Editing Henry Cowell (section)

==Musical career==
===New music and first tours===
Beginning in the early 1920s, Cowell toured widely in North America and [[Europe]] as a pianist, with the financial aid of his former tutors — playing his own experimental works, seminal explorations of [[atonality]], [[polytonality]], [[polyrhythm]]s, and non-Western [[musical mode|modes]].<ref name=r26>Rischitelli, p. 26</ref><ref name=lat/> He gave his debut recital in New York, toured through [[France]] and [[Germany]], and became the first American musician to visit the [[Soviet Union]],<ref name=jul/> with many of these concerts sparking large uproars and protests.<ref name=hick190>Hicks, p. 190</ref> It was on one of these tours that in 1923, his friend [[Richard Buhlig]] introduced Cowell to young pianist [[Grete Sultan]] in Berlin. They worked closely together — an aspect vital to Sultan's personal and artistic development. Cowell later made such an impression with his tone cluster technique that prominent European composers [[Béla Bartók]] and [[Alban Berg]] requested his permission to adopt it.<ref>Sachs, p. 121</ref><ref>Rischitelli, p. 27</ref> [[File:Henry Cowell playing the piano.jpg|thumb|left|upright 1.2|Cowell playing the piano, demonstrating his "forearm" technique by slamming down with his right arm on the middle register, {{circa|1920s}}]] In a letter addressed to his friend on January 10, 1924, Cowell wrote, "I kicked up quite a stir in London and Berlin, and had some very good, and some very bad notices from both places."<ref>Rischitelli, p. 34</ref> A new method advanced by Cowell during this period, in pieces such as ''Aeolian Harp'' (1923) and ''Fairy Answer'' (1929), was what he dubbed "[[string piano]]" — rather than using the keys to play, the pianist reaches inside the instrument and plucks, sweeps, and otherwise manipulates the strings directly. Cowell's endeavors with string piano techniques were the primary inspiration for John Cage's development of the [[prepared piano]].<ref>Nicholls (1998), p. 523</ref> In early chamber music pieces, such as ''Quartet Romantic'' (1915–17) and ''Quartet Euphometric'' (1916–19 {{Audio|Cowell-Quartet Euphometric.ogg|listen}}), Cowell pioneered a compositional approach he called "rhythm-harmony": "Both quartets are [[polyphony|polyphonic]], and each melodic strand has its own rhythm," he explained. "Even the [[Canon (music)|canon]] in the first movement of the ''Romantic'' has different note-lengths for each voice."<ref>Oja (1998), p. 4</ref>

In 1919, Cowell began writing ''New Musical Resources'', which was finally published after extensive revision in 1930. In the book, Cowell discussed the variety of innovative [[rhythm]]ic and harmonic concepts he used in his compositions (and others that were still entirely speculative).<ref>Rischitelli, pp. 6-7</ref> He talks about [[Harmonic series (music)|harmonic series]] and "the influence [it] has exerted on music throughout its history, how many musical materials of all ages are related to it, and how, by various means of applying its principles in many different manners, a large palette of musical materials can be assembled." It would have a powerful effect on the American [[experimental music|musical avant-garde]] for decades after. [[John Cage]] hand-copied the book and later studied Cowell, and [[Conlon Nancarrow]] would refer to it years later as having "the most influence of anything I've ever read in music."<ref name=gann43>Gann, p. 43</ref>

