The History of the Music

There are two completely separate bodies of Movements created in two specific periods of Gurdjieff's life: the old Movements between 1918 and 1924 and the new exercises created between 1940 and 1949.
In between these periods Gurdjieff taught no Movements.
Mrs. Jessmin Howarth said about the older Movements: "Everything worked on from 1922 to 1924 in my studios (the studios in the Dalcroze Institute in Paris) and at the Prieuré (The Institute at Fontainebleau) for five or six hours a day, and done in the public demonstrations, had already been completely learnt during months of intensive work in Tiflis, Constantinople, Berlin etc., by the original group before they even arrived in France. No other Movements were ever given such attention."
Mrs. Howarth's daughter, the singer/guitarist known as "Dushka," added that these have a unique and extra dimension, since they are the only ones for which Gurdjieff himself specified the music. He worked long hours dictating distinctive oriental melodies with subtle harmonies and rhythms, exactly suited to every gesture and motion. She emphasised that the piano versions of these pieces would benefit from being compared to and corrected from de Hartmann's original orchestral scores that were used in the public demonstrations in 1923-1924.
Around 1940, Gurdjieff started again to teach Movements, scores of them. For a right understanding of Gurdjieff's last ten years, one should realise that each day he was occupied for at least two to three hours with Movements. There cannot be any doubt that in this period of his teaching, they were among his most primary activities and concerns. The music for all these Movements was always improvised by different pianists and neither choreographies nor the notation of music were allowed. His main work went into a series of Movements, now called the 39 Series, that he considered set and ready and met all his requirements. But, again, no music existed for the Movements from the 39 Series, nor for the others from his newer Movements, which had received less of his attention and approval. When Gurdjieff was in hospital, he gave Madame de Salzmann a message for the de Hartmanns, just before he died in 1949.
In this message, he asked de Hartmann to write the music for his new exercises. This is what de Hartmann started to do from 1950 onwards. His first new compositions were used in the demonstration of Movements in London in 1950. This was the first public demonstration without Mr. Gurdjieff being present.
De Hartmann continued composing after moving to America. So everything for the new exercises, with just a few exceptions, is composed by de Hartmann alone.