Marc Fitze the art harmonium virtuoso Psalm pump
Marc Fitze the art harmonium Bern's organist Marc Fitze is one of the young generation of harmonium players. His rare art of harmonium Victor Mustel, Paris (Year 1870), which he used for concerts, he has many years of research itself restored and presented in February 2009 in Bern for the first time to an enthusiastic audience. "Any art that ceases to be in your own time, dies." (Le Corbusier). In addition to the classical art harmonium repertoire of the 19 Century, he is canvassing for contemporary use of the instrument and draws from his harmonium completely new sounds for example Duo with drummer Titus Bellwald.
Is the harmonium actually a fully-fledged instrument?
The time has long passed when Protestant prayers were accompanied in every little Lord's Chapel with miserable sounds from the Heuchlerkommode. Slopes have remained nickname like Psalm pump Choral mill, Hallelujah carburetor, saw the faith and the memory of a religion that is definitely not in line with our way of life ...
decline and renaissance
A fully-fledged musical instrument seems the harmonium in this context to be not more than a nostalgic piece of furniture - were it not for a growing Number Harmonium enthusiast, scattered throughout Europe to devote himself with great meticulousness of the renaissance of the discredited instrument. Mind you, at auctions, restorations, workshops and concerts, the interest is less the decadent final phase from about 1900, where low harmonics were used as organ replacement in churches and chapels in, but the heyday of the harmonium, as it was played in saloons and concert halls from virtuoso and composers such as César Franck, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saens and Franz Liszt created an extensive solo repertoire.
music in the toes
The invention, which Alex has patented Debain 1842 in Paris under the name of Harmonium, "and Victor Mustel was conducted in 1853 as Art Harmonium "means to perfection in construction, sound and use a very different instrument than the cheap Saugwindharmonium (Psalm pump). The wind pressure Harmonium Mustel is not entirely made for the church, but very richly decorated and luxurious: overtones in the sound, rich in the specifications of the furniture, rich in repertoire and expensive in price. It is equivalent to the romantic search for an expressive keyboard instrument, which can not only play loud and soft like the piano, but with all Cantabel fortdauerndem sound volume and tone shades blend into each other continuously as the orchestra. Timbre, intensity, and the finest Accents are thereby consistently regulated by the feet. Join this may seem a low or inflexible employment, but it is the core of the harmonium playing. The pressure of the wind Trettechnik harmonium, similar to the bowing of a violinist requires tremendous coordination and fine feeling in the toes, which is not easy to learn.
In France, Belgium, England, Germany and Switzerland in recent years around the so-called "art Harmonium" created a fan base. While collectors, restorers and musicologists involved numerous, are among the performers to find so far only a few that made learning the art harmonium game to be successful have. The acquisition of an original instrument is a condition and needs a lot of luck, as most art harmonies are now in museums and private collections.
Next show: EX TEMPORE - producing sound word with Mario Volpe Sunday painter, Martina Black, texts Titus Bell Forest, percussion and Marc Fitze, art harmonium Mustel
22 Free November 2009, 17.00 clock, Johannesburg church entrance, collection
picture sounded word: "Ex tempore - time and eternity"
A trialogue with images of Mario Volpe, 22 November, 17 in St. John's Church Clock
For the third time in St. John's Church "building sound word," an interplay between visual art, Music and lyrics instead. This year's event is themed, "Ex tempore", and says out of time "or" out of the moment "improvisation": the musicians Titus Bellwald and Marc connect Fitze with their instruments (drums and Mustel Art Harmonium) in dialogue with poems by Martina Schwarz and large-scale works of the Bernese painter Mario Volpe.
The artist
lie in his studio in a basement at the Beundenfeldstrasse started drawing on the work table. Etruscan characters from the distant past to dance ballet.
Mario Volpe is still working with the joy of discovery of a researcher. The creation of a personal, exclusive abstract visual vocabulary of his life was at heart. The 73-year-old can draw on unlimited resources. His work includes more than forty years of uninterrupted work. See
22 November large-scale works from the sixties. In these abstract compositions with severe forms soft music flowing. The colors are intense as the expression of the artist's journey across an eventful life across continents and through time. The
since 1972 in Bern, living and working Mario Volpe was born in 1936 in Colombia. He studied architecture in the U.S. and was at the Art Students League of New York trained as a painter. 1965-1970 he taught at the University of Minnesota art. Since 1972, lives and works he in Bern.
tinkering with words and music
include an image-sounding word for the music and lyrics. The program includes harmonium pieces by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, the play "your clocks are different," the Swiss composer Heinz Marti and improvisations to the texts and images.
During the percussionist Titus Bell Forest with its Klangtüfteleien and rhythms of the time varied designs and experience, makes available the register name as Voix Celeste and harpe éolienne - "heavenly voice and wind harp" For the latter, in the heavenly realms sound ideal of the fine-grained, unlimited moldable tones of art harmonium. From the harmony music, image and word resulting spherical harmonies, pulsating rhythms and associative noise. And decay of the sound on the edge of silence.
art harmonium? What is it?
Today's ears may remember the sound of the harmonium popularized book, also known as "pump Psalm," but what is an "art Harmonium '? The patented in 1853 by Victor Mustel Paris invention means a unique keyboard instrument whose sound even after the attack can be differentiated. It is therefore an instrument of the finest nuances and transitions. With feet and knees of the players created and influenced the wind power - a technique that a lot of practice and finesse needed. Composers such as César Franck, Camille Saint-Saens and Berlioz wrote for this expressive keyboard instrument an exquisite repertoire. The rare Mustel Art Harmonium, which will be heard in the concert dates from 1870, was restored in 2007 by Marc Fitze and in February 2009 in St. John's Church unveiled to an enthusiastic audience. A listener said enthusiastically: "The instrument that looks like grandma's jewelry chest, even an unexpected variety of sounds contains within itself."