THE CORRESPONDENCES BETWEEN

SOUND AND LIGHT AND COLOUR-MUSIC:

SKB "PROMETEI"

Paulo Quadros

University of Glasgow

1984
 PREFACE

The study of the relationships between colour and sound has generated more or
less inconsistent results right from its beginnings. This has been due to a number
of reasons.

With very few exceptions there has been a remarkable lack of direction, an
abundance of cross-purposes within the various discussions of the subject and a
resultant lack of clear conclusions which has held back any possible developments in
this field.

The aim of this paper is to put into perspective the main findings and the main
currents of thought regarding the correlations between sound and colour, its meaning
and applications with emphasis on the work done by the Russian group SKB
"Prometei".

The dissertation presupposes an acquaintance with A.B. Klein ’s "Colour Music, the
Art of Light" 1.

This book comprises an unbiased and exhaustive survey of most, if not all, the
developments in the field of study of music in relation to light, up to the date of its
publication. Klein gives a complete description of the most important theories in the
field, covers proposals from Aristotle up to 1926, including ideas by musicians,
scientists, painters and psychologists.

He analyses the theories based on the physics of the sound and light and tackles
philosophic and aesthetical problems imposed by an art involving light and sound; he
also analyses the problems and practicability of colour-music as an independent art
form, discusses the art of stage lighting with its theories and technical practices as
related to the art of light including apparatus such as cloud machines and special
effects. In his survey the author mentions all the colour-music instruments ever built
and some of their diagrams and descriptions.

The book ends with a vast bibliography covering publications from Aristotle's "De
Sensu" (332 BC) in chronological order up to 1925.

Some familiarity with Lawrence Mark's "The Unity of Senses - Interrelation

among modalities” 2 is also quite useful although the dissertation will briefly cover
some of the points put forward by this author.

1
Crosby Lockwood & Son, 1926; London (held at the Westminster Public Library)
2
Academic Press; 1978; London

1
The book is also a survey but concentrates on the psychological aspect of the
colour/sound relationship. In it, Lawrence Marks, probably the most knowledgeable
modern author on the subject, includes the main current schools of thought which try
to explain the phenomenon of inter-relationships of senses, as well as describing and
analysing some of the modern experiments, some of the aesthetical problems
imposed by the use of this correlation in art, sound symbolism in poetry, etc.

Both Marks and Klein have the advantage of clarity resulting from their ability to
give the facts without trying to influence the reader with their own personal
views.

Firstly, we need to be clear about some of the ideas and definitions used in the
examination of this topic, since they have been used indiscriminately by practically all
who have written about it, a fact which is responsible for many of the misconceptions.

0
A small minority of people experience a curious sensory blending, where stimulation
of a single sense activates one or more of the other senses. To these individuals
(synaestetes) a voice, for instance, may take on colours, tastes and/or smells. This
phenomenon is called "synaesthesia", a general term embracing all forms of cross-
relationships of the senses. The phenomenon has apparently existed as long as
human consciousness itself. In the Golden Age of Greece, Aristotle was aware of
synaesthesia and commented on it. In our time, previous to the 20th century, there
were already several books and more than one hundred papers on synaesthesia 3.

At the 1890 International Congress of Physiological Psychology, a committee was

organised to standardise the terminology employed in the study of synaesthesia and
it was only since then that it has become acceptable to study this area 3 .

To those of us who are not ourselves synaesthetic the very phenomenon may seem
strange and often dubious but some synaesthetic individuals - even adults - express
genuine surprise to discover that their way of perceiving is not universal. Others, by
contrast, are too acutely aware of the distinction between synaesthetic and non-
synaesthetic perceptions; in "The Unity of Senses", p. 84, Marks reports that some
people have commented to him "how they learned to suppress any hint of
synaesthesia, occasionally hiding it even from friends and relatives, and, in a few
instances, seeking medical help".

Synaesthesia has been reported to be more common in children than in adults by

almost two or three to one. The rates of occurrence of the phenomenon in adults
range from 9% to 13%, according to various independent researches. J. Philippe
reported that 20% of 150 blind subjects had coloured hearing and generally claimed
that this ability had developed following their loss of vision 4.

According to Prof. Albert Wellek 5 and according to the main current theory, all of the
human senses were, in fact, one single system at one time. The study of evolution
enables the senses to be traced back to a common root - a prehistoric sensory form
or primitive awareness of which the original components have only separated and
become individual senses in the course of the ages. But "even at this latest stage of
human development the psychological mechanisms still allow transition or re-
ordination from one impulse track or sense department to a neighbouring track or
department. This applies even if the two departments concerned are subjectively
quite different from each other".

