Scientist, Anna Spiteri speaks to Marie Benoît about Gurdjieff the spiritual teacher and mystic who introduced The Fourth Way and the pianist Elan Sicroff who is coming to St James Cavalier next Saturday to play his music
I have known you to be a ‘disciple’ of Gurdjieff for a number of years. Could you give us a little information about this Armenian mystic?
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1866?-1949) was born in a turbulent area between the Black and the Caspian seas. He travelled widely in the Middle and the Far East seeking ancient wisdom and learning with remarkable teachers from different spiritual traditions. From this he formed his Fourth Way philosophy of life. He came to the West, with shocking ideas that ‘man’ is asleep even when awake, have not one Will but many ‘I’s, and react rather than act. He eventually succeeded to set up a “school” in Paris in the 1920’s with his followers, and attracted the leading minds at the time in psychology, science, literature, theatre and music. Many of his pupils became in turn Fourth Way teachers themselves, such as P D Ouspensky, J G Bennett, Maurice Nicoll and many others.
How did you become interested in Gurdjieff and what has studying his methods brought to your life? To your inner being?
Interesting that you mention the word ‘being’ as this is a word that only very recently its real meaning is beginning to dawn on me.
The first time I picked up a book on the Fourth Way was from the Malta University library. It was Ouspensky’s, In Search of the Miraculous, it must have been in the early 80’s; and introduced me to the Fourth Way philosophy. Other books of Gurdjieff’s, Beelzebub Tales to his Grandson; Meetings with Remarkable Men, Life is Real Only Then, When ‘I am’, were also found at the University library. But Beelzebub Tales makes rather difficult reading. Gurdjieff constructed these books, especially the Tales in such a way that one has to ‘struggle’ to understand their meaning, because the teachings in his books are meant to be understood not just intellectually, but also from the emotional and the moving centres at many levels; that is with one’s whole Being.
Four years ago I woke up one morning and decided that I am missing something quite fundamental in my life… and it was not material! It was then that I discovered, in Rome, a group led by Margit Martinu, who is a well known teacher of
the Gurdjieff Movements. (http://www.gurdjieffmovements.it). I go to her workshops in Centeno whenever I can and have began to realize the benefit of ‘working’ on oneself, of ‘doing’ and ‘being’ and not just ‘thinking’. It is there that the significance of the Tales through reading together in a group is beginning to come alive for me.
Why did you decide to bring the pianist to Malta? The pieces he is going to play will be mostly unknown to local audiences. They are very ‘special’.
Elan Sicroff, the pianist was invited by the Vatican in Rome to play at the Spiritfest last week. So it is a great privilege that Elan accepted to come over to Malta at the same time. I had met him in Wales, at the international group meeting there that meets every August led by Anne Hildyard, [email protected], and George Bennett, (the son of J G Bennett) who also runs courses in Massachusetts. http://www.campcaravan.org/
Yes, the Gurdjieff and de Hartmann music may be unknown to local audiences although pieces of their music are also found on YouTube nowadays. It is music from another dimension and has to be experienced.
Is the pianist an adherent of Gurdjieff too?
Elan was a student, then a Music Director at the International Academy for Continuous Education in Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England in 1972, run by J G Bennett. Through Bennett, Elan was introduced to Olga de Hartmann, widow of the composer Thomas de Hartmann, who had composed a large body of sacred music from the East with Gurdjieff between 1915 and 1929. Elan will play a selection of this music here in Malta.
The concert will take place at St James next Saturday 31 January at 7.30pm. He will also give a lecture at the university on 29 January at 11 am and on Sunday 1 February at 11am at the School of Practical Philosophy at 101 Christopher Street in Valletta.
Which books would you recommend for our readers to start with? And is there a group in Malta that meets to discuss the Fourth Way philosophy?
I would strongly recommend them to come to Elan’s concert and lectures. Then I would suggest starting with J G Bennett’s books…perhaps with Gurdjieff: Making a New World; and Needs of a New Age Community. http://www.bennettbooks.org/
We have a Gurdjieff Reading Group in Malta, and everybody who seriously wants to ‘work’ on themselves is welcome.
For more information contact [email protected] or 99256207.
Gurdjieff and
Thomas de Hartmann
Fifty years after his death, Thomas de Hartmann is still relatively unknown to the general public. However, his name is familiar to followers of Gurdjieff, and as this group grows, so does his reputation.
De Hartmann was born in the Ukraine. His early instructors were Arensky and Tanaieff, the leading composition and counterpoint teachers of the day. At the age of eighteen, he received his degree from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. During the period of 1907-1913, he became known as a composer in Russia. His ballet, The Pink Flower, was performed in the presence of the Tsar, and his music for voice, piano, and chamber music were published by Jurgenson.
In 1915, de Hartmann met Gurdjieff, an extraordinary philosopher and teacher, who had a profound influence on the rest of his life. When the Russian Revolution broke out, he fled with Gurdjieff across the Caucasus, accompanied by his wife and twelve companions. During this time, he came in contact with the music of Armenia, Turkey, and the Middle East, and began his long collaboration with Gurdjieff, arranging this traditional and sacred music for the piano.
The relationship between Gurdjieff and de Hartmann is certainly one of the most unusual in musical history. During his travels throughout Asia, Gurdjieff had heard and remembered the music of the places he visited. Professionally untrained, he nevertheless had an excellent ear, and improvised on the harmonium as well as the harmonica.
When he established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, outside of Paris in the 1920’s, he set to work with Thomas de Hartmann. In front of an audience he would hum or whistle a tune and tap out a rhythm. De Hartmann would attempt to transcribe this into Western notation, adding his own harmonies. The results were astonishing: over 300 compositions were produced, covering a wide range of cultures and styles, from folk music, to Dervish, Tibetan, Greek Orthodox and more. Nothing that de Hartmann wrote before or after this period sounds like it.
Sircoff: Brief Biography
Elan Sicroff received his musical training at the Juilliard School with Jeaneane Dowis, at the Oberlin Conservatory with John Perry, and with the musician-critic Jeremy Siepmann in England.
In 1972 he met J.G. Bennett, a major exponent of Gurdjieff’s teaching, at the International Academy for Continuous Education in Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England. He participated as a student on a 10-month “Basic Course” dedicated to providing tools for inner work to last a lifetime; and then stayed on as staff in the capacity of Music Director for two more years.
Through Mr Bennett, Elan was introduced to Olga de Hartmann, widow of the composer Thomas de Hartmann, who had composed a large body of sacred music from the East with Gurdjieff between 1915 and 1929. Mme. de Hartmann invited him to perform at McGill University in Montreal in 1975, and she guided his musical interpretation until her death in 1979. During this period she facilitated a number of Elan’s recitals of her husband’s music, both the sacred music written in collaboration with Gurdjieff, and that written in the modern idiom.
From 1977-83 Elan lived at Claymont Court in West Virginia, a Fourth Way community set up by J.G. Bennett shortly before his death in 1974. Here Elan taught music and continued to promote the musical work of de Hartmann and Gurdjieff. In 1982 he made a tour of the United States and the Dominican Republic.
Elan’s performances have included two recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall, numerous appearances at New York’s Open Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Longy School in Boston, and at many University campuses across the country.
In 1987 Elan released a record and CD of the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann music entitled Journey to Inaccessible Places, produced by Robert Fripp. In 1995 he recorded a second CD, Sicroff Plays Gurdjieff.