Walter Smetak - Plásticas Sonoras

Walter Smetak is very little known in Germany, but insiders see him as one of the major innovators – apart from Edgard Varèse and John Cage – of 20th century new music. Smetak, son of Czech parents, was born on 12 February 1913 in Zurich. He studied cello at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 1937 he emigrated to Porto Allegre in Brazil, where he was engaged by the local symphony orchestra. However, the orchestra was dissolved shortly afterwards and Smetak left to fend for himself as a freelance musician. In 1957, he was offered a position by Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, founder of the Escola de Música of the Bahia University, Brazil’s centre of new music, situated in the northern state of Salvador. Smetak accepted, stayed and worked until his death in 1984. In order to fully understand Smetak’s work, it is essential to appreciate the socio-cultural situation in Salvador, where European and North American cultures intermingle with Indian and African influences, forming “an impenetrable mixture of a highly explosive and vital potential for times to come” (Max Nyffeler). Particularly the vitality of Smetak’s music, its continuous development and its highly experimental aspects clearly seem to be inspired by this hybrid mixture. Smetak envisioned a kind of interactive music, based on microtones and perpetually in motion; to realize his vision, he designed more than 150 instruments – some of which truly appear fantastic. Smetak was intrigued by the spiritual and the metaphysical, a fascination he shared with Scelsi, and like Scelsi’s, also Smetak’s compositions always evolved from improvisation and experimenting. Only in a second step would he commit to paper what he had achieved, frequently in a graphic notation that dismissed traditional ways of musical notation and arrangement and is difficult for the non-initiated to read. Apart from the relative remoteness of his residence, this could be the reason why Smetak’s work has been received very hesitantly outside Brazil. In Germany, practically no notice has been taken of his work, with the exception of a brief performance at Horizonte 82, the 2nd festival of world cultures in Berlin, dedicated to Latin America. In Brazil, however, the activities of the ‘Smetak’s Friends’ Association’ are followed with a great deal of keen public interest. Perhaps because one of Smetak’s most renowned pupils was Gilberto Gils, today a world-famous musician and currently Brazil’s minister of culture. Gilberto Gils’ comprehensive recognition of Smetak on his homepage is one of the few sources available regarding the composer’s life and work. Under the heading MUSICA BRASILEIRA DESCOMPOSTA, a number of Smetak’s works will be performed at MaerzMusik 2005, partly by his own pupils.