Most frequently encountered in synaesthesia is the form known as "colour-hearing" 6

and, less frequently "sound-vision". These are examples par excellence of
synaesthesia, in this case known as "binary perception" (because it involves only two
of the senses). Colour hearing has the acoustic system as the trigger of the
phenomenon - in other words a sound heard is associated with a colour or colours.
In sound-vision (a counterpart of colour-hearing) the synaesthetic connection is in the
other direction, which means that when a colour is seen a sound appears that has no
point of origin in the "objective stimulus pattern". In both, the triggering ("primary

3
Kowalcyk: The Associative Relation Between Triadic Musical Chords and Colour
4
Philippe J.: "Resume d'une observation d1audition coloree"; Revue Philosophique; 1893; pp.330-
334
5
Wellek A.: "Colour-hearing and its significance for the visual arts"; Palette; No 23,,; 1966; pp.15-24
6
Also called "oratio colorata", "Farbenhören", "audition coloreé", or "psycho-chromasthesia".

1
sensation") and the triggered secondary (or "sympathetic") sensations bear the
stamp of the sensation itself.

The secondary sensations may be as real as they are in the immediate perception
process (i.e., as if they were primary sensations themselves) producing something
similar to hallucinations, what is called "eidetic imagery". This binary perception in the
literal sense of the word is relatively rare but there are identical links between primary
sensation and secondary quality of no more than imaginary nature or even links
which are not between the real and the imaginary but associative links within the
realm of imagery alone.

Thus, there is clearly a need to draw a theoretical distinction between "true" (i.e.
actually perceived synaesthesia) and "false", purely imaginary or emotionally
conditioned synaesthesia. But in trying to do this we come across a problem: in the
experiments of various researchers it has been demonstrated that it is not always
possible to draw these distinctions and that they can only be valid in extreme cases.

2
In reality there are a large number of transitory forms lying between "true", eidetic
forms and purely imaginary forms 7.

In this respect, authors such as Scholes in his article in the Oxford Companion to
Music do much harm to the accurate understanding of the subject with the undertone
of scepticism which permeates his discussion. Klein's position regarding the colour
and sound relationship is quite misrepresented since his book seems to be Scholes 1
main reference. Klein's view of the subject may be summarised as follows:

"We may naturally expect that man will develop a larger

capacity to enjoy relations and discern significance in regions
of perception now unknown... The immensely increased
control over natural forces which the applied science of the
last hundred years has conferred upon us, must of necessity
have modified the character of artistic creation by its effect
upon the material means of expression"

8
W.S. Coleman distinguishes four degrees of secondary sensations (which he calls
"photisms"):

1) Photisms located somewhere behind the eyes or

within the skull (i.e., imaginary photisms);
2) A background of colour appearing behind actual
objects in the environment, though not obscuring
them;
3) Photisms projected spatially in the direction of
the source of the auditory stimulus;
4) Those visual impressions which are so brilliant
as to obliterate the environment, or else to
blend with its colours and thus engender a
totally different hue.

This seems to be the only attempt to subdivide the gradation between associated
and eidetic imagery, so the problem of discrimination between "true" and "false"
synaesthesia remains unsolved.

All attempts to prove the existence of fixed, invariable and natural relations between
the sensations of sound and colour have, so far, failed scientifically. This, of course,
does not imply that those relations do not exist, since all attempts to disprove it have
similarly failed.

These attempts have in common the fact that they are based on the external physical
characteristics of colour and sound which are theorised and demonstrated according
7
Dr. Fraser-Harris (Edinburgh Medical Journal; vol 18; p.529) coined another term to describe one
of the forms of synaesthesia, namely "Psychochromasthesia", By "synaesthesia" he understands
"coupled sensations, as when sounds, voices etc, arouse colour (e.g., colour hearing). By
"psychochromasthesia" he means colour perception". A colour concept is a "psychochrome"; when,
in the case of a coloured concept, the exteriorising is the feature, this may be called a "chromo-
psychogram"
8
Colman: "Further Remarks on colour-hearing"; Lancet I; 22; 1894
to what we can perceive, without a knowledge of the inner mental processes which
enables us to recognise those physical properties in the external world. The retina
alone is not able to recognise colours, as the eardrum alone is not enough to
recognise pitches. It is not quite clear yet how the brain processes the information
sent by the eyes and the ears (or by any sense receptor, in fact) and until that is
known, there is no sense in proclaiming or denying the existence of physical
correspondences between sound and colour. They might be different manifestations
originated from a common source or be the same type of triggering signal after they
go through the sense organs.

Vibration is a common denominator, but a literal "translation" of sound into colour or

vice-versa based on this fact has proven unfruitful mainly for the fact that researchers
look for a 2:1 frequency relationship (i.e. octave relationship). Although this 2:1
relation, occurs many times within the audible sound band of 16 to 20,000 cps, this is
not really achieved between the extremes of the visual spectrum. Some authors 9
immediately jump to the conclusion that this proves the non-existence of analogies
between sound and colour. Such writers forget that octave equivalence is a
completely artificial concept only valid when applied to an equally artificial musical
system.

The gamut of sound is as continuous as that of light. Octave equivalence came about
only because of the human's ability to perceive and distinguish small variations within
that band between 16 and 20,000 cps. In other words, we subdivide the vibrations-
continuum in the manner we do, not because of their absolute physical properties but
because we perceive them in the way we subdivide them.

For the same reason, it is barren to look for an answer to the question of fusion of
colours and non-fusion of sounds based on physical laws. The fusion or non-fusion
takes place within the mind itself, after it processes the data collected by the various
sense receptors.

