I discovered the de Hartmann’s during my studies in the Gurdjieff Work. Thomas and Olga de Hartmann met and married in 1906. He was a composer, and she met her future husband when her mother and father took her to one of his concerts. Thomas de Hartmann wrote scores for operas, he produced orchestral works and composed ballets and chamber music.
The de Hartmann’s were part of the high society and so mingled at all the right places to meet other influential people, musicians, artists and writers. They were also members of the Theosophical Society in Russia, which had been growing in membership over the last couple of years and finally its first official lodges in St Petersburg in 1908.
In was also in 1908 in Munich Thomas de Hartmann met the artist Wassily Kandinsky. This artist as did a few others, had a big influence on the direction of de Hartmann’s musical calling. The two of them became good friends and de Hartmann wrote a memoir, still unpublished, about the artist.
Thomas wrote: “Music in Germany had reached an impasse . . . it seemed clear to me that the new forms and techniques had to be found, and more than anything else I wished to find my own way. Soon I found it through the art of painting.” “About Kandinsky.” (Yale Music Library, Mss 46, box 24, folder 215).
The two of them had a lot to talk about it and I wish I could be there to eavesdrop on their conversation which would have included the idea that sound and colour have a relationship. Both were looking for ways to expand on their chosen arts, Kandinsky wanted to go deep in his interpretation of art, de Hartmann wanting to do the same with his sound compositions.
They both wanted to expand their understanding of what colour and sound are, how colour and sound influences the human psyche and they were questioning what the connection was between colour and sound as well as their impact upon everything else within this world. What was the meaning of colour, of sound, did both just exist in their world or were there other realms and dimensions that sound and colour could have an effect upon.
The Theosophical Society gave them much food for thought especially with the lectures and art pieces on ‘thought forms’, which explored the different types of thought forms. One type, for example, was how one’s thoughts and other’s thoughts affect the world and cosmos.
They were also engaging in various spiritual and scientific experiments, encouraged to research paranormal phenomena and spiritual practice by the Theosophical Society, including something that I would never dabble in these days-the Ouija board!
Olga de Hartmann, who was a famous opera singer in her time, wrote in her memoir: “At that time everyone was reading Blavatsky. One evening, with Kandinsky and some others, we decided to try running a plate with an arrow on it around the German alphabet, like a modern-day Ouija board. We asked it questions, expecting the plate to stop on letters which I had to write down and afterwards decipher. But nothing meaningful was spelled out. Someone suggested trying in Russian. Again we asked questions, and at once it became quite thrilling. A ghost told us her name, Musutsky, and that she had lived in the town of Ufa, near the border of Siberia, and was buried there. She asked us to pray for her and said that a cousin of hers—she began to spell his name: S—h—a—, but here she was interrupted and got no further. Kandinsky decided to write to the priest in Ufa and ask him if he knew of anyone by the name she had given. In a month’s time he had the priest’s answer: there were among his parishioners many Musutskys, but there was only one with a relative by the name of Shatov. We were really astonished.”
At that time, Kandinsky was dating the artist, Gabriele Munter, who was also interested in theosophy and spiritual practices. She and Olga became great friends and Olga would often sit for the artist. So, it was a delight when I recently visited Tate Modern for the Kandinsky exhibition and saw one of the portraits of Olga de Hartmann by Gabriele Munter. At first, I was unsure what to think but as I was drawn into the picture and attempted to connect with both these women from the not-too-distant past, the painting opened up to me. I encourage those who are interested in the de Hartmann’s to go and see the portrait for themselves, it is very different to experience it in reality than seeing it on a computer screen.
How I wish I could go back in time and engage with these four, to hear their conversation, join in with their discussion, and watch them practice their chosen art form.
It was in 1916 that the de Hartmann’s were to meet George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, a man who was take their life in a new direction.
Hermes Risen 