would expect them to yield some concerned the natural sciences. Castel's Hush, ye flaming sounds, form of musical enjoyment". Kraft's ideas of seeing sounds and of a 'music for Stop shaking light! ... arguments remain valid even today. the eyes', which he intended only for the Soon after the discussion of Castel's The arguments of the second speaker, 'philosophical' eye, not merely became ideas, L. Eiler, another academician from academician I. Weitbrecht, "doctor of known as fancies of the mind [35] or as Petersburg, presented his special investi- medicine and professor of physiology", the symbol of the absurd but turned into a gation "Physical observations relating to were more fundamental. He spoke more touchstone of sorts on which the blade of the propagation of sound and light", sharply than Kraft, who had been polemics was sharpened: Condillac in his which contained meticulous computations fascinated at times, during this discussion, arguments with the rationalist school in of the frequencies of musical tones. In by physical analogies and often had been philosophy ("Treatise on systems"); consequence, he is commonly regardedas 'under the influence' of Castel, arguing Diderot and d'Alembert arguing with an adherent of Castel's ideas. But in his about insignificant details. "I have always Rameau about whether harmony is a papers, he did not draw any analogies been of the opinion", said Weitbrecht, as science (Encyclopaedia); Rousseau sup- between definite sounds and colours, he took the floor, "that it is easier and porting the 'encyclopaedists' in their although, for the first time in science, the simpler for a legless man to learn to walk criticism of the 'mathematicization' of art difference in colours was related to the on his hands than for us to perceive with and pointing to the difference in the difference in the frequency of the our eyes sounds presented in various perception of sound and colour according corresponding vibrations of ether [37]. colours and to perceive them with the to the role played by, to use current (By the way, Castel's followers, if they very same sweetness with which they terminology, the "reflex to the relation of had known this fact, could have deprived enter our ears". the irritants" ("A study on the origin of Kraft of his principal critical argument.) Discriminating between the abilities to language"); Goethe and Buffon pointing Naturally, he did not have thoughts of see, hear and reason, Weitbrecht backed to the fortuity of Newton's analogy and devising a musique oculaire. Comparing Kraft in that, by its physical nature, stressing that, in nature and for human sound and light was necessary only for colour cannot affect eyesight the way organs, sound and colour appear as comparing their methods of propagation. sound affects hearing. He also pointed independentprocesses ("Theory of colour" Of course, light propagates in a different out that the organs of vision and of and "Observation of random colours", medium, and if air were as "thin and hearing have different structures, which respectively); it becomes Herder's argu- elastic" as ether, maintained Eiler, sound rules out the possibility for them to affect ment in his dispute with Lessing con- would have a speed of propagation equal 'our soul' in the same way. And, finally, cerning the difference between 'action' to that of light. he came to his main argument that it is and 'consequence' in classifying the arts It is of interest to pursue further the impossible for "our thoughts about ("Critical scaffolding, or considerations destiny of Castel's ideas in Russia and to diverse and specific objects representedin relating to the science of the beautiful and compare the new criticism with the different ways to evoke the same or art, on the basis of recent investigations"); conclusions of the Petersburg acade- similar reactions (either positive or etc. micians. negative)". It is plain to us today that Castel's ideas For Russian readers, another signi- Thus he arrived at the following are non-artistic and non-aesthetic in ficant impetus stimulating their interest conclusion: "Accords in music are content and natural-philosophical by in musique oculaire was the book by the pleasing, and colors are also pleasing, but origin, following the course of a meta- German writer K. Eckartshausen, The in a completely different way." Music is physical quest for confirmation