===The Leipzig incident===

[[File:Antinomy by Henry Cowell.jpg|thumb|upright 1.3|The finale of the movement ''Antinomy'' from ''[[Dynamic Motion#Five Encores to Dynamic Motion|Five Encores to Dynamic Motion]]'' (1917), showing five-and-a-half [[octave]] chromatic clusters to be played with both forearms]]During his first tour in Europe, Cowell played at the famous [[Gewandhaus|Gewandhaus concert hall]] in [[Leipzig]], [[Germany]] on October 15, 1923. He received a notoriously hostile reception during this concert, with some modern musicologists and historians referring to the event as a turning point in Cowell's performing career.<ref name=r26/><ref name=time/> As he progressed further into the concert, deliberately saving the loudest and most provocative pieces for last, the audience's reception became more and more audibly hostile. Gasps and screams were heard, and Cowell recalled hearing a man in the front rows threaten to physically remove him from the stage if he did not stop. While playing the fourth movement ''Antinomy''{{refn|Often misspelled in some articles and music programs as ''"[[Antimony]]"''.|group=n}} from his ''[[Dynamic Motion#Five Encores to Dynamic Motion|Five Encores to Dynamic Motion]]'', he later recalled: {{blockquote|[...] the audience was yelling and stamping and clapping and hissing until I could hardly hear myself. They stood up during most of the performance and got as near to me and the piano as they could. [...] Some of those who disapproved of my methods were so excited that they almost threatened me with physical violence. Those who liked the music restrained them.<ref name=sap>"Strong-Arm Pianist" ''Evening Mail'' (8 Feb 1924)</ref>}}
During this excitement, a man jumped up from one of the front rows and shook his fist at Cowell and said, "Halten Sie uns für Idioten in Deutschland?" ("Do you take us for idiots in Germany?"), while others threw the concert's program notes and other paraphernalia at his face.<ref name=hick190/><ref>"Reminiscences of Henry Cowell" (16 Oct 1962) ''Columbia University Oral History Research Office''</ref> About a minute later, an angry group of audience members clambered onto the stage, with a second, more supportive group following. The two groups began shouting over and confronting one another, which eventually turned into [[List of classical music concerts with an unruly audience response|a large physical confrontation and riot]] on the stage, after which the Leipzig police were promptly called. Cowell later recalled of the incident, "The police came onto the stage and arrested 20 young fellows, the audience being in an absolute state of hysteria — and I was still playing!"<ref name=sap/> As he had no severe physical injuries, the Leipzig authorities decided not to admit him to the local medical facility. After the concert had concluded and the stage was cleared, he was noticeably shaken and jittery as he took his bow for the remaining audience and then left the hall.

In the days following, the local Leipzig press was incredibly harsh regarding Cowell, the performance, and his musical style more broadly. The ''Leipziger Abendpost'' called the event, "[...] such a meaningless strumming and such a repulsive hacking of the keyboard not only with hands, but also even with fists, forearms and elbows, that one must call it a coarse obscenity — to put it mildly — to offer such a [[cacophony]] to the public, who in the end took it as a joke."<ref>''Leipziger Abendpost'' (5 Nov 1923) Cited in Manion, p. 128</ref> The ''Leipziger Neuste-Nachrichten'' additionally referred to his techniques as "musical grotesqueries".<ref>"Music" ''Leipziger Neuste-Nachrichten'' (5 Nov 1923) Cited in Manion, p. 128</ref>

Comparisons were later made between this event and other riotous performances by experimental and futurist composers in Europe, including the [[The Rite of Spring|Paris premiere of Stravinsky's ''The Rite of Spring'']] a decade earlier, and the performances of Italian futurist [[Luigi Russolo]].<ref>Dennis, Flora, "Russolo, Luigi" ''New Grove'' Vol. 22, p. 34</ref>

===Further experimentation===

[[File:Promotional flier for Henry Cowell's 1924 Carnegie Hall debut NYPL 4002097.jpg|thumb|upright 1.2|Promotional flier for Cowell's 1924 [[Carnegie Hall]] debut{{refn|Only four of the five written encores to ''Dynamic Motion'' — which excluded ''Time Table'' — were played at the debut, at the direction of Cowell.|group=n}}]] Cowell's interest in [[harmonic rhythm]], as discussed in ''New Musical Resources'', led him in 1930 to commission [[Léon Theremin]] to invent the [[Rhythmicon]], or Polyrhythmophone, a [[transposition (music)|transposable]] keyboard instrument capable of playing notes in periodic rhythms proportional to the [[harmonic series (music)|overtone series]] of a chosen [[fundamental frequency|fundamental]] [[pitch (music)|pitch]].<ref name=abc/> The world's first electronic [[drum machine|rhythm machine]], with a photoreceptor-based sound production system proposed by Cowell (not a [[theremin]]-like system, as some sources incorrectly state), it could produce up to sixteen different [[rhythmic unit|rhythmic patterns]] simultaneously, complete with optional [[syncopation]]. Cowell wrote several original compositions for the instrument, including an orchestrated concerto, and Theremin built two more models. Soon, however, the Rhythmicon would be virtually forgotten, remaining so until the 1960s, when [[progressive pop]] music producer [[Joe Meek]] experimented with its rhythmic concept.

