Caspar

I first came across the story of Kaspar Hauser in 1988, and it occupied me for the next ten years.
During this time, I investigated various sound and dramaturgical aspects, while at the same time
searching for and finding a language that would express my version of Kaspar Hauser's story. For me,
the story concerns the psychological and emotional world of Kaspar Hauser from his birth and
imprisonment, through his release, and, ultimately, to his death. The pivotal moment in my
interpretation is his release, where he initially loses himself in a world of superstimulation, before
learning to decode the manifold stimuli. A situation analogous to that of someone listening to abstract
music and finding a way in. This is music for listening. Klaus Janek


>"Caspar" is an incredible achievement on two levels. Italian-born 5-string doublebassist Klaus Janek
has first created an entire album of solo music which continually delights and captivates as would an
entire orchestra. Second, Klaus has succeeded in translating the thoughts and sensory inundation lived
by the tragic historic figure Kaspar Hauser, released from absolute imprisonment to a world of sights,
smells, and sounds never even suggested in the privation of his cell. This elaborate, highly visual piece
is a milestone in recent European classical artistry. Solponticello

>...it's amazing to consider just how many different sounds and styles Janek can squeeze out of his
instrument...It is clear that Klaus Janek is a prime force on the avant-garde double bass scene... -
Matt Shimmer / Indieville (complete article under rewievs)

>Janek plucks, bows, bends, and warps the bass in ways that are almost pornographic...Then, when
you realize that this is not the product of effects pedals or any overdubbing, your mind is blown....It
leaves you a spectator to Janek's mastery over his instrument...- Bill Campbell / ink19 (complete
article under rewievs)


>This elaborate, highly visual piece is a milestone in the doublebass repertoire. Comes with our
highest recommendation. drimala records (complete article under rewievs)

>...uno dei lavori pi˜ 'piacevoli' ascoltati ultimamente. Consigliato sia ad amanti della sperimentazione
che del jazz, ma pi˜ specificamente a gente aperta! Sergio Eletto / kathodik (complete article under
rewievs)

>...Janek's work will not be a fatal waste of time, but the beautiful discovery of a passionate musician
who has an innovative viewpoint on an age-old instrument's infinite capabilities.- Andrew Magilow /
splendid (complete article under rewievs)

>...Jede Art von Zeitvorstellung ist verschwommen, verschwunden. Weil Klaus Janek diesen Teil seines
Solo nun mit grosser, ruhiger Gestaltungskraft spielt, kann man verblueffenderweise zweierlei erleben:
Die Folter einer Isolationshaft und -das ist das eigentlich Ausserordentliche -dass es darinnen Momente
von vorbewusstem Glueck geben kann, Augenblick in denen der Kerker zur zweiten Gebaermutter wird
(...) ein Kaleidoskop denaturierte Kontrabass- Toene, virtuos und mit enormer Intensitaet
uebereinander geschichtet, zusammengeknaeult, ineinander verhakt. Mehrstimmig wie aus einer
verzerrten Cello-Suite von Bach... - Thomas Wirth / Fraenkische Landzeitung

>This CD simply is superb...Janek's playing deserves to be heard. Strongly recommended. - FranÁois
Couture / All music guide (complete article under rewievs)


About Kaspar Hauser
A strange boy was found in N¸rnberg, Germany on Whit Monday of 1828. He was about 16 years old
and wore the rough clothes of a peasant; people who talked to him thought him to be either drunk or
dumb. He carried a letter to the captain of the 4. squadron of the 6. cavalry regiment. A shoemaker
took the boy to the captain's house, where the boy repeatedly said, ``Ein Reiter will ich werden, wie
mein Vater einer war'' (I want to be a rider like my father).

At the police station, the boy answered all questions with ``woiß nit'' (dunno). He seemed to be stuck
on the level of a three- or four year old, yet, when given paper and pencil, he wrote the name
``Kaspar Hauser.'' He was taken into custody. Parts of the unsigned letter read:

Hochwohlgebohner Hr. Rittmeister! Ich sch¸cke ihner ein Knaben der m–chte seinen K–nig getreu
dienen. Verlangte Er, dieser Knabe ist mir gelegt worden 1812 den 7 Ocktober, und ich selber ein
armer Tagl–hner, ich Habe auch selber 10 Kinder, ich habe selber genug zu thun daß ich mich
fortbringe ... habe ihm Zeit 1812 Keinen Schritt weit aus dem Haus gelaßen ... wenn sie ihm nicht
Kalten so m¸ßen Sie im abschlagen oder in Raufang auf henggen.

