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Music Department

Harry, Paul & Wendy



Huge Harry, Perfect Paul and Whispering Wendy are the three most pronounced personalities of the speech synthesis machine MITalk, designed by Dennis Klatt at the M.I.T. Speech Laboratory and marketed by the Digital Equipment Corporation as DECtalk. Together as well as individually, Harry, Paul and Wendy have exercised their vocal capabilities in a wide variety of musical genres. Occasionally, they are assisted by other DECtalk voices, such as Frail Frank, Dr. Dennis, Beautiful Betty or Kit the Kid.


Published Recordings

"Katadeedo Daynatadoh" and "Le Chanson de Juillard." Songs by Perfect Paul on: Ellen Zweig (ed.): False Phonemes. Tellus, the Audio Cassette Magazine, 22, New York, NY. 1988.
"HyperCard Source Code Recitation." Limited Cassette Edition. Tools & Tales. Artis, 's Hertogenbosch. January 1994.

Pearl Harbour. CD. Electronic opera, featuring Huge Harry as Gallahim/Gallaher and Whispering Wendy as Mara. Libretto: Hanna Boender. Music: Victor Wentink & Remko Scha. Sound: Edwin van der Heide. Zeebelt, Den Haag, 1998.


Radio Performances

Perfect Paul played a character called "The Machine" in Ellen Zweig's 1987 radio play Impressions of Africa, after Raymond Roussel. The play was broadcast in Australia and Germany. It includes background music by The Machines.

Theatre Performances

Kunstuitingen, featuring Huge Harry, Perfect Paul and Whispering Wendy. With Joop van Brakel (performance) and Willem Hienekamp (kinetic sculpture). Vox Festival, Lantaren/Venster, Rotterdam. February 23, 1990.
Fonetiek, featuring Huge Harry, Perfect Paul and Whispering Wendy. With Joop van Brakel (performance) and Hans Stibbe (sample keyboards). STEIM, Amsterdam. May 16, 1991. (Double bill with Electronic Animals by Felix Hess.)
"HyperCard Source Code Recitation." Artis, 's Hertogenbosch. Tools & Tales. January 30, 1994. (With Artificial.)
Fragments from Hymnen an die Nacht by Novalis. Reading by Perfect Paul, as part of the music-theatre piece Het Magmazang by Horst Rickels and Victor Wentink. Korzo Theater, The Hague. September 14-15, 1994.


Pearl Harbour. Electronic opera, featuring Huge Harry as Gallahim and Whispering Wendy as Mara. Libretto: Hanna Boender. Music: Victor Wentink & Remko Scha. First performance: Zeebelt, Den Haag, November 16 - December 3, 1994. Second run: Frascati Theatre, Amsterdam. January 25-28, 1995. Further performances in 1996/1997 in Belgium and Germany. Most recent performance: Zeebelt, Den Haag, May 1- May 3, 1998.
A Day in the Life. Experimental Sound Theatre by Idée Fixe (Leigh Landy, Evelyn Jamieson, Tony Myatt, Pascal Wyse and Jos Zwaanenburg). Powerhouse, Wakefield, England. March 30/31, 1995. Featuring Huge Harry as Master of Ceremonies, and a duet by Huge Harry and Whispering Wendy, mixed by Joop van Brakel. Also featuring pieces by Tom Constanten and Richard Orton.
Wereld je bent een gelukkig woord. Watou, Belgium. July 6 - September 8, 1996. Dr. Dennis read a poem by Kees Ouwens, as part of an installation by Aernout Mik.


Luuk Bouwman's movie "Huge Harry and the Institute of Artificial Art" (May 2000) includes the death scene from the opera "Pearl Harbour", with Huge Harry as Gallaher. Also: Huge Harry talking to Hanneke Groenteman about his opera career; several songs by Harry, Paul & Wendy.
  November 19, 2005. Crossing Border Festival, The Hague. Huge Harry and Doctor Dennis perform lyrics by Josien Laurier.
    

Publications about Harry, Paul and Wendy

Jonathan Allen, M. Sharon Hunnicutt and Dennis Klatt: From text to speech: The MITalk system. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1987.
René van Peer: "Mechanisch Theaterstuk Remko Scha in Rotterdam." Eindhovens Dagblad, February 23, 1990.
Remko Scha: "Virtual Voices." Mediamatic 7, 1 (1992), pp. 27-42.




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