Pianist Elan Sicroff is a leading interpreter of Gurdjieff/de Hartmann music and studied with Mme. Olga de Hartmann, the composer's widow, between 1975 and 1979.
Composer Biography
Thomas de Hartmann, born to Russian aristocrats in Ukraine, showed musical talent early, improvising melodies before age five.
Composer Biography
Thomas de Hartmann and his wife Olga met George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, a nomadic Georgian mystic, in 1916 and remained under his spiritual tutelage for twelve years.
Composer Biography
Tsar Nicolas II attended La Fleurette Rouge and allowed Thomas de Hartmann to defer military service to pursue a full-time music career.
Composition History
Thomas de Hartmann's four-act ballet La Fleurette Rouge was performed in 1906 with famous dancers Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, and Michel Fokine in principal roles.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Thomas de Hartmann was deeply influenced by Wassily Kandinsky, a painter, believing that new musical forms and techniques could be found through the art of painting.
Composer Biography
At age eleven, Thomas de Hartmann began formal music training with Anton Arensky, a renowned composition professor and director of the Imperial Chapel in St. Petersburg.
