Chromatic Notation of Music: Transforming Bach and Webern into Color and Light

The author describes the development of her color tone system, which began with her coloring of the harmonic structures in the Prelude in C Major from The Well Tempered Clavier, Part I, by Johann S. Bach. She describes her Extended Circle of Fifths, which condenses the harmonic system into one gestalt. Besides converting Bach’s Prelude to color, she has converted three other preludes by Chopin, Busoni and Scriabin and an early 12-tone study by Webern. Burgmer describes and evaluates her experiment in composing music with colors: She used her color:tone system to create a new piece of music as an addition to Webern’s “Piano Piece.” She also discusses her transformation of music graphics into holograms. She contends that these music holograms have their own aesthetic value and exist independently as artworks, parallel to the musical pieces on which they are based.