Schulhoff's 5 Pittoresken op.31 (dedicated to the Dadaist Georg Grosz) demonstrate his visionary mind and sense of topicality - one could view him as a trendwatcher.
Four of the five movements are jazzy (Foxtrott/Ragtime/One-Step/Maxixe), making Schulhoff one of the first mid-European composers to present the new rage of American jazz and dance music on the concert stage.
The Berlin Dadaists (including Grosz) saw this syncopated music as part of their movement. Today we would only consider the third movement of the Pittoresken as pure Dada: it is a silent piece, like the one of four-and-a-half minutes which John Cage was to write thirty-three years later, bringing him world fame. Schulhoff's piece, entitled In Futurum, contains countless rests and all sorts of musical directions (left hand in the treble clef, right hand in the bass clef!), but not a single note. How long the piece is to last depends on the interpretation - or perhaps the daring - of the performer.
The 5 Pittoresken has a prologue written by Georg Grosz.