of the Key to the Mysteries of Nature, which was constructed on the change of tones, unity of the universe, apprehending it as widely known in Europe during the late whereas the effect of colour is based on the discovery of universal constants and eighteenth century and was translated constancy: analogies of a Pythagorean kind. All the into Russian many times. The film director opponents of Castel mentioned above, S. Eisenstein cites vast passages of it in A single colour may be quite pleasant both foreign and Russian, analyzed and The VerticalEditing: by itself, yet, as the saying goes, one criticized in the main this natural-philo- does not make much noise. string And, of vice versa, their frequent and rapid sophical analogy 'spectrum-scale', For a long time I have been change will sooner dazzle our eyes than the idea of the simple mechanistic investigating the harmony of all provide enjoyment. So, when desiring transformation of music into colour. At sensuousimpressions. To makeit more
Galeyev, The Fire ofPrometheus 393 obvious, I have amended the musical (We may note that this has much in art) literally forced his contemporaries, machine invented by Father Castel so common with the anti-Castel arguments though prematurely, and as if 'acci- as to make it to all possible produce of Rousseau, Weitbrecht and Herder.) dentally', to state their opinions on the chords of colour exactly as chords of tones. Here is a description of the Gonzaga compared space and colour to very idea of seeing music. True, many of machine: I had some glass cylinders musical accents and tones and believed his critics could not go by themselves made, all equal in their dimensions and that for making visual music "spatial beyond the framework of metaphysical half an inch in diameter, and filled them rhythm and colour modulations are speculations; however, the explanations with coloured in with liquids keeping He to divide in as to Castel was contained the theory of colours. I arranged these required". proposed space why wrong cylinders just as strings in a clavichord a manner similar to the division of time. many correct observations. are positioned, dividing tints of colour If Castel's works became widely known The concept of instrumental 'music for in the same way that tones are divided. in Europe in due time and his analogy, his the eyes', lacking the stimulus of genuine The cylinders were closed by copper 'music of colour', became even a sort of aesthetic inquiry and the technical flaps placed behind them. As the flaps rose, colours were revealed. ... The trite metaphor in the literatureand poetry prerequisites for testing, stiffened in a clavichord was lit from behind by tall of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scholasticstupor and developedno further, candles. It is impossible to describe the then Gonzaga's contribution to the although in Russia as well as in the West beauty of the emerging colours for they development of the concept of visual from time to time information was the most valuable He surpass jewels. music is known but little about either Castel himself who was the first to speak of a music for among specialists published (in the eyes was held in derision..., in aesthetics and musicologists, especially reference books) or fresh discoveries of nevertheless this did not frighten me among foreign ones. It was Gonzaga who the idea of the 'color clavichord' [40]. But [38]. was the first to point to the feasibility of the largest publication along this line at an actual 'musical' vision. At the same the of the nineteenth But the principle proposed by beginning century time, he realized the triviality and was a satirical article that derided not Eckartshausen differs substantially from of Castel's colour modulations. Castel but his the ideas of Castel. Eckartshausen emptiness only supporters-Gretry, He compared music with the richest etc. [41]. Russian readers were familiar abandoned speculativephysical analogies: realm of visible and it was with with the later criticismsof Castel contained "Just as musical tones should be in shapes, that he as in the works of J.W. H. accord with the author's narration in a contours, drawings, compared, Goethe, did Rousseau, melody-the principal Helmholtz, W. Ostwald, M. Mendelssohn. melodrama", he supposed, "so too should 'information carrier' in music. He could T. Seemann's musicomorphous