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European Premiere of Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury at the Ruhrtriennale

Jun. 25, 2013

European Premiere of Harry Partch’s <em>Delusion of the Fury</em> at the Ruhrtriennale

By the time Harry Partch composed Delusion of the Fury, the great experimenter and tonal explorer had fully developed his highly differentiated scale system and designed specialized, unconventional instruments to realize the wonderfully diverse sounds of his imagination. For the European premiere of Delusion of the Fury at this year’s Ruhrtriennale, the Cologne-based new music ensemble musikFabrik has constructed exact replicas of the 25 instruments required to perform this 90-minute music theater tour de force. The ensemble’s engagement with Partch’s music demonstrates a fearless dedication to the work, as Partch calls for the musicians to act also as chorus, mimes and dancers. The Ruhrtriennale’s premiere provides a spectacular opportunity to explore Partch’s musical universe and experience the hypnotic force of one of the most extraordinary and innovative American composers of the 20th century.

Based on Japanese and African myths, Delusion of the Fury is a work of music-theatre composed for dancers and singing instrumentalists that exists between dreams and madness. Partch integrates the theatrical means of light, movement, and song with the extraordinary presence of his instruments in a theater work with no precise setting as temporal layers overlap. Crafting a view of a culture that seems strange yet somewhat familiar to us, Partch drapes in all four directions a spiritual net that celebrates the reconciliation of the living with death and life. The first of a series of performances in Europe, Heiner Goebbels stages the European premiere of Delusion of the Fury at Bochum’s Jahrhunderthalle before the production travels to Oslo’s Ultima Contemporary Music Festival for the Norwegian premiere on September 12. Future performances are also scheduled at the Holland Festival in 2014. With musical arrangement by Arnold Marinissen, sound design by Paul Jeukendrup, the production opens in Bochum on August 23 with seven additional performances through September 8. Artistic director Heiner Goebbels writes:

Before the beginning of the rehearsals I had my doubts, whether one should tell these stories onstage, stories from which Partch spins his 'ritualistic web' as he calls it, stories whose music reduces itself to a minimum of words. But they also  contain an archaic dimension, that also appeals to us even in their somewhat symbolic reduction.

Who comes together in order to celebratethis 'dream ritual'? Is it a hippie colony or are they people who are trapped underground and don't really know if they will ever get out, and while away the time with instruments they've made themselves? Perhaps it's about a culture in an undiscovered country. We don't really know where it is. Whoever these people are, they've got something on us: they already know that anger only breeds disappointment and that life is a lot better even with a certain amount of disillusionment.

For more details on the production at the Ruhrtriennale, visit www.ruhrtriennale.de.

Learn more on the life and work of Harry Partch by visiting www.schott-music.com.

Harry Partch
Delusion of the Fury (1965-1966)
A Ritual of Dream and Delusion
text (Eng) by the composer
Small Hand Instruments: Alpha - Ugumbo, copy of a Zulu instrument · Beta - Bolivian double flute · Gamma - Rotating drum · Delta - First waving drum · Phi - Second waving drum · Epsilon - Six bamboo claves · Zeta - First bamboo ceremonial pole · Eta - Second bamboo ceremonial pole · Theta - Third bamboo ceremonial pole · Iota - First pair of eucal claves · Kappa - Second pair of eucal claves · Lambda - Third pair of eucal claves · Psi - Fourth pair of eucal claves · Xi - Thumb piano · Omicron - First belly drum · Pi - Second belly drum · Rho - Gourd drum · Sigma - Fiji rhythm boat · Omega - Gubagubi - 2. Stage Left and Center: Harmonic Canon I · Adapted Guitar I und II · Koto · Kithara I und II · Chromelodeon I and II · Blo-Boy · Castor & Pollux (Harmonic Canon II) · Blue Rainbow (Harmonic Canon III) · Surrogate Kithara · Crychord · Cloud-Chamber-Bowls · Spoils of war · Gourd Tree · Cone Gongs - 3. Stage Right: Mazda Marimba · Zyno-Xyl · Diamond Marimba · Quadrangularis Reversum · Eucal Blossom · Boo (Bamboo Marimba) · Bass Marimba · Marimba Eroica · Bass Drum;
voices: soprano, tenor/baritone, bass and chorus
75’

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