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Dedicated to the great Russian dancer Adolph Bolm of the 'Ballet Intime', Bolmimerie, for seven-harp ensemble, was originally written for film pantomime in 1919 as a collaboration with scientist/filmmaker Lee de Forest. This performance includes the projection of moving hand-drawn images based on text from the original film.

Extracts from an essay by Laura Tanata:

After Salzedo was discharged from service in World War I, he rented a cottage in Maine where he spent most of his time teaching and composing. During this period Salzedo developed his revolutionary ideas, technical & aesthetic, and modern compositional techniques for the harp. These explorations became the foundation of what is now known as the 'Salzedo Technique' and his compositional studies provided other 20th century composers with many insights when writing for the harp. In 1917 Salzedo began to experiment with tonal colour and extended technique in search of a 'new sound', which was a trend among composers at that time. He wanted to discard the Romantic stigma of the harp and introduce the instrument's capabilities into the new century. It led him to invent new notations, many of them exclusive to harp writing, published as the 'Modern Study of the Harp'. Some of these inventions were not entirely new, but were adaptations from the previous era to convey the sound and attitudes of the new world. The study was compiled in 1918, just preceding the writing of Bolmimerie. The ideals in 20th century America were mainly generated by the country's fascination with industry. Musically it inspired many composers to imitate the sound of the mechanical world. Some of these effects can be found in Bolmimerie. The famous Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky together with his wife Romola and baby daughter Kyra also were living in Maine at this time. Salzedo and Nijinsky formed a close friendship that lasted all Nijinsky's life. In Romola's biography on Nijinsky, Salzedo was noted as one of Nijinsky's true friends who stood by him in his glory days as well as in disaster. Plans to organise a travelling troupe of four harpists and four dancers were talked about, but never came to fruition. His friendship with the dancer inspired Salzedo to formulate his theory on gestures for the harp, referred to as 'instrumental aesthetics'. It revolved around the issue of sound production being determined by one's physical movement before, during and after contact with the strings. It covered everything from the attack of the string, which part of the fingertip to use, the speed of finger closure into the palm of the hand and the gestural angle of the hand/wrist raise. Salzedo had always been in tune with the visual aesthetics of the 20th century. Together with Witold Gordon he designed a new harp that resembled the 20th century not only in its internal construction but visually resembled the architecture of the American Art Deco buildings in cities like New York and Chicago. return to program Another dancer friend of Salzedo, Adolph Bolm, also had a summer place in Maine. Bolm had been a student at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, but from 1916 had decided to stay in the USA where he later took up residence in Hollywood. He choreographed for many movies and became the first person to introduce dance segments in movies. Bolm had danced with Nijinsky with the Ballet Russes under Serge Diaghilev and also choreographed for the NY Metropolitan Opera and the Chicago Civic Opera. In 1917 he organised his own troupe called the Ballet Intime, which toured America under the orchestral direction of Georges Barrere and Salzedo. To celebrate the birth of Bolm's son, Salzedo composed Prelude for Olaf Bolm for solo piano. Salzedo's interest in ballet is also evident through his involvement with the Ballet Russes. He rehearsed Stravinsky's ballet pieces for the company, and performed some of his ballet music as concert pieces on the piano. The creation of Bolmimerie was at the invitation of scientist Lee de Forest, as an experiment to synchronise sound and movement in a short film, a technique known as Phonofilm. De Forest wanted to showcase the importance of music in cinema. Up until that point music had always been an added bonus in films to avoid silence. In the early days of cinema, a Vitagraph selection was commonly used to accompany silent films. The selection consisted of well-known tunes, or in other words 'ready-made' music, to choose from when considering adding music for the purposes of enhancing the viewing experience. Alternatively the performing musician was given a cue-sheet for live improvisation. De Forest's experiments introduced the concept that both sound and sight are of equal importance in the cinematic experience, with both elements progressing in parallel motion. His experimental films were not accompanied by pre-existing music, but gave birth to original music specific for each film. Bolmimerie is around 15 minutes in duration and divided into sections that fit perfectly in character with each scene described in the accompanying text. It is unclear whether the film was ever released. No archival record exists in the Salzedo Archival Centre at the Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City. To take an educated guess, the original tableaux was probably envisioned between Salzedo and Bolm in Maine, but unfortunately only the sheet music and text remains. Up until now the piece has been performed either as a concert piece or with live dance interpretation. Bolm's other venture with the medium was another Phonofilm based on Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre in 1920, which, according to Cyril W. Beaumont, in his "Complete Book of Ballets", is Bolm's first dance film to be synchronised with music. In this re-interpretation of Bolmimerie, dance has been eliminated from the process and another medium is introduced: hand-drawn images based on repetitive patterns. These images become the new bridging media between sound and sight. The tableux-style and abstract representation of the accompanying text provide freedom when expressing the cinematic vision. Music and cinematic ideas can be represented by employing a different mode, ie. visual patterns instead of dance. In a world where visual content seems to take over audience attention, perhaps the mind needs to be reminded of the existence of sound. The see-through quality of the muslin material provides an option for the eyes to occasionally peek into the source of the sound. When image and music are both visualised, the equality of sound and sight finalise the cinematic experience as a whole activity. The irony of the term "silent film" is that film was never silent, music was always there to accompany. The modern mind refers back to the era as silent because the technology was not yet available to attach recorded speaking words. As a result, the text was often presented as sub-title in between the scenes. This shows how the human mind is very attached to literal thinking and not often encouraged to imaginative thinking. Even a seemingly specific image accompanied by specific sub-title will not be perceived by two different people in quite the same way. The Bolmimerie reinterpretation offered the text only as a supporting hint and therefore presented before the screening. Intuitive imagination as well as physical gesture plays a big role in 20th century art forms. Bolm was famous for his ability to mime while dancing, which ties in to Nijinsky's idea of gestural movement. Through his mime Bolm was able to express a certain scenario through simple intuitive gesture, capturing the drama within the choreography. When reading Salzedo's instructions, the performer has the liberty to express the seemingly plain instruction into a dramatic action. Commonly in harp ensemble performances, two or three of the members are found playing the same parts. Bolmimerie consists of four main parts, but the seven individual parts are not identical. When one of the voices finally has the chance to present a solo, it will be a considerable contrast from the usual part double-ups. Harp ensemble is often considered as a play-along activity, but with the separate parts, each individual must maintain their importance in the process and interact as in a complex chamber music piece.

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This piece premiered at the 1992 National Conference of the American Harp Society, has been performed (twice!) by a ten pedal harp ensemble at the Soka International Harp Festival in Japan, and by several pedal harp ensembles in Europe. Dr. Ortiz writes "The ostinatos, repetitive patterns and syncopations, are typical of the tonada, a popular harp music genre from the plains of Venezuela. Using the pedals for unique sonorities and one modulation, I tried to preserve the feeling of the traditional while creating new textures and musical landscapes."