concept colours correspond to words", for also discern the hypothetical possibility of pictorial colouring had revived a short- "colours can express the sentiments of the of 'music for the soul.... " realizing the eyes' lived interest in the problem; it had been metaphor when paying attention to the popularized in various forms by Russia's The Italian theatre artist P. Gonzaga unique light-dynamicpheno- own followers of Castel up until 1910, the (1751-1831), who had worked for many non-objective menon of artificial origin and intended year the composer A.N. Scriabin created years in Russia and published his work for purposes of art-fireworks. Gonzaga Prometheus, the first light-musical com- Musique Oculaire [39] here, came even believed that fireworks a in the world are closer to an artistic treatment of the possess striking position [42-47]. They similarity to music in the proper sense of mentioned here merely to illustrate the problem of seeing music. In his numerous the word: belated and unmotivated recurrence of productions, he sought to give a plastic mechanicalism and reductionism in art. presentation of music and drama, Already by the late nineteenth attempting to obtain a harmonious century, Fireworks contain, along with the other after electricity had been mastered and audio-visual unity; and in some perfor- musical characteristics already noted, attempts were being made to build mances, even the changing of scenery the great advantage of never being working 'colour could occurred in accordance with the music. constant, durable; combinations of organs', spectators and colours in see for themselves that the of He stated that the musical element was shapes develop time, flashing undergo changes and vanish rapidly, colours according to the 'law' of Newton predominant in the theatrical culture of similar to modulations and tones, (Castel, Seemann,etc.) in no way coincided his time and noted the lack of interest in musical rhythm. Consecutive develop- with the artistic and emotional influence the visible, which, so he thought, had a ment and motion are essential here and of the music that had been 'translated' 'music' of its own. Gonzaga did not rule contribute to the momentary enjoyment of changes. And, lastly, this is just the into colour: the experiments of B. Bishop out the existence of analogies between the optical clavichord and, by its very in the U.S.A., B. Taillet in France, A. spectrumand the octave, but he considered essence, music for the eyes.... Rimington in Britain, A. Scriabin in it wrong to use them to produce musique Russia. The conclusions of the oculaire in accordance with Castel's Petersburg This period of direct critical appraisal academicians proved prophetic. principle: of Castel's ideas in Russia can be It becomes evident that regularities of regarded as finished. As shown above, 'audio-visual harmony' should be sought [Castel] did not take into consideration that colours act in space while sounds these ideas were called into being not not in the sphere of physical extra-human act in time, that our ears like to perceive because of the requirements of art but analogies [48] but on the basis of sounds in succession, one after the rather because of the attitude of the past comparison of the physiological, psycho- other, whereas our eyes like to observe centuries that was ready to treat music as logical and, ultimately, aesthetic influence colours side arranged simultaneously 'one of the of mathematics' of and colour by side. He failed to appreciate that this applications light (which correspondingly momentary process is contrary to the (as V.F. Odoevsky put it). This detailed characterizes the notions of 'audio-visual peculiarities of vision, which wishes to account of Castel and his critics is not unity' and 'audio-visual harmony' as a dwell on things and finds it just as presented here merely to provide a gnoseological category). And it is here difficult to the instantaneous grasp complete historical background. We are that real exist for the relationshipsbetween objects that follow possibilities one after the other as it would be for the dealing with an amazing experiment advancement of the ideas of 'seeing ear to perceivepersistent non-alternating staged by history: Castel with his theory music', as manifest in the currentpractice sounds. (even though it has no direct bearing on of the so-called music-kinetic art [49-53].
