Harry Partch
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 18:50, 9 November 2017 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | "[[Confessions of a Vinyl Junkie]]" (2003) is a list of records by [[David Bowie]] which features 25 of his favourite albums. | ||
| - | ==List== | + | '''Harry Partch''' (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in [[just intonation]], and was one of the first 20th-century composers in the West to work systematically with [[microtonality|microtonal]] scales. He built [[Experimental musical instrument|custom-made instruments]] in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described his theory and practice in his book ''[[Genesis of a Music]]'' (1947). |
| - | *[[The Last Poets]] — [[The Last Poets]] | + | |
| - | *[[Shipbuilding]] — [[Robert Wyatt]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Fabulous Little Richard]] — [[Little Richard]] | + | |
| - | *[[Music for 18 Musicians]] — [[Steve Reich]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]] — [[The Velvet Underground]] | + | |
| - | *[[Tupelo Blues]] — [[John Lee Hooker]] | + | |
| - | *[[Blues, Rags and Hollers]] — [[Koerner, Ray and Glover]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Apollo Theatre Presents: In Person! The James Brown Show]] — [[James Brown]] | + | |
| - | *[[Forces of Victory]] — [[Linton Kwesi Johnson]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere: Music Played on National Instruments]] — [[Various Artists]] | + | |
| - | *[[Banana Moon]] — [[Daevid Allen]] | + | |
| - | *[[Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris]] — [[Cast Album]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Electrosoniks: Electronic Music]] — [[Tom Dissevelt]] | + | |
| - | *[[The 5000 Spirits of the Layers of the Onion]] — [[The Incredible String Band]] | + | |
| - | *[[Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman]] — [[Tucker Zimmerman]] | + | |
| - | *[[Four Last Songs (Strauss)]] — [[Gundula Janowitz]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Ascension]] — [[Glenn Branca]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Madcap Laughs]] — [[Syd Barrett]] | + | |
| - | *[[Black Angels]] — [[George Crumb]] | + | |
| - | *[[Funky Kingston]] — [[Toots & The Maytals]] | + | |
| - | *[[Delusion of the Fury]] — [[Harry Partch]] | + | |
| - | *[[Oh Yeah]] — [[Charles Mingus]] | + | |
| - | *[[Le Sacre du Printemps]] — [[Igor Stravinsky]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Fugs]] — [[The Fugs]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Glory of the Human Voice]] — [[Florence Foster Jenkins]] | + | |
| + | Partch composed with scales dividing the octave into [[Harry Partch's 43-tone scale|43 unequal tones]] derived from the natural [[Harmonic series (music)|harmonic series]]; these scales allowed for more tones of smaller [[Interval (music)|intervals]] than in standard Western tuning, which uses twelve [[Equal temperament|equal intervals]] to the octave. To play his music, Partch built [[List of instruments by Harry Partch|a large number of unique instruments]], with such names as the Chromelodeon, the Quadrangularis Reversum, and the Zymo-Xyl. Partch described his music as corporeal, and distinguished it from [[Absolute music|abstract music]], which he perceived as the dominant trend in Western music since the time of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]. His earliest compositions were small-scale pieces to be intoned to instrumental backing; his later works were large-scale, integrated theater productions in which he expected each of the performers to sing, dance, speak, and play instruments. [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Ancient Greek theatre]] and Japanese [[Noh]] and [[kabuki]] heavily influenced his music theatre. | ||
| - | ==See also== | + | Encouraged by his mother, Partch learned several instruments at a young age. By fourteen, he was composing, and in particular took to setting dramatic situations. He dropped out of the [[University of Southern California]]'s School of Music in 1922 over dissatisfaction with the quality of his teachers. He took to self-study in San Francisco's libraries, where he discovered [[Hermann von Helmholtz]]'s ''[[Sensations of Tone]]'', which convinced him to devote himself to music based on scales tuned in [[just intonation]]. In 1930, he burned all his previous compositions in a rejection of the European concert tradition. Partch frequently moved around the US. Early in his career, he was a transient worker, and sometimes a [[hobo]]; later he depended on grants, university appointments, and record sales to support himself. In 1970, supporters created the Harry Partch Foundation to administer Partch's music and instruments.{{GFDL}} |
| - | *[[The Fabulous Little Richard]] | + | |
| - | *[[Black Angels (Crumb)]] | + | |
| - | *[[Banana Moon]] | + | |
| - | *[[Tom Dissevelt]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Fugs (album)]] | + | |
| - | *[[Gundula Janowitz]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Ascension (Glenn Branca album)]] | + | |
| - | *[[Forces of Victory]] | + | |
| - | *[[Music for 18 Musicians]] | + | |
| - | *[[Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris]] | + | |
| - | {{GFDL}} | + | |
Current revision
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century composers in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales. He built custom-made instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described his theory and practice in his book Genesis of a Music (1947).
Partch composed with scales dividing the octave into 43 unequal tones derived from the natural harmonic series; these scales allowed for more tones of smaller intervals than in standard Western tuning, which uses twelve equal intervals to the octave. To play his music, Partch built a large number of unique instruments, with such names as the Chromelodeon, the Quadrangularis Reversum, and the Zymo-Xyl. Partch described his music as corporeal, and distinguished it from abstract music, which he perceived as the dominant trend in Western music since the time of Bach. His earliest compositions were small-scale pieces to be intoned to instrumental backing; his later works were large-scale, integrated theater productions in which he expected each of the performers to sing, dance, speak, and play instruments. Ancient Greek theatre and Japanese Noh and kabuki heavily influenced his music theatre.
Encouraged by his mother, Partch learned several instruments at a young age. By fourteen, he was composing, and in particular took to setting dramatic situations. He dropped out of the University of Southern California's School of Music in 1922 over dissatisfaction with the quality of his teachers. He took to self-study in San Francisco's libraries, where he discovered Hermann von Helmholtz's Sensations of Tone, which convinced him to devote himself to music based on scales tuned in just intonation. In 1930, he burned all his previous compositions in a rejection of the European concert tradition. Partch frequently moved around the US. Early in his career, he was a transient worker, and sometimes a hobo; later he depended on grants, university appointments, and record sales to support himself. In 1970, supporters created the Harry Partch Foundation to administer Partch's music and instruments.
