Album title: Many Many Women
Composer: Petr Kotík (text by Gertrude Stein)
Musicians: Members of S.E.M. Ensemble and Ostravská banda
Label: Sub Rosa, SR595
Release date: 1 May 2026
Link: https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/many-many-women
Many Many Women by Petr Kotík is a large-scale vocal composition from 1975–78 on the text of Gertrude Stein’s novel-story of the same name published in Paris in 1910. The text was published as part of the book G.M.P. – Gertrude, Matisse, Picasso, and in 1972 the book was republished by Dick Higgins in his Something Else Press. Kotík used the full text, which determined the length of the piece. Inspired by his close collaboration with the composer and singer Julius Eastman, Kotík began composing a series of pieces for voice in 1971, using Gertrude Stein’s texts from the very first piece. Many Many Women (1975–78) is the culmination of this series of compositions. It involves continuous singing and instrumental playing: 2 sopranos, countertenor, tenor, bass-baritone, bass, 2 flutes, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones. Twelve musicians – singers and instrumentalists – play and sing uninterrupted for six hours (although the piece can be performed in a shorter version with a smaller cast). The poetic nature of the text evokes imagery and images that can lead to staging.
In June 2022, the festival New Opera Days Ostrava (NODO) presented the complete (one movement, 6-hour in duration) performance of Many Many Women by Petr Kotík. Subsequently, the piece was recorded and edited down to a length of 2-CD’s – 142 minutes of music.
This Czech-American composer Petr Kotík (living in the U.S. since 1969) has created music that is original, and lasting in value – although sometimes it is controversial with the public or music critics. Many Many Women has been performed since the late seventies and recorded (5-LP set on Labor Records) in 1980. It was premiered in 1979 at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, and in New York City at the Paula Cooper Gallery, and at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Petr Kotík is the longest close musical collaborator of John Cage alive today (collaborating continuously together from 1964 till 1992). He also received the 2022 John Cage Award by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. This is an award given to leading composers and artists working with sound. Kotík is the first European-born artist to receive it. Only twenty other artists and composers received this award in the past, among them Pauline Oliveros, Robert Ashley, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi, and David Tudor.