Editing Harry Partch (section)

==Music==
===Theory===
{{Expand section|date=January 2013}}

[[File:Partchdiamond.svg|thumb|right|alt=|The [[tonality diamond|11-limit tonality diamond]], part of the basis for Partch's music theory]]
Partch made public his theories in his book ''[[Genesis of a Music]]'' (1947).  He opens the book with an overview of music history, and argues that Western music began to suffer from the time of [[Bach]], after which twelve-tone equal temperament was adopted to the exclusion of other tuning systems, and abstract, instrumental music became the norm.  Partch sought to bring vocal music back to prominence, and adopted tunings and scales he believed more suitable to singing.{{sfn|Ross|2005}}

Inspired by ''[[Sensations of Tone]]'', [[Hermann von Helmholtz]]'s book on acoustics and the perception of sound, Partch based his music strictly on [[just intonation]].  He tuned his instruments using the [[overtone series]], and extended it up to the eleventh partial.  This allowed for a larger number of smaller, unequal intervals than found in the Western classical music tradition's twelve-tone [[equal temperament]].  Partch's tuning is often classed as [[microtonality]], as it allowed for intervals smaller than 100 [[cent (music)|cent]]s, though Partch did not conceive his tuning in such a context.{{sfn|Gilmore|Johnston|2002|pp=368–369}}  Instead, he saw it as a return to pre-Classical Western musical roots, in particular to the music of the ancient Greeks.  By taking the principles he found in Helmholtz's book, he expanded his tuning system until it allowed for a division of the octave into 43 tones based on ratios of small integers.{{sfn|Ross|2005}}

Partch uses the terms [[Otonality and Utonality]] to describe chords whose [[pitch class]]es are the [[harmonic]]s or [[subharmonic]]s of a given fixed [[root (chord)|tone]].  These six-tone chords function in Partch's music much the same that the three-tone [[Major chord|major]] and [[Minor chord|minor]] chords (or [[Triad (music)|triad]]s) do in classical music.{{sfn|Gilmore|Johnston|2002|p=370}}  The Otonalities are derived from the [[overtone series]], and the Utonalities from the [[undertone series]].{{sfn|Madden|1999|p=87}}

''Genesis of a Music'' has been influential on later generations of composers interested in new intonational systems, such [[Ben Johnston (composer)|Ben Johnston]] and [[James Tenney]] (both of whom worked with Partch in the 1950s).

===Style===
{{Expand section|date=December 2012}}
{{quote box|The age of specialization has given us an art of sound that denies sound, and a science of sound that denies art. The age of specialization has given us a music drama that denies drama, and a drama that—contrary to the practices of all other peoples of the world—denies music.|Partch, in ''Bitter Music'' (2000){{sfn|Partch|2000|p=179}}|width=30em}}

Partch rejected the Western concert music tradition, saying that the music of composers such as Beethoven "has only the feeblest roots" in [[Western culture]].{{sfn|Yang|2008|p=53}} His non-Western orientation was particularly pronounced—sometimes explicitly, as when he set to music the poetry of [[Li Bai]],{{sfn|Yang|2008|pp=53–54}} or when he combined two [[Noh]] dramas with one from [[Ethiopia]] in ''The Delusion of the Fury''.{{sfn|Yang|2008|p=56}}

Partch believed that [[20th-century classical music|Western music of the 20th century]] suffered from over-specialization. He objected to the theatre of the day, which he believed had divorced music and drama, and he strove to create complete, integrated theatre works, in which he expected each performer to sing, dance, play instruments, and take on speaking parts. Partch used the words "ritual" and "corporeal" to describe his theatre works—musicians and their instruments were not hidden in an [[orchestra pit]] or offstage, but were a visual part of the performance.{{sfn|Sheppard|2001|pp=180–181}}

===Rhythmic range===
Partch's approach to rhythm ranged from unspecified to complex. In ''Seventeen Lyrics of Li Po'' for the Adapted Viola, Partch "doesn't bother with rhythmic notation at all, but simply directs performers to follow the natural rhythms of the poem."{{sfn|Schell|2018}}  His rhythmic structures that were specified in ''Castor and Pollux'' were far more structured: "Each of the duets last 234 beats. In the first half (Castor) the music alternates between 4 and 5 beats to a bar, and there's usually a rest on the eighth of the nine beats. In the second half (Pollux) the rhythm's a bit more complicated, with six bars of 7 beats alternating with six bars of 9 beats until 234 beats are reached."{{sfn|Schell|2018}}

===Instruments===
{{Main|List of instruments by Harry Partch}}

Partch called himself "a philosophic music-man seduced into carpentry".{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=136}}  The path towards Partch's use of various unique instruments was gradual.{{sfn|Gilmore|Johnston|2002|p=369}}  He began in the 1920s using traditional instruments, and wrote a string quartet in just intonation (now lost).{{sfnm|1a1=McGeary|1y=2000|1p=xviii|2a1=Gilmore|2a2=Johnston|2y=2002|2p=366}}  He had his first specialized instrument built for him in 1930—the Adapted Viola, a viola with a cello's neck fitted on it.{{sfn|McGeary|2000|p=xviii}}

Most of Partch's works exclusively used the instruments he had created. Some works made use of unaltered standard instruments such as clarinet or cello; ''Revelation in the Courtyard Park'' (1960) used an unaltered small wind band,{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=136}} and ''Yankee Doodle Fantasy'' (1944) used unaltered oboe and flute.{{sfn|Gann|2006|p=191}}

In 1991, [[Dean Drummond]] became the custodian of the original Harry Partch instrument collection until his death in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/31/arts/some-offbeat-instruments-move-to-new-york.html|title=Some Offbeat Instruments Move to New York|first=Allan|last=Kozinn|newspaper=The New York Times |author-link=Allan Kozinn|date=July 31, 1991}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/arts/music/dean-drummond-composer-and-musician-dies-at-64.html|title=Dean Drummond, Composer and Musician, Dies at 64|first=Allan|last=Kozinn|newspaper=The New York Times |author-link=Allan Kozinn|date=April 18, 2013}}</ref> In 1999 Drummond brought the instruments to [[Montclair State University]] in [[Montclair, New Jersey]], where they resided until November 2014, when they were moved to the [[University of Washington, Seattle]]. They are currently under the care of Charles Corey, Drummond's former PhD student.{{sfn|De Pue|2014}}

In 2012 a complete set of replicas was built by Thomas Meixner under commission by [[Ensemble Musikfabrik]] and used in performances of Partch's work including ''[[Delusion of the Fury]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Michael |title=Reviving a Harry Partch Work With Hubcaps and Wine Bottles |work=The New York Times |date=July 21, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/arts/music/reviving-a-harry-partch-work-with-hubcaps-and-wine-bottles.html |access-date=May 27, 2023}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Harry Partch Institute-6.jpg|alt=A closeup of a keyboard, whose keys are colorfully painted and marked with numbers|Part of the keyboard of the Chromelodeon
File:Harry Partch Institute-8.jpg|Boo II on display at a Harry Partch Institute open house
File:Harry Partch Institute-3.jpg|[[Quadrangularis Reversum]]
</gallery>