The de/re-humanization of sound and movement in the early 20th century c/o the Bauhaus.

 

Inspired by Chris' Intermezzo feature this week, I thought, "Why not dive into some ballet?"

And, knowing me (and other Ballet Russes commissions including Stravinsky's Rite of Spring), it couldn't be 'traditional' ballet. It had to be 'triadic' ballet. We'll get to that in a minute.

Let's start with Erik Satie: the man known for grey velvet and white food.

His collaboration with Jean Cocteau, Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes on Parade (which Chris is playing in the 1 o'clock hour tomorrow) was strained at best. Satie wasn't a guy who liked stepping outside of his comfort zone. So, when Cocteau expressed to Satie and Diaghilev that it would be a good idea to bring Pablo Picasso into the mix... Well: let Cocteau (with the assistance of musicologist Claude Samuel) fill you in.

 

 

Relatively recently, Europa Danse produced Parade with costumes recreated from Picasso's drawings. This is just a highlight reel; perhaps you can see what may have destabilized pauvre Monsieur Greyscale.

 

 

All that aside; Cocteau's observation of a farcical sentiment dominating wartime culture seems natural. When faced with an incessant, consuming, and unwelcome force; the equal and opposite reaction is expected. When the German Monarchy fell, censorship disintegrated and EVERYONE started experimenting. 

In 1919, Architect Walter Gropius, second husband of Alma Mahler, fathered a School of Building: the Bauhaus. Out of the post-Expressionist New Objectivity sprung a practical approach to architecture and design. Its order was its strength. Until 1933, when the movement was forced to self-destruct under pressure from the Nazi government for being too intellectualist, it fostered some of the greatest creative minds of architecture and design in the 20th century. Lecturing at the Bauhaus on the regular were mega-minds like Vassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Oskar Schlemmer; the last of whom Gropius invited to join the faculty at the Weimar Bauhaus.

Schlemmer, in addition to being an architect and civic planner, also dabbled in sculpture and choreography. The use of space was his science. Inspired by the new-foundflexibility of Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire, he began structuring a pantomime in which the movement was a consequence of the sculptural costumes. At the root of this Triadisches Ballet (Triadic Ballet) was, of course, the triad: three scenes, three performers, twelve dances and eighteen costumes. The purpose was to make the human inhuman, the lyrical mechanical, and to expose and exploit art's artifice. This balletic pantomime toured the world in the 20s, spreading the Bauhaus gospel. Originally with a score by Paul Hindemith, the film adaptation was made in 1970 and scored anew by German film composer (and jazz cat) Erich Ferstl. 

I know you're curious. Wanna see?

 

 

And after that: what more is there to say?

Stay tuned to Classic107.com for a new episode of Mid-week Musicology every Wednesday!