Hymnen

“In 1970, Jean-Albert Cartier, then director of the Ballet-Théâtre Contemporain d’Amiens, brought together a collective of five choreographers around Michel Descombey to create a show based on Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Hymnen, with Gérard Fromanger collaborating on the scenography, sets, and costumes. This work strongly echoed the tensions and utopias of the time, particularly those of May 1968, through the very content of the musical score, the sets, the costumes, and the unprecedented organization of a collective choreographic approach.

Thirty-five years later, although the world has changed, the issues of national, ethnic, and religious identities are still very much alive, reinforced by the proliferation of new migrations, inequalities, and poverty. In inviting Gérard Fromanger and Lia Rodrigues to renew this adventure with me, the aim is not to illustrate the music or to stick to current political events. However, the sounds, images, injunctions, and challenges of the world form the backdrop to our approach.”

Didier Deschamps

“Aren’t you afraid of the white canvas?”

“The canvas isn’t white! It’s black, black with the entire history of painting and with what I myself have done. So it is a matter of whitening it, not blackening it. Let’s say a first touch of red on the seemingly white canvas: the red begins by erasing, then it whitens, freeing the canvas from all the past blacknesses that covers it. But immediately, it feels alone, it demands, asks, begs, insists on a green to dance with it […].”

Gérard Fromanger – 1970, Hymnen ballet

“ ‘But you know, dear Gérard Fromanger, there’s more to life than just the color red!’ Karlheinz Stockhausen wrote to me a few months ago. How right he is! Taking this common-sense remark into account, and as I do in my painting, I wanted to give each color in the spectrum a chance in Hymnen (the warm colors: red, orange, yellow; and the cool colors: blue, green, purple, not forgetting black and white).

In Hymnen, Stockhausen deconstructs, crushes, lengthens, reduces, and mixes all noises and sounds (national anthems, birdsong, machines, breath, human voices, etc.) to create immense music.

Lia Rodrigues, Didier Deschamps, and I have created an ensemble SONS MOUVEMENTS COULEURS (sounds movements colours), which offers a contemporary reading and listening experience of this music that never ages.”

Gérard Fromanger – May 2007

“This invitation is a challenge, bringing together artists from very different backgrounds and worlds: Gérard Fromanger, Didier Deschamps and the dancers of the Ballet de Lorraine, myself and the dancers of my company in Brazil.

We propose to explore a common ground: Stockhausen’s music, Hymnen, an emblematic musical work from the 1960s that remains as powerful as ever. This music creates a world of sound, a movement in space. Even its composer calls it ‘stage music,’ comparing it to ‘figurative musical painting.’ Stockhausen speaks of transmutation, integration, fusion, and the composition of a space of perception. These words could be the key to this show: the creation of a territory that belongs to everyone, made up of a multiplicity of bodies, gazes, and colors.”

Lia Rodrigues