<div id="LayerE10" style="visibility: visible; overflow: visible; z-index:0; left:10px; top:5px; position:absolute; "><table style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" bordercolor="#000000" border="0" align="center"><tbody><tr><td width="100%" valign="top"> <div align="center"><font size="4"><strong>Hans Kayser</strong></font><br /> <br /> <img width="500" height="418" title="" alt="" src="/EZ/kayser2/kayser2/imagelibrary/kayser.jpg" /> <div> </div> <div> <h2> <div" align="center"><font size="4">Hans Kayser: a brief biography</font></div"></h2> <div" align="center"> <div" align="center"></div"></div"> <div>by </div> <div>Ariel Godwin <div" align="center"></div"> <div> </div> <div>2007 <div" align="center"></div"> <div> </div> <div align="left"> <div" align="center"></div"> <div> <div">Hans Kayser was born on April 1, 1891, in Buchau am Federsee, a small town in the far south of Germany, some 30 miles from Lake Constance and the Swiss border. His father, Gustav Kayser, was a pharmacist by profession, and was descended from Protestants expelled from Salzburg in the 1730s; his mother, Maria Göbel, was the daughter of a successful barrel factory owner. The couple had met through a wintertime accident: Maria, while skating, had fallen through the ice, and Gustav had gallantly pulled her out. <div"></div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>Hans was the second of four children. Soon after his birth, the family moved to nearby Sigmaringen on the river Danube, where they set up their residence and business in the <em>Hofapotheke</em>, a noble five-story building in the town center whose construction is dated to 1707. In this setting, the Kaysers developed into a truly musical family. Gustav, a violin and viola player, went so far as to have an addition with a large bay window built onto the house; in the evenings, Hans (whose main instrument was the cello) and his younger brother Erich would play quartet pieces with their father and various friends, and crowds would gather outside to listen to the music coming through the open windows. The house became famous, for there was nothing quite like it in the area. <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>In such an atmosphere, the young Hans flourished as a musician and also as a painter, although he was a notoriously poor student (as suggested by a 12<sup>th </sup>grade report card unearthed on the occasion of his hundredth birthday, showing most of his grades as merely “acceptable,” though his conduct is described as “praiseworthy”). The pursuits encouraged in the family were not limited to the arts; Gustav was also an avid botanist and a collector of stones, shells, and insects. Later, in his writings on harmonics, Hans Kayser would often express a heartfelt reverence for nature combined with a solidly scientific approach; this respect for the patterns building the universe must have grown from his father’s influence during those formative years. </div> <div> </div> <div> <div"></div"> <div>Hans left Sigmaringen in the fall of 1911 to study at the Berlin Academy of Music. His father died soon afterward, aged 57, saddened at the family’s dispersal and the demise of the string quartet. Hans first studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck (whose teaching style he strongly disliked), then quickly transferred to Stuttgart to study under Joseph Haas; but after a few months he returned to Berlin, not to resume his studies at the Academy, but instead to pursue private lessons. Thus, in April 1913, he began lessons with Arnold Schönberg. </div> <div> </div> <div> <div"></div"> <div>Schönberg, a brilliant and highly demanding teacher, gave Hans Kayser an excellent background in harmonics and composition theory, though they eventually quarreled; Schönberg, despite recognizing his student’s great gifts, advised Kayser that he should not become a composer since he was more of a philosopher than a musician. Despite their differences, Kayser later remembered Schönberg fondly, in particular the gift for painting that both men shared. </div> <div> </div> <div> <div">During his initial period in Berlin, Hans had met his future wife, Clara Ruda (1891-1979), the daughter of a distinguished furrier who had fled illegally from Russia in order to avoid the compulsory twelve years of military service. Clara was studying singing, and Hans often accompanied her on the piano. They were married in 1913, and the subsequent move to a larger apartment provided Hans with a better environment for composing. Their first daughter Eva was born in 1914, followed by Ruth in 1916. <div"></div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>By this time World War I had broken out, and Hans joined the army voluntarily, since this meant he could choose which regiment to serve in; he chose one with barracks near to his and Clara’s apartment in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. Kayser’s military service was marked by a series of lucky and rather humorous accidents. Shortly before his regiment was to be called into the field, he was assigned as a bicycle infantryman; but he arrived late for training exercises, and was therefore deprived of his bicycle. His pack was very heavy (since he had brought so many books with him), and marching in the heat gave him tendon inflammation and a dilated heart; he was declared unfit for service. He returned to his