Genesis Of A Music"The most controversial of all contemporary composers, Harry Partch has rejected not only the form and tonality of the 300 year-old symphonic tradition, but its theory, notation, and instrumentation as well. The only composer to write for instruments of his own design and construction, Partch has created a battery of stringed and percussive instruments which, in lesser hands, would function as mere gadgetry, but which he presses into the service of 'a sonoric imagination so vibrant and integrated that it can rightly be called genius.' Now in its second edition, Genesis of a Music provides the only definitive statement of Partch's unique philosophy of composition, including a 43-tone scale through which the musical effects of dissonance are intensified by the correct relationship of overtones. Since this provocative work was originally published in 1949, Partch has created many new works, and the major corpus of his music and theatre has been realized in performance. This revised and enlarged edition surveys Partch's recent experiments in musical form, media and style; it also features numerous illustrations of his extraordinary instruments and notation."--Dust jacket. |
Contents
Chapter One FROM EMPEROR CHUN TO THE VACANT LOT | 3 |
Chapter Two AMERICAN MUSICAL TENDENCIES | 48 |
Chapter Three DEFINITIONS PERTAINING TO INTONATION | 67 |
Copyright | |
39 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Genesis Of A Music: An Account Of A Creative Work, Its Roots, And Its ... Harry Partch No preview available - 1979 |
Genesis Of A Music: An Account Of A Creative Work, Its Roots, And Its ... Harry Partch No preview available - 1979 |
Common terms and phrases
11 limit Abstract acoustical ancient Archytas Arithmetical Proportion aulos bamboo Bass Marimba blocks called cello cents century Chapter chord Chorus Chromelodeon Cloud-Chamber Bowls composer concept consonance cycles Delusion Diagram Diamond Marimba diatonic dissonance downward drama enharmonic Equal Temperament example expressed fifth Greek guitar Harmonic Canon harmonic music harmonium Harry Partch hear Helmholtz hexad idea identities implied inches long instrument intervals intonation keyboard keys Kithara lowest Marimba Marimba Eroica Mbira Meantone Temperament ment minor minor third monochord Monophonic Monophonic fabric musical theory musicians notation Numerary Numerary Nexus octave Odentity opera Otonality overtone overtone series partials percussion perfect fifth Perrett photograph piano pitch player playing prime number Ptolemaic Sequence Ptolemy Pythagorean quartertone quoted by permission reeds represents resonator result Scene Schlesinger semitone Sensations of Tone singers sound tetrachord theorists third tion Tonality Diamond triad tuning twelve twelve-tone Udentity unity Utonality vibrations voice wave words