Editing Hugo Ball

{{short description|German author and poet (1886–1927)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Hugo Ball
| image         = Hugoball.jpg
| imagesize     =
| caption       = Ball in 1916
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{birth date|df=yes|1886|2|22}}
| birth_place   = [[Pirmasens]], Germany
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=yes|1927|9|14|1886|2|22}}
| death_place   = [[Sant'Abbondio (Gentilino)]], Switzerland
| nationality   = German
| field         = Poetry
| training      =
| movement      = [[Dada]]
| works         =
| patrons       =
| awards        =
|module={{Infobox person|child=yes
| signature        = Hugo Ball Signature.png}}
}}
'''Hugo Ball''' ({{IPA|de|bal|lang}}; 22 February 1886 – 14 September 1927) was a German author, poet, and essentially the founder of the [[Dada]] movement in European art in [[Zürich]] in 1916. Among other accomplishments, he was a pioneer in the development of [[sound poetry]].

== Life and work ==
Hugo Ball was born in [[Pirmasens]], Germany, and was raised in a middle-class Catholic family.<ref name=Diary>Ball, Hugo (1974). ''Flight Out of Time: A Dada Diary by Hugo Ball''. trans. Ann Raimes. New York: Viking Press. {{ISBN|0-670-31841-8}}. {{ISBN|0-670-31841-8}}, {{ISBN|0-670-31841-8}}, {{ISBN|0-670-31841-8}}, {{ISBN|0-670-31841-8}}.</ref> He studied sociology and philosophy at the universities of [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich|Munich]] and [[Heidelberg University|Heidelberg]] (1906–1907). In 1910, he moved to Berlin in order to become an actor and collaborated with [[Max Reinhardt]]. At the beginning of World War I, he tried joining the army as a volunteer, but was denied enlistment for medical reasons. After witnessing the invasion of Belgium, he was disillusioned, saying: "The war is founded on a glaring mistake – men have been confused with machines." Considered a traitor in his country, he crossed the frontier with the cabaret performer and poet [[Emmy Hennings]], whom he would marry in 1920, and settled in Zürich, Switzerland. There, Ball continued his interest in [[anarchism]] and in [[Mikhail Bakunin]] in particular; he also worked on a book of translations of works by Bakunin, which never got published. Although interested in anarchist philosophy, he nonetheless rejected it for its militant aspects, and viewed it as only a means to his personal goal of socio-political enlightenment.<ref>"I have examined myself carefully. I could never bid chaos welcome, blow up bridges, and do away with ideas. I am not an anarchist." ''Flight out of Time'', Introduction. University of California Press (1996)</ref>

In 1916, Hugo Ball created the [[Dada Manifesto]], making a political statement about his views on the terrible state of society and acknowledging his dislike for philosophies of the past that claimed to possess the ultimate truth. In the manifesto Ball aimed to legitimize the new artistic movement's ambition to not merely "write poetry with words", but to "write poetry out of the words", to create an entirely new language, because the old language was viewed as "doomed", and "ruined by the filthy hands of capital". The central thought of modernism since [[Charles Baudelaire|Baudelaire]] regarding that the language has to be fixed, is here given a distinctive [[critique of economy]] as a motivation.<ref>Mortensen, A. (2005). Skönhetens nytta. Om uppkomsten av konstnärligt värde under den skotska upplysningen. Res Publica, 66. p.3-4</ref> The same year as the ''Manifesto'', in 1916, Ball wrote his poem "{{lang|de|Karawane|italic=no}}," a poem consisting of nonsensical words. The meaning, however, resides in its meaninglessness, reflecting the chief principle behind Dadaism. Some of his other best known works include the poem collection ''{{lang|de|7 schizophrene Sonette}}'', the drama ''{{lang|de|Die Nase des Michelangelo}}'', a memoir of the Zürich period ''Flight Out of Time: A Dada Diary'', and a biography of [[Hermann Hesse]], entitled ''{{lang|de|Hermann Hesse. Sein Leben und sein Werk}}'' (1927).

