Pen, Paper, Steel: Visualizing Bach's Polyphony at the Bauhaus
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Abstract
Graphs drawn on rastered paper and a monumental steel sculpture display how visual artists Paul Klee and Henrik Neugeboren conceived of Johann Sebastian Bach's polyphonic style in 1920s Germany. Focusing on the representational decisions behind these artistic translations of music, this article explores the ways in which such artifacts manifest a specific analytical lens. It highlights congruencies with and deviations from the theoretical framework of "linear counterpoint," as epitomized in Ernst Kurth's influential treatise from 1917, and thereby positions the artworks within the controversial reception history of Bach's music and attendant theoretical frameworks in the early twentieth century.
More generally, the article proposes that graphical and sculptural renderings of music can offer the opportunity to investigate music theory's intangible methods and conceptual metaphors from yet unconsidered perspectives. Adapting analytical predilections -- with their premises, affordances, and limitations -- in different material configurations makes them accessible to diverse audiences through different sensory experiences.
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