The Thomas de Hartmann Project

With help from a growing group of friends and colleagues, Elan has embarked on a new effort to make the works of de Hartmann better known, some fifty-four years after his death.

The initiating force came in the fall of 2006, when guitarist Robert Fripp suggested that Elan aim to play a concert of de Hartmann’s music every six weeks. In the past 18 months Elan has done just that, performing in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Beginning with programs featuring the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann output of sacred music, Elan has gradually added de Hartmann’s own compositions into his programs. These have been received with great interest and enthusiasm.

In July 2009 Elan recorded a new CD, Laudamus…, featuring three early de Hartmann works (from 1902), along with the more familiar Gurdjieff/deHartmann music. This CD is now available from the sicroff.com website Then in October 2009 and January 2010, the violinist Katharina Paul joined him for performances of de Hartmann’s Violin Sonata Op. 51 in Massachusetts, Italy, and London. This is a major work, 30 minutes in length, which has had immediate appeal to audiences.

During the production of the CD, the idea of the Thomas de Hartmann Project was born. Stefan Maier, an organ builder with a wide reputation on the US east coast, has taken on the role of producer, while Shawn Marquis, a technical specialist, has helped catalog the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann works Elan has recorded so far, and was responsible for the professional quality of the DVD that accompanies 'Laudamus...'. A growing number of volunteers and professionals are now joining the project.

Thomas Daly, the executor of the Estate of Olga and Thomas de Hartmann, has given his approval for the project, and is allowing the unpublished, copyrighted works to be distributed and performed.

As the Project grows, new avenues are opening up. Lectures and conferences about de Hartmann’s music will accompany performances at major universities. This will alert music faculty and students to the potential for de Hartmann’s output to be the subject for research and papers.

De Hartmann occupies a unique position in the classical music world. His early Russian Romanticism was blended with the Eastern music he heard and transcribed with Gurdjieff in the 1920s. His later output, from the 1930s until his death in 1956, is filled with both Eastern and Romantic elements. These are combined with the modern idiom, making use of dissonance and bitonality. All of these styles serve to illuminate the underlying message about Man’s potential, which he learned from his years with Gurdjieff.

Our goal for 2010 is to raise the funds to record and produce the Violin Sonata Op.51 on CD. On the not-too-distant horizon we aim to record the Cello Sonata Op. 63 and the Second Piano Sonata Op. 82, dedicated to P.D.Ouspensky and the “poetical idea” of the Fourth Dimension. Additional funds need to be raised for concerts so that works that haven’t been heard in decades such as the ’12 Russian Fairy Tales’ and many others can be performed.

To support this project through a donation, volunteering time, or by performing the music, contact tdhp@sicroff.com.