It’s not often that you get to listen to the sound of a
surgical procedure put to music, but that’s exactly what the Dutch-based
pharmaceutical company Norgine (established way back in 1906) decided its’ UK
sales force needed to help them sell their laxatives to chemists’ shops around
the country in the mid-1960s.
Livingstone Recordings, a short-lived London-based label
that specialised in religious recordings and had previously put out an album by
Billy Graham, manufactured the disc.
The B-side features A Representatives Visit, an audio vignette which features a Norgine
salesman selling Normacol to a GP: ‘can we begin by talking about
constipation?’ Ugh! ‘Now let’s jump from the bowel to the
stomach’…
But it is the A-side that’s the pip.
Tableau of a Lithotomy was
written by the 17th century French composer Marin Marais. A busy man, as well
as writing several books of instrumental music and being a court-appointed
musician to the king, he also managed to find the time to sire 19 children. The
piece, as described on the gatefold sleeve of the disc, is ‘a musical
description of a bladder operation’ It appears that Marais intended
that Tableau of a Lithotomy would
demonstrate the versatility of the viol (also known as the Viola da Gamba), a
bowed string instrument similar to the cello.
'Some 250 years ago a French composer, Marin Marais,
wrote - to the best of our knowledge - the only musical description of a
surgical operation. He called it "Le tableau de l'operation de la
taille" or "Tableau of a Lithotomy". This most unusual offering
was taken from an old edition of the Library of the Conservatory of Music in
Paris; it had not previously been performed in modern times.
Marin Morais (1656-1728) - the greatest player of the
viola de gamba of his time - was a pupil of Lulli and a soloist in the Royal
Chamber Orchestra at the time of Louis XIV. He wrote profusely and brilliantly
for the viola da gamba, but his compositions for this 7-stringed instrument are
in such complicated polyphonic style that they defy transcription for the
4-stringed violin-cello and today, unfortunately all but forgotten.
Our recording was made by the famous Dutch viola da gamba
player Carel Boomkamp, accompanied by the distinguished harpsichordist,
Millicent Silver.
The verbal commentary which you will hear with the music,
announcing the phases of the operation as it progresses, is based on the
composer’s original annotations, which were intended to accompany the music’.
A lithotomy (from Greek "lithos" (stone) and
"tomos" (cut)), is a surgical method for removal of stones formed
inside organs such as the kidneys, bladder, and gallbladder, that cannot exit
naturally through the urinary system.
Again: ugh!
Apologies for the poor quality of the B-side: I'll replace the link after I've converted my own copy.
Enjoy!
I'm imagining a couple of musicians in the operating theatre playing this music while the surgeon performs the operation.
ReplyDeleteThe "Representatives Visit" is unintentional comedy - the clipped accents of the voiceovers and the choice of words - "normal evacuation"
Are the identities of the voiceover performers known?