Editing Henry Cowell (section)

===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>