The Five Influences: Music and Wright's Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple

Thursday October 7, 2010
8pm-10pm

In 1908, Wright wrote, "Music may be for the architect ever and always a sympathetic friend." Yet of the Five Influences, music's impact can be the most elusive to comprehend. What specific aspects of music composition might have inspired Wright to appreciate a symphony as an "edifice of sound" or hail Beethoven as a "great architect?" And how did this affect his own work?

Taking us on a "walking tour" of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, musicologist David Patterson highlights its "organicist" underpinnings, compositional techniques, and "box-breaking" surprises. We'll also visit the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, approaching it from its musical origins. In the process, we'll come to understand Wright's claim that in music and architecture, "the mind required for greatness in either art is the same." Ultimately, using Wright's Home & Studio and Unity Temple as central examples, we'll acquire the tools that will enable us to go beyond the idea of any music that might have occurred in these spaces and recognize instead the music of these spaces themselves - the real proof of this essential influence.

No musical experience necessary!

Co-sponsored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust.

Fee: $5

Location:

875 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60605

Contact Information:

Website: http://www.utrf.org
Phone: 708.383.8873

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