Many Many Women by Petr Kotík is a large-scale composition for voices and instruments from 1975-78 on the text of Gertrude Stein's novella of the same name. It was published in Paris in 1910 as part of the book
G.M.P. – Gertrude, Matisse, Picasso.
In 1972, the book was published again by
Dick Higgins in his publishing venture Something Else Press. Kotík used the complete text, which determined the length of the piece. Inspired by his close collaboration with the composer and singer
Julius Eastman, Kotík began composing for voice in 1971. Gertrude Stein was the first author Kotík used in a series of compositions on her texts.
Many Many Women is the culmination of this series. A performance of the entire composition lasts almost six hours and features 3 pairs of singers and 3 pairs of instrumentalists performing in parallel perfect intervals: fifths, fourths, and octaves. It can also be performed in a shorter version with a smaller instrumentation.
The Czech-American composer Petr Kotík has created music that is original and lasting. Starting in the mid-1970s,
Many Many Women was performed incrementally, as Kotík continued to compose the piece. The completed composition was premiered in its entirety in 1979, in a series of three consecutive 6-hour performances: at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, and in New York City, at Paula Cooper Gallery and at the Whitney Museum of American Art. It was recorded in 1980 and released on Labor Records: a 6-hour studio performance, edited to a 5-LP set. It was released again by Paula Cooper Gallery in 2000 on a 3-CD set.
The current recording of
Many Many Women features 2 sopranos; countertenor; tenor; bass-baritone; bass; 2 flutes; 2 trumpets; and 2 trombones. The poetic nature of the text evokes imagery that can lead to staging. In June 2022, the festival New Opera Days Ostrava (NODO) presented the complete (one movement, 6-hour in duration) performance of
Many Many Women. Subsequently, the piece was recorded and edited down to a length of a double CD—142 minutes of music. The liner notes were written by the Viennese composer Bernhard Lang, who has been associated with Kotík for almost twenty years.
Petr Kotík (born 1942 in Prague) is a composer, flutist, and conductor, and a central figure in post-WWII classical music. Kotík collaborated closely with
John Cage from 1964 until 1992. He is cofounder, with
Julius Eastman and Jan Williams, of the S.E.M. Ensemble, and, with
Alvin Lucier, Earle Brown, and
Christian Wolff, of the Ostrava Days Festival. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2022 John Cage Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
