From the Depths of Eternity:The Music of Thomas de Hartmann
Fremont Abbey Arts Center Seattle, WA
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From the Depths of Eternity:The Music of Thomas de Hartmann
The extensive output of Thomas de Hartmann includes many compositional styles, from his early Romanticism and Russian influence to Impressionist, Modernist bitonality, Eastern and Jazz elements. His music is vibrant, colorful, visual: he also composed scores for more than 50 movies in the 1930s and 40s.
Born in the Ukraine in 1885, de Hartmann enjoyed early success: his works were performed before the Czar and by the eve of the Revolution he was one of the most well known composers in Russia. But with the outbreak of Revolution in 1917 de Hartmann's career was interrupted. He fled with Gurdjieff, the mystic-philosopher-scientist, across the Caucasus and into Europe. In France, the two collaborated, composing over 300 works based on Eastern music.
Thomas de Hartmann's composition reflect his underlying effort, across all of his many styles, to express the inner search for objective meaning through music. During his collaboration with Gurdjieff, he expanded his spiritual understanding and developed a musical vocabulary which informs his later compositions.
In the 1930s de Hartmann left Gurdjieff. Wassily Kandinsky helped him to establish friendships with Pablo Casals, Jean Pierre Rampal, and other luminaries of the professional classical world. But his career never again took off. He died in Princeton, NJ on the eve of a performance of his work in the New York Town Hall on March 28th, 1956.
In 2006 guitarist Robert Fripp (King Crimson) urged Elan Sicroff to begin performing de Hartmann's music again. After a number of successful concerts the Thomas de Hartmann Project was formed, dedicated to bringing this music once again to the attention of the general listening audience. Recitals, recordings, lectures and seminars about de Hartmann are now regularly scheduled.
This concert will include works from throughout de Hartmann's life including the virtuosic Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 51 with Ms. Paul.
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Location
Fremont Abbey Arts Center
4272 Fremont Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
United States