{{Multiple image|total_width=400
|image1=Hugo ball karawane.png|width1=366|height1=560|caption1=Ball's 1916 poem, "{{lang|de|Karawane|italic=no}}"
|image2=Hugo Ball Cabaret Voltaire.jpg|width2=507|height2=691|caption2=Ball, reading "Karawane", Club Voltaire, 1916}}

As co-founder of the [[Cabaret Voltaire (Zürich)|Cabaret Voltaire]] and a magazine with the same name, ''[[Cabaret Voltaire (magazine)|Cabaret Voltaire]]'', in Zürich, he led the Dada movement in Zürich and is one of the people credited with naming the movement "Dada," by allegedly choosing the word at random from a dictionary. His companion and future wife, Emmy Hennings, was also a member of Dada.

His involvement with the Dada movement lasted approximately two years. He then worked for a short period as a journalist for ''{{ill|Die Freie Zeitung|de}}'' in Bern. After returning to Catholicism in July 1920, Ball retired to the [[Cantons of Switzerland|canton]] of [[Ticino]], where he lived a religious and relatively poor life with Emmy Hennings. He contributed to the journal ''[[Hochland (magazine)|Hochland]]'' during this time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mehring|first=Reinhard|title=Carl Schmitt: A Biography|year=2014|publisher=Polity|isbn=978-0-7456-5224-5|pages=151–153}}</ref> He also began the process of revising his diaries from 1910 to 1921, which were later published under the title ''Die Flucht aus der Zeit'' (Flight Out of Time). These diaries provide a wealth of information concerning the people and events of the Zürich Dada movement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/ball-hugo/|title=Hugo Ball Performances, Bio, Ideas|website=The Art Story}}</ref> He died in [[Sant'Abbondio (Gentilino)]], Switzerland, of stomach cancer on 14 September 1927.<ref name=Diary />

==Adaptations==
Ball's poem "Gadji beri bimba" was adapted to the song "[[I Zimbra]]" on the 1979 [[Talking Heads]] album ''[[Fear of Music]]''. Ball received a writing credit for the song on the track listing.

The song contains these lines:
<poem style="margin-left:2em;">Gadji beri bimba clandridi
Lauli lonni cadori gadjam
A bim beri glassala glandride
E glassala tuffm I zimbra</poem>

The complete "Gadji beri bimba" poem by Ball reads:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/aug/31/hugo-ball-gadji-beri-bimba|title=Poem of the week: Gadji beri bimba by Hugo Ball|date=August 31, 2009|website=the Guardian}}</ref>
<poem style="margin-left:2em;">gadji beri bimba glandridi laula lonni cadori
gadjama gramma berida bimbala glandri galassassa laulitalomini
gadji beri bin blassa glassala laula lonni cadorsu sassala bim
gadjama tuffm i zimzalla binban gligla wowolimai bin beri ban
o katalominai rhinozerossola hopsamen laulitalomini hoooo
gadjama rhinozerossola hopsamen
bluku terullala blaulala loooo

zimzim urullala zimzim urullala zimzim zanzibar zimzalla zam
elifantolim brussala bulomen brussala bulomen tromtata
velo da bang band affalo purzamai affalo purzamai lengado tor
gadjama bimbalo glandridi glassala zingtata pimpalo ögrögöööö
viola laxato viola zimbrabim viola uli paluji malooo

tuffm im zimbrabim negramai bumbalo negramai bumbalo tuffm i zim
gadjama bimbala oo beri gadjama gaga di gadjama affalo pinx
gaga di bumbalo bumbalo gadjamen
gaga di bling blong
gaga blung</poem>

A voice-cut-up collage of his poem "Karawane" by German artist [[Kommissar Hjuler]], member of [[Boris Lurie]]'s [[NO!art]] movement, was released on an LP on the Greek Shamanic Trance label in 2010. "Karawane" was also set to music in 2012 by Australian composer [[Stephen Whittington]], as an "anti-[[song cycle]]" of seventeen songs — one for each line of the poem, lasting approximately two minutes each.<ref>{{YouTube|TFLKgpaBbNw|"Karawane," Robert Macfarlane and Stephen Whittington}}</ref> The same poem and its historical context was used by [[Esa-Pekka Salonen]] for his 28-minute composition ''[[Karawane]]'' for mixed choir and orchestra.<ref>[http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/49670 ''Karawane'' (2014)], details and analysis, [[Chester Music]]</ref>

