|
Editorial Note
This
piece
completes
the
January
2023
series
entry,
"An
Intimate
Memorial
Account
of
Kandinsky:
Thomas
de
Hartmann"
(see here).
There,
co-editors
Hahl-Fontaine
and
Renaud
wrote,
mid-account:
"We
have
held
back
Hartmann's
account
of
their
work
together
on
Kandinsky's
stage
play, The Yellow Sound,
to
share
fully
another
time."
This
is
that.
Together,
the
two
pieces
make
up
the
whole
memorial
text
of
this
important
composer.
The
two
parts
are
much
quoted
from,
but
have
probably
not
been
published
before
in
their
entirety.
Jelena
(Hahl-Fontaine)
received
it
directly
from
de
Hartmann's
wife,
Olga,
and
she
also
points
to
a
typewritten
text
kept
at
the
Guggenheim
Museum.
Introduction
It
is
said
that
whoever
holds
the
pen
writes
the
history,
and
this
is
certainly
true
in
the
case
of
Kandinsky.
It
seems
possible
to
find
virtually
anything
written—or
not
written—about
him.
"Facts"
emerge,
are
exaggerated
or
submerged;
long-standing
information
is
taken
as
given,
while
inconvenient
knowledge
of
him
barely
surfaces.
So
the
text
given
here
is
especially
precious,
since
it
gives
a
first-person
account
of
Kandinsky's
early
efforts
on
behalf
of
the
theatre
that
occupied
him
until
his
death.
From
behind
the
scenes:
Jelena,
former
Curator
of
the
exceptional
Kandinsky
archive
in
Munich,
reports
about
the
archives
that
among
the
many
thank-you
letters
Kandinsky
received,
there
was
one
from
Olga
thanking
him
for
his
"so
favorable,
calming
effect
upon
me,
such
that
my
nerves
are
almost
healed."
Olga
also
wrote,
Jelena
says,
with
some
impatience
about Giants, which became The Yellow Sound:
"The
threatening
mood
of
the
Giants
was
active
in
our
home";
she
said
she
often
hoped
the
long
and
tedious
time
of
"preparation/
inspiration"
would
end
soon,
when
the
two
friends
would
have
accomplished
their
work.
Thomas de Hartmann's 1956 book, Our Life with Mr. Gurdjieff, co-authored with Olga, was re-published in 2011. In 1922, a Berlin theatre made Kandinsky one of several offers he had to produce The
Yellow
Sound,
but
de
Hartmann
was
unavailable,
pursuing
just
the
spiritual
life
described
in
the
book.
Kandinsky
declined
the
production,
not
wanting
to
work
with
another
composer.
The
ground-breaking
dancer,
Alexander
Sakharoff,
makes
an
appearance
here.
Inspired
by
the
dance
innovations
animated
by
Isadora
Duncan,
Sakharoff
went
on
to
become
the
first
male
modernist
dancer.
Duncan's
work
also
interested
Kandinsky,
who
saw
her
dance
in
Munich
and
mentioned
her
in
several
letters.
Stanislavsky,
whom
de
Hartmann
hoped
to
interest
in
Kandinsky's The Yellow Sound,
was
not
only
interested
in
Duncan's
dancing
and
ideas,
he
was
actually
enamored
of
her
for
some
time
(and
then
later,
wasn't).
A
professional
interest
that
Stanislavsky
and
Kandinsky
shared:
they
were
both
deeply
impressed
with
the
Belgian
playwright,
Maurice
Maeterlinck,
to
whom The Yellow Sound owes much.
The 2008 exhibition catalogue, Paul Klee: Theater Everywhere,
about
Klee's
fervent,
lifelong
passion
for
the
theatre,
brings
up
his
close
friendship
with
Kandinsky.
Klee
started
out
as
a
theatre
critic
and
called
himself
"a
theater
nut."
As
both
colleagues
and
neighbors
at
the
Bauhaus,
they
shared
Kandinsky's
ideas
and
information
about
the
new
theatre,
as
well
as
Klee's
own,
different
ideas.
