Colin McPhee: Composer in Two Worlds

Carol J. Oja

ISBN 10: 0252071808 / ISBN 13: 9780252071805

Editore: University of Illinois Press, 2004

Riguardo questo articolo

Traces the life, influences on fellow musicians, and struggles of a pioneer among American composers who turned to the island of Bali for inspiration. Presenting an unconventional life, this title is designed for scholars, musicians or those interested in 20th century American or Balinese music. Series: Music in American Life. Num Pages: 376 pages, 21 photographs, 2 line drawings. BIC Classification: AVGC6; AVH. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 5817 x 3887 x 712. Weight in Grams: 626. . 2004. Illustrated. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Codice articolo V9780252071805

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Colin McPhee: Composer in Two Worlds
• Editore: University of Illinois Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2004
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0252071808
• ISBN 13: 9780252071805
• Rilegatura: Brossura
• Condizione: New

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Colin McPhee was a performer, writer, and pioneer among Western composers in turning to Asia for inspiration. A close friend of Aaron Copland, Carlos Chavez, Henry Cowell, and Virgil Thomson, he played a vital role in new music activities in New York in the 1920s, but his most important accomplishments came from his devotion to the music of Bali. Carol Oja's Colin McPhee: Composer in Two Worlds traces his life, his influences on fellow musicians, and the profound experience of a composer striving to comprehend an entirely new musical language.
 
After hearing rare recordings of the Balinese gamelan--a percussion orchestra with delicately layered textures and clangorous sounds--McPhee traveled to Bali and worked closely with such Western anthropologists as Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. The island may also have appealed to him because of its relatively open attitude toward homosexuality.
 
Gay by inclination, he nevertheless married anthropologist Jane Belo and built a native-style house on the island where they lived for most of the 1930s. During this time, McPhee became a devoted and meticulous chronicler of Balinese musical culture, and his Music of Bali remains a classic in ethnomusicology. Beginning in the mid-1930s, his own compositions became an imaginative hybrid of Balinese and Western music, anticipating the later work of such figures as John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Steve Reich.
 
Finally back in print, Carol Oja's account of McPhee's unconventional life and work evokes key issues in composition and ethnomusicology, sure to be of interest to scholars, musicians or anyone interested in 20th century American or Balinese music.
 

Informazioni sull?autore

Carol Oja is the author of Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s and is president of the Society for American Music.