Harry Partch
Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique 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, alongside Lou Harrison. He built his own instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described the method behind 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 many 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, dissatisfied 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. Provided by Wikipedia
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The American Music Theater Festival production of Harry Partch's Revelation in the courthouse park. by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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And on the seventh day petals fell in Petaluma : 23 one-minute duets and trios which later became 10 quartets and quintets and 1 septet : (1966) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Castor & Pollux : a dance for the twin rhythms of Gemini : (second version 1968) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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The letter : a Depression message from a Hobo friend from "The wayward" : (1943/1955/1972) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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And on the seventh day petals fell in Petaluma : 23 one-minute duets which later become 5 quartets, 3 sextets and 1 octet : (1964) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Barstow : eight hitchhiker inscriptions from a highway railing at Barstow, California : (1956) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Ulysses at the edge of the world : (1955) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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The bewitched : a ballet satire : (version 1954/55) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Delusion of the fury : a ritual of dream & delusion / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Daphne of the dunes : soundtrack for Madeline Tourtelot's film "Windsong" : (1958/1967) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Dark brother : final two paragraphs from Thomas Wolfe's "God's lonely man" : (1942-1943) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Eleven intrusions : for voices, choir and ensemble (1946-1950) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Seventeen poems by Li Po : set to music by Harry Partch : (1931-1933) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Revelation in the courthouse park : after "The Bacchae" by Euripides : (1960) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Even wild horses : dance music for an absent drama (version 1952) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Rotate the body in all its planes : ballad for gymnasts : (1961) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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The dreamer that remains : a study in loving : (1972) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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18
Ring around the moon : a dance fantasm for here and now : (1949-1952) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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The Lord is my shepherd : spoken expression by Cantor Reuben Rinder of San Francisco : (1932/43) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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Two settings from "Finnegan's wake" : (1944) / by Partch, Harry, 1901-1974
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