Categories
20th Century Modernist American

COWELL, Henry

Born in Menlo Park, CA, March 11, 1897
Died in Shady, NY, Dec 10, 1965

  • Cowell rose from an impoverished childhood to become a leading composer of “ultramodernist” music, using experimental techniques like prepared pianos and tone clusters. He also supported other avant garde composers, especially as a writer/editor of New Music Quarterly.
  • Composers who benefitted from his support include Edgard Varése and Charles Ives, who was also Cowell’s friend and mentor. His students included John Cage and Lou Harrison.
  • His wife, and frequent writing collaborator, was folk song scholar Sidney Robertson Cowell.1

Short biography

Sources

  1. David Nicholls and Joel Sachs, “Cowell, Henry” Grove Music Online (2013), acccesed August 27, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002249182.

Pieces