Georges Ivanovič Gurdjieff

Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff was an Armenian-Greek spiritual teacher whose work included a substantial body of music, much of it for piano. Music was central to his teaching and to the sacred dances known as Movements. His compositions emerged through collaboration with the Russian composer and pianist Thomas de Hartmann, who developed and notated melodies supplied by Gurdjieff.

Much of their piano repertoire was created between 1924 and 1926 at Gurdjieff’s Institute near Fontainebleau. It ranges from contemplative hymns to dances and pieces evoking the musical traditions of the Near East and Central Asia. Alongside music for the Movements, the collaboration produced independent piano works with evocative titles. These works combine Gurdjieff’s melodic ideas with de Hartmann’s compositional craftsmanship.