Creating a Visual Translation of Kurt Schwitters’s Ursonate

DOCUMENT Creating a Visual Translation ofKurt Schwitters's Ursonate Du,;n. 'he " II of 1990 I b'g'n ,";" ,,search on a series of paintings which will be a visual translation of Kurt Schwitters's Ursonate [1). I have a long history of this kind of activity. However, before it was with compositions that were written in a more strictly musical language (Gregorian chants and works by Bruckner, Debussy, Stravinsky and Bach). The Ursonate is somewhere between spoken language and music (see Appendix for the text). The published version of the Ursonate [2) is a concrete poem that was constructed byJan Tschichold, the Swiss typographer . Although this form is entirely appropriate in the context of the Ursonate's existence as an inter-media piece, I do not think that it was meant by Kurt Schwitters to be used as a performance score. The visual placement does not give correct rhythmic information or pitch levels. Dynamic instructions are skeletal at best. Therefore, I have had to use an actual performance for my analysis. Incredibly, I was able to work from Kurt Schwitters's own complete rendition. (I describe that adventure in the section titled "The Ur-Story. ") GIMIK, the computer-music research and performing organization in Cologne, made me a computer analysis providing such information as time, pitch and dynamics. Kai Schon burg, a student at the Musikhochschule of Cologne, produced an analysis of pitch levels and rhythmic groupings by ear. This "human" analysis was necessary for two reasons: Even though the original recording was generously restored by Cedar Audio Ltd., there simply were Fig. 1. "Theme 1," xerox print on mylar, 88 X 160 cm, hand-colored with colored pencil, with grid overlay. (Photo: Bernhard Schaub) This print was drawn as a composite from three photographs (crrca 1930) of the Merzbau_ It is Ox's visual representation of the text of Theme 1 ("Fiimms bo wo tail zilil Uu, pogiff, kwiiEe"). The grid shows how she divided the image to represent specific sounds_ Jack Ox not enough signals left for the computer to work with, and so we used a recording of Ernst Schwitters's performance dating from the 1950s for the computer analysis. It is remarkable how close the son came to his father in rhythmic accuracy. The second reason that I needed an ear analysis of the piece is that the computer "hears" far too many pitches when the human voice is somewhere between speaking and singing. Schonberg was able to find the pitches we hear and write them down. I worked between the two scores, utilizing the computer's numbering system, length of time for events and pauses, and measurement of dynamic levels. From the ear score I took the actual pitches and also rhythmic information. At the Phonetic Institute, University of Cologne, under Georg Heike, I made, with the patient and generous help of Angela Fuster-Duran, a complete phonetic analysis (translating Schwitters's recitation into real phonemes). All of this information is encoded in the painting through collage image manipulation (intonation, consonants, and syllabic construction ) and glazes (vowels). J ack Ox (artist), Mainzer Strasse 58. D-50678 Cologne. Germany. Received 7 April 1993. Man uscript solicited by Roger F. Malina. This article was published in slightly d ifferent form in Jack Ox: Die Sonaie in Urlauten von Kurt Schwitlers (Cologne. Germany: Calerie Schtippenhauer. 1993). © 1993 Galerie Schuppenhauer. Reprinted with permission. LEONARDO MUSICJOURNAL, Vol. 3, pp. 59- 61, 1993 59 front central back i: y: u: close \\ .U The symbol to the right Fig. 2. Diagram of the vowel symbols used in the transcription of the Ursonate [4]. through internal image manipulations. The manner ofarticulation (e.g. plosive, fricative, trill) can be seen in different cuts and/or separate color inserts, and the turning around of image segments (Fig. 3). Voiced consonants are distinguished from voiceless ones by opposing directions of cuts. Each fricative has its own color insert (f= cerulean blue, Z = orange, v = violet and s = yellow). The place of articulation of plosives (P, b, t, and d) can be seen through the location of the cutting point. Approximates (h or j) or vowels that stand alone in a syllable have no internal cuts...