(Honorable Sir capatain! I am sending you a boy, who wants to serve his king. ... this boy has been
lent October 7th of 1812, and me a poor day laborer, I also have 10 children myself, I have enough to
worry that I get along ... have not let him leave the house since 1812... ) [Gaps in the translation
because I don't understand the original, JD.]

The custodian took Kaspar into his house and watched him. Kaspar was healthy, but his feet were soft
like those of a small child. He had an innocent smile, but that was all his face would express, and he
did not know how to use his fingers at all. When he tried to walk, he stumbled like a toddler.

Kasper learned to talk in broken sentences. He could only eat bread and water; other food would not
stay with him. He was not ashamed when the custodian's wife bathed him, and did not seem to be
aware of the difference between men and women at all.

The custodian concluded that the boy was not a cheat, that there was some secret surrounding him.
Finally, thanks to the interest of one Dr. Daumer who taught him, Kaspar advanced enough to shed at
least some light upon his own past.

Before coming to N¸rnberg, he had only ever seen one other human. As far as he could remember, he
had lived in a dark ``Beh”ltnis'' (container), about two meters long, one meter wide, and one and a
half high. There was a straw bed for sleeping; he had worn a shirt and leather trousers. He found
water and bread next to his bed every morning. Sometimes the water tasted bitter; then he slept, and
when he awoke again, someone had changed his clothes and cut his nails. There was never any light in
his container.

One day, a man came in and taught him to write ``Kaspar Hauser'' and to say ``Ein Reiter will ich
werden, wie mein Vater einer war.'' When the man carried him outside, the boy fainted from the light
and the air. Next he remembered he was walking through N¸rnberg.

People from all over Europe became interested in the boy. Lawyers, doctors, government officials
visited him. Because of his striking resemblance with members of the Grand Duke of Baden's family,
he was connected to them around 1830. Around the time when Kaspar was born, two heirs to the
throne of the Grand Duke had died as infants.
Soon after the death of the current Duke in March 1830 the British Lord Stanhope, supposedly a friend
of the successor, Grand Duke Leopold, gained custody of Kaspar.

He publicly declared that Kaspar was Hungarian and had no ties to the family of the Duke. He also
tried to convince others to change their statements and say they'd taken Kaspar for a fraud. But the
German jurist Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach concluded that Kaspar's freedom had taken away from him
because of greed; that Kaspar was a legitimate son of the Grand Duke, and that he had been removed
to allow someone else to succeed the principal.

When Feuerbach died in 1833, rumors said he had been poisoned because he had found proof for
Kaspar's principal heritage. No such proof was ever shown. One afternoon in December 1833, Kaspar
Hauser was lured into the Ansbacher Hofgarten with the promise of obtaining information about his
birth. The man he met there knifed him into the breast. Kaspar made it back home, but died three
days later.

People told each other that the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden, Kaspar's supposed mother, had
cried bitterly upon hearing of his death. Her husband, Karl Friedrich, was the last of the direct principal
line; since he had no children, succession fell to the Countess von Hochberg, the second wife of Karl
Friedrich.

Rumors say that the Countess Hochberg had exchanged the first child of Stephanie for the dead child
of a peasant; Kaspar Hauser was handed to one Major Hennenhofer, and he, in turn, passed it to a
former soldier. Major Hennenhofer, it is said, has admitted all that when he was questioned by Grand
Duke Leopold.

The circumstantial evidence seems to support this story, but there is no proof. When Hennenhofer
died, all his private notes were destroyed.

Translated roughly from ``Unglaublich, aber wahr'' (Strange but true), DAS BESTE Verlag, Stuttgart,
1989, a sensationalist, not very interesting, and frequently wrong book.

http://www.drimala.com/solponticello/hauser.htm