A humorous allegorical representation of the world of music, this map charts imaginary islands, seas, and territories associated with musical genres, composers, and performance practices. Felten uses the conventions of cartography to playfully literalise musical terms. The term tutti [‘all’ or ‘together’], for example, is represented by a small fleet of vessels, while solo is represented by a single ship making its own journey. The ‘High Mountains of the Masters’ form a range named after Bach, Pachelbel, Wagner, and other canonical composers. What at first glance might be taken for a compass rose in the top left of the chart is labelled Kammerton, meaning ‘concert pitch’, and is embellished with a tuning fork. A small whirlpool is named Tremolo-Strudel, the vortex of the water suggesting the wavering or vibrating effect of tremolo.
The map belongs to the same mid-century decorative tradition as other thematic maps issued by Heimeran Verlag, including Alphons Woelfle’s (1884–1951) Karte des Bücherlandes [Map of Bookland]. Though similar in tone and format, Karte des Notenmeeres is the work of Wolfgang Felten, a separate illustrator active in Munich in the post-war period.

Ex Carta

This pictorial allegorical map by Wolfgang Felten transforms the world of music into a whimsical seascape of imaginary islands and waters associated with composers, genres, and performance traditions. Issued by Heimeran Verlag in Munich, it forms part of a mid-century series of decorative thematic maps that reimagine cultural fields as navigable territories.

Wolfgang Felten (1914–1963) was a German painter, graphic artist, illustrator, and author who lived and worked in Munich. He studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zwickau and then at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, before establishing a successful career as an illustrator, especially of books for children and young people.

Karte des Notenmeeres [Map of the Sea of Notes] was among several humorous picture works that he produced; others included Das anmutige Liebesgärtlein [The Graceful Little Garden of Love] (1955) and Das verzauberte Schlaraffenland [The Enchanted Land of Cockaigne] (1963).

A humorous allegorical representation of the world of music, this map charts imaginary islands, seas, and territories associated with musical genres, composers, and performance practices. Felten uses the conventions of cartography to playfully literalise musical terms. The term tutti [‘all’ or ‘together’], for example, is represented by a small fleet of vessels, while solo is represented by a single ship making its own journey. The ‘High Mountains of the Masters’ form a range named after Bach, Pachelbel, Wagner, and other canonical composers. What at first glance might be taken for a compass rose in the top left of the chart is labelled Kammerton, meaning ‘concert pitch’, and is embellished with a tuning fork. A small whirlpool is named Tremolo-Strudel, the vortex of the water suggesting the wavering or vibrating effect of tremolo.

The map belongs to the same mid-century decorative tradition as other thematic maps issued by Heimeran Verlag, including Alphons Woelfle’s (1884–1951) Karte des Bücherlandes [Map of Bookland]. Though similar in tone and format, Karte des Notenmeeres is the work of Wolfgang Felten, a separate illustrator active in Munich in the post-war period.

Map of the Sea of Musical Notes