Cowell - The Hero Sun

"The Hero Sun" (1922) from Three Irish Legends

Story according to John Varian which prefaces Cowell's score:

"The gods created all the suns and sent them out into space. But these suns, instead of lighting the universe, congregated closely together, enjoying each others society, and the universe was in darkness. Then one of the gods told the suns of a place where people were living in misery on account of the lack of light, and a strong young sun rose and hurled himself out into the darkness, until he came to this place, which was our earth; and the Hero Sun who sacrificed the companionship of the other suns to light the earth is our Sun."

Henry Cowell (1897-1965) was one of the most innovative American composers of the 20th-century and influenced a generation of American and European avant-gardists from Varèse and Nancarrow to Cage and Stockhausen. As a child, Cowell displayed a precocious musical talent and started learning the violin at the age of five. Although he received no formal music training during his childhood, he showed an interest in composition. In his teenage years he experimented with tone-clusters (a term he invented) and unconventional methods of playing the piano, such as plucking and strumming the strings.

Cowell later studied music with Charles Seeger at UC Berkeley, where he also met Ruth Crawford. In the 1920s, he toured throughout America and Europe as a piano virtuoso, achieving enormous notoriety if not fame. His compositions, and by extension his method of using the forearm, fist, and palm to create tone-clusters, disturbed conservative audiences and music critics while garnering enthusiasm from the musical intelligentsia. Cowell's unorthodox methods and ideas are contained in his New Musical Resources (1930), which was a genuine bible to American composers of the avant-garde. Among other things in this work, Cowell defines the tone-cluster and details his theories concerning its harmonic flexibility.

Cowell's constant search for new means of expression is reflected in over 900 compositions for a variety of ensembles and instruments. While his music of the early 1910s and 1920s is aligned with the avant-garde, his later works beginning in the late 1930s demonstrate a return to a simpler music language. Though Cowell explored new sounds, even his most avant-garde music is tempered by a predilection for melody and accessible expressivity.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• henry
• cowell
• ornstein
• antheil
• john
• cage

[showboater6767]

What do the lines connecting those intervals mean?

[Hexameron]

They are tone clusters. The lines indicate that all pitches between the interval are played simultaneously. The sharps above or below the tone cluster mean that only the black keys between the interval are struck.

[ValkiriouS]

use arms to play.. ?

right ?

[omgtkseth]

@Psem5 Well, I think its a subtle way of using clusters and dissonance. Because it keeps the musicality very traditional, so you can have a melody on the right hand that sounds like a child's tune and the clusters arent in the middle of complex tone rows and things that might push away the traditional...

[omgtkseth]

@telsarowe I agree, but I think you can still enjoy them as you can enjoy rock music.

[Rickeeey1]

@telsarowe

Woot, you're talking about Cowell, surprises me you say he's garbage, I would imagine you saying that about Cage but not about Cowell. Well, doesn't stop me from listening to Cowell's beautiful music which I consider to be much better than Cage's. But I still respect Cage for the new stuff he did.

[telsarowe]

Cowell is garbage. Like John Cage he is a coward and hides behind this crap for lack of talent yet calls it "groundbreaking". Both failed miserably in trying to "break the mathematical musical code". Well guess what, weve already had Bach. This music isnt a move forward its a move backwards.

[flomaxify]

1:12 is such a beautiful part of the song. I love the story that goes along with it as well (: So lovely.

[exelpaperclip123]

@musicnerd30 Just noticed that. That's crazy!

[AkLvKk]

my hero!!!!

[Psem5]

I really don't like this. I think clusters should be used more subtly. I'm open minded about modern music and hate it when people say 'this sounds like anyone could play it' or 'it sounds like they're hitting random notes' but this piece of music....? A part of me can appreciate that their is an obvious melody hidden in the sound. I like lots of music where melodies are hidden within dissonance particularly electronic music but I don't like this. 'I', remember. Don't take it personally.

[musicnerd30]

1:12 3/4 and 4/4 at the same time. Nice.