the ocular harpsichord of louis-bertrand castel - Gewina

Castel's ocular harpsichord 71
from afar, crescendo and decrescendo, the deep tones of the basset horn 148
Nevertheless, this phenomenon of synaesthesia soon made itself felt in contemporary
music. Some colour instruments were built in Great Britain and in the
United Sates; in Russia one Alexander Mozer tried to do the same on request
of the composer Scriabin, who wrote a part for such an instrument in his
symphonic poem Promethee, le poime du feu of 1908-1910. None of these
instruments seem to have been based on any formal rules of harmony. The
eighteenth-century debate remained a closed book. The only reminiscence was
the article "Colour-music" (the contemporary version, of course) by Adrian B.
Klein in the 14th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, published in 1929,
where Castel was mentioned as "the Giotto or Guido d'Arezzo of colour-music",
although the author hardly knew anything about Castel's views.
If one wonders whether since the eighteenth century anything has been
achieved in keeping with Castel's ideas, perhaps one should say that the light
and laser shows of the modern discotheque, though also lacking rules of
harmony, come closest. Indeed, Castel himself already suggested that "by using
carefully installed mirrors, or covering the walls of an appartment with mirrors,
one can multiply the object and scatter it in all directions," or that the keys of
his instrument could be coupled to centrally placed lights in casings of coloured
glass, such that "the whole room would bath in light of a single colour which
changes incessantly through the movements of the keys".'"^
Hoffmann, "Kreisleriana": "Hochst zerstreute Gedanken," in Werke, vol. 1, p. 56: "im Zustand
des Delirierens, der dem Einschlafen vorhergeht, vorziiglich wenn ich viel Musik gehort habe, finde
ich eine Ubereinkunft der Farben, Tone und Diifte ... Der Duft der dunkelrolcn Nelken wirkt mit
sonderbarer magischer Gewalt auf mich: unwillkiirlich versinke ich in einen traumerischen Zustand
und hore dann wie aus weiter Feme die anschwellenden und wieder verflicBenden tiefen Tone des
Bassethoms."
Mimoires de Trevoux, December 1735, p. 2746: "par des Miroirs places avec art, & en
tapissant meme tout un appartement de Glaces, on peut multiplier I'objet & le semer de toutes
parts"; "ensorte que tout un appartement soit colore d'une couleur mobile que le mouvement des
touches fait changer a chaque instant."