Product Description
Since its original publication in 1930, Henry Cowell's New Musical Resources has become recognized as one of the few seminal technical studies to be written by a twentieth-century composer. In 1971, Virgil Thomson hailed it as "a classic." For this new edition, David Nicholls has provided an explanatory essay and annotations to Cowell's text. The essay traces the sources for the book and attempts to place Cowell's theories in the broader context of musical modernism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Important book for composers and others interested in new music
This book is important in its own rights AND as a source for the John Cage-oriented composer and an origin to the more famous theory texts by Karlheinz Stockhausen (who never mentioned this influence, as far as I know!). It's amazing how advanced a vision the young Cowell had - he began writing the texts in 1916 at the age of 17! Maybe Stockhausen used the theories artistically more satisfying and Cage became more famous, but read the book anyway and - by the way - listen to Cowells music!

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While these resources aren't new anymore, I have used some of his ideas as springboards for some of my own compositions. The section on rhythm as well as the section on Tone Combinations were particularly interesting. These are some ideas that I wish would influence music outside of the classical realm more. Too many kids are stuck in a bland world of 4/4 rhythm, and tonal theory learned from half a**ed guitar lessons. ... Read more

Product Description
In this first full-length study of Henry Cowell, Michael Hicks shows how the maverick composer, writer, teacher, and performer built his career on the intellectual and aesthetic foundations of his parents, community, and teachers--and exemplified the essence of bohemian California. Author of the highly influential "New Musical Resources" and a teacher of John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Burt Bacharach, Cowell is regarded as an innovator, a rebel, and a genius. One of the first American composers to be celebrated for the novelty of his techniques, Cowell popularized a series of experimental piano-playing techniques that included pounding his fists and forearms on the keys and plucking the piano strings directly to achieve the exotic, dissonant sounds he desired. "Henry Cowell, Bohemian" traces the venerated experimentalist's radical ideas back to his teachers, including Charles Seeger, Samuel Seward, and E. G. Stricklen, the tightknit artistic communities in the San Francisco Bay area where he grew up and first started composing, and the immeasurable influence of his parents.Mining the published and unpublished writings of his mother, a politically motivated novelist from the Midwest who carefully monitored the pulse of her son's creativity from birth, Hicks provides insight into the composer's heritage, artistic inclinations, and childhood. Focusing on Cowell's formative and most prolific years, from his birth in 1897 through his incarceration on a morals conviction in the 1930s, Hicks examines the philosophical fervor that fueled his whirlwind compositions, and the ways his irrepressible bohemian spirit helped foster an appreciation in the United States and Europe for a new brand of American music. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

annoying, biased, and poorly researched
This book does an immense disservice to the study of Henry Cowell's life. Because it reads well, one is fooled into thinking it's reliable, but there are gaping holes in the research, indeed there are many items in the book that are entirely conjecture.

A Pioneering Look
Hicks ventures where few have had opportunity to go. This well-documented, in-depth look at Cowell, his philosophically anarchistic parents and the young composer's formative years paints the portrait of an inquisitive youth raised by struggling authors from the San Franciscan Bohemian Club of the early 20th century.
Henry's wife, Sydney Robertson Cowell (also a musicologist), supressed much information surrounding Cowell, going as far as to suppress Joscelyn Godwin's 1969 dissertation for its critical approach to the composer's music. Archives in New York City's Library became available to public eyes for the first time in 2002. Hicks takes full advantage of this fortuitous event and assembles an entertaining, informative, and new look at one of America's most prolific and eclectic composers. ... Read more

Product Description
It is impossible to contain Henry Cowell within the boundaries of the consistencies of forms, styles, ensembles, and genres of Western art music. John Cage once described Cowell as the "open sesame for new music in America." Of the thousand or so works catalogued by William Lichtenwanger, the majority are formally innovative single movement vocal or instrumental pieces, although there are 20 symphonies, five string quartets, and 8 suites of various kinds. Cowell was also innovative in his use of instruments from different cultures (jalatarang, dragonmouths, Japanese wind glasses, the shakuhachi flute) and in this book, Lou Harrison writes of Cowell's "adventurous promotion of automobile junkyards for the finding of new sounds." In addition, Cowell was a tireless advocate of new music in the West, and Musics from other cultures worldwide, as a teacher, lecturer, publisher, and performer. He founded New Music Quarterly in 1927, wrote the influential book Ne
In this major book of articles ... Read more

Product Description
Edited by Dick Higgins. Preface by Kyle Gann. Photos, index, discography.

Foreword Magazine "Book of the Year" 2002 Gold Medalion.

