Hello MMD readers,  Today I read another posting on the subject of the
"Ballet Mecanique" composer.

One thing to remember is that George Antheil was a "moving target" --
constantly in need of money and also possessing the ability to redefine
himself on a moment's notice, to fit into the 'trend du jour'.

For example, he says repeatedly that he sought patrons for the Salon
presentations of Paris in the 1920s, and one of them was Jack Benoit
Mechin, to whom he dedicates his handwritten 'Pleyel' score of "Ballet
Mecanique" with this line: "...for my best of friends." Then, in his
1945 autobiography he never mentions this connection to the experiment-
al music, but -- since his former acquaintance was now part of the Vichy
government -- states that "the guillotine was too good for him."

At another point, Antheil publishes advertisements for a backer and
a photographer to accompany his music roll ideas, since the 'Pleyel'
player roll score was written for a Fotoplayer type of instrument
(prior to its myriad revisions).  Later, in 1953, he writes that "no
existing pianola could ever handle this music" and states that "Ballet
Mecanique" as a musical work and as a motion picture were "two parallel
projects with the same name."  But, in 1945 he writes that he and his
fiance "pedaled furiously to keep up with the movie" (in 1925), again
reinforcing his earlier pre-Vitaphone interest in motion picture
accompaniment as the _source_ for this 'machine' music.

When Hedy Lamarr approached him about designing that device for
torpedoes, during World War II, he gives the patent number and invites
the reader to send in for the details.  Why?  Perhaps he wished to
disguise that his connection with music rolls was one of the reasons
why the Hollywood actress sought him out in the first place, perforated
rolls being part of the design.

In 1945 music rolls weren't 'high tech' nor as avant-garde as they
were in Paris of the 1920s.  At that time he had been running articles
in Esquire Magazine (some ghost-written as well!) on how to "pick up
girls" and therefore his autobiography made references to the bosoms of
the current stars, not only Miss Lamarr but also Lauren Bacall whom he
calls "the premier brassiere of Hollywood", in keeping with his desire
to generate a certain level of 'shock value' to his name.

(The autobiography was called "The Bad Boy of Music" after all, a
reference to his antics during the early days of "Ballet Mecanique"
as a player roll silent movie accompaniment and the subsequent non-film
presentations using an orchestra, along with a grab-bag of props.)

Antheil also makes references to cartoons of the day about him,
connecting "ant hill" to "Antheil", as in "making a mountain out of
an ant hill" ... perhaps another clue as how to pronounce his name?

Whenever he mentions a pneumatic player instrument in his writing
after radio and talking pictures arrived, he took the pains to say
"_electric_ player", perhaps suggesting that this was something
different and a cut above a conventional pedal-operated instrument!
This was, I believe, his tie-in with electric radio, television and
sound movies, all of which had taken the thunder of publicity away from
the former art of accompanying the silent cinema.  He also mentions in
the 1940s that he spent a good deal of money purchasing a phonograph
disc recorder -- high tech of that day and not something which that
average person possessed!

When he calls "Ballet Mecanique" a "chamber work" that's his clue that
this was written, originally, for salon presentations with the pianola
carrying the load, with or without a movie running or optional added-on
instruments.  When the original film -- which didn't fit the spirit of
his 'machine music' -- had nudity and some sequences with Man Ray (and
friend) eliminated, it was necessary to change the movie scene numbers,
and the 1925 player roll score reflects this also.  (Some are moved
about and others have scenes eliminated by the scratching-out of
musical measures.)

The movie and the rolls were originally fixed for a 30-minute playing
time.  By 1953, when the last revision was made (and magnetic tape
loops were added!) the music sans film ran about 13 minutes.

Thus, with George Antheil it's hard to say what was "original" in
just about anything he did -- the talented composer was so skilled at
redefining himself.  In recent years revisionist 'researchers' have
picked up on some of his idle remarks and expanded these into
chronological facts (of sorts).

While the Pleyel (later Aeolian-Pleyel) rolls were poorly done, and cut
without any sense of the overlapping staccato rhythm patterns essential
to the successful performance of "Ballet Mecanique", they do show in
a crude manner how this "chamber work" can hold its own.

I worked with 'reading' the original rolls, added a lot of thematic
material which Pleyel skipped, aided by a reproduction of the compos-
er's music roll manuscript, and in 1991 actually "completed" the
concept of having a solo player piano simulate aeroplane motors,
knitting machines, electric machinery, railroad trains and the like ...
all in a classically-constructed 'tone poem' of Futurism.  My rolls
have, to date, pleased musicians from the start, and most, upon hearing
them, realize that the recycling that George Antheil did -- when moving
the player from the spotlight to the 'sound effects department' --
destroyed in good measure what the original idea had been.

Even the composer wrote again and again, after one of the sundry
orchestral presentations, that the "synchronization" was not as had
he had hoped -- another possibly 'coded' reference to the precision
and staccato panache which the player-piano can impart to this music.
It was his misfortune to have Pleyel botch the original rolls through
sheet music transfer cutting (and sloppy methods), plus the subsequent
arrival of talking pictures which ended the film accompaniment era.

Of course, he used the word "experimental" in all his discussions of
this music, suggesting variety in presentation.

Thus, whatever "Ballet Mecanique" revivals take place, each is
different - a 'happening' of sorts.  There is no "original" version,
of course, since "experimental" suggests a work in progress.

Regards from Maine,

Douglas Henderson
Artcraft Music Rolls, Wiscasset, ME 04578 USA
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/

PS:

Even the Pleyel rolls vary.  Some have movie scene numbers printed on
them along with hand-stamped accent marks, the latter of which don't
match the player roll score!  My 1991 edition has all the known or
important movie scene numbers (for "time space") stamped on the rolls
(as indicated by the manuscript) since these musical 'blocks' aid the
pianolist and listeners in visualizing the cinematic images which they
were supposed to accompany.  As I said before, the 'Pleyel' score has
many changes and revisions, plus Antheil's own commentary, for example,
"Give George a big chord here!"  Clearly, this was a work in flux right
from the start!