394 Galeyev, The Fire ofPrometheus REFERENCES AND NOTES mentions that Scriabinhad marked by u My3blKa" (me3ucbl )oKAaooe)(The All- hand on a copy of the Prometheusscore Union school of young scientists and 1. It can be arguedthat the idea of 'seeing' whathis ideaswere regarding this kind of specialists"light and music" [theses of musicwas firststated by the Frenchmonk revisionto the Luce. This hand-marked reports]) (Kazan: KAI, 1979); and L.-B. Castel as early as the eighteenth scoreis not in the collectionof the Scria- Haywno-mexHuuecKuuceMunap "Ceemo- century,but in realityCastel's conception bin Museum. it is the ycmpoucmea KaKmoeapbi Perhaps copy pre- My3blKa,bHbie " did not deal with art. It is worth noting sently kept in the Bibliothequenationale HapouHozo nompe6Aenun (me3ucbl that Castel'sideas weresubjected to pro- in Paris (whereit was placedafter Saba- doKlaiao6) (Scientific technical seminar foundtheoretical analysis in Russia;for a neev's death). Verification of this by "music-kinetic art devices as consumer detaileddiscussion of the history of the French scholars would be a worthy goods" [thesesof reports])(Kazan: KAI, idea of 'seeing music' in Russia,see the endeavour. 1986). HayqHo-TexHHqecKHiiceMHHap Appendixfor a translationof my article 11. These have been scrupulouslycollected "CHHTe3 HCKyCCTB B 3noxy HTP" "Y HCTOKOB HlaeH 'BHleHHlS My3bIKH' B from the reminiscencesof his contempo- (Te3HCCbIaoKJIaaoB). 20-30 ceHTs6ps 1987 PoccHH" (At the sourcesof 'seeingmusic' rariesand havebeen presented in a special r.: B nporpaMMe BcecoIo3Hoii IiKOJIbI in Russia), first published in Bonpocbl monograph; see I.L. Vanechkina and MOjio,abiXyqeHbix H cnemaanacToe"CBeT ucmopuu ecmecmeo3unanu u mexnuKu B.M. Galeyev, 17o3Ma OZHSi(KOHuenyun H My3bIKa".(Scientific technical seminar (The Questions of Natural Sciences and ceemoMy3b1KaAbHozocunme3a A.H. "The synthesisof the Arts in the epoch Technology History), No. 2, 130-135 CKpn6una)(The poem of fire [Scriabin's of Scientific-and-Technicalrevolution" (1985). idea of the synthesisof light and music]) [thesesof reports]20-30 September1987: 2. I would like to correct those Western (Kazan: Izd. Kazanskogo universiteta, Withinthe bounds of All-Unionschool- sources that claim this work was orig- 1981). festivalof young scientistsand specialists inally publishedabroad, first in Munich 12. The Soviet composer A. Nemtin has "Light and music")(Kazan: KAI, 1987). (1912) and then in London (1914), and ' made up' The Preliminary Action on the Concerningsimilar types of specialized thata Russianversion was publishedonly basis of the musical extracts that have gatheringsoutside of Russia, the only in 1967(in the United States).In fact,the beenpreserved. The light scoreis againin ones of which I am aware are the three paper was delivered in Russian even keepingwith the formerprinciple (rejected ' Farbe-Ton-Forschungen' congresses earlier:in 1911, it was presentedat the by Scriabin) of the Prometheus Luce, heldin Hamburg,Germany, in 1927,1929 All-Russian Congress of Artists in Pet- whichmakes it possibleto dispensewith and 1931. rogradand was publishedafterwards in the light accompaniment(as was actually 21. B.M. Galeyev and S.A. Andreyev, llpun- the Proceedingsof the congress. the case with the firstperformances). The yunbi Koncmpyupoeanuu c6emoMy3blKaAb- 3. B.M. Galeyev, CeemoMy3blKa:cmanHos,e- light scoresin the music-kineticartworks HbIXycmpo0ucm6 (Principles for designing Hue u cyulHocmb no6eoo ucKyccmea of other successorsto Scriabin'sidea of a music-kineticart devices) (Moscow: Ener- (Music-kinetic art: the formation and 'light symphony'are similarlydevoid of giya, 1973). essence of the new art) (Kazan:Tatkni- organicunity; for example,V. Shcherbat- HcKyccm6oceemnujuxcA 36yKOb (The art goizdat, 1976; Hobowuan padyza (The chev's"Nonet" (1919), V. Polevoy'spiano of luminoussounds) (Kazan: KAI, 1973). singingrainbow) (Kazan: Tatknigoizdat, "Poem"(1966) and R. Shchedrin'scontata XyoomcecmneHHbieu mexnuuecKue 3Kcne- 1980); and Codpymcecmeo yecnme u "Poetoria"(1970). puMenmbi CKE " HpoMemei " (Artistic cunme3 ucKyccm6 (The harmony of the 13. M.-A. Bute later gained fame with her and technical experiments of the senses and the synthesis of the arts) 'visual music' films,which includedThe designer's office "Prometei") (Kazan: (Moscow:Znanie, 1982). Colour Rhapsody, Anitra's Dance, The KAI, 1974). 