Lou Harrison
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Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American
The majority of Harrison's works and custom instruments are written for
Early life and career
Childhood
Harrison's early interest in music was supported by his parents, with Cal paying for occasional
Harrison discovered he was gay while attending Burlingame High School and realizing his attraction toward a male classmate. By the time he graduated in December 1934 at the age of 17, he had come out to his family, and decided thereafter to make no attempt at hiding his sexual preference and personality; nearly unheard of for gay men of the time.[2][9][10]
First musical education
Although much influenced by Asian music, Harrison did not visit the continent until a 1961 trip to Japan and Korea, and a 1962 trip to Taiwan (where he studied with the zheng master Liang Tsai-Ping).[41] He and his partner William Colvig later constructed a tuned percussion ensemble, using resonated aluminum keys and tubes, as well as oxygen tanks and other found percussion instruments. They called this "an American gamelan", to distinguish it from those in Indonesia. They also constructed gamelan-type instruments tuned to just pentatonic scales from unusual materials such as tin cans and aluminum furniture tubing. He wrote "La Koro Sutro" (in Esperanto)[42] for these instruments and chorus, as well as Suite for Violin and American Gamelan. In addition, Harrison played and composed for the Chinese guzheng zither, and presented (with Colvig, his student Richard Dee, and the singer Lily Chin) over 300 concerts of traditional Chinese music in the 1960s.[43]
He was a composer-in-residence at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, during the 1960s. The university honored him with an all-Harrison concert in Morris Daley Auditorium in 1969, featuring dancers, singers, and musicians. The highlight of the concert was the world premiere of Harrison's depiction of the story of Orpheus, which used soloists, the San Jose State University a cappella choir, as well as a unique group of percussionists.
Activism and other endeavors
Harrison was outspoken about his political views, such as his pacifism (he was an active supporter of the international language
With Lou Harrison...being gay is something affirmative. He's proud to be a gay composer and interested in talking about what that might mean. He doesn't feel threatened that this means he won't be thought of as an American composer who is also great and timeless and universal.[45]
Janice Giteck describes Harrison as:
unabashedly androgynous in his way of approaching creativity. He has a vital connection to the feminine as well as to the masculine. The female part is apparent in the sense of beingness. But at the same time, Lou is very male, too, ferociously active and assertive, rhythmic, pulsing, and aggressive.[46]
Like many other 20th-century composers, Harrison found it hard to support himself with his music, and took a number of other jobs to earn a living, including record salesman, florist, animal nurse, and forestry firefighter.
Later life
On November 2, 1990, the Brooklyn Philharmonic premiered Harrison's fourth symphony, which he titled "Last Symphony". He combined Native American music, ancient music, and Asian music, tying it all together with lush orchestral writing. A special inclusion was a series of Navajo "Coyote Stories". He made a number of revisions to the symphonies before completing a final version in 1995, which was recorded by Barry Jekowsky and the California Symphony for Argo Records at Skywalker Ranch in Nicasio, California, in March 1997. The CD also included Harrison's Elegy, to the Memory of Calvin Simmons (a tribute to the former conductor of the Oakland Symphony, who drowned in a boating accident in 1982), excerpts from Solstice, Concerto in Slendro, and Double Music (his collaboration with John Cage).
From the late 1980s onward, William Colvig's health began to dramatically deteriorate. He first lost his hearing, and Harrison's solution was for them to learn American Sign Language. Though Colvig decided not to communicate in ALS, Harrison continued to learn, as he was captivated by the dance-esque beauty of signing. A series of surgeries in the 1990's to replace Colvig's weak knee joints triggered a series of allergic reactions that led to significant degeneration of his physical and mental health. Harrison carefully nursed his partner, sitting with him for months, even after Colvig could no longer recognize Harrison due to his dementia. Harrison was by Colvig's side when he died on March 1, 2000.[47]
Death
Harrison and his recent partner Todd Burlingame were driving from Chicago en route to Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where a six-day festival showcasing his music – Beyond the Rockies: A Tribute to Lou Harrison at 85 – was scheduled for the week of January 30, 2003.[47][48] On Sunday, February 2, they decided to stop off the highway at a Denny's in Lafayette, Indiana for lunch. While inside, Harrison began experiencing unexpected chest pains and collapsed on the scene. He was pronounced dead by the paramedics within minutes, the cause likely being from a heart attack, but no autopsy was performed. He was cremated as per his wishes.[49]
Harrison's music
Overview
Many of Harrison's early works are for percussion instruments, often made out of what would usually be regarded as junk or
An often used technique is "interval control", in which only small number of melodic intervals, either ascending or descending, are used, without inversion.[51] For example, for the opening of the Fourth Symphony, the permitted intervals are minor third, minor sixth, and major second.[51]
Another component of Harrison's aesthetic is what Harry Partch would call corporeality, an emphasis on the physical and the sensual including live, human, performance and improvisation, timbre, rhythm, and the sense of space in his melodic lines, whether solo or in counterpoint, and most notably in his frequent dance collaborations. The American dancer and choreographer Mark Morris used Harrison's Serenade for Guitar [with optional percussion] (1978) as the "basis of a new kind of dance. Or, at least, one I've [Morris] never seen or done before."[52]
Harrison and Colvig built two full Javanese-style gamelan, modeled on the instrumentation of Kyai Udan Mas at U.C. Berkeley. One was named Si Betty for the art patron Betty Freeman; the other, built at Mills College, was named Si Darius/Si Madeliene. Harrison held the Darius Milhaud Chair of Musical Composition at Mills College from 1980 until his retirement in 1985. One of his students at Mills was
He was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal in 2000.[53]
Among Harrison's better known works are the Concerto in Slendro, Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra, Organ Concerto with Percussion (1973), which was given at the
Like Charles Ives, Harrison completed four symphonies. He typically combined a variety of the musical forms and languages that he preferred. This is quite apparent in the fourth symphony, recorded by the California Symphony for Argo Records, as well as his third symphony, which was performed and broadcast by
References
Citations
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b c d e Huizenga, Tom (2017). "Lou Harrison, The 'Maverick' Composer With Asia In His Ears". NPR. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 9.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (2017). "America's Quintessential Maverick Composer, at 100" The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ a b Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 11.
