Manny About Town
Is Philip Glass a Synesthete?

By Manny Meland

Philip Glass

Several years ago, I attended Philip Glass’s presentation of his extra dimensional opera Monsters of Grace at the Gusman Theatre in downtown Miami. I was intrigued that upon entering the theatre, we were issued plastic goggles, the type used to view 3D images. Glass explored the color of his music by combining the music with visual art. As the music unfolded, we were treated to his stunningly beautiful imagery that brought an incandescence to familiar objects such as buildings, landscapes or, in a breathtaking image, a bed turned into a glowing bar of light that slowly tilted upright and was launched skyward, accompanied by a flamboyant organ cadence.

My companion didn’t know what to make of this. The repeated pulsing rhythmic patterns, melodic figures and chord progressions, the hallmark of his style, found the same rhythms melodies and minor-key chords reappear in piece after piece. I was thrilled by the sounds and colors that washed over me. Here was something different and exciting. It was a production that required you to pause to digest it. This experience begged the question: Is Philip Glass a synesthete?

Philip Glass is one of the world’s best-known living classical composers. He created the moving and hypnotic contemporary operas, Einstein on the Beach, White Raven,  Music in 12 Parts, etc. Having listened to his music, I can’t help but wonder if he has synasthesic tendencies. Synasthesia is a neurological condition whereby a person may be able to see sounds, taste shapes, or read printed words in color.

To illustrate a synasthete’s perception, we show British painter, David Hockney’s synesthesia-inspired, phantasmagoric sets he created for New York’s Metropolitan Opera in the 1980s. Hockney told neurologist, Richard Cytowic, “When it came time to paint the tree for Ravel, I put on the tree music from the opera. It had a certain weight and color. The music dictated the space.” Cytowic defined synesthesia as a real and even enviable condition.