Cowell pursued a radical compositional approach through the mid-1930s, with solo piano pieces remaining at the heart of his output — important works from this era include [[The Banshee (composition)|''The Banshee'' (1925)]], requiring numerous playing methods such as [[pizzicato]] and longitudinal sweeping and scraping of the strings ({{Audio|Cowell-The Banshee.ogg|listen}}),<ref>Bartok et al., p. 12</ref> and the manic, cluster-filled ''Tiger'' (1930), inspired by [[William Blake]]'s famous [[The Tyger|poem]].<ref>For the composer's description of the inspiration, listen to Cowell (1993), 11:58–12:05.</ref> Much of Cowell's public reputation continued to be based on his trademark pianistic technique: a critic for the ''San Francisco News'', writing in 1932, referred to Cowell's "famous 'tone clusters,' probably the most startling and original contribution any American has yet contributed to the field of music."<ref>Mead (1981), p. 190</ref> A prolific composer of songs (he would write over 180 during his career), Cowell returned in 1930–31 to ''Aeolian Harp'', adapting it as the accompaniment to a vocal setting of a poem by his father, ''How Old Is Song?'' He built on his substantial oeuvre of chamber music, with pieces such as the Adagio for Cello and Thunder Stick (1924) that explored unusual instrumentation and others that were even more progressive: ''Six Casual Developments'' (1933), for clarinet and piano, sounds like something [[Jimmy Giuffre]] would compose thirty years later. His ''Ostinato Pianissimo'' (1934) placed him in the vanguard of those writing original scores for percussion ensemble. He created forceful large-ensemble pieces during this period as well, such as the ''[[Piano Concerto (Cowell)|Concerto for Piano and Orchestra]]'' (1928) — with its three movements, "Polyharmony," "Tone Cluster," and "Counter Rhythm" ({{Audio|Cowell-Piano Concerto M3.ogg|listen}}) — and the ''Sinfonietta'' (1928),<ref>Woolfe, Zachary (2022). [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/arts/music/juilliard-american-music-focus.html "Broadway Meets the Avant-Garde in a Juilliard Music Festival"] ''The New York Times'', Retrieved 20 June 2022</ref> whose [[scherzo]] [[Anton Webern]] conducted in Vienna.<ref>Kirkpatrick et al., p. 105</ref> In the early 1930s, Cowell began to delve seriously into [[Aleatoric music|aleatoric]] procedures, creating opportunities for performers to determine primary elements of a score's realization.{{refn|It is possible that Cowell had earlier dabbled in a more whimsical form of aleatory. The liner notes to the Folkways ''Henry Cowell: Piano Music'', written in 1963 and revised in 1993, assert that each phrase of ''Anger Dance'' "may be repeated many times, depending on how angry the player is able to feel." Of ''Advertisement'' (Third Encore to ''Dynamic Motion'') (1917, not 1914 as the liner notes state) — which Cowell called "a satire on repititious advertisement of a raucous nature" (track 20/2:14–2:20) — it is likewise said that "there is a section that may be repeated, to emphasize the absurdity, as many times as the performer likes." Nicholls (1991) notes that, in fact, the published score of ''Anger Dance'' "gives specific instructions regarding the number of repetitions each musical fragment should be subjected to" (p. 167). He observes, however, that Cowell in his own recording of the piece reiterates certain phrases beyond the specified number.|group=n}} One of his major chamber pieces, the ''Mosaic Quartet'' (String Quartet No. 3) (1935), is scored as a collection of five movements with no preordained sequence.

