Infinitary Compositions

How one woman used Mathematics to make eternal music

When we talk of modern music composition, especially in minimalism, one tends to think of; Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley and LaMonte Young. However, another composer might not be as well known, but her story is fascinating as it is interesting.

Early life

Catherine Christer Hennix (known hereafter as CCH) is a musician, poet, philosopher, mathematician and visual artist born in Sweden in 1948. CCH came from an academic and musical background; her father was an Arabic scholar, while her mother was a jazz composer and musician. CCH played the drums as a child and teenager and was fortunate to see John Coltrane live on tour in Sweden.

Eternal music

In 1969 CCH joined the Electronic Music Studio, where she composed two pieces, including Test/Sound Composition 5, which are early examples of electronic music. A year later, in 1970, CCH met LaMonte Young, a pioneer of drone/minimalist music. Upon hearing a recording of Young’s “The well Tuned Piano” (a solo piano work that, when performed, can last up to six hours in length), CCH collaborated with Young.

Infinitary Compositions

From 1971 to 1973, CCH studied mathematical logic and music at Berkley College. While working in the field of algorithmic music theory (a method of using algorithms and random processes as a tool for composition), CCH began work on what would be called The Electric Harpsichord.

The piece was recorded live in Sweden in 1976, using a single Yamaha Keyboard with a Harpsichord stop. The input is played through a lengthy delay unit using two-tape recorders. The tapes play at different speeds, so the notes become out of phase over time. Additionally, a sine-wave tone generator is employed to provide a sympathetic drone sound, similar to the tanpura in Indian classical music.

When the recording was finally released in 2010, CCH provided a series of notes on how the sine-wave drone should be constructed. The notes contain references to prime numbers, set theory and Fast Fourier Transformations. In essence, the composition of the drone was not by chance but by design. Sadly The Electric Harpsichord was performed only once. However, we are lucky that the twenty-five minute performance was recorded. Clips of the recording can be found on youtube. Check it out.

Later work

CCH continues to work today across multi-disciplinary fields such as art, mathematics, music composition and philosophy. In 2000 CCH received the Centenary Prize Fellow Award by the Clay Mathematics Institute for her collaboration with the Russian-American poet and mathematician Alexander Esenin-Volpin. In 2018, a new art and sound installation was premiered, Blue(s) in Green to the 31 Limit in Amsterdam. 2020 saw the publication of her writings — drama, poetry and essays on various topics (including music, psychoanalysis, and mathematics). I’m off to look for a copy.

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