Having that in mind, we should rephrase the question. How can we "translate"
colours into sounds or sounds into colours in a way that we can perceive it as such?
This raises a second question: Why should we wish to translate one section of the
spectrum, of perceived vibrations into another section? To this there are only two
answers: either because of pure scientific speculation or because of our need for
aesthetic fulfilment in the form of Art.

9
For instance, Felix Ganz in "Sound and Colour - critical remarks of a musician on sound colour
relations"; Palette no 23; 1967

4
Publications of experiments involving synaesthesia or colour/sound analogies have
revealed a surprising lack of control of conditions, a lack of musical knowledge on the
part of most scientists who attempt to apply their theories to music and a lack of
scientific knowledge on the part of most musicians who attempt to apply scientific
concepts to their art.

Associated with the first problem is the one of reference. Most researchers take the
tempered scale nomenclature as the basis for their experiments.

For instance, Dr. R.W. Pickford10 relies for some of his conclusions on Jean Dauven's
research (1970) which is based in turn on "notes" with frequencies different from
those generally used in the present day tempered scale, and on the Pytagorian
frequency ratios. Taking middle C as an example (standardised as 261.63 cps),
Dauven's middle C is 264 (there are variations of up to ten cycles in some other
notes) and Myers is 256 11.

Still regarding reference, although Myers took into consideration the differences in
timbre in his results, most researchers have made indiscriminate use of instruments
in their search for an explanation for synaesthesia and the correlations between
colour and sound. When Scholes pointed out the discrepancies among the
conclusions, he too, like the researchers, failed to realise the mistake of relying on
false premises.

It may be true that there is a large discrepancy between Dauven's "C" which "is"
green and Myers’ subject "A"s "C" which "is" rosy brown but the frequency of that
note is 528 cps in the first case and 500 cps in the latter. Clearly two quite distinct
pitches.

There are also attempts to compare modern results to those which have been
reported in the last century or even before, without taking into consideration the
differences in sound between old and modern instruments and the difference in the
tuning of the scales throughout the history of music. For instance, in the middle of the
eighteenth century most keyboards were tuned in mean-tone temperament rather
than in equal temperament as they are today.

10
Pickford, R.W.: "Psychology and visual aesthetics"; Hutchinson Educational; 1972; London
11
Myers, C.S.: "Experimental Psychology"; pp 26-30

5
Mean-tone provides the player with a group of about a dozen "central" keys in which
all the important chords are very much more in tune than they are on the modern
piano. In remoter keys, F sharp minor or A flat major for instance, certain chords
sound very dissonant and these may often include the tonic or the dominant of the
key, which will produce quite a different reaction from the listener 12.

But even taking the above points into consideration and the inconclusive overall
results, all the experiments if taken in isolation show that at least synaesthesia is a
real phenomenon. There is a very interesting experiment which shows evidence of
actual-physical changes occurring in the brain when sounds are heard. Cecilia Chu
Wang gives a very detailed description of the effects of pitch intervals on brainwave
amplitudes in the "Journal of Research in Music Education" 13

According to her findings, results of analysis from electroencephalogram (EEC)

recorded while testing the pitch discrimination ability of fourteen musically trained
university students, showed that EEC amplitude decreased as pitch intervals became
smaller. There was no change in the EEG amplitude when comparison pitches were
at intervals of a whole tone (higher or lower) from the reference pitch, but change did
occur when the interval was diminished to a quartertone.

She did not experiment with intervals smaller than a quartertone but the results seem
to point towards a greater change in the EEG amplitude as .the intervals are further
diminished. If extended, this experiment would perhaps establish a connection
between timbre and synaesthesia. Clearly some more research is required in this
direction to establish any connections between those brainwaves and the perceptual
process of the mind.

Sometimes non-synaesthetic individuals can experience synaesthesia through the

use of drugs. Several of the consciousness-altering drugs, especially hashish,
mescaline, and LSD are known to evoke synaesthesia at least on occasion. That this
happens has one clear implication, namely that a capacity for true synaesthetic
perception probably lies latent and dormant within most, if not all people, ready to
come forth when properly catalysed 14.

12
For a detailed description of the effect of different forms of temperament in music refer to
Thurston\ Dart’s book "The Interpretation of Music", Hutchison of London, 1978 (4th edition.) and
also Dr. Lowery's book "The Background of Music" - Hutchison of London
13
Summer 1977; vol 25; No 2; pp 150-164
14
Tart, C.T.: "On being stoned: a psychological study of marijuana intoxication"; Palo Alto: Science and
Behaviour Books; 1971 .
Delay, J; Gerard, H.P.; & Racamier, P.C: "Les synesthesies dans l'intoxication mescalinique"; L'Encéphale;
1951 .
Grinspoon, L: "Marijuana reconsidered"; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; 1971

6
All of us may and do experience the correspondences of diverse senses in various
degrees. Art forms like opera and ballet are intrinsically synaesthetic modes of
expression. To perceive ballet it is necessary to integrate sight and sound so that, in
John Keat's words

"eyes
And ears act with that unison of sense which
marries sweet sound with the grace of form" 15

Colours are not only bright or dark, deep or pale, but sometimes loud and soft as well
as warm and cool.