===''New Music Society'' and impresario work===

[[File:Henry Cowell by Harry Haenigsen.jpg|thumb|upright 1.3|Satirical [[caricature]] of Cowell at the piano by American [[cartoonist]] and illustrator [[Harry Haenigsen]], {{circa|mid-1920s}}]]Cowell was the central figure in a circle of avant-garde composers that included his good friends [[Carl Ruggles]] and [[Dane Rudhyar]], as well as Leo Ornstein, John Becker, [[Colin McPhee]], French expatriate [[Edgard Varèse]], [[Ruth Crawford Seeger|Ruth Crawford]], whom he convinced Charles Seeger to take on as a student (Crawford and Seeger would eventually marry), and [[Johanna Beyer]]. Cowell and his circle were sometimes referred to in the press as "ultra-modernists," a label whose definition is flexible and origin unclear (it has also been applied to a few composers outside the immediate circle, such as [[George Antheil]], and to some of its disciples, such as Nancarrow); Virgil Thomson styled them the "rhythmic research fellows."<ref>Thomson, p. 164</ref> In 1925, Cowell organized the New Music Society, one of whose primary activities was staging concerts of their works, along with those of artistic allies such as [[Wallingford Riegger]] and [[Arnold Schoenberg]] — the latter of whom would later ask Cowell to play for his composition class during one of his European tours. Less than two years later, Cowell founded the periodical ''New Music Quarterly'', which would publish many significant new scores under his editorship, both by the ultra-modernists and many other composers, including Ernst Bacon, [[Paul Bowles]], [[Aaron Copland]] [[Otto Luening]] and [[Gerald Strang]]. Before the publication of the first issue, he solicited contributions from a then-obscure composer who became one of his closest friends, [[Charles Ives]].<ref>Rischitelli, pp. 7-8</ref> Major scores by Ives, including the ''Comedy'' from [[Symphony No. 4 (Ives)|his fourth symphony]], ''Fourth of July'', ''34 Songs'', and ''19 Songs'', would receive their first publication in ''New Music''; in turn, Ives provided financial support to a number of Cowell's projects (including, years later, ''New Music'' itself). Many of the scores published in Cowell's journal were made even more widely available as performances of them were issued by the record label he established in 1934, New Music Recordings.[[File:Charles Ives grad photo.jpg|thumb|left|upright 0.8|Cowell was dedicated to publishing and popularizing the music of [[Charles Ives]] (pictured) via ''New Music Quarterly'']]

The ultra-modernist movement had expanded its reach in 1928, when Cowell led a group that included Ruggles, Varèse, his fellow expatriate Carlos Salzedo, American composer Emerson Whithorne, and Mexican composer [[Carlos Chávez]] in founding the Pan-American Association of Composers, dedicated to promoting composers from around the Western Hemisphere and creating a community among them that would transcend national lines. Its inaugural concert, held in New York City in March 1929, featured exclusively Latin American music, including works by Chávez, Brazilian composer [[Heitor Villa-Lobos]], Cuban composer [[Alejandro García Caturla]], and the French-born Cuban [[Amadeo Roldán]]. Its next concert, in April 1930, focused on the U.S. ultra-modernists, with works by Cowell, Crawford, Ives, Rudhyar, and others such as Antheil, [[Henry Brant]], and [[Vivian Fine]].<ref>Oja (2000), p. 194</ref> Over the next four years, [[Nicolas Slonimsky]] conducted concerts sponsored by the association in New York, across Europe, and, in 1933, Cuba.<ref>[http://www.americancomposers.org/berlin_oja_article.htm "Nicolas Slonimsky: Maverick Conductor"] essay by Carol J. Oja; part of the American Composers Orchestra website. Retrieved 14 April 2007</ref> Cowell himself had performed there in 1930 and met with Caturla, whom he was publishing in ''New Music''.<ref>Sublette (2004), p. 405</ref> Cowell continued to work on both his behalf and Roldán's, whose ''Rítmica No. 5'' (1930) was the first free-standing piece of Western classical music written specifically for percussion ensemble.<ref>Solberger (1992), p. 2</ref>{{refn|For instrumentation details, see [http://lolo816.tripod.com/1910-1940.htm Percussion Ensemble Music 1910–1940]. The first entr'acte in [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]'s opera ''[[The Nose (opera)|The Nose]]'' (1928) is scored for percussion ensemble.|group=n}} During this era, Cowell also spread the ultra-modernists' experimental creed as a highly regarded teacher of composition and theory — among his many students were [[George Gershwin]], [[Lou Harrison]], who said he thought of Cowell as "the mentor of mentors,"<ref>[http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/interview_harrison.html "An interview with Lou Harrison"] interview by Alan Baker, June 2002; part of the American Public Media/''American Mavericks'' website. Retrieved 4/14/07.</ref> and John Cage, who proclaimed Cowell "the open sesame for new music in America."<ref>Cage (1959), p. 71</ref>

