Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Harry Partch
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{short description|American composer (1901β1974)}} {{distinguish|Harry Patch}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox person | image = Harry Partch portrait 1952.jpg | caption = {{circa|1952}} | alt = portrait of Harry Partch, circa 1952 | birth_date = {{birth date|1901|6|24}} | birth_place = [[Oakland, California]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1974|09|03|1901|06|24}} | death_place = [[Encinitas, California]], U.S. | occupation = {{hlist|Composer|writer|pianist|publisher|teacher}} | relatives = [[Virgil Partch]] (cousin) }} '''Harry Partch''' (June 24, 1901 β 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 [[List of instruments by Harry Partch|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 [[Harry Partch's 43-tone scale|43 unequal tones]] derived from the natural [[Harmonic series (music)|harmonic series]]; these scales allowed for more tones of smaller [[Interval (music)|intervals]] than in standard Western tuning, which uses twelve [[Equal temperament|equal intervals]] to the octave. To play his music, Partch built [[List of instruments by Harry Partch|many unique instruments]], with such names as the Chromelodeon, the Quadrangularis Reversum, and the Zymo-Xyl. Partch described his music as "corporeal" (emphasizing its physical/visceral elements), and distinguished it from [[abstract music]], which he perceived as the dominant trend in Western music since the time of J.S. [[Bach]], whose seminal book of [[prelude (music)|preludes]] and [[fugue (music)|fugues]] called [[The Well-tempered Clavier]] (in German, Das wohltemperierte Klavier) is often cited as the pivot point beyond which older mean-tone and ancient just intonation tunings were abandoned (in the late-18th century) and the then-future of Western Classical (and popular) instruments were (and most are still) based, for exploitation of all 24 theoretical [[key signature]]s. Partch's earliest compositions were small-scale pieces to be intoned with simple folkloric-like string instrumental backing; his later works were large-scale (like a fusion of theater and music decidedly related to but quite apart from [[Wagnerian opera]]), they were integrated theater productions in which he expected each of the performers to sing, dance, speak, and play instruments in a "corporeal apotheosis"{{clarify|date=February 2025}}. [[Ancient Greek theatre]] and Japanese [[Noh]] and [[kabuki]] heavily influenced Harry Partch's [[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.{{clarify|date=December 2022}} 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.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)