Full Description
Joel Sachs 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.
Contents
Table of Contents ; Acknowledgements ; Introduction ; Part I - Child to Man ; Chapter 1: Clarissa and Harry ; Chapter 2: Henry ; Chapter 3: Years of Voyage ; Chapter 4: The Turning Point ; Chapter 5: The Expanding Circle ; Chapter 6: Bi-Coastal Life ; Chapter 6: Genesis of a Theoretical System ; Chapter 8: War ; Chapter 9: The Selling of Henry ; Part II - International Ultramodernist Virtuoso ; Chapter 10: Henry at 25; Olive ; Chapter 11: Conquering Europe, First Attempt (1923) ; Chapter 12: Attacking the American Market ; Chapter 13: Theories, Rationales, Defenses ; Chapter 14: Europe Again (1926) ; Chapter 15: Making It in America, II ; Chapter 16: Europe, Third Act (1929) ; Chapter 17: Delivering the Baby - New Musical Resources ; Chapter 18: New Projects and old, 1929-1931 ; Part III - The Frenetic Years ; Chapter 19: Europe, IV ; Chapter 20: American Interlude ; Chapter 21: Europe, V ; Chapter 22: The End of Virtuosity ; Chapter 23: The New Technology - the Rhythmicon ; Chapter 24: The New Technology - Recording ; Chapter 25: The New Technology - Radio ; Chapter 26: The New Technology - Film ; Chapter 27: International Exchange Concerts ; Chapter 28: Death of the PAAC ; Chapter 29: Surveying American Music ; Chapter 30: Surveying the Larger Musical World ; Chapter 31: Dance ; Chapter 32: Propagating World Music ; Chapter 33: Music and Politics ; Chapter 34: Henry and his Colleagues ; Chapter 35: New Friends, Character Studies ; Chapter 36: Old Friends and a Doomed Romance ; Chapter 37: Fincancing a Life ; Chapter 38: Compositions ; Chapter 39: Henry at Thirty-Nine ; Part IV - Four Endless Years ; Chapter 40: Life Stops ; Chapter 41: The Hearing ; Chapter 42: Arriving and Adjusting ; Chapter 43: Waiting ; Chapter 44: The Second Day of Reckoning ; Chapter 45: Living With It ; Chapter 46: Living With It (continued) ; Chapter 47: The Melody Book ; Chapter 48: More Ideas ; Chapter 49: Toward the Exit ; Part V - Life Resumes ; Chapter 50: The First Six Months ; Chapter 51: Turning Point ; Chapter 52: Problem Solved ; Chapter 53: A Job at Last ; Chapter 54: End of an Era ; Chapter 55: The War Effort ; Chapter 56: Old Friendships Renewed ; Chapter 57: Simplicity and Commentary ; Chapter 58: Figs ; Chapter 59: A Settled Life ; Chapter 60: Creations and Collaboration ; Chapter 61: Europe, VI ; Part VI - World Traveler ; Chapter 62: The Big Trip, I ; Chapter 63: The Big Trip, II ; Chapter 64: Iran, I ; Chapter 65: India, I ; Chapter 66: Iran, II ; Chapter 67: Change of Plans ; Chapter 68: A New Radicalism ; Chapter 69: Asia Again ; Chapter 70: 1961-63 ; Chapter 71: The Honored Citizen ; Chapter 72: The Cold War ; Chapter 73: Last Ideas ; Chapter 74: 1963-4 ; Chapter 75: The Final Chapter ; Chapter 76: Who Was Henry? ; Postlude ; Notes ; Bibliography