Sounds have several spatial characteristics, for instance, their apparent location. But
they also have another characteristic of location - one that is independent of where
the sound comes from - namely the dimension of high versus low that is commonly
known as pitch. According to Roffler and Buttier 16 "this is no mere spatial metaphor".

They found in their extensive study of the phenomenon that perceived height
correlated directly with pitch in the congenitally blind as well as the sighted and in
children so young that they seemed not to command the verbal concepts of high and
low pitch.

There is also another property of sound which can be easily perceived. It is usually
called apparent volume, which is not the same thing as loudness. Sounds differ not
just in their subjective intensity (i.e., loudness) but also in the degree to which they
appear to fill up space.

Loud, low pitched sounds appear most massive and seem to fill up a large volume of
space.

E.R. Moul 17 claimed that both pure tones and coloured lights yield sensations that
can be said to have "thickness". He concluded that "we are dealing not with unrelated
perceptions of visual depth and auditory volume, but with an aspect of experience
which is fundamentally the same whether mediated by the eye or by the ear", (p 559).

It was not until the nineteenth century that synaesthesia started being seriously
studied, scientifically or otherwise. Many of the present misconceptions also stem
from that period. The correspondences among the senses formed a vital part of the
artistic development in that century and Charles Baudelair's poem
"Correspondances" summarises quite well the spirit of the period:

" Perfumes, colours and sound

intertwine and in particular by the
perfumes fresh as children's flesh
Sweet as oboes, green as prairies"

Another example of sound and colour correspondence in that century is found in

Arthur Rimbaud's "Sonnet of the Vowels", which begins:
15
From "Hyperion: A Vision"
16
"Localisation of tonal stimuli in the vertical plane"; Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America; 1968; 43; pp1260-1266
17
"An experimental study of visual and auditory thickness"; American Journal of Psychology; 1930;
42; pp 544-560

7
 "A Black, E white, I red, U green, 0 blue, vowels,
one day will I tell of your latent birth".

Rimbaud's lines are of particular interest because of the special role that speech
plays in music. So far it seems that all attempts to translate sound into light have
failed to take speech, especially vowels, as an integral part of the process.

Among the synaesthetes for whom musical notes produce visual images, it is rare to
find much regularity or agreement about the relation between colour and pitch.
Everybody tends to have his/her own scheme for ascribing colours to sounds.

Nevertheless, one point where virtually all synaesthetes agree is on brightness.

Regardless of the hue, the higher the pitch, the brighter the visual image. If middle C
evokes red, a higher C evokes a brighter red.

There is another analogy between sound and light, which also appears to be
consistent. T.F. Karwoski and H.S. Odber 18 discovered a systematic relation
between the shapes of synaesthetic visual forms and the tempo of the music: the
faster the music, the sharper and more angular is the visual image.

This outcome is in line with findings of R.R. Willmann 19, who asked composers and
students of musical composition to write music for each of several visual themes
(e.g., a square; a rounded salboat-like shape; a squat, multipointed form, etc). As
might be expected, each drawing produced a host of different musical compositions -
but the compositions written for each visual theme also contained certain common
features.

The angular and irregular drawings yielded louder sounds, faster tempos and
syncopated rhythms.

Synaesthetic associations seem to be a very important element in all forms of art.

There is a larger proportion than it is usually realised of artists who experience these
associations in various degrees.

To Gounod, for instance, the French language was not so colourful as Italian, though
finer in hue 20.

In 189A Colman wrote of a musician who after striking a single note on the piano,
would be able to go home and tune his violin with absolute precision by the simple
device of matching the colour-photism 21.

According to a quotation by MacDonald Critchley 22, when Liszt was appointed to

Weimar as Kapellmeister, he bewildered his players at rehearsals by urging "... more

18
"Colour-music"; Psychological Monographs; 1938
19
"An experimental investigation of the creative process in Music"; Psychological Monographs ; 1944
20
Quoted by Fraser-Harris: "On psychochromasthesia and certain synaesthesia"; Eding. M.J.; 1905;
vol 18; p.529
21
Colman, W.S.: "Further remarks on colour-hearing"; Lancet I; 22
22
Critchley, M & Henson: "Music and the Brain"; William Heinemann Medical Books Ltd., London

8
pink here if you please"; or by declaring: "that is too black", or "here I want it all
azure".

Beethoven is reported to have associated colours to notes. Thomas Wood, a blind

musician, described his own lifelong faculty of colour association as follows:

" It brings a definitive colour to single notes, to notes in groups, to

movements; it changes the colour according to height or depth,
scoring, key; over all this it lays a colour that goes with the work as
a whole, and at times a shape is added which is just as fortuitous
as the colours themselves" 23

23
Wood, T.: "True Thomas"; 1936; Cape; London

9
Perhaps the best-known synaesthetic composer is Scriabin (or Scryabin) but he was
by no means an extreme case. He and Rimsky-Korsakov
associated colours to keys. Music gave Scriabin only a "feeling
of colours"; only in cases where the feeling was very intense
did it pass over to give an "image" of colour. Single notes to
him had the colours of their tonality 24.

