Work in Music ![]()
‘In the course of his search to understand all facets of human nature, Gurdjieff became convinced that the music of different cultures both preserved and revealed essential characteristics of those cultures and also conveyed deeper meanings rooted in their traditions. He possessed an extraordinary capacity for remembering the intricate melodies he heard during the twenty years he spent living and travelling in central Asia and the Near East. These ‘recordings’ were essential for the work that was to follow.
The music Gurdjieff encountered descends from aural traditions of ancient provenance. As a rule, this music is not written down but relies on the musician’s exact knowledge of its characteristic melodic movements…
What is unique in this music is its specific combination of elements: the ethnic melodies, the ritual music of remote temples and monasteries, and the cadences of the Orthodox liturgy…
melodic movements… What is unique in this music is its specific combination of elements: the ethnic melodies, the ritual music of remote temples and monasteries, and the cadences of the Orthodox liturgy…
…What resulted was sometimes distinctly Eastern, often clearly Western, but almost never typically either one. It is as though many of the specific attributes of the sources were distilled to leave a music largely free of elaborated structure and decorative detail or of characteristic pianism. The force and clarity of its speech emerge from the underlying intention to speak directly to the listener’s inmost self.’
(From the preface to Music for the Piano Edited by Linda Daniel-Spitz, Charles Ketcham, and Laurence Rosenthal; Archives and Research – Thomas C. Daly; Published by SCHOTT MUSIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany)
Gurdjieff composed music mostly between 1919 and 1927 with Ukrainian composer and pupil Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (1885–1956), a refined and cultivated aristocrat, classically trained in composition. Altogether, Gurdjieff and de Hartmann composed around 223 pieces of piano music with Hartmann sensitively notating and arranging the pieces that Gurdjieff whistled or picked out on the piano with one finger. De Hartmann attributed the music to Gurdjieff. He said, “It is not my music; it is his. I have only picked up the Master’s handkerchief.”
‘How this music was written down is very interesting in itself. It usually happened in the evening in the big salon of the Chateau. From my room I usually heard when Gurdjieff began to play and, taking my music paper, I had to rush downstairs. Soon all the people came, and the music dictation was always in front of everybody. It was not easy to notate. While listening to him play, I had to scribble down at feverish speed the shifts and turns of the melody, sometimes with repetitions of just two notes. But in what rhythm? How to mark the accentuation? Often there was no hint of conventional Western meters; at times the flow of melody . . . could not be interrupted or divided by bar-lines. And the harmony that could support the Eastern tonality of the melody could only gradually be guessed. Often – to torment me, I think – he would begin to repeat the melody before I had finished my notation, usually with subtle differences and added embellishments which drove me to despair. Of course it must be remembered that this was never just a matter of simple dictation, but equally a personal exercise for me, to grasp the essential character, the very noyau or kernel of the music. After the melody had been written down Gurdjieff would tap on the lid of the piano a rhythm on which to build the bass accompaniment. And then I had to perform at once what had been given, improvising the harmony as I went. By this method over 300 piano pieces were worked on during those two years.’ (Thomas de Hartmann in Music for the Piano)
One of the characters in Gurdjieff’s book, Meetings with Remarkable Men, mentions that music is merely an example of vibrations which doubtless act upon the vibrations which are also in a man, and this is why a man likes or dislikes this or that music. Gurdjieff’s music is an essential part of his teaching; part of how he chose to transmit the ancient and perennial wisdom in a form corresponding to the needs and subjectivity of the modern mind. The enigmatic music is very varied, from folk songs to sacred hymns, which evokes equally varied feelings and touches one’s being to its core.
I play objective music to make cry. There are many kinds such music—some to make laugh, or to love or to hate. This the beginning of music—sacred music, two, three thousand years old. Your church music comes from such but they don’t realize. They have forgotten. This is temple music—very ancient
– Gurdjieff, as quoted by Dorothy Caruso
– The background music of this page is Prayer of Gratitude composed by Gurdjieff & De Hartmann; played by Cynthia Taylor.
