Garden as a Performance

"Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, the owner of the Muskau Park (now in Germany and Poland), an aristocratic gardener and author of Hints on Landscape Gardening (Andeutungen über Landschaftsgärtnerei, 1834; translated into English for Riverside Press, Cambridge, MA, 1917) was strongly inspired by the English gardening tradition. It is not surprising, then, that he interpreted garden art in largely visual terms as the art of creating picturesque landscapes, that is, vistas delightful for their variety of color and composition."

"However, he does make an interesting reference: "one might compare a higher garden art with music and, at least as fitly as architecture has been called 'frozen music,' call garden art 'growing music'" (118). This comparison is meant to emphasize several things: that nature provides the gardener with materials and models, that it must be artfully composed into a harmonious whole in order to evoke emotions, and, finally, that the work of garden art is imbued with spirit, i.e., ideas."

Muskau Park draws on the English gardening tradition, treating garden art primarily as the creation of picturesque vistas defined by color and compositional variety. Practical technical hints guide the creation and maintenance of large-scale gardens, blending hands-on craft with aesthetic aims. Garden design uses natural materials and models that must be artfully arranged to produce harmony and evoke emotion. Garden art is likened to music as a living, growing form rather than static architecture, stressing the spirited, idea-driven quality of landscapes. Gardens are also temporal phenomena, continually changing as plants grow and scenes evolve over time.

Read at Apaonline