There is at least one documented case where Scriabin ’s music

induced what is called "sporadic synaesthesia". Bowers wrote
in his book on Scriabin 25: Scriabin

" On two occasions I have seen radiant flashes of blinding colours and
lights during performances of Scriabin's music. I was neither prepared
for them, nor was I able to repeat them at any other time. They
happened; I saw light unexpectedly and for no explicable or useful
purpose. The experiences lasted for not more than a few seconds and
were gone. They were quite different from a thrill of sensation, tears of
pleasure, or usual emotions associated with beautiful music. I was
more surprised than pleased. They have not recurred. But I have not
forgotten them".

Philip Hales composed a piece with the title "The Song of Solomon" performed in
Paris in 1891 which supposedly gave "simultaneous appeal to eyes, ears and nose"
26
.

E.T.A. Hoffmann once bitterly suggested when Kreisler disappeared: "Perhaps he ...
stabbed himself with an augmented fifth". On another occasion he confessed that the
synaesthetic experience often arose only after he had had an overwhelming or
prolonged association with music: "Not so much in dreams as in the condition of
delirium which precedes falling asleep -particularly when I have been close to music -
I find a blending of colours, tones and odours. It seems to me as if they were all
produced through the same beam of light in some mysterious way and were obliged
to combine together into a wonderful harmony" 27.

These are just a few examples. Practically all composers of the Romantic period had
some sort of association between sound and light, music and painting. Many others
in periods previous to and after that also associated colours to sounds (e.g., Weber,
Mendelssohn, Schoenberg, A. Bliss, and others)

24
Mayers, C.S.: "Two cases of Synaesthesia"; British Journal of Psychology"; vol 4; 1914; pp 112-
117
25
Bowers: "Scriabin"; Kodanska International Ltd., Tokyo; 2 volumes; 1969
26
Krehbiel, H.E.: New York Tribune; March 21st 1891. Quoted by A.B. Klein in “Colour-Music - the
Art of Light"; 1926; Crosby Lockwood & Son
27
Werke 1: 56 quoted by Schafer, R.M.: "E.T.A. Hoffmann and music"; University of Toronto Press;
1975

10
There are famous examples of music composed after paintings by such masters as
Liszt ("The Battle of the Huns", after Kaulback's painting, 1857)» Mussorgsky
("Pictures from an exhibition", 1874), or Reger's "Four Tone Poems", after A. Böcklin,
1913.

We may also find the inverse, the conversion of sound and music into painting, or so-
called "musical graphic representation" 28.

Among painters who were influenced by music we find Delacrois (in his colour
theory), Turner (eg, “Symphony in White" ,"Nocturn"); Kandinsky ("Songs without
words", "Fugue"); Matisse ("Jazz"); Klee ("The Twitter machine"); among others. A
classical example of drawings and paintings that originate directly from synaesthetic
visions is Kandinsky. We find him writing in his letter of 1915 29:

"I often imitate the deep notes of a trumpet with my

lips and I see various combinations [of colours]
which cannot be expressed in words and only
unsatisfactorily with the palette."

These associations between colour and sound naturally gave rise to a new form of
art, now best known as "colour music". There are basically two currents of thought
which are the theoretical basis of this form of art. One advocates a real analogy
between light and sound and the other advocates a subjective association between
the two phenomena.

The first group may be further subdivided into smaller groups which concentrate on
particular aspects such as frequency ratios (e.g., Newton, Aristotle, Castel),
wavelength ratios (eg, Sir William Barret), etc.

The second could be subdivided into, at least, two sub-groups: one which makes use
of psychological experiments to establish relationships between the various
parameters of sound and light (e.g., brightness, intensity, etc) and another, which
creates art subjectively, employing exclusively the aesthetic sense.

Kandinsky

28
This expression was coined by a Viennese experimenter in this field, Oskar Rainer
29
Eichner, Johann: "Kandinsky and Gabriele Mttnter"; 1957

11
These groups and subgroups can and often do cross each other’s borders when art
is actually being created. Dividing the different approaches into groups helps to
theoretically understand the more complex processes involved in the creation of
colour-music.

Colour-music is still in its developing stage. Progress in this area has been hindered,
although unnecessarily, by the unfruitful attempts to find analogies between sound
and light, the expensive equipment required for the performance of this art form, and
the general misinformation about the subject.

One of the leaders in the field of sound-colour in the West was Thomas Wilfred, the
founder of the "Art Institute of Light" in New York. He never attempted to develop any
analogy of sound and colour, but promoted "Colour-music" - later named "Lumia" - as
an independent and expressive art from from about 1920. His choice of the term
"Lumia" to describe his art was very fortunate for, like many of the so-called "colour-
music" pieces, it was devoid of any aural effects of musical accompaniment. The
original art of colour and sound has developed to the extent that this further
differentiation has to be made.

