How a blind homeless man in a Viking costume became one of the most influential composers of the 20th century: Moondog

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Moondog, a blind, homeless musician dressed as a Viking, was a central figure in the New York avant-garde of the 1960s. He was respected by such diverse musicians as Charlie Parker, Steve Reich and Janis Joplin. He made his own instruments from ordinary rubbish, but nevertheless he managed to unravel the secret code of our Universe and become the most influential composer of the 20th century. A very strange, eccentric musician and talented composer Louis Hardin (Moondog) is now singing to us from Valhalla and we are listening.

Louis Thomas Hardin (Louis Thomas Hardin) was born on May 26, 1916 in the small American town of Maryseville (Kansas). The father of the future musician was a minister of the local Episcopal Church. In early childhood, little Louis visited the Arapaho tribe with his father, where he preached the word of God. The future composer sat on the knees of the tribal leader, the Yellow Bull, and beat on the tomtoms. The boy liked music, she simply fascinated him. His father sent Louis to a music school, where he studied drumming.

Priest Hardin often had to change parishes, since the church authorities did not really like him. Especially Hardin Sr. was disliked after he wrote the book "Archdeacon Handsome in Politics", which shocked society with its very harsh satire, revealing all the spiritual sterility of religious leaders. After that, the Reverend Hardin had to become first a merchant, then a farmer, postman and seller of insurance services, because he had to feed his family. It was at the family ranch in Hurley, Missouri that tragedy struck that plunged Louis into darkness forever. He was sixteen when a smoke bomb exploded in his hands. As a result of severe injury, he barely survived and went blind for life.

Louis's older sister, Ruth, read to him every day for years after the accident. Their father had a very extensive library, despite being poor, he was a very educated person. These encounters with philosophy, science and mythology, aggravated by resentment against God for his blindness, helped to bury everything that remained with him from the Christian faith of his parents. One book, The First Violin by Jesse Fothergill, inspired him to make music central to his life. Prior to that, Louis had an interest in percussion, playing Indian drums for a high school band, but ever since reading First Violin, he was seized with a desire to become a composer.

Hardin studied Braille in St. Louis, Missouri. He also learned to play several musical instruments at a school for the blind in Iowa. After his parents divorced, he lived in Arkansas with his father and studied music in nearby Memphis. There he received a scholarship for further education and went to conquer New York.

In the Big Apple of the early forties, all the money melted within a few days. The army conscription was in full swing. In the noisiest city on Earth, as it seemed to our blind Odyssey, one could easily get lost. There was no housing, no means of subsistence. Hardin became a street musician. Subsequently, it became his permanent place - a lamppost on Sixth Avenue. Louis sold his poems and scores, and this is how he lived.

Once the blind maestro was noticed by the famous conductor Artur Rodziński. Hardin stood near Carnegie Hall and looked with unseeing eyes somewhere inside the building. He dreamed of getting on "Don Quixote" by Richard Strauss. Rodzinsky helped with this, and then treated the poor man to dinner. After that Hardin attended all the rehearsals of the Philharmonic Orchestra. This did not last long. According to one version, Louis was expelled for strange clothes, which he sewed himself from multi-colored patches, which did not stick together very willingly, thereby distracting the musicians. According to another version, Rodzinsky was offended by Hardin for giving him good clothes, and he was selling them at a flea market.

But the time spent at the rehearsals was not in vain for Hardin: he studied the art of orchestration, and also made useful contacts. The circle of friends began to include Arturo Toscanini, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Schnabel and George Sell. Those, in turn, brought him to many others: Benny Goodman, Sammy Davis, Mohammed Ali, Allen Ginsberg, Lenny Bruce. Famous personalities played with him, and once Dizzy Gillespie gave a concert right next to Hardin's lamppost.

All well-known publications picked up the news about the unusually talented nugget. They wrote about Hardin, using Rodzinsky's expression about Louis: "a man with the face of Christ." At the same time, Hardin came up with a creative pseudonym by which he will be remembered - Moondog. Protesting against being compared to Jesus, he decided to dress as a Viking. He wore this suit and horned helmet for the rest of his life.

