This experimental portrait photography series is a collaboration with composer Joseph Klein based upon characters in Der Ohrenzeuge: Fünfzig Charaktere (“Earwitness: Fifty Characters”), written in 1974 by the Bulgarian-born British-Austrian novelist Elias Canetti (1905-1994). Canetti’s distinctive studies incorporate poetic imagery, singular insights, and unabashed wordplay to create fifty ironic paradigms of human behavior. Dr. Klein composes short works for solo instruments that feature extended techniques and experimental approaches. These portraits are projected during live performances to create an immersive multimedia experience that brings Canetti’s characters to life.
“Die Sternklare (The Starry Woman)”
“… She has peered through a telescope only once in her life. How ashamed she was! She felt as if she were brazenly hurtling towards a star and forcing it to shine brighter than it cared to. She did not forget how lonesome it suddenly was, separated from the others, which gave it its stillness and equilibrium. She had plucked it out from all the heavens; her eye, ordinarily slow and quiet, glared at it, the way the sun glared at her in the daytime, she was afraid the star was destroyed now and lost from the sky. She tore herself away, she cursed the instrument, she did penance in her own way for weeks by making her eyes evade that cursed star. Then, when she dared to seek it again and found it, she was so happy that she purchased the telescope of her shame, smashed it, and scattered the parts and splinters in the night….”
Listen to this solo percussion composition by Joseph Klein on SoundCloud or learn more about this composition here.
“Die Königskünderin” (The King-Proclaimer)
Photo completed in collaboration with James Wiseman.
“She is harsh and despises beggars, unless they present themselves when they are needed. She pays her respects with a whole score of them when the king is about to be proclaimed. Then all the doors in her house fly open, it expands into a palace, angels sing, bishops bless, in her new vestments she reads a telegram from God and jubilantly proclaims the king.”
Learn more about this composition for solo trumpet here.
“Der Saus und Braus” (The Fun Runner)
Photography in collaboration with Mike Shields and Andrew Page. Additional thanks to Dr. Gene Cho. Learn more about this composition for solo piano here.
“Der Hinterbringer” (The Tattletale)
“The tattletale won’t keep anything to himself if it could hurt someone’s feelings. … He expects gratitude, and it consists in discretion. ‘I’m only telling you. It concerns only you.’ … ‘You’re being dismissed.’ The victim blanches. ‘When?’ he asks. And, ‘How can that be? No one’s said anything to me.’ ‘It’s being kept a secret. They’re going to tell you at the very last moment. I had to warn you. But don’t give me away.’ Then he gives a detailed speech on how awful it would be if he were given away, and before the victim even has time to fully gauge the danger he’s in, he already feels sorry for the tattletale, that best friend of his…. He likes to counsel the victim, if for no other reason than it takes longer. His advice is such that is magnifies the victim’s fear.”
This portrait was created in collaboration with James Hays. Learn more about this composition for solo piccolo here or listen to a recording here.
Die Müde (The Tired Woman)
Photo created in collaboration with Kristin Abbott. Learn more about this composition for solo alto saxophone here.
“Die Schadhafte” (The Defective)
“The defective keeps examining herself, on and on, and always comes across new defects. She nitpicks on her skin, locks herself up with it, and never tackles more than a tiny area at one time. She examines it with magnifying glass and tweezers, she peers, she pricks, and tries the same place several times. … When she first began, after a deep disappointment, she did not realize how many deficiencies she had. Now she is covered with them and is still far from knowing them all. Once she has discovered one, she makes a mental note of it and examines it painstakingly when its turn comes again…. It is a task that would drive some people to despair. But she enjoys it, for she lives her own truth. She speaks to no one about it, whose business is it anyway, she would like to be done with it before dying. …”
Learn more about this work for solo violoncello here or listen to a recording here.
Der Tückenfänger (The Wile-Catcher)
“The wile-catcher collects evil designs. He has enough space and he keeps them well and calls his pocket, which is full of wiles, Pandora’s Box. He walks softly in order not to frighten masks prematurely. If he has to say something, it sounds gentle, he speaks slowly as though it were difficult for him. If he looks someone in the eye, he thinks about somebody else as a diversionary tactic. If he makes an appointment, he shows up at the wrong time, much too late, as though he had forgotten it. He thereby lulls the enemy into false security, the enemy has time to form a wrong image of him. Then he shows up, apologizes humbly, and offers a hair-raising excuse for coming late; under the table the villain is already rubbing his hands.”
Listen to a recording of this piece for solo basset horn here or learn more about the piece here.
Die Tischtuchtolle (The Tablecloth Lunatic)
“[She] is dazzling white and breathes in linen. …She says she has never had a dream, and people believe her… Some people come to her to get order. She is irresistible. She says little, but whatever she says has the dogmatic force of an entire church. It is not certain that she prays, she is her own church. When she celebrates the dazzling white, one is plunged into shame for living so in filth. Compared with her, everything is filth, denials are futile. She opens her angular eyes wide, trains them undimmed on someone, and one senses a radiance from within. It is as though one had all her tablecloths inside, strictly folded, never spread, on a dazzling white heap, forever, forever.”
Listen to a recording here or learn more about this work for solo violin here.
“Der Fehlredner” (The Misspeaker)
“The misspeaker, when he wishes to speak, looks for people who do not know what he is talking about. He knows the bewildered look, the helpless blinking, when he addresses someone, and he throws himself into his speech only when the blinking is helpless enough. Ideas galore come pouring in, arguments that would never have occurred to him are available now in abundance, he feels he can confuse everyone now, his mood heightens to the darkest inspiration, the atmosphere around him is alive with oracles.”
Learn more about this piece for solo cimbalom here.
