a solo performance piece for recorders, tape and fixed media
At the foundation of this project, we employed the texts of Johann Joachim Quantz and Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, both played an important role in the development of wind instruments literature in the 18th century. Their treatises are considered crucial in shaping our understanding of historically informed performance practices. Über die Schnabelflöte explores the mechanics and the internal hidden structures of our language. The piece is utilizing the texts of Hotteterre, a French baroque flautist, composer, instrument maker and teacher (German translation by Hans Joachim Hellwig) and Quantz, his German contemporary.
We have devised an algorithm that allows us to compliment and replace every piece of text with musical or visual gestures. The text transforms from concrete sentences, words and letters into an abstract audio-visual experience through a gradual process, in which, the audience acquires a vocabulary assembled from these gestures. When the text is completely supplanted by the music, the listener can remarkably still hearken back to the the original source that they have never heard.
In addition, the work explores the ways in which our words are perceived when communicated through speech. We showcase a plethora of public speaking mediums, from the mundane setting of an academic lecture, through the hyperactive educational YouTube video and even the ingratiating flattery of the court jester. Each context sheds new light on these 18th century texts, reflecting our view of language as a living and breathing organism, ever changing and evolving.
