The Musical Identities of Harry Partch

A vivid exploration of Harry Partch's visionary music, instruments, and identities, revealing how his singular sound-world challenges conventions, reshapes performance conventions, and continues to redefine the possibilities of musical expression.

Harry Partch (1901-74) stood apart in twentieth-century music. A visionary composer, theorist, and builder of over fifty visually and aurally astonishing instruments, he rejected the confines of Western tuning and performance to forge an art that fused sound, movement, and ritual. His music grew from his life, which included hobo journeys, explorations of alternative tunings, and a fierce commitment to individuality. These experiences resulted in a body of work as theatrical as it was sonically adventurous. In recent decades, scholarship has flourished, performances and recordings have become more numerous, yet Partch's legacy remains a challenge, largely because his identities as composer, instrument builder, philosopher, and provocateur resist easy categorization.

This collection gathers leading voices to expand present-day understanding of the diverse elements that defined Partch's multiple musical identities. Essays trace the entanglement of his instruments with his creative vision, reconsider his sexuality and self-mythologizing, link his microtonal theories to both ancient Greek thought and contemporary composition, and examine the practical and interpretive challenges of performing his music today. Contributors reveal a figure whose work speaks to questions of identity, community, and the very purpose of musical creation.

Richly interdisciplinary and vividly written, The Musical Identities of Harry Partch: History, Theory, Performanceoffers new perspectives for scholars, performers, and listeners alike, and invites all to step into Partch's singular sound-world and discover its continuing resonance.