Work in Music ![]()
‘In the course of his search to understand all facets of human nature, Gurdjieff became convinced that the music of different cultures both preserved and revealed essential characteristics of those cultures and also conveyed deeper meanings rooted in their traditions. He possessed an extraordinary capacity for remembering the intricate melodies he heard during the twenty years he spent living and travelling in central Asia
and the Near East. These ‘recordings’ were essential for the work that was to follow.
The music Gurdjieff encountered descends from aural traditions of ancient provenance. As a rule, this music is not written down but relies on the musician’s exact knowledge of its characteristic melodic movements…
What is unique in this music is its specific combination of elements: the ethnic melodies, the ritual music of remote temples and monasteries, and the cadences of the Orthodox liturgy…..
What resulted was sometimes distinctly Eastern, often clearly Western, but almost never typically either one. It is as though many of the specific attributes of the sources were distilled to leave a music largely free of elaborated structure and decorative detail or of characteristic pianism. The force and clarity of its speech emerge from the underlying intention to speak directly to the listener’s inmost self.’
(From the preface to Music for the Piano Edited by Linda Daniel-Spitz, Charles Ketcham, and Laurence Rosenthal; Archives and Research – Thomas C. Daly; Published by SCHOTT MUSIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany)
Gurdjieff composed music mostly between 1919 and 1927 with Ukrainian composer and pupil Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (1885–1956), a refined and cultivated aristocrat, classically trained in composition. Altogether, Gurdjieff and de Hartmann composed around 223 pieces of piano music with Hartmann sensitively notating and arranging the pieces that Gurdjieff whistled or picked out on the piano with one finger. De Hartmann attributed the music to Gurdjieff. He said, “It is not my music; it is his. I have only picked up the Master’s handkerchief.”
‘How this music was written down is very interesting in itself. It usually happened in the evening in the big salon of the Chateau. From my room I usually heard when Gurdjieff began to play and, taking my music paper, I had to rush downstairs. Soon all the people came, and the music dictation was always in front of everybody. It was not easy to notate. While listening to him play, I had to scribble down at feverish speed the shifts and turns of the melody, sometimes with repetitions of just two notes. But in what rhythm? How to mark the accentuation? Often there was no hint of conventional Western meters; at times the flow of melody . . . could not be interrupted or divided by bar-lines. And the harmony that could support the Eastern tonality of the melody could only gradually be guessed. Often – to torment me, I think – he would begin to repeat the melody before I had finished my notation, usually with subtle differences and added embellishments which drove me to despair. Of course it must be remembered that this was never just a matter of simple dictation, but equally a personal exercise for me, to grasp the essential character, the very noyau or kernel of the music. After the melody had been written down Gurdjieff would tap on the lid of the piano a rhythm on which to build the bass accompaniment. And then I had to perform at once what had been given, improvising the harmony as I went. By this method over 300 piano pieces were worked on during those two years.’ (Thomas de Hartmann in Music for the Piano)
One of the characters in Gurdjieff’s book, Meetings with Remarkable Men, mentions that music is merely an example of vibrations which doubtless act upon the vibrations which are also in a man, and this is why a man likes or dislikes this or that music. Gurdjieff’s music is an essential part of his teaching; part of how he chose to transmit the ancient and perennial wisdom in a form corresponding to the needs and subjectivity of the modern mind. The enigmatic music is very varied, from folk songs to sacred hymns, which evokes equally varied feelings and touches one’s being to its core.
I play objective music to make cry. There are many kinds such music—some to make laugh, or to love or to hate. This the beginning of music—sacred music, two, three thousand years old. Your church music comes from such but they don’t realize. They have forgotten. This is temple music—very ancient
– Gurdjieff, as quoted by Dorothy Caruso
– The background music of this page is Prayer of Gratitude composed by Gurdjieff & De Hartmann; played by Cynthia Taylor.
