Henry Cowell : a man made of music / Joel Sachs.
| Author/creator | Sachs, Joel author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York : Oxford University Press, ©2012. |
| Description | xvii, 600 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Prologue. Of the three ladies, Henry, and some others -- Part one. Child to man. Clarissa, Harry and their child ; Henry ; Years of voyage ; The turning point ; The expanding circle ; Beginning a bi-coastal life ; Genesis of a theoretical system ; Henry goes to war ; Marketing Henry -- Part two. International ultramodernist virtuoso. The trio ; Conquering Europe, first attempt (1923) ; Attacking the American market ; Europe again (1926) ; Making it in America, scene 2 ; Europe, third installment (1929) ; New musical resources ; New projects and old (1929-1931) -- Part three. The frenetic years. Looking beyond Europe from Berlin ; American interlude ; Berlin again ; The end of virtuosity ; The new technologies ; Collapsing dreams ; American composition or Americanist music ; Surveying the larger musical world ; Music and politics ; Henry and his circle ; A doomed romance ; Compositions of 1929-1936 ; Thirty-nine -- Part four. Four endless years. Life stops ; The hearing ; Arriving and adjusting: the first summer ; The second day of reckoning ; Living with it ; Living with it (continued) ; The melody book and other ideas ; Toward the exit -- Part five. Life resumes. The first six months ; First turning point ; Problem solved ; End of an era ; The war effort ; Old friendships renewed ; Figs ; A settled life ; Simplicity ; Collaborations and an Ives biography ; Europe again -- Part six. World traveler. The big trip ; Iran, I ; India ; Iran, II ; Change of plans ; A new radicalism, 1957-1961 ; Asia again ; Years of honor, 1961-1963 ; The Cold War again ; Home again, 1963-1964 ; Finale ; Who was Henry Cowell? |
| Abstract | The author offers the first complete biography of one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century American music. Henry Cowell, a major musical innovator of the first half of the century, left a rich body of compositions spanning a wide range of styles. But as Sachs shows, Cowell's legacy extends far beyond his music. He worked tirelessly to create organizations such as the highly influential New Music Quarterly, New Music Recordings, and the Pan-American Association of Composers, through which great talents like Ruth Crawford Seeger and Charles Ives first became known in the US and abroad. As one of the first Western advocates for World Music, he used lectures, articles, and recordings to bring other musical cultures to myriad listeners and students including John Cage and Lou Harrison, who attributed their life work to Cowell's influence. Finally, Sachs describes the tragedy of Cowell's life--his guilty plea on a morals charge, which even the prosecutor felt was trivial, but brought him a sentence of 15 years in San Quentin, of which he served four. The author provides a much-needed perspective on one of the giants of twentieth-century American music. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 565-575) and index. |
| LCCN | 2011040686 |
| ISBN | 9780195108958 |
| ISBN | 0195108957 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.C859 S23 2012 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |