conclusion

I apologize for not being able to present you with any physical examples from a score -- simply because I could not find a score for this work anywhere. Lucky for me the structure of "Knee Play 1" is relatively simple and you can probably picture the score very easily on your own.

Overall, however, I believe that this is a very fascinating piece that not only serves as a "knee," but stands very strong on it's own. It is pleasing to the ear both melodically and rhythmically. It also allows you to close your eyes and conjure images of Einstein's life and thoughts. If you haven't heard Philip Glass' Einstein On The Beach," I suggest you give it a chance. You won't regret it.

I am going to leave you with a relatively irrelevant video -- a Lego depiction of "Knee Play 1." (PS - this is an older, alternate recording of the track which actually has a very beautiful violin line and added text towards the end.)

the performance itself

(image courtesy of the Brooklyn Academy of Music)

The above image is a picture from a 1984 performance of "Einstein On The Beach." After analyzing the music itself and imagining so many visual aspects of Einstein's life -- you can only imagine what an actual performance of this avant-garde opera might be like. "A recording cannot capture the spectacular visual imagery that Robert Wilson devised for Einstein on the Beach but it should be said immediately that this was much more than the usual uneven collaboration between a librettist and composer." -- (philipglass.com

It is said that the performance can be described as a series of "stage pictures" including a jail, courtroom, bus, supermarket, and a park bench among others. Throughout the play, the violinist of the opera (who happens to be the Einstein from the title and sports a wig and suspenders) sits in the orchestra as the chorus you hear reciting the rhythmic/melodic numbers in "Knee Play 1" comes and leaves as they please. Speaking of, Glass encourages the members of the audience to come and go as they please as well. (nytimes.com)

The images portrayed throughout the opera, as you can see above, are outrageously electic and hard to link to any particular physical being - which coincides with what I stated in an earlier post about the work literally having NO central plot or story board. Bernard Holland of the New York Times states how "People smarter than I have expended a lot of brain power trying to figure out what “Einstein on the Beach” means. I don’t think it means anything. It is majestically two-dimensional. Its references to the atomic age, criminal justice, true love, air-conditioning and Patty Hearst are merely art materials, like red paint or blue. Those who want to link it to our inner beings or to outer space are welcome to try."nytimes.com)

a closer look

I find it rather difficult to do a specific analysis of just this work, as it serves more as a "joint" or connection between the rest of the pieces in the work (hence why Glass chose the term "knee" play -- he describes it as "the joining function that humans' anatomical knees perform"). (wikipedia.org) However, in looking past its' musical factors, I found it easier to picture and discover new things about the piece.

As a whole, the opera reflects on different parts of Einstein's life including references to the AM radio, nuclear weapons, and multiple mathematical and scientific themes. The latter (math and science) can be heard within "Knee Play 1." In fact, the first several times that I had listened to this work, references to Einstein's mathematical and scientific lifestyle immediately came to mind. The cluster of numbers being read from random, along with the orchestrated and rhythmic choral numbers, make me picture Einstein locked away in a classroom or laboratory scribbling away mathematical equations on a blackboard. I got the sense that if Einstein's brain could make noise, this is what we would hear. This Pepsi ad from 2000 surprisingly links this "image" of Einstein's brain with "Knee Play 1" (minus the advertising, of course):




The texts being read also seem to have a similar effect. Many of the audible lines help to portray how Einstein was such a "thinking-man." One line in particular, "All these are the days, and these are the days my friends," gives me the idea that Einstein was an optimist -- not taking a single day for granted -- always thinking and looking towards the future.

The fact that the numbers being performed in SATB setting are rhythmically and melodically matching the electric organ part also presents a sense of regiment and order -- another element that can be linked to the mathematical mind of Albert Einstein.

listening / context

"Knee Play 1" is the opening piece of the opera. As you can hear above, all you hear at first is a very simple, low registered electric organ part playing the notes la-sol-do over and over again. Layered on top shortly thereafter are panned female voices simply reciting numbers (i.e. 2, 3, 4). It is said that these were originally recorded as placeholders so that the singers could memorize texts. The texts were never recorded, however, and the resulting "random" numbers that you here are what remained.

Soon after the solo numbers are heard, the piece develops to an even greater degree with the addition of a full bodied chorus. The chorus is heard singing the adjacent beats accompanying the aforementioned "la-sol-do" pattern being played by the electric organ (La = 1, 2, 3, 4, Sol = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Do= 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). As the piece develops, the chorus begins to leave out certain beats, replacing the beats with silence (i.e. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Perhaps the most intriguing contextual part of this piece are the spoken texts. Panned from ear to ear and relatively low in volume when compared to the rest of the work, it is hard to distinguish many of the words. As I mentioned earlier, these spoken texts are actually lyrics taken from the poetry of Christopher Knowles, a mentally-challenged young man with whom Wilson had worked with while serving as an instructor of disturbed children in New York. Here is a sample of the text:

"Would it get some wind for the sailboat. And it could get for it is.

It could get the railroad for these workers. And it could be were it is.

It could Franky it could be Franky it could be very fresh and clean.

It could be a balloon.

All these are the days my friends and these are the days my friends.

It could get some wind for the sailboat. And it could get for it is.

It could get the railroad for these workers. It could get for it is were.

It could be a balloon. It could be Franky. It could be very fresh and clean."

(lyrics courtesy of nicolas.sceaux.free.fr)

This song structure (of spoken numbers, text, choral numbers, and electric organ) continues on for a total of roughly eight minutes. About halfway through the work, the piece develops slightly again, with the addition of extra choral parts underneath the numbers. For the most part, however, as is the case with each of the 5 Knee Plays, the structure is kept relatively simple and repetitive.

"Einstein On The Beach" - background / introduction

"Einstein On The Beach" (1976) is an opera, in four acts, scored by Philip Glass and directed by Robert Wilson. Not only is it Glass' first and lengthiest opera, but it also became the first of a three-part trilogy of operas. When first brainstorming the opera, Glass and Wilson wanted to base it around an icon portrayed "purely as a historical figure and not with any storyline attached to his image." (wikipedia.org). After much quarrel and disagreement, they settled on Albert Einstein.

Following the non-traditional trends of music of it's time, "Einstein" is a very unconventional opera. Aside from it lasting over five hours without a single intermission, the opera does not really contain a particular storyline. Glass and Wilson intentionally planned on the work having no central plot, which coincides with their choice of Einstein.

Each act of the opera is divided by what Glass labels a "Knee Play" - a short interlude that allowed for scenery changes. These "Knee Play" pieces are very eclectic works which not only include spoken numbers and solfege syllables, but also include lyrics taken from poems by Christopher Knowles - "a young, neurologically-impaired man with whom (Robert) Wilson had worked as an instructor of disturbed children for the New York public schools." (glasspages.org) The syllables, numbers, and speech help to move the piece along, all the while avoiding any central story line.

Throughout the next several posts, I will introduce you to one Knee Play in particular - Knee Play 1 - as well as analyze it's context and development, and discuss the aspects of the performance itself.