4. A.V. Lunacharsky, "06 H3o6pa3HTeib- Evening Star and Tarantella. B.M. Galeyev and R.F. Sajfullin, Cnemo- HOM HcKyccTBe" (On Fine Art), 2 vols. 14. G.I. Gidoni, HcKyccmeo ceema u yeema My3blKaAbHbieycmpoficm6a (Lumia music (Moscow: Sovietsky chudozhnik, 1967) v. (The art of light and colour)(Leningrad, devices)(Moscow: Energiya,1978), and l,p. 184. 1930)p. 16. mexHuca ducKomeKu (Discotheque 5. The anthology does not contain the 15. In my opinion, Wilfred'sachievements equipment)(Moscow: APN USSR,1983). musicalscore. Years later attemptswere have been underratedin America.As is B.M.Galeyev, S.M. Zorin and R.F.Sajful- made to 'make it up'; the Soviet com- known,his principaltheoretical work on lin, CeemoMy3blKayAbHbieuHcmpyMenmbi poser A. Shnitke tried in 1973, and the 'lumia' still remains unpublished;see (Music-kineticart instruments)(Moscow: Americancomposer G. Shullerin 1981. D. Stein, Thomas Wilfred: Lumia Radioi svyaz,1988). 6. This possibility was recognizedby the (Washington,DC, 1971)p. 61. 22. It is worth noting that son et lumiere artist R. Delaunay and the sculptor A. 16. S.M. Eisenstein, H36panaHbe couUHneHU performances,though infrequentin the Archipenko, both of whom suggested that (Selected works), Vol. 2 (Moscow: USSR, U.S.A., F.R.G. and Japan, are light be used to 'animate' abstract paint- Iskusstvo,1964). popularin the Mediterraneancountries, ings. The nonfigurationist painter A.B. 17. Norbert Wiener, God and Golem, Inc. wherethey play a rolein tourism. Klein, who realized the possibilities of (Cambridge,MA: MITPress, 1964). 23. See, for example, Pravda, 5 February light, became a leading British specialist 18. K.L. Leontiev, My3blKa u yeem (Music 1981, Sovetskaya Kultura, 18 November in music-kinetic art; see his book Colour and colour)(Moscow: Znanie, 1961), and 1980, and Sovetskaya Kultura, 21 July " Music: The Art of Light (London, 1926). LH(em "HpoMeme (The colour of 1987. The French artist P. Survage and the "Prometheus") (Moscow: Znanie, 1965). 24. CeemoMy3buKaAbHbie3KcnepuMenmbi CKE Swedish artist and filmmaker V. Eggeling 19. See B.M. Galeyev, "Music-KineticArt "IlpoMemefi": Eu6AuoepafiuuecKufuyKa- instinctively used the new technique of Medium: On the Work of the Group 3ameAb (1962-1978) (Music-kineticart film projection to achieve these unusual 'Prometei' (SKB), Kazan, U.S.S.R.", experiments of the designer's office aims. Leonardo9, 177-182 (1976). "Prometei ": bibliographic list [1962- 7. S.O. Khan-Magomedov, "B. KaHaHHC- 20. All these were demonstratedat the All- 1978]) (Kazan: KAI, 1973), and CeemoMy- KHH 0 BOCHpHITHH H B03JeHCTBHH Union Conferenceson ' Lightand Music', 3blKa S Poccuu u 6 CCCP: Eu6JAuo- CpeaCTB XyaOxeCTBeHHOR BbIpa3HTejIb- sponsoredby Prometeiand held in 1967, zpaguiecKufi yKa3amellb (1742-1982) HOCTH" (V. Kandinsky on the perception 1969, 1975, 1979 and 1986.For the table (Music-kinetic art in Russia and the and effect of the means of artistic of contents to the Proceedings of the Third USSR: bibliographiclist [1742-1982]) expressiveness), Vol. 17 of Tpyob Conference on 'Light and Music', see (Kazan:KAI, 1983). BHHHT3: TexHuuecKan3cmemuKa (The "Kinetic Art: Third Conference on 'Light 25. In addition to the books already men- works of VNIITE: technical aesthetics) and Music', Kazan,U.S.S.R., 27 June-4 tioned,I would like to bringthe reader's (Moscow, 1978) pp. 77-96. July 1975", Leonardo 9, 238-239 (1976). attentionto the following: " 8. I.L. Vanechkina, CTpoKa'JIHce '-KiinoI See also, Kong6epenyun " Ceem u F.I. Yuriev, My3blKa ceema (Music of K no3aaHeHrapMOHHH CKPq6HHa"(The My3blKa" (me3ucbl u aHnomayuu) light)(Kiev: Muzichna Ukraina, 1971). line 'Luce'-the key to Scriabin's late (Conference"light and music" [theses A.G. Dzyubenko, L(6emoMy3biKa(Colour harmony), CoeemcKai My3blKa (Soviet and abstracts]) (Kazan: KAI, 1969); music) (Moscow: Znanie, 1973). music), No. 4, 100-103 (1977). MamepuaAbl Tpembei Koegfiepetyuu L.N. Melnikov, IlpoZpaMMbi, aAizo- 9. This was also confirmed by the question- "Ceem u My3blKa" (Proceedings of the pumMbl, KoHcmpyKyuu: Cunme3 yeema u naire that members of Prometei distrib- third conference "light and music ") My3bIKU (Programmes, algorithms,con- uted in 1966-71 to Soviet musicians. (Kazan:KAI, 1975);Bcecow03Han ugKoia structions:synthesis of colourand music) 10. L. Sabaneev, the composer's biographer, MOAoCbixyem,Hbix u cneyuaAucmoe"Ceem (Moscow:Nauka, 1980).
