De Hartmann

Thomas de Hartmann (1885-1956) has had an unusual trajectory as a composer. A near contemporary of Scriabine, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff, he showed early promise, graduating from the St Petersburg Conservatory when he was 18. Trois Morceaux Pour Piano (1899) and Six Pieces Op. 7 (1902) show a romanticism reminiscent of Schumann, Chopin, and Mussorgsky. The Trois Preludes Op. 11 (1904) demonstrate a modernist trend, possibly influenced by Scriabine. In 1906 his ballet The Scarlet Flower was performed in front of the Czar, with Nijinsky in the cast. From 1908-12 de Hartmann went to Germany to study conducting with Felix Mottl, pupil of Wagner. Here he joined the avant-garde and met his lifelong friend, the artist Kandinsky. In 1912 he returned to St. Petersburg, where his career continued to flourish.

Then, in 1916, he met Gurdjieff. For the next 13 years he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to his inner work and assisting Gurdjieff in his task. Together they composed music for the Sacred Dance as well as 300 compositions embracing a multitude of cultures in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

De Hartmann left Gurdjieff in 1929 and spent his remaining years composing in the classical idiom, this time with an eclectic mixture of Romanticism, Modernism, and Asian influences blended to express a musical message in a wide variety of forms. He composed for solo piano, chamber music, concerti, 4 symphonies, the opera Esther, and works for voice and ballet. During the 1940’s he composed 50 film scores, under a pseudonym.

De Hartmann paid a price for his involvement with Gurdjieff.. Outwardly he lost contact with the world of classical music. When he left Gurdjieff in 1929 he again made contact with a number of great musicians—Casals, Koussevitsky, Marcel Moyse, Alexander Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet—and he was able to perform his music in Paris with the help of these friends. But his career never again “took off.” He died of a heart attack days before he was to appear in New York’s Town Hall for a solo recital of his works.

Nevertheless, it is thanks to his work with Gurdjieff that he is likely to be recognized, eventually, as one of the great composers of the 20th century. More and more musicians are recording and performing the music he composed in collaboration with Gurdjieff.