Founder of 544 Natoma, a performance space in San Francisco (early 1980s)

In the early 1960s Peter Hartman moved from California to New York. There he became involved with the Living Theater, founded by Judith Malina and Julian Beck, and met the poet Diane Di Prima, members of the Fluxus movement and composers such as John Cage and LaMonte Young. His song settings from this period are based on texts by Di Prima, Liam O'Gallagher, LeRoi Jones, Lyon Phelps and Frank O'Hara.

In the mid-1960s Hartman took up residence in Europe. He directed an experimental theatre group in Rome, worked as personal assistant to the composer Hans Werner Henze in Berlin (1964-65), and spent time in Portugal and Wales. His Adagio for orchestra, and reduction for voice and piano of Henze's opera Der Junge Lord [The Young Milord], were published by B. Schott's Sohne in 1966. Many of Hartman's compositions for keyboard, such as Berceuse, Impromptu pour Gabriel Faure and the Op. 13 Sonatina, also date from this period.

He was associated with the writer, photographer, filmmaker and Velvet Underground performer Gerard Malanga, and composed the score for Malanga's 1967 film Souvenir (Ricordo). Also in 1967 he collaborated with Mario Schifano on an extraordinary recording, "Le Ultime Parole di Brandimante, dall'Orlando Furioso, ospite Peter Hartman e Fine (da ascoltarsi con tv accesa, senza volume)" ["The Last Words of Brandimante, as taken from Orlando Furioso, with guest Peter Hartman (which should be listened to with the tv on, but the sound off)"].

Hartman returned to America about 1970. In Venice, California he led The Poetry-Music Ensemble, with William Morosi, piano/percussion and Mark Chatfield, cello, in performances with Di Prima and another poet, Peter Levitt. He also worked with jazz violinist Toni Marcus and several dance groups and improvisation ensembles.

In the early 1980s Hartman founded 544 Natoma, a performance space in San Francisco, where he presented an astonishing variety of seminal art, theatre/performance and music events.

Morosi has commented on Hartman's writing:

"...complex, multi-referential, very much a product of his facile mind and wide erudition. He was drawn to European and American new music, of course, but also 20th-century poetry and the occult — however, he refused to be associated in any way with the then-burgeoning "New Age" style of music and writing, even though there are some similarities. He didn't care for popular music, although he sometimes found himself a part of the avant-garde fringes of popular music. Above all, he loved Beethoven — he said it was the "craziness," the unpredictable nature of his style. When I asked how he composed, he said he wrote the notes that surprised him, so that each note was a choice of the unexpected. This could also describe his writing style; and [he was] therefore more of a poet and playwright than a novelist.

"Peter was a paradoxical combination of highly-refined avant-garde artist and social gadfly, and I think that tension led to some of his music and plays being performed by "pop culture" artists — this would explain the Whoopi Goldberg association, as well as Lou Reed, Gerard Malanga, Divine (an acquaintance in Venice), and a plethora of performing artists such as Delores Deluxe and Goldie Glitters (mainstays of the 70s Venice gay performance scene)."

— Nurit Tilles

WORKS:

ORCHESTRA

Adagio, Op. 5 (?)
for: orchestra
published: B. Schott's Sohne

CHAMBER

Elegy
for: clarinet and piano
date: ca. 1978

VOICE

Elegy for Charles Stanley
for: voice and piano
date: ?
text: poetry by Diane Di Prima (from Loba and So Much of Space)

Rose Free Now
date: 1960
text: Liam O'Gallagher
source: Indiana University

Song
date: 1959
text: Diane Di Prima
source: Indiana University

The Turncoat
date: 1961
text: LeRoi Jones
source: Indiana University

A Very Short Song for Lyon Phelps
date: 1960
text: Lyon Phelps
source: Indiana University

Young Girl in Pursuit of Lorca
date: 1960
text: Frank O'Hara
source: Indiana University

KEYBOARD

Albumblatt #4
for: piano
date: 1964
note: dedicated to Luciano Campolucce
source: William Morosi