== Bibliography ==
*''Die Nase des Michelangelo. Tragikomödie in vier Auftritten'', 1911
*''Der Henker von Brescia. Drei Akte der Not und Ekstase'', 1914
*''[[Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor|Flametti oder Vom Dandysmus der Armen. Roman]]''. Reiss, Berlin 1918
*''Zur Kritik der deutschen Intelligenz''. Der Freie Verlag, Bern 1919
**redeveloped as: ''Die Folgen der Reformation''. Duncker & Humblot, München 1924
*''Byzantinisches Christentum. Drei Heiligenleben'' (on [[Johannes Climacus|Joannes Klimax]], [[Dionysius Areopagita]] und [[Simeon Stylites|Symeon dem Styliten]]). Duncker & Humblot, München 1923
*''Hermann Hesse. Sein Leben und sein Werk''. S. Fischer, Berlin 1927
*''Die Flucht aus der Zeit'' (Diary). Duncker & Humblot, München 1927
*''Gesammelte Gedichte mit Photos und Faksimiles'', ed.. Annemarie Schütt-Hennings. Arche, Zürich 1963
*''Tenderenda der Phantast. Roman''. Arche, Zürich 1967

'''Bibliography in English'''
* {{cite book|last=Ball|first=Hugo|title=Flight Out of Time: A Dada Diary|year=1974|translator=Ann Raimes|publisher=Viking Press|location=New York|isbn=0-670-31841-8|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Ball|first=Hugo|translator=Brian Harris|title=Critique of the German Intelligentsia|url=https://archive.org/details/critiqueofgerman0000ball|url-access=registration|year=1993|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231075268 |ref=none}}
* ''Blago Bung, Blago Bung'', Hugo Ball's ''Tenderenda the Fantast'', [[Richard Huelsenbeck]]'s ''Fantastic Prayers'', and [[Walter Serner]]'s ''Last Loosening'' – three key texts of Zürich ur-Dada. Translated and introduced by Malcolm Green. [[Atlas Press]], {{ISBN|0-947757-86-4}}
* ''Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor'', trans. Catherine Schelbert, Wakefield Press, Massachusetts, 2014, {{ISBN|978-1-939663-03-0}}
* ''What was Beautiful and Good," (Was schön war und gut), Jill Blocker, Münster Verlag, Switzerland, 2023, English: {{ISBN|978-1-916964-33-4}} in German: {{ISBN|3907301617}}

== See also ==
{{portal|Biography|Poetry}}
* [[Hans Arp]]
* [[Emmy Hennings]]
* [[Richard Huelsenbeck]]
* [[Hans Leybold]]
* [[Hans Richter (artist)|Hans Richter]]
* [[Walter Serner]]
* [[Tristan Tzara]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{sister project links|d=Q70989|c=category:Hugo Ball|s=Author:Hugo Ball|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no|species=no}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1063| name=Hugo Ball}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Hugo Ball}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1549}}
* {{Helveticarchives|id=290066}}
* {{Helveticat}}
* [http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/dadas/ball.htm International Dada Archive]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160211091419/http://www.dada-companion.com/ball/ Hugo Ball (DADA Companion)]
* [http://members.peak.org/~dadaist/English/Graphics/er-manifest.html Opening-Manifest of the 1st Dada-Evening by Hugo Ball]
* {{YouTube|fkl92oV1kMc|Dada and Cabaret Voltaire}}, Ball recites "Karawane", 1916 (at 2:32)
* [http://www.ubu.com/sound/ball.html Sound recordings of the poems of Hugo Ball] on [[UbuWeb]]

{{Dada}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Hugo}}
[[Category:Hugo Ball| ]]
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1927 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Pirmasens]]
[[Category:German Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:20th-century German poets]]
[[Category:Writers from Rhineland-Palatinate]]
[[Category:Dadaists]]
[[Category:German male poets]]
[[Category:German-language poets]]
[[Category:Modernist theatre]]
[[Category:20th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:German dadaists]]
[[Category:Critics of political economy]]
[[Category:German magazine founders]]