Partch, Harry, 1901–74, American composer, b. Oakland, Calif. Highly individualistic and largely self-taught, Partch rejected many of the traditions of Western music. He developed a theory of "corporeal" music based on "harmonized spoken words," capturing the patterns of real speech and uniting text with music. The technique is exemplified by works such as Account of the Normandy Invasion by an American Glider Pilot, based on a recording of the pilot's recollections. Partch also wrote music based on such sources as newsboy cries, hitchhiker inscriptions, and hobo descriptions, the latter drawn from his own several years of experience riding the rails. Another of his innovations was the division of the octave into a 43-note scale. He designed and built string, keyboard, and percussion instruments to play the music composed from this scale and his iconoclastic book Genesis of a Music (1949) explains his tunings and theories. Partch wrote several stage works, including, in 1952, music for William Butler Yeats's adaptation of Sophocles' Oedipus.

Bibliography

See T. McGeary, ed., Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos (1991, repr. 2000); biography by B. Gilmore (1998).

Partch, Harry

(born June 24, 1901, Oakland, Calif., U.S.—died Sept. 3, 1974, San Diego, Calif.) U.S. composer and instrument maker. He grew up in Arizona and was largely self-taught musically. During the Great Depression, he traveled as a hobo, conceiving many of his musical ideas while doing so. About 1930 he began building original percussion and string instruments, tunable to 43 divisions of the octave. His works often involve theatrical elements, reflecting his interest in African, Japanese, and Native American ritual. They include Barstow—8 Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California (1941), US Highball (1943), and And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