Work in Music ![]()
‘In the course of his search to understand all facets of human nature, Gurdjieff became convinced that the music of different cultures both preserved and revealed essential characteristics of those cultures and also conveyed deeper meanings rooted in their traditions. He possessed an extraordinary capacity for remembering the intricate melodies he heard during the twenty years he spent living and travelling in central Asia and the Near East. These ‘recordings’ were essential for the work that was to follow.
The music Gurdjieff encountered descends from aural traditions of ancient provenance. As a rule, this music is not written down but relies on the musician’s exact knowledge of its characteristic melodic movements…
What is unique in this music is its specific combination of elements: the ethnic melodies, the ritual music of remote temples and monasteries, and the cadences of the Orthodox liturgy…..
What resulted was sometimes distinctly Eastern, often clearly Western, but almost never typically either one. It is as though many of the specific attributes of the sources were distilled to leave a music largely free of elaborated structure and decorative detail or of characteristic pianism. The force and clarity of its speech emerge from the underlying intention to speak directly to the listener’s inmost self.’
(From the preface to Music for the Piano Edited by Linda Daniel-Spitz, Charles Ketcham, and Laurence Rosenthal; Archives and Research – Thomas C. Daly; Published by SCHOTT MUSIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany)
Gurdjieff composed music mostly between 1919 and 1927 with Ukrainian composer and pupil Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (1885–1956), a refined and cultivated aristocrat, classically trained in composition. Altogether, Gurdjieff and de Hartmann composed around 223 pieces of piano music with Hartmann sensitively notating and arranging the pieces that Gurdjieff whistled or picked out on the piano with one finger. De Hartmann attributed the music to Gurdjieff. He said, “It is not my music; it is his. I have only picked up the Master’s handkerchief.”
‘How this music was written down is very interesting in itself. It usually happened in the evening in the big salon of the Chateau. From my room I usually heard when Gurdjieff began to play and, taking my music paper, I had to rush downstairs. Soon all the people came, and the music dictation was always in front of everybody. It was not easy to notate. While listening to him play, I had to scribble down at feverish speed the shifts and turns of the melody, sometimes with repetitions of just two notes. But in what rhythm? How to mark the accentuation? Often there was no hint of conventional Western meters; at times the flow of melody . . . could not be interrupted or divided by bar-lines. And the harmony that could support the Eastern tonality of the melody could only gradually be guessed. Often – to torment me, I think – he would begin to repeat the melody before I had finished my notation, usually with subtle differences and added embellishments which drove me to despair. Of course it must be remembered that this was never just a matter of simple dictation, but equally a personal exercise for me, to grasp the essential character, the very noyau or kernel of the music. After the melody had been written down Gurdjieff would tap on the lid of the piano a rhythm on which to build the bass accompaniment. And then I had to perform at once what had been given, improvising the harmony as I went. By this method over 300 piano pieces were worked on during those two years.’ (Thomas de Hartmann in Music for the Piano)
One of the characters in Gurdjieff’s book, Meetings with Remarkable Men, mentions that music is merely an example of vibrations which doubtless act upon the vibrations which are also in a man, and this is why a man likes or dislikes this or that music. Gurdjieff’s music is an essential part of his teaching; part of how he chose to transmit the ancient and perennial wisdom in a form corresponding to the needs and subjectivity of the modern mind. The enigmatic music is very varied, from folk songs to sacred hymns, which evokes equally varied feelings and touches one’s being to its core.
I play objective music to make cry. There are many kinds such music—some to make laugh, or to love or to hate. This the beginning of music—sacred music, two, three thousand years old. Your church music comes from such but they don’t realize. They have forgotten. This is temple music—very ancient
– Gurdjieff, as quoted by Dorothy Caruso
– The background music of this page is Prayer of Gratitude composed by Gurdjieff & De Hartmann; played by Cynthia Taylor.