SOURCE: An introduction to Wassily Kandinsky: Sounds, translated and with an introduction by Elizabeth R. Napier, Yale University Press, 1981, pp. 134-36.

In the following essay, Napier provides a stylistic and thematic overview of Kandinsky's poetry.

In 1938, recalling the publication of Klänge, Kandinsky spoke of it as "a small example of synthetic work":

This is, for me, a "change of instrument"—the palette to one side and the typewriter in its place. I use the word "instrument" because the force which motivates my work remains unchanged, an "inner drive." And it is this very drive which calls for a frequent change of instrument.²

For Kandinsky, 1908-14 were crucial years of transition and experimentation. By 1909, he had begun the composition of Klänge; by summer of that year, he was exhibiting in his painting the first decisive signs of a turning away from objective representation and a growing interest...