studies, but was drafted again a year later. This time he was set to digging trenches, and was soon called to the front: to Verdun, where he would likely have been among the thousands who perished. But his head was too large for any uniform cap, so he was left behind and dismissed four weeks later. He was called up once again in 1917—by then he and Clara had moved from Berlin to Erlangen, in Bavaria—but this time, he threw his rifle down in front of his entire company and declared that he would not go on. Thanks to some strings pulled by his brother-in-law, who was an officer, Kayser’s case was evaluated by a doctor with pacifist inclinations, and after being placed under observation in an asylum for two weeks, he was declared completely unfit for any kind of military service—and could once more return to his studies.</div> <div> </div> <div> <div"></div"> <div>Kayser then studied art history with Prof. Hans Preuss, and wrote a dissertation drawing parallels between Fra Angelico’s art and the <em>Summa Theologica</em> of Antoninus Florentinus. Hans and Clara’s third child, Tobias, was born in 1918, but tragically drowned at the age of two. By then, Kayser’s literary career had begun: 1919 saw the publication of the first volume of <em>Der Dom: Bücher deutscher Mystik </em>by Insel-Verlag, a collection of writings on mysticism by authors including Johannes Kepler, Jakob Böhme, and Paracelsus, edited in part by Hans Kayser. During this time, Clara assisted Hans with typing, and translated some texts by Paracelsus into German.</div> <div> </div> <div> <div">Germany was ravaged by economic depression and hyperinflation during the 1920s. Hans, back in Berlin at this point, undertook various projects to make ends meet, including playing the cello and saxophone in a film orchestra (these being the days of silent films). He bought a printing press in 1922, with which he produced various small publications, mostly ephemeral; this project did not last long, but gave him some experience in book design that he would have opportunities to use later. Meanwhile, in his role as a father, Hans encouraged his daughters’ artistic inclinations and love of nature, much as his own father had done; they went canoeing and swimming together, studied plants, collected rocks, and explored the microcosm and macrocosm with the microscope and telescope. <div"></div"></div"> <div><em> </em></div> <div><em>Orpheus</em> was published in 1926, followed by <em>Der hörende Mensch</em> (<em>The Hearing Human</em>) in 1932. Hitler was now on the rise to power, and some of Hans’s writings had been suppressed because of his anti-Nazi sentiments. The Kaysers’ financial situation was worsening, and had they remained in Germany, there might have been great danger, since Clara was of Jewish descent. They were saved by an unforeseen circumstance: Gustav Fueter (1889-1948), a prominent Swiss businessman, wrote an eloquent letter to Hans, praising his book <em>Der hörende Mensch</em> and expressing a desire to meet him; this was followed by money to pay for a trip to Bern, where it was decided that Fueter would become Hans’s patron, supporting him for two years. <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>Thus Hans and Clara moved to the capital city of neutral Switzerland, establishing themselves in a house Gustav Fueter had provided for them. Fueter, whose fortune came from the menswear business, was passionately interested in all the arts, and had strong philanthropic inclinations. Most importantly, he believed—as did Kayser—that the development of harmonics as a science had the potential to improve the human condition. </div> <div> </div> <div> <div">Hans Kayser enjoyed a singular friendship with his first patron, instructing him in harmonics even though Hans was not a born teacher, and undertaking works in which the whole Kayser family was involved (most notably <em>Blätter für harmonikale Forschung</em>, a 15-volume collection of essays distributed to a very limited circle). However, the two men both had such strong personalities that differences were bound to arise sooner or later, and Fueter ceased his support in 1936. This left the Kaysers in a bind once again, until Clara, through a professor at the University of Bern, managed to get Hans in contact with Hermann Rupf, another wealthy businessman with a strong interest in the arts. Acquiring Rupf as a patron paved the way for the publication of <em>Vom Klang der Welt</em> (<em>The Sound of the World</em>, 1937), <em>Abhandlungen zur Ektypik harmonikaler Wertformen</em> (<em>Essays on the Ektypics of Harmonic Value-Forms</em>, 1938), and <em>Grundriss eines Systems der harmonikalen Wertformen</em> (<em>Plan for a System of Harmonic Value-Forms</em>, 1938); these three books would form the major part of the foundation for <em>Lehrbuch der Harmonik</em> (<em>Textbook of Harmonics</em>, 1950, English translation published 2006). <div"></div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>Kayser continued to work under Rupf’s patronage during the war years, resulting in the publication of <em>Harmonia Plantarum</em> (1943), dedicated to the memory of his father and their botanical explorations; and the 2-volume set <em>Harmonikale Studien</em> (<em>Harmonic Studies</em>, 1946-7). The <em>Lehrbuch</em> was the culmination of his career, not only in its magnificently all-embracing content, but also in its