- ^ Rockwell, John (2003). "A Life Tuned to the Sound of California" The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
- ^ Kostelanetz (1992), p. 406.
- ^ a b Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 12.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), pp. 96–97.
- ^ a b Ross, Alex (2017). "New York Celebrates a Composer Who Left Town". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Sachs (2012), p. 264.
- ^ Baker, Alan (2002). "An interview with Lou Harrison"; part of the American Public Media/American Mavericks website. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
- ^ Sachs (2012), p. 94.
- ^ Harrison (1997), p. 166.
- ^ Sachs (2012), p. 261.
- ^ Kostelanetz (1992), p. 383.
- ^ Kostelanetz (1992), p. 404.
- ^ a b Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 13.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 15.
- ^ Sachs (2012), p. 329.
- ^ a b c d Kostelanetz (1992), p. 388.
- ^ a b Swed, Mark (2020). "Lou Harrison's generosity endures when we most need it" Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ a b Miller, Leta (2007). "Lou Harrison – In Retrospect". New World Records. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ Mirapaul, Matthew (1997). "For Composer Lou Harrison, Penmanship Counts". The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 14.
- ^ a b Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 16.
- ^ Fairchild, Frederick (1999). "Lou Harrison", Percussive Arts Society. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 5.
- ^ Kostelanetz (1992), p. 384.
- ^ a b Sachs (2012), p. 397.
- ^ Kostelanetz (1992), p. 387.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 20.
- ^ a b c Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 21.
- ^ a b Kostelanetz (1992), p. 390.
- ^ a b Kostelanetz (1992), p. 385.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (1998), p. 160.
- ^ Kostelanetz (1992), p. 393.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 22.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (1998), p. 391.
- ^ Kostelanetz (1992), p. 403.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (1998), p. 141.
- ^ a b Lou Harrison Centennial Birthday Celebration, 1917–2017, part 2 of 5.
- ^ Collins, Phil (2002). "A Sound Life" Metro Santa Cruz. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (1998), p. 98.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (1998), p. 190.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman (1998), p. 194.
- ^ a b Miller & Lieberman (2006), p. 35.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (2003). "A Tribute to a Pioneer Just Before His Death". The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
- ^ Rockwell, John (2003). "Lou Harrison, 85, Dies; Music Tied Cultures" The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Joseph Horowitz (November 24, 2022). "More Than Music: Lou Harrison". 1a. NPR. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ^ JSTOR 3052712
- ^ Morris, Mark (March 23, 2003). "Dance; Mark Morris: The Making of My Dance". The New York Times.
- ^ "MacDowell Medal winners 1960–2011". The Telegraph. April 13, 2011.
- ^ American Made – Books – Baltimore City Paper Archived March 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
Sources
- Harrison, Lou (1997). Nicholls, David (ed.). "Learning from Henry". The Whole World of Music: A Henry Cowell Symposium: 161–167. ISBN 978-1-13-441946-3.
- .
- Miller, Leta; Lieberman, Frederic (1998). Lou Harrison: Composing a World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511022-6.
- Miller, Leta; Lieberman, Frederic (2006). Lou Harrison. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-25-203120-5.
- Sachs, Joel (2012). Henry Cowell: A Man Made of Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510895-8.
Further reading
- Alves, Bill; Campbell, Brett (2017). Lou Harrison: American Musical Maverick. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-25-302561-6.
- Harrison, Lou (1994). Miller, Leta (ed.). Selected Keyboard and Chamber Music, 1937–1994. ISBN 0-89-579414-4.
- ISBN 978-0-19-957854-2.
External links
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (November 2022) |
Archives
- Lou Harrison Archive at the University of California, Santa Cruz
- San Jose State University School of Music & Dance
- Lou Harrison music manuscripts, sketches, poetry, and drawings, 1945–1991 at Isham Memorial Library, Harvard University Archived February 18, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
Interviews
- Duffie, Bruce. "Composer Lou Harrison: A Conversation With Bruce Duffie." April 1987.
- Golden, Barbara. "Conversation with Lou Harrison". eContact! 12.2 – Interviews (2) (April 2010). Montréal: CEC.
Other links
- New Albion Artists: Lou Harrison
- Peermusic Classical: Lou Harrison Archived November 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Composer's Publisher and Bio
- Lou Harrison artist page from Frog Peak Music site
- Other Minds: Lou Harrison
- Lou Harrison Documentary Project
- Lou Harrison: an interview by Dr Geoff Smith
- Rapunzel by William Morris, inspiration for Lou Harrison's opera Archived December 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- Lou Harrison at Music of the United States of America (MUSA)
Listening
- Art of the States: Lou Harrison, seven works
- Lou Harrison tribute from Other Minds Festival 9, 2003
- Epitonic.com: Lou Harrison including tracks from Rhymes With Silver and La Koro Sutro
- Del Sol Quartet:Tear with Harrison's Song of Palestine from String Quartet Set by Del Sol Quartet
- Kate Stenberg: Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin (1936) (Other Minds Records, 2022)