Encouragement of the music of Caturla and Roldán, with their proudly African-based rhythms, and of Chávez, whose work often involved instruments and themes of [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|Mexico's indigenous peoples]], was natural for Cowell. Growing up on the West Coast, he had been exposed to a great deal of what is now known as "[[world music]]"; along with Irish airs and dances, he encountered music from China, Japan, and Tahiti. These early experiences helped form his unusually eclectic musical outlook, exemplified by his famous statement, "I want to live in the whole world of music."<ref>Nicholls (1991), p. 134</ref> He went on to investigate [[Indian classical music]] and, in the late 1920s, began teaching a course, "Music of the World's Peoples," at the [[New School for Social Research]] in New York and elsewhere — Harrison's tutelage under Cowell would begin when he enrolled in a version of the course in [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]]. In 1931 a [[Guggenheim fellowship]] enabled Cowell to go to Berlin to study comparative musicology (the predecessor to [[ethnomusicology]]) with [[Erich von Hornbostel]]. He studied [[Carnatic music|Carnatic theory]] and [[gamelan]], as well, with leading instructors from South India (P. Sambamoorthy), Java (Raden Mas Jodjhana), and Bali (Ramaleislan).<ref>Rischitelli, p. 31</ref><ref>Harrison, p. 166</ref>{{refn|Note that this source includes a photograph of a man with a Rhythmicon; the man is not Cowell, as the image's position in the article implies, but an associate, musical theorist [[Joseph Schillinger]].|group=n}}

===Imprisonment===

On May 23, 1936, Cowell was arrested in Menlo Park, California on a "morals" charge for allegedly having oral sex with a seventeen-year-old male.<ref name=jul/><ref name=lacv/><ref name=nytp/>{{refn|Among those who were questioned and confessed to the police, the youngest was a seventeen-year-old who, at the time, would have been legally considered an adult under the former [[age of majority]] laws of California.|group=n}} After initially denying the allegation, under further questioning he admitted not only to the act but to additional sex acts with the teenager and other young men in the area, including during his time at Halcyon more than a decade earlier.<ref>Sachs, p. 286</ref> He was never accused by authorities of [[pedophilia]] or molestation, but since the young men were typically referred to as "boys" at the time, incorrect assumptions were made by sensationalist newspapers and many in the public,<ref name=lacv/><ref>Sachs, p. 293</ref> severely damaging what public reputation he had along with the revelation of his homosexual activities.<ref name=s287>Sachs, pp. 287-289</ref> While jailed and awaiting a court hearing, he wrote a full confession accompanied by a request for leniency on the basis that "he was not exclusively homosexual but was in fact in love with a woman he hoped to marry".<ref>Hicks, p. 134</ref><ref>Miller and Collins, pp. 473–76</ref> Suggestive letters and other artifacts were received from both Cowell and the young men who spoke to police, which were later used by the prosecution in his trial.<ref name=s287/> Cowell ultimately decided to overrule his attorneys and plead guilty, for reasons unknown. Probation was denied by Judge Maxwell McNutt, and Cowell received the standard sentence of one to fifteen years.<ref>Hicks, pp. 135–36</ref> In August 1937, after a parole hearing, the Board of Pardons fixed his term of incarceration at the maximum possible sentence, a decade-and-a-half.<ref>Miller and Collins, p. 482</ref> [[File:Henry Cowell Mugshot.jpg|thumb|left|Mugshot of Cowell taken after his arrest on May 23, 1936]]