Hardin was even more famous for the trial against Alan Fried. He was a radio DJ and used Moondog's music in his show without his consent. No one believed in the victory of the blind beggar homeless man, but he won. In the courtroom, it looked very comical how the cream of the New York beau monde made speeches in defense of the homeless man on Sixth Avenue. After that, the unusual music was appreciated by the owners of famous labels and released two discs - "Moondog" and "More Moondog". The money earned was not very much: there was enough either for housing or for the payment of a copyist. Moondog chose the latter.

Everyone is used to seeing him every day in the same place. Suddenly he suddenly disappeared. People thought Moondog was dead. What else to expect from a homeless vagabond? A Viking in a horned helmet went to conquer Europe, along with a girl who simply took him by the hand one day and took him away. With Ilona Gebel, they lived together for a quarter of a century. Ilona replaced his scribe and gave him shelter. Now you could not think about anything except music.

Moondog, an eccentric street musician, self-taught freak, has written over a hundred works, including 81 symphonies, works for orchestra, chamber and wind instruments (especially saxophone), compositions for piano and organ, and about 50 songs … and that's not all! Showcasing a blend of melody, rhythmic prowess and an eclectic mix of musical genres, Louis "Moondog" Hardin's work is much more than the bizarre sketches of an unconventional homeless street musician.

Childhood desire not only to become a composer, but also the greatest composer burned in Hardin all his life, pushing him to create more and more ambitious works. Mundog, creating his works, wanted to follow in the footsteps of the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed his last three symphonies in the Austrian capital. And he did it!

Despite the fact that a lot of Mundog's works were published during his lifetime, a lot of those have survived that have not been played to this day. These are too complex compositions, requiring a large number of musicians and too long in duration. In addition, many of Hardin's sketches are still in Braille, meaning that it may be years before musical audiences fully realize the magnitude of Moondog's musical accomplishments.

“Harmoniously, my music is the same as that of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart. There really is no difference. Perhaps no different from classical composers, his music was nonetheless conspicuous amid a flourishing twelve-tone dominance. Moondog rejected the tonality of the 20th century with his creativity. He stood out. I was lonely. Everyone looked far ahead, using sounding newer and newer, while Moondog looked to the past. He resurrected harmonies and musical structures that have consistently sounded unique in an ever-changing world.

At the very end of such a turbulent one as the 20th century, Mundog was gone. He died on September 8, 1999. And we continue to get acquainted with his unique musical instruments, made and invented by him. Many American jazz musicians have been influenced by the music of the legendary Moondog. Such as Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Charlie "Bird" Parker. Parker even wanted to record a joint album with Moondog, but died. In memory of him, a street musician composed his famous work "The Cry of the Bird". The beatniks of that time considered the musician their patriarch.

Before his death, Moondog worked on a grandiose work - a symphony for four conductors. This was a work on overtones. The basis of the work was a system built on the theories of Pythagoras. The "Moon Dog" claimed to have deciphered the code of the Universe: through a special art - music, with the help of sounds Megaramind, that is, God, creates his will. “I found that in the first nine overtones there is a code that could only be conceived by God - I call it Megamind. This code not only proves that God exists, but I discovered that there are secret laws related to the foundations and principles of the construction of our entire universe. All this is in the first nine overtones. " So far, no one has been able to verify the solution to this cipher.

Although Mundog died in Germany in 1999, his music continues to live on, rapidly gaining popularity over the years. In addition to his album covers, some artists have used Moondog's music in more modern ways. Based in their writings on his works, as building blocks - when they cut out a piece, they use it as a motive for a new piece. This is called sampling.

Conservatives may not like this, but Moondog was a fan of this technology himself. He was an innovator, a unique musician and a whole social phenomenon. The old Viking went to Valhalla, but his music sounds, and the cipher of the Universe that he has solved is waiting for its hero.

As the Maestro used to say from the famous film: "Everything is transient, but music is eternal!" Read our article about another unusual musician called "The Man from the Stars": why David Bowie was called "the chameleon of rock music."