Albumblatt #7
for: harpsichord
date: 1967
source: William Morosi

Berceuse
for: piano
date: 1969
note: dedicated to Dora Bernard
source: William Morosi

Birthday Piece for Diane
for: piano
date: 1961
source: Indiana University

The Heliotrope Blues
for: piano duet
date: 197?
note: dedicated to Mary Slanegan
source: William Morosi

Impromptu pour Gabriel Faure
for: piano
date: 1968
source: William Morosi

Keyboard Piece (canon)
for: piano
date: 1962
note: dedicated to George Mott
source: William Morosi

Sarabande (for the cat Pamela, her untimely end—sadly deceased)
for: piano
date: 1967
source: William Morosi

Sonatina, Op. 13
for: piano
date: 1965
note: dedicated to Raffaele Cedrino
source: William Morosi

OPERA REDUCTION

Der Junge Lord (The Young Milord) by Hans Werner Henze
for: voice/piano reduction of comic opera in two acts
date: 1966
published: B. Schott's Sohne (Editions Schott)

FILM

Souvenir (Ricordo), 16 mm, b/w.
date: 1967
duration: 11:00
Score by Peter Hartman. With Gerard Malanga.

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
Unknown

WRITINGS:
Poetry, plays and other writings. Not known if any were published. Whereabouts of manuscripts unknown.

DISCOGRAPHY:

AS COMPOSER
"Sonatina," "Albumblatt #4," "Pavane," "Berceuse," and "Impromptu," William Morosi, piano, private recording (1/4" analog tape) made in 1979 or 1980. Whereabouts of recording unknown.

AS PERFORMER/COMPOSER
Gerard Malanga: Up From the Archives, Sub Rosa SR 170 CD (Belgium). "Writer, photographer, filmmaker, performer (with the Velvet Underground) and Andy Warhol's main assistant, superstar & closest friend at the Factory from 1963 to 1970. A complete New York pop archive from the beatnik era. Also known as a seminal photo archivist of pop culture, Gerard Malanga edited for Sub Rosa a selection of his audio documents from the early 60's to the 90's and invited some friends like Iggy Pop, Thurston Moore and DJ Olive to be part of this vivid archive; mixing the past with the present and the future. Next to the exclusive tracks by the above mentioned artists youŽll find some more from William S. Burroughs, Charles Henri Ford, Peter Hartman, Andy Warhol, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Gerard himself. The CD comes with a special booklet of photo portraits and poems by the artists." (www.forcedexposure.com/labels/sub.rosa.belgium.html)

"Le Ultime Parole di Brandimante, dall'Orlando Furioso, ospite Peter Hartman e Fine (da ascoltarsi con tv accesa, senza volume)," ["The Last Words of Brandimante, as taken from Orlando Furioso, with guest Peter Hartman (which should be listened to with the tv on, but the sound off)"] (17:40), Le Stelle di Mario Schifano: Dedicato a..., BDS Records (Italy) (1967).

Lecture/reading (50:00) by Diane DiPrima with extended instrumental improvisation by Peter Hartman, Naropa Institute, Boulder, CO (1980). Audiotape (Phonotape 2554C) in Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Biographical article about Peter Hartman by John Karr, Bay Area Reporter (early 1980s). [Editor's note: The Estate Project was unable to obtain a copy of this article.]
• Review of Le Stelle di Mario Schifano: Dedicato a... by Julian Cope (January 7, 2002): www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/albumofthemonth/index.php?review_id+573

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
Unknown

RESOURCES:
Manuscripts Department
Lilly Library
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-2452

Gerard Malanga: Up From the Archives CD:
Forced Exposure
219 Medford Street
Malden, MA 02148
www.forcedexposure.com

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Unknown

OTHER CONTACTS:
William Morosi (pianist/composer and friend)
P.O. Box 322
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315
(909) 878-3665

ARCHIVES:
Unknown.

Lilly Library at Indiana University (see Resources) has scores to Birthday Piece for Diane and Songs of Peter Hartman in The Di Prima Manuscripts 1956-1972 Collection.