Galeyev, The Fire of Prometheus 395 Yu. V. Pukhnachev, tUCAOu MblClb: muuecKouKoHgfepeHyuu (Reports of the pTa H vasi ymeii" (Piano for the eyes, tembipe u3MepeHunucKyccmea (Number 10th All-Union acoustics conference) nose, mouth and ears), Biblioteka dlya and thought: four dimensions of art) (Moscow, 1983). chteniya,No. 34 (1830). (Moscow: Znanie, 1981). 32. For a more detailed treatment, see Yu.A. 42. F. Petrushevskij, "FapMoHaS KpacoK" My3blKaAbHbie cuHme3amopbi (Musical Danilov and Ya.A. Smorodinskij, (Harmony of colour), in Entsiklopediches- synthesizers)(Moscow: Znanie, 1983). "HoraHH Keniiep: OT 'MHcrepHH' ao kij slovar F. Brokgauza i I. Efrona, Vol. 8 V.V. Efimov, CeemoMy3bKa? 3mo ouenb 'FapMoHHH'"' (Johannes Kepler: from (15) (Petersburg, 1892). npocmo! (Music-kinetic art? It is very 'mystery' to 'harmony'), Uspekhi fiz. 43. N. Stepanov, "BepTpaH KacTejib H ero simple!) (Kiev: Radyanska shkola, 1985). nauk 100, No. 1, 175-209(1973). KJiaBecHHajis rJia3" (Castel and his clave- Regrettably, none of these books by 33. L.-B. Castel, Optique des couleurs (Paris, cin for the eyes), Mir iskusstva,No. 11-12 Soviet authors have been translated, 1740). (1940). which I feel is to the detriment not of the 34. Y.Ph. Telemann, Beschreibungder Augen- 44. [A. Unkovskaya], "MeToaa UBeTo- authors but of Western readers. Orgel oder Augen-Clavicimbels ... (Ham- 3ByKo-qHcej" (The method of colour- 26. B.M. Galeyev, teooe:eK, ucKyccmeo, burg, 1739). sound-number), Russkaya muzykalnaya mexHuKa: Hpo6jieMa cunecmesuu 6 35. It is precisely so: the anonymous gazeta, No. 6-7 (1909). ucKyccmee (Man, Art, Technology: the posthumous edition of Castel's works was 45. M. Lippold, OnbimnonyinpHoeo u3Ao0ce- problem of synaesthesia in art) (Kazan: entitled "Esprits, Saillies et singularites HU 3AeMeenmapHouomeopuu My3blKU(An Izd. KGU, 1987). du P. Castel. Amsterdam, 1763 ". attempt at a popular interpretation of the 27. Stein [15] p. 68. 36. M.V. Lomonosov, HoAH. co6p. cot. elementary theory of music) (Petersburg, 28. A. Kirilenko and V. Orlov, "HeemoMy- (Complete works), Vol. 3 (Moscow-Lenin- 1906). 3biKa (Colour music), Technika- grad: Izd. AN USSR, 1952) p. 252. 46. D.I. Chmelnitskij, HonblmKucocmaeumb molodezhi,No. 10, 37 (1965). 37. "Nova theoria music ac colorum ", in L. 3cmemuuecKoe ydoeoa6bcmeue My3blKaAb- A. Ossovskij, BocnoMunanUu. Hccjiedoa- Euleri opuscula. Varii argumenti (Berlin, no-yeemoeblMu KoM6uHayuJiMu, oc- nuq. (Reminiscences. Investigations.) 1746); and Lettres a une princesse Ho6bl6aficb Ha anaJozeuu yfeema u 36yKa (Leningrad: Muzyka, 1968) pp. 134-135. d'Allemagne sur divers sujets, de physique (Attempts at providing aesthetic pleasure I. Belza, "Rola Akademii Nauk w et de philosophie, Vol. 2 (1768-1774) pp. by means of music-colour combinations rozwoju klasycznej muzyki rosyiskiej i 246-259. on the basis of the analogy between muzyki radzieckiej", Muzyka, No. 2, 9 38. Eisenstein [16] p. 200. colour and sound) (Nizhnij Novgorod, (1975). 39. The original edition of this book was 1913). 29. PeuHnManoecKue.ieKyuu no fiu3uKe(The published anonymously in French in 47. V. Svetlanov, "CHMieosjMecKasCHM()O- Feynman lectures on physics), Vol. 4 1800. The first Russian-language account HHIR"(Symbolical symphony), in Bej! (Moscow: Mir, 1965) p. 200. of Gonzaga's views was published in N. (Ego-futuristy)6, 1913. 