Cowell ultimately spent four years in [[San Quentin State Prison]],<ref name=abc/><ref name=r32>Rischitelli, p. 32</ref> during a tumultuous era of the prison's history.<ref name=glbtq>{{cite web|last=Krinsky |first=Charles |work=[[glbtq.com]] |year=2002 |access-date=2007-08-16 |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/cowell_h.html |title=Cowell, Henry |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009222533/http://www.glbtq.com/arts/cowell_h.html |archive-date=2007-10-09 }}</ref> Former warden Clinton Duffy would say it "had a reputation as one of the most primitive penitentiaries in the world."<ref>Duffy, p. 58</ref> Physical abuse by wardens and officials was common for so-called "bad behavior", often via [[whipping]] and [[starvation]].<ref>Duffy, pp. 35–36</ref> During his incarceration, several leading psychologists evaluated the composer according to now-disregarded theories of homosexuality, and later expressed faith in the idea of possibly "rehabilitating" the composer. Despite this time, Cowell taught music to fellow inmates, directed the prison band, and continued to write at his customary prolific pace, producing around sixty compositions.<ref>Boziwick (2000).</ref> These included two major pieces for percussion ensemble: the Oriental-toned ''Pulse'' (1939) and the memorably sepulchral ''Return'' (1939). He also continued his experiments in aleatory music: for all three movements of the ''Amerind Suite'' (1939), he wrote five versions, each more difficult than the last. Interpreters of the piece are invited to simultaneously perform two or even three versions of the same movement on multiple pianos. In the Ritournelle (Larghetto and Trio) (1939) for the dance piece ''Marriage at the Eiffel Tower'', he explored what he called an "elastic" form. The twenty-four measures of the Larghetto and the eight of the Trio are each modular; though Cowell offers some suggestions, any hypothetically may be included or not and played once or repeatedly, allowing the piece to stretch or contract at the performers' will — the practical goal being to give a choreographer freedom to adjust the length and character of a dance piece without the usual constraints imposed by a prewritten musical composition.<ref>Nicholls (1991), p. 167</ref>[[File:San Quentin State Prison.jpg|thumb|upright 1.3|An aerial view of [[San Quentin State Prison]], where Cowell stayed incarcerated for four years]]

Cowell had contributed to the ''Eiffel Tower'' project at the behest of Cage, who was not alone in lending support to his friend and former teacher. He and other gay composers such as Aaron Copland and protégé Lou Harrison easily empathized about his persecution. Harrison said in 1937, "[the] prevailing lack of balanced perception in the great mass was never so wholly apparent to me before."<ref>''San Francisco News'', August 27, 1937</ref> Cowell's cause had been taken up by composers and musicians around the country, one of the most vocal of which was his former teacher and collaborator Charles Seeger. However, a few, including Ives, temporarily broke contact with him.{{refn|Sources conflict on what actually caused Ives' sudden lack of contact with Cowell. It is believed that Ives's wife, Harmony, was the one who recommended that he not to write to Cowell while in prison — so as to not have her husband's name sullied by controversy, and herself having views against homosexual behavior. The only known correspondence the two had from this era was a letter Cowell received on May 29, 1937, with Ives saying, "I've started to write you a few times or more, but didn't because I didn't know what to write or say or what to think or do – and I don't now – so I'll shut up! At least I can do all I can & I will to help New M[usic] Editions keep going as well as possible and as you would want... I do hope you can keep well & that things will go well in the future."|group=n}} Cowell was eventually paroled in 1940; he relocated to [[Westchester County, New York]], while under supervision, and resided with Australian ex-patriate composer and friend [[Percy Grainger]] and his wife in [[White Plains, New York|White Plains]].<ref name=r32/> The following year Cowell married [[Sidney Robertson Cowell|Sidney Hawkins Robertson]], a prominent folk-music scholar who had been instrumental in winning his freedom.<ref>Adamian, John (2016). [https://daily.jstor.org/the-intrepid-field-recordings-of-sidney-robertson-cowell/ "A Bag of Old Songs from Elsewhere"] ''JSTOR Daily'', Retrieved 19 June 2022</ref><ref>Scahill, Adrian (2022). [https://journalofmusic.com/opinion/many-sides-music-and-song-collecting "The Many Sides of Music and Song Collecting"] ''The Journal of Music''. Retrieved 20 June 2022.</ref> Cowell was granted a pardon from California governor [[Culbert Olson]] on December 28, 1942.<ref name=nytp/><ref>Henry Cowell to BW, 7/6/40</ref>