This volume presents for the first time a generous selection from the more than 200 essays and articles written by one of the most original American composers and musical theorists of the twentieth century. There are articles on harmony, melody, notation and music history; essays on vocal innovation, folk music, and the intersection of music with other arts; reviews of concerts and recordings by contemporaries; notes on several of his own works, and several pieces on his life and experiences as a composer. Henry Cowell may be best known as a creator of "tone cluster" compositions, which he began writing while in his early teens, but his inXuence has been far broader and much deeper. As founder in 1925 of the New Music Society, he became a concert impresario for works by, among others, Carl Ruggles, Arnold Schoenberg, Charles Ives and Leo Ornstein; and publisher from 1927 to 1958 of New Music: A Quarterly of Musical Compositions. His many students included George Gershwin, John Cage, and Lou Harrison, but his interests extended beyond western classical traditions, and his radio program, "Music of the World's Peoples," introduced a large audience to world music long before it was fashionable. Just as Cowell's groundbreaking book of 1930, New Musical Resources, continues to inspire successive generations of composers, Essential Cowell is key to understanding the origins and expanding dimensions of contemporary music. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Dana Carvey, Henry Cowell, Tom Lantos, Suzanne Somers, Merl Saunders, Eric Byrnes, Paul Mantz, Kathryn Bigelow, Richard Allen Davis, John Robinson, Sandy Mayer, Diane Varsi, Jeanne Phillips, Sean Payton, Gary Beban, Eugene Jackson, Paul H. Foster, Ponponio Lupugeyun, Faxon Atherton, Julian Edelman, Jeff Black, Chelsi Smith, Angelo Zawaydeh, Greg Gutfeld, Sam Francis, Michael Shrieve, Dick Stuart, Drew Fuller, Nick Rolovich, Rex J. Walheim, Ogden Mills, Doni Tamblyn, Brad Lewis, Christopher Sullivan, Greg Camarillo, Christopher Hipp, Phyllis Welch Macdonald, Geoff Blum, Paul Moran, Devin Wyman, Ruggiero Ricci, Thomas T. Riley, Wendy P. Mccaw, Adam Tafralis, Bob St. Clair, Marvin Philip, Eric Reveno, Matt Seeberger, Terri Stickles, Bob Svihus, Will Ta'ufo'ou, Tom Melvin, Rich Kelley, Rachelle Leah, Don Bunce, Bill Pecota, Anne Wojcicki, Jeff Clark, Umberto Milletti, Nick Vanos, Edwin Mulitalo, Sue Burns, Richard J Burton, Totally Insane, John Matteson, Charles Hitchcock Adams, Sally Dryer, Gary Ruddell, Michelle Mclaughlin, Jim Burke, Monique Javer, Dick Sharon, Joumana Kidd. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 297. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Thomas Peter Lantos (February 1, 1928 February 11, 2008) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until his death, representing the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a portion of southwest San Francisco. Lantos had announced in early January 2008 that he would not run for reelection because of cancer of the esophagus, but died before finishing his term. Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor to have served in the United States Congress. Born as Lantos Tamás Péter (Hungarian pronunciation: ) to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, Lantos was part of a resistance movement against the N...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=408660 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on September 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1510 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Henry Cowell, Bohemian.(Book Review)
Author: Robert Carl
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2003
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 60Issue: 1Page: 176(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Henry Dixon Cowell, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thomson Gale. The length of the entry is 340 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Product Description
Chapters: Henry Cowell, Leona Helmsley, Larry Cohen, Linda Montano, Roger Donlon, Stephen Gardner Champlin, Anita Miller Smith, Daniel Brodhead, Lhasa de Sela, Anne Sweeney, Francine Prose, Simeon de Witt, John Bigelow, Sarai, John Platania, Tom Hart, Robert H. Dietz, Charles H. Ruggles, Barent Gardenier, Allen Zwerdling, Tom Hallion, Sam Henderson, Dana Lyons, Leonard C. Crouch, Clarence W. Spangenberger, Charles Dewitt, Brian Baschnagel, William B. Wright, Alf Evers, Jay le Fevre, Paul Draper, Josiah Hasbrouck, Arthur H. Wicks, Peg Leg Bates, Jim Weider, Fordyce L. Laflin, Frederick Dana Marsh, Abraham J. Hasbrouck, Augustus Schoonmaker, Jr., John T. Loughran, Fiona Dourif, Isaac N. Cox, John Van Buren, Jacob H. de Witt, Francis Dolan Collins, Thomas Sammons, John Blake, Jr., Alfred Harcourt, Max Schubel, Peter Van Gaasbeck. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 171. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Henry Cowell (March 11, 1897 December 10, 1965) was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s: Henry Cowell's music covers a wider range in both expression and technique than that of any other living composer. His experiments begun three decades ago in rhythm, in harmony, and in instrumental sonorities were considered then by many to be wild. Today they are the Bible of the young and still, to the conservatives, "advanced."... No other composer of our time has produced a body of works so radical and so normal, so penetrating and so comprehensive. Add to this massive production his long and influential career as a pedagogue, and Henry Cowell's achievement becomes impressive indeed. There is no other quite like it. To be both fecund and right is given to ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=87062 ... Read more