Experiments in Visual Music (2008)

"Behemoth" (13 min)


photo courtesy of Boston Globe

World Premiere: World Music/CrashARTS
ICA Boston (May 2008)

In 1754, between absurd attempts to apply his aging worldview to natural occurrences, the French Jesuit monk Father Louis Bertrand Castel, also a mathematician and physicist, invented the ocular harpsichord or color organ. Twice the size of a grand piano, this miraculous object was comprised of 144 musical keys, 240 levers and pulleys, 60 reflecting mirrors, and 500 candles.

Dazzling although awkward, it was precursor to both disco ball and MTV in its ambitions to inspire visual ecstasy. Castel genuinely hoped that some day every Parisian household would possess one of his instruments.

photo by Bill T. Miller