Essential Cowell : selected writings on music / edited with an introduction by Dick Higgins ; preface by Kyle Gann.
| Author/creator | Cowell, Henry |
| Other author | Higgins, Dick, 1938-1998 editor. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Kingston, NY : Documentext, 2001, ©2002. |
| Description | 347 pages : music ; 25 cm |
| Subjects |
| Uniform title | Essays. Selections |
| Contents | Part 1: HC in person. Playing concerts in Moscow -- Music is my weapon -- Part 2: Contemporaries. Charles Ives -- Charles Seeger -- Edgar Varese -- John J. Becker -- Amadeo Roldan and Alejandro Caturla -- Carl Ruggles -- Joseph Schillinger -- Nicholas Slonimsky -- Colin McPhee -- Virgil Thomson -- Harry Partch -- Roger Sessions -- Lou Harrison -- John Cage -- Ferruccio Busoni -- Igor Stravinsky -- George Antheil -- Bela Bartok -- Part 3: Music of the world's peoples. The scientific approach to non-European music -- Folk music -- Music of the world's peoples -- The world's vocal arts -- Music of Indonesia -- Music of the Orient -- Part 4: HC on works by HC. Persian set -- Quartet Romantic and Quartet Euphemetric -- United Quarted -- Part 5: Music and other arts. Vocal innovators of central Europe -- The League's evening of films -- How relate music and dance -- Relating music and concert dance -- New sounds in music for the dance -- Part 6: Musical craft. Tonal therapy -- The process of musical creation -- Our inadequate notation -- The joys of noise -- Music of and for the records -- The nature of melody -- Part 7: Theory and music history. Harmonic development in music -- The impasse of modern music -- Towards Neo-Primitism -- Shaping music for total war -- Our programing American music -- A composer's world. |
| Abstract | This volume presents for the first time a generous selection from the more than 200 essays and articles written by one of the most original American composers and musical theorists of the twentieth century. There are articles on harmony, melody, notation and music history; essays on vocal innovation, folk music, and the intersection of music with other arts; reviews of concerts and recordings by contemporaries; notes on several of his own works, and several pieces on his life and experiences as a composer. Henry Cowell may be best known as a creator of "tone cluster" compositions, which he began writing while in his early teens, but his influence has been far broader and much deeper. As founder in 1925 of the New Music Society, he became a concert impresario for works by, among others, Carl Ruggles, Arnold Schoenberg, Charles Ives and Leo Ornstein; and publisher from 1927 to 1958 of New Music: A Quarterly of Musical Composition. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-322) and index. |
| LCCN | 00055904 |
| ISBN | 0929701631 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Item has been checked out | ML60 .C85 2002 | Due 11/08/2026 | Want This? |