Editing Henry Cowell (section)

===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.