presentation; the original oversize edition, produced on high-quality paper with multiple folding plates, was a testimony to Kayser’s technical knowledge as a printer and his discerning taste in design. </div> <div> </div> <div> <div">Hans lost his German citizenship in 1940, and was without a homeland until 1948, when he was granted the rare privilege of becoming a Swiss citizen. After the first few years in Switzerland life became more stable; he and Clara were able to buy a house, then to sell it some years later at a profit and build their own house in Bollingen, on the outskirts of Bern. The second house was tailored to Kayser’s work, with a large music room on the ground floor. <div"></div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>In addition to all his other interests, Kayser was an exceptionally avid model train builder throughout his life, helping to found the <em>Berner Modell-Eisenbahn-Club</em> (still in existence) and building model railways running through his garden. He greatly preferred train travel to driving a car, which he first learned to do in 1958 at the age of 67, and described to his daughter Eva thus: <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>“...It is impossible. One sits upon a highly explosive substance, of which there will soon be none left anywhere, as the oil runs out; one has metal over one’s head, instead of the blue sky above; one must work with one’s hands and feet like a crazy person, and look to the right with one eye and to the left with the other at the same time...” (Ammann, pp. 56-57.) <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>Despite this, he traveled extensively by car and by train in his later years, especially around the Mediterranean. A trip to southern Italy in 1954 formed the basis for <em>Paestum</em> (1958), a harmonic analysis of Grecian architecture that offers some astounding revelations about the designs of ancient monuments, while at the same time painting a moving and evocative picture of the harmonist’s solitary quest for ancient knowledge. In <em>Paestum</em>, Kayser’s great learning and wisdom are conveyed in a more fully matured style than ever before, making what would be his final work—besides <em>Harmonikale Symbolik</em>, published posthumously—a true masterpiece. <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>Hans Kayser died peacefully from heart failure on April 14, 1964, after a relatively short illness. He was 73. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, and five grandchildren. He also left behind a library of approximately 4,500 volumes. During his lifetime, Kayser authored a total of 15 books and 45 essays, as well as 32 musical compositions. <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>The Kayser gravestone, in the small Bollingen churchyard, bears the design of the harmonic <em>Lambdoma</em>: rays of musical tones stretching from the origin out into the infinite. The <em>Hofapotheke</em> in Sigmaringen can also still be seen today, complete with the bay window added onto the building by Gustav Kayser; a memorial plaque on the outside wall near the entrance shows Kayser’s profile. And various groups, including the Sacred Science Institute in California and the <em>Kreis der Freunde um Hans Kayser</em> in Switzerland, continue to encourage the study of his work and develop it further. <div"> <div" align="center"></div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>REFERENCES <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>Ammann, Walter (ed.). <em></em></div> <div><em>Hans Kayser: zum 100. Geburtstag am 1. April 1991: </em></div> <div><em>Biographische Fragmente</em>. Bern: Kreis der Freunde um Hans Kayser, 1991. <div"></div"> <div> </div> <div>Haase, Rudolf. <em></em></div> <div><em>Hans Kayser: Ein Leben für die Harmonik der Welt.</em> Basel: Schwabe & Co., 1968. </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> <div align="left"> </div></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
History of Harmonics
Ancient Civilizations
Haase - Hermann Bahr & Harmonic Thought
Haase - Leibniz & Kayser
Summary of History
Harmonics & Mathematics
Magic Squares
Number Distribution
Number Symbolism
Fractal Harmonies
Harmonics & Geometry
Musical Ratios
Parabola, Hyperbola, Ellipse
The Proportions
Tone Spirals & Tone Curves
Harmonics & Astronomy
Kepler
Haase on Plato's Harmony of The Spheres
Harmony of The Spheres
Kepler`s Platonic Solids
Planetary Harmonics
Cosmology & Cosmogony
Harmonic Cosmogony
I Ching
Pythagoreanism
Robert Fludd
Robert Fludd Images
Octaves & Spirals
Harmonics & Architecture
Harmonics & Architecture
Architectural Examples
Harmonics & Language
Harmonics & Language
Harmonics & Symbolism
Cosmic Harmony in Symbolism
Doctrine of Correspondences
Harmonics as Symbolism
Hermann Hesse & The Glass Bead Game
Gann & Financial Markets
Partial Tone Diagram & Square of 9
Polar Diagrams & Spiral Charts
Harmonics in Nature
Human Canon
Animals
Plants
Snow Crystals
Harmonics & Music Theory
Harmonics as a Science
Interference
Harmonic Theories & Diagrams
Thought as a Sense
Color & Partial-Tone Coordinates
The Lambdoma
Lambdoma Applications
The Monochord
Library & Resources
Hans Kayser Biography
Hans Kayser's Horoscope
Rudolf Haase Biography
Bibliography of Kayser's Works
Bookstore
Law of the Cosmos
Natural Architecture
The Textbook of Harmonics
News - May 2010
February 2008 Newsletter
Links
