Editing Lou Harrison (section)

===New York years===
Harrison was recommended several times to study musical composition in Paris – or Europe more broadly – but resolved several times against it, due to his staunch position of promoting and elevating the status of his fellow American composers.{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=384}} In 1943, Harrison moved to New York City and worked as a music critic for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune|Herald Tribune]]'' at the behest of fellow composer and tutor [[Virgil Thomson]].{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=388}}<ref name="Miller"/>{{sfnp|Sachs|2012|p=397}} While there, he met and befriended many modernist composers of the East Coast, including [[Carl Ruggles]], [[Alan Hovhaness]], and most consequentially, [[Charles Ives]]. Harrison would later dedicate himself to bringing Ives to the attention of the musical world – whose works had largely been scoffed at or ignored up to that point.{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=387}} With the assistance of his mentor Cowell, he [[Music engraving|engraved]] and conducted the premiere of Ives's [[Symphony No. 3 (Ives)|Symphony No. 3]] (1910);{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=388}} receiving financial help from Ives in return. When Ives won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for that piece, he gave half of the money rewarded to Harrison. Harrison also edited a large number of Ives's works, receiving compensation often in excess of what he billed.

As fruitful as his creative endeavors were becoming, Harrison was fraught with loneliness and [[anxiety]] while in the city. A romantic relationship with a dancer in Los Angeles had to be terminated due to the move, a move which he had already begun to regret as he missed the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] more and more.{{sfnp|Miller|Lieberman|2006|p=20}} By 1945, he had developed several painful [[ulcer]]s, which he could not seem to cure as his nervous condition worsened. Despite attempting to complete new music for publishing, many of them (including one from the commission of Ives) were violently torn up and blackened out by Harrison from an extreme lack of confidence as he began to internalize the negative opinions of his compositions and public image.{{sfnp|Miller|Lieberman|2006|p=21}}

In May 1947, extreme stress from [[homesickness]], a vigorous work schedule and [[homophobia|homophobic]] colleagues culminated in a severe [[nervous breakdown]].<ref name=tom/>{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=390}} Cage came to Harrison's aid, assisting him and bringing him to a [[psychiatric clinic]] in nearby [[Ossining (town), New York|Ossining]]. Harrison remained in the clinic for several weeks before transferring to the [[New York Presbyterian Hospital]].{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=385}} He wrote frequently to Cowell and his wife Sidney in the first few months, expressing his deep regret and [[Depression (mood)|depression]] for what he felt to be a wasted career and adulthood.{{sfnp|Sachs|2012|p=397}} His recovery entailed nine months of extensive treatment and several more years of regular checkups, at the request of Harrison. Many of his colleagues predicted the breakdown would herald the end of his career, but Harrison continued to compose in spite of the [[Psychological stress|stress]] plaguing him. While staying in the hospital, he composed several works, including much of his Symphony on G (1952), and regularly [[painting|painted]].{{sfnp|Miller|Lieberman|2006|p=21}}{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=390}}

He decided, however, to return to California as soon as possible.{{sfnp|Kostelanetz|1992|p=385}} In a 1948 letter addressed to his mother, Harrison wrote from the hospital, "I long to live simply and well and that just isn't possible here."<ref name=ross/>