Kandinsky
carried
on
a
a
theatre
discussion
in
his
correspondence
with
composer
Arnold
Schoenberg,
who
said
of The Yellow Sound:
"I
imagine
that
it
would
make
a
tremendous
impression
on
me
when
performed."
*
The theatre section from
ABOUT KANDINSKY: BY THOMAS DE HARTMANN
(New York, 1944/45)
"…Until
1914
[there]
was
a
period
of
great
questions
and
of
slowly
conquering
the
New.
An
honest
artist
carried
always
within
him
the
question
"Is
it
permitted?
Are
these
means
admissible?"
All
means
are
permitted,
said
Kandinsky,
all,
if
it
is
necessary
to
express
the
inner
sound.
He
spoke
very
often
about
the
inner
sound.
More
concrete
realization
of
this
was
achieved
in
his
work
for
stage
which
he
called
The Yellow Sound.
But
I
want
to
return
to
our
search
in
the
realm
of
stage
in
general.
The
first
thing
that
we
tried
to
present
was
one
of
the
tales
of
[Hans
Christian]
Anderson.
Kandinsky
made
within
a
very
short
time
a
charming
sketch
of
a
town
in
the
Middle
ages.
The
houses
were
as
if
taken
from
his
painting
"Picture
with
houses,"
but
seen
from
the
front.
We
began
to
think
about
the
different
scenes
and
how
to
put
it
in
ballet
form.
And
at
this
point
we
realized
that
ballet
as
it
existed
could
not
give
us
what
we
were
looking
for.
We
wanted
something
else,
something
quite
different.
Just
at
this
time
a
young
man,
very
talented,
and
who
understood
what
we
wanted,
joined
us.
It
was
Alexander
Sakharoff,
who
later
became
a
well-known
dancer.
We
began
to
look
in
the
direction
of
ancient
Greek
dance.
Sakharoff
began
to
study
in
museums;
and
we
changed
from
Anderson
to Daphnis and Chloe. Kandinsky
made
a
sketch
for
the
first
scene,
a
wonderful
"Trirema" with
warriors.
It
was
not
realistic,
but
it
gave
an
amazingly
strong
impression
of
the
horror
of
Daphnis
being
raped
by
knights.
We
did
not
know
then
that
Fokine
with
Diaghileff
had
taken
the
same
subject.
Although
our
presentation
was
quite
different
from
what
Fokine
had
done,
we
did
not
wish
to
continue
with
it
when
we
heard
of
his
plans.
All
the
same,
these
works
brought
Kandinsky
to
create
a
stage
work
called The Yellow Sound,
a
work
which
can
be
considered
one
of
the
most
daring
in
this
field.
The
Scenario
was
printed
in Der Blaue Reiter [The Blue Rider Almanac],
published
in
Munich
during
1912,
and
which
is
now
a
rarity.
The
music
was
written
by
me,
but
only
in
sketches
since
the
final
exposition
and
orchestration
would
depend
upon
the
kind
of
theatre
accepting
it.
Kandinsky
made
sketches
for
scenery.
I
brought
them
to
the
Moscow
Arts
Theatre
(Stanislavsky),
but
they
refused
it.
Even
they
did
not
understand.
Sakharoff
continued
his
study
of
the
Greek
dances,
and
due
to
our
influence
made
his
very
interesting
first
appearance
in
Munich
at
the
Odeon
in
1910.
I
wrote
the
music,
for
string
quartet,
for
the
entire
performance.
Today,
Kandinsky's
artistic
genius
is
appreciated
more
and
more
in
Europe
and
America,
and
there
is
hope
that
his
dream,
to
see The Yellow Sound staged, will be realized.
I have no time to say much more about the Blaue Reiter magazine,
only
that,
due
to
Kandinsky,
it
presented
for
the
first
time
Matisse,
Picasso,
Delaunay,
Negro
sculpture,
and
the
young
artists
of
the
Russian
school."
|