Colour-music consists of an interacting of colour and sound, and properly belongs to

the field of music; if light is introduced on its own, without any musical
accompaniment, it is more closely related to painting, therefore to the field of Fine
Arts. This distinction is necessary to give direction to further research, and could
profitably be adopted by the world's leading group of experimenters in the field of
sound and light as an art form SKB "Prometei" 30.

The group made up of artists, musicians and engineers was founded in 1962 at the
Kazan Aviation Institute, USSR, to develop the idea of "music-kinetic art" (as they call
it) originated by the composers A. Scriabin and V. Shtcherbatchev and the artists V.
Baranove-Rossine, G. Gidoni and others 31.

Initially the group clearly aimed at creating interaction between sound and light
as it can be deduced from the material of their early performances and from their
choosing "Prometei" as the name of the group. They created "Prometei I", a
keyboard, or colour-organ, for controlling the projection of uniform areas of
colour, on a translucent screen which was used for the group's performance of
Scriabin's "Prometheus" in 1962 and Rimsky-Korsakov's compositions with
image scores prepared by the group during the season 1963-64 32.

Some years later, in 1976, the spokesman for the group, B.M. Galeyev,
described their primary objectives as being the development of the medium as a
fine art 31.

30
Sometimes translated as Group Prometheus; SKB=Students' design office
31
B.M. Galeyev: "Music-kinetic art medium: on the work of the Group "Prometei" (SKB)”, Kazan,
USSR; Leonardo, vol IX, No. 3, summer 1976
32
R. Korsakov did not provide a score for visual accompaniment but he determined the keys in his
operatic works by the colours mentioned in the text of the libretto or presented in scenes.

12
There seems to be in the Soviet Union a very favourable attitude towards colour-
music for SKB "Prometei" is not the only group to pursue the idea of the synthesis of
musical and visual arts.

There are other groups working in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkow, Odessa,

Tchkalovsk and many other towns. The movement was given even more impulse
when colour-music was officially recognised and accepted as an art form in its own
right on 21st of October 1967. Then, a plenary assembly of governing bodies of
Russia's artists' unions and organisations dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the
Great October Revolution, met at the Kremlin Congress Palace in Moscow.

The meeting was opened by Konstantin Fedin, first secretary of the Writers' Union of
the USSR, who set the optimistic mood in which the meetings were to be conducted
in the opening lines of his speech:

"It became a custom to divide the fine arts and their masters
into guilds and, when speaking about the affinity between
their products, to have in mind their common subjects only.
But the richer the painter's brush is, the more poetry there is
in it, and one could hardly dispute the direct relationship
between music and sculpture" 33.

The views of SKB "Prometei" are not shared by all researchers in the Soviet Union.
K.Leontyev and the "Movement Group" have published material on their approach to
using electronic and electro-mechanical systems for automatic coupling of visual and
aural arts 34. This approach is radically different from that of SKB "Prometei". (see
Appendix II).

33
Galeyev, B.M.: "Experiments with Light-Music of the Designers' Office "Prometheus"”;
INTERFACE 3; 1974; pp 159-168
34
Leontye.v, K.: "Music and Colour" (in Russian; Moscow, Znaniye; 1965
"The Colour of Prometheus" (in Russian); Moscow, Znaniye; 1965
"Russian Movement Group"; Leonardo I; 1968; p 319

13
According to Galeyev, the group believes that the essence of audio-visual music is
more or less revealed by defining it as an art of "instrumental choreography". It is a
dance of colourful figures that change their form, hue and brightness. Any art form is
set up on the knowledge of certain rules; therefore it is only logical that researchers
will seek the rules of the light-and-sound combination.

The first ideas of audio-visual music were based on the unjustified assumption (to
Galeyev) that these unknown rules are laws of natural science. To create the new
form of art it was considered sufficient to discover the universal algorithm of
"translating" music into some visual phenomenon.

Moreover, it was suggested that the translation should be made by means of some
automatic device. SKB "Prometei" considers that the problem of dubbing music by
means of light is not of any aesthetic importance. Experimental colour-music
performances by the group were based on this view from the beginning.

Compositions were produced according to a 'score ’ written by a musician and/or an

artist and were realised by a live performer rather than by an automatic device.

At this point it would be interesting to contrast A.B. Klein's and A.W. Rimington's
attitudes towards mathematical formulae in order to "translate" colour into sound
or vice-versa with that of Galeyev's and SKB "Prometei".

Klein's argument is that "the Arts are languages. One individual wishes to make
another share his experience. The struggle to find the integral "Word" to embody the
"Idea" is the essence of the artistic spirit. It follows that a mathematical formula is a
work of art. Is it not? May not the aesthetic imagination find scope for its activity in a
mathematical idealism".., "The colour-musician will be concerned with ideas which
arise from the relation between the physical world revealed by light, the psychological
structure of the visual organ, and the imaginative spirit of Man? 35.