30. My3blKaAbHaR3cmemuKa crmpan BocmoKa Gilyarovskaya. My3blKa AR zeia3 (Music 48. Unfortunately, such analogies are found, (Musical aesthetics of Oriental countries) for the eyes), Teatr i dramaturgiya,No. 7 strange as it is, even today; for example, (Leningrad: Muzyka, 1967) pp. 11-33. (1935). See P. Gonzaga, "My3bIKa JIsa see Yuriev [25]; and M.Z. Xodzhaev, 31. For a more detailed account, see B.M. rJia3(OTpbIBKH H3 KHHrH)" (Music for the CucmeMa My3blKaJbno-ZapMOHuHblXX Galeyev, "AHTH4Hoe yIeHHe 'My3bIKH eyes [fragments from the book]), Dekora- yeemoe (A system of musically harmoni- c4ep' H CBeTOMy3bIKa"(Antique doctrine tivnoe iskusstvo USSR, No. 12 (1970). The ous colours) (Tbilisi, 1972). of 'music of the spheres' and music- complete text of Gonzaga's book is given 49. Galeyev, Music-kinetic art [3]. kinetic art), in HcKyccmeo ceemqujuxcR in the supplement of F.Ya. Syrkina, 50. Galeyev and Sajfullin, Lumia music 36YKCoe(The art of luminous sounds) )KU3Hbu meopuecmeo Hbempo au Fom- devices [21]. (Kazan, 1973);" OT HaTyp4)HJIOCO()CKHX mapdo Fro3aea (Life and creative work of 51. Galeyev, The singing rainbow[3]. ' KOHlenIHHffaeHHs My3bIKH' K HCKyCCT6y P. Gonzaga) (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1974) 52. Vanechkina and Galeyev [11]. ceeToMy3bIKH" (From the natural- pp. 89-120. 53. Galeyev, The harmony of the senses ... ' philosophic conceptions of seeing music' 40. "H3o6peTeHHerapMOHHKH C 'BHIWHMbI- [3]. to music-kinetic art), Filosofskie nauki, MH' TOHaMH(The invention of a harmo- No. 3 (1982); and "My3biKaJIbHasaKyc- nica with 'visible' tones), Vestnik Evropy THKaH KOHuenmlHH'yHHBepcaJIbHOH rap- 59, No. 9 (1811); and "Castel" in H. MOHHHMHpa'" (Musical acoustics and Riemann, My3bmKa.bHbliU CAoeapb Editor's Note-Interested readers are directed concepts of 'the universal harmony of the (Musical dictionary) (Moscow, 1896). to " Instruments to Perform Color Music " by " world')in joKma)bli X Bcecow3nofi aKyc- 41. DopTenHaHo inSrJIa3, ais Hoca, aias Kenneth Peacock in this issue of Leonardo.
396 Galeyev, The Fire ofPrometheus L'' L~X;' ':7.y- -
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5-*5 4-*~~~~~~~~*5S- -.Sl' No. 1. Top left. Anne Vitale, UntitledLandscape #130, oil on canvas, 66 X 54 in, 1985. To accentuate the idea of making a painting about landscape and to allow for the free applicationof paint, the artist has abstracted and 5.5*~~~~~~~~?s.. 7. -. - - -~~~~~~~~~~~~55, ~ 0. -- 21L schematized the features and used a non-representationalcolor scheme. There are no shadows to pinpoint any specific time of day.
No. 2. Right. Bulat Galeyev, two frames from Prometei's lumia-musicfilm Space Sonata, 1981. The rilmsare unusualnot only becauseof their images but also because of the techniquesused: although black-and-whiteobjects *s4--S M5 are shot using standardblack-and-white film, the resulting positive film is ~ ~~~~~~~~~~-U-J SM A-4 multi-coloured. a S -s-st.e,. - s No. 3. Bottom left. Beryl Korot, Let Us Make Bricks-1942, oil on handwoven canvas, 65 X 45 in, 1983. (Collection of Chase Manhattan. Photo: Fred Scruton.) The language that is derived from the grid of the canvas is here presentedin two scales. Enlarged as windowsthrough which train tracks may be seen, it spells out the words 'let us make bricks', alludingto the ancient story of the Towerof Babel. Here it ironically refers to the Nazi phrase 'arbeit mach frei' (work makes free), and thus the dated title '1942'.