Rimington as a researcher was mainly attracted by the physical analogies between

sound and colour, but he also experimented freely, employing unlimited gradations of
subjectivism. He concluded that both procedures have their advantages:

"... I, with many others, consider that with both colour and sound, the
general resemblance in emotional effect is largely dependent upon
proportion and contrast coupled with harmony and dissonance, that
this makes the general analogy, still closer, and that there are other
important points of resemblance. Whether or how far, the physical
analogy between the spectrum-band and the octave holds good or
has its counterpart in sensation is, it may once again be said, a
secondary matter, and one open to question, but on broad lines I
submit that deeper points of resemblance between the effects of
colour and musical sounds upon us are so strong that they cannot be
disputed by any unprejudiced person, though the support of this
contention must depend to a great extent upon actual experiment
and demonstration, and it is unavoidable that the question should be
complicated by variations in individual capabilities of receiving
emotional impressions either from music or from colour" 36
35
Klein, A.B.: "Colour-Music - the art of light"; Crosby Lockwood & Son;
36
Rimington, A. Wallace:"Colour-Music: the art of mobile colour"; London 1911

14
Having presented Klein's and Rimington's points of view, it is necessary to refute the
argument of those, like M. Luckiesh, who hold that an art of colour-music can only
evolve with the assistance of "fundamental experimental data obtained by
psychologists well-versed in physics, physiology and psychology" 37. He was rash
enough to predict that "this colour-music, if it ever does arrive, will be written by
scientists"!

Turning back to SKB "Prometei's" work, the group does not completely exclude the
possibility and necessity of analysis of audio/visual relations. Between the period of
1966 and 1971 they distributed a special questionnaire concerning colour-hearing
and other kinds of light and sound relationships, among 25 000 members of artist's
unions - writers, film artists, painters, sculptors and musicians - in the USSR. This
survey was still being carried out in 1974 and has been gradually made available.

Galeyev draws our attention to the fact that results of the investigation are by no
means to be used as a recipe for creative works; "being of scientific importance,
they only bear an indirect relation to the group's artistic work". 38

Since SKB "Prometei" is practically the only research group which regularly publishes
their results, it would be interesting to see how they approach the problems of sound
and colour correlations which has been dealt with previously in this dissertation, and
how they apply their theory to the creation of colour-music.

The group has worked with four basic types of correlations:

1. Correlations with Individual qualities of music (pitch, key, timbre, harmony)

Apart from the "colour organ" Prometei 1 which I have described above,
the group developed two other instruments, "Prometei 2" and "Crystal".

These were constructed with the objective of obtaining experience with

correlation of :

a) Light brightness with music volume (ie, loudness);

b) Hues with timbre and chords;
c) Structures of images with meter or rhythm;
d) Spatial character of drawings with melodies.

With "Prometei 2" luminous non-figurative shapes were produced on a

translucent screen by operating behind the screen arrays of many lamps
equipped with filters.

With "Crystal" the brightness and colours of projected images could be

varied by the operator by means of an image-producing device resembling
a lighting-table usually found in theatres.

Performances with these two instruments were held to the accompaniment

of compositions by M. Musorgsky, I. Stravinsky, F. Yrallin and P. Boulez;
37
Luckiesh's remark from the chapter "The Art of Mobile Colour" in his book "Colour and its
applications". Refer also to "The Language of Colour", 1918, pp 262-282 by the same author
38
Galeyev, B.M. and Andreyev, S.A.: "Principles of constructing Audio-Visual Devices" (in Russian);
Moscow: Energyia; 1973 . For more information about surveys and conferences on colour-music,
refer to Appendix II

15
 of organ music and electronic music composed by means of the
synthesizer A.N.S. in the Scriabin Museum.

2. Correlations with Musical Themes

Attempts were made, also employing "Prometei 2" and "Crystal" to

correlate the appearance of mobile non-figurative images of changing
colour with the themes of a musical composition. In the case of
programmatic music such as Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" (in the
sense that the group believes it to be programmatic), highly stylised
images of human movements or of natural phenomena could be projected.

In their performances this was not done as the figurative kind used in
cinema, for example, in Walt Disney's "Fantasia" for the same symphony.

Performances with the two instruments were given by the group in Kazan,
between 1963 and 1967 but the above approaches were also used by
other groups and individuals such as Pravdyuk at Kharkov, S. Zorin at
Poltava, the group at the A. Scriabin Museum in Moscow and the
"Dvizhenie" group in Tbilisi.

3. Correlations with different qualities and themes of music

This is a combination of approaches (1) and (2) above, which allows

correlation of shapes and/or colours with musical themes as well as
correlations with different qualities of music, but this time realised on film.

The first Soviet colour film employed for performance in the colour-music
medium, "Prometheus" made by the group in 1965, used this combined
approach. The first instruments were not of sufficient complexity and
flexibility to allow an extensive exploitation of this approach.

4. The "Polyphonic (contrapuntal) Audio-Visual Integration approach

Instead of taking existing musical composition and then "dubbing in" the
choreographed light following approaches one, two and three, the group
prepared an original integrated music-image score in 1964, entitled
"Mother". The music was composed by A. Yustin, a member of the group.

In 1969 they produced the film "Eternal Movement" incorporating

fragments of Varese's "Electronic Poem". According to Galeyev, true
integration was not achieved due to the fact that the music could be
enjoyed without the visual presentations.

16
 They obtained better integration in the film "The Miniature Triptych" (1975)
which utilised a musical composition by G. Sviridor 39. The group call this
approach "polyphonic", meaning an independent development of audio
and visual parts, analogous to the way instruments and themes interact
contrapuntally in music. Thus sounds and kinetic images may be timed to
occur either in unison or in counterpoint manner. The group believes that a
satisfactory colour-music experience can be achieved only when
polyphonic (contrapuntal) integration is introduced.

It is understandable that results of their research has led SKB "Prometei" to explore
art forms other than colour-music in the strict sense, but such ramifications have
detracted the group from their original ideals of developing an art involving music and
colours. Nevertheless, their achievements in the art of "lumia" and other newly
created art forms came about as a product of their research in colour-music and the
results are quite interesting.

In 1967 they installed in a tower of the Kazan Kremlin automatically controlled

equipment designed to project red beams of light as the clock of the tower strikes.
The idea was to make visible the Russian metaphorical expression ‘crimson coloured
chime’, which also means ‘rich and mellow chime’.

In 1968, for the purpose of illuminating an exterior wall of the Kazan Circus Building,
they installed a system of floodlighting equipped with filters of different colours that
could be changed in response to changes in temperature, wind speed and humidity
of outdoors. This is a type of what is sometimes known as "environmental art", fairly
well-known in the Western world, especially North America.

Environmental artists usually work with sculptures involving principles of kinetic-art.

Unintentionally the group also points the way to a form of art based on music
controlled by the environment.

They also designed a "light wall" in the restaurant of a hotel at Kazan, whose picture
responds to the volume, timbre and range of pitch of music from a small orchestra.
This is really a more sophisticated version of the same kind of equipment present
today in discotheques around the world.

There are devices to be used in television, programme productions (the " Idel"); to
provide "visual and sensorial gymnastics for the eye and ear" (the "yalkyn"); and to
produce colour-music for home use with semi-automatic control.

39
The film was produced at the Kazan Newsreel Studio by Galeyez with a script prepared by I
Vanechkina and A. Privin as the cameraman.

17
As we can conclude from the above summary, the original setting down of the
principles of colour-music does not exclude close relations between that and other
arts. There seems to be very favourable conditions in the USSR for the development
of the art, especially with the support of the government.

Colour-music in Russia is not restricted to a small circle of enthusiasts but can be

experienced both in cinema-concert halls provided with colour-music equipment 40
and on the streets where water fountains provided with "light and music" medium are
in operation in city squares at Yerevan, Krivoy Rog, Pyatigorsk, Mineralnye Wody
and Rostov-on-Don 41.

In Europe and North America this form of art is only known to a very small number of
people and publications about these unknown artists are very rare and difficult to
come by. Such artists as L. Hirsohfeld-Mack and L. Moholy-Nagy in Germany, Z.
Pesanek in Czechoslavakia, T. Wildred and F. Malina in the USA, N. Schaeffer in
France, came in their experiments with dynamic light-painting very near to the colour-
music produced by the "Prometheus" group.

Many of them accompany their cyclically repeated "light-compositions" by optional

music corresponding to the respective mood. Formally all the colour-music elements
(in the "SKB" sense) are present there - music and light perceived simultaneously.

40
The two main halls are in Rossiya in Moscow and Octyabriski at Leningrad
41
Since 1968 Yu. Pravdyuk has been giving colour-music performances in Kharkov in a specially
designed hall. In the 1970's similar halls for such performances were built at the A. Scriabin
Museum in Moscow, in Odessa, and in Tchkalovsk.

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 ON THE WEB

The links below were added in August 2004. They show what has been done after this
paper was written and provide further links to a variety of sites connected with synaesthesia.

Laser Experiments of SKB "Prometei" (Abstract written by Bulat M. Galeyev)

Prometheus Institute website: In English and Russian

To Colour and Light : Evolution of the "gravitational" synesthesia in music by B. Galeyev.

Dann Stayskal.: Dan attempts to show what his synaesthetic experiences look/sound like.

Synthetic Synaesthesia : A simple geometric shape (triangle, square,

pentagon, etc.), called the Geometric Sound Mixer (GSM), is used to mix
sounds. Timbre is represented as color within the GSM; the relative amount
of each sound source is represented as a mix of colors, each one
associated with a unique timber. A static representation of any dynamic
sound mix (as it evolves over time) can be viewed on the Mix Time Line
(see figure below), where relative moment-to-moment audio levels control
the brightness as the sounds play in real time. Perceptually linear audio and
color mixes are achieved using psychophysical functions. The result is an environment that allows for
complex manipulations of sound in a highly simplified, structured environment. Click HERE to go to
the website

Dr.Hugo Museums of the Mind

Macalester College (Synaesthesia page)

Trinity College - Synaesthesia Research Group

Mixed Signals: Synaesthesia research articles

Camp Synaesthesia: Camp Synaesthesia was conceived and established for Burningman
2000 to provide pleasant stimulation for all the senses of the residents of Black Rock City.

Science Museum

Fusion Anomaly

University College London: Noam Sagiv; Synaesthesia Reseach Group; Department of

Psychology

Peyote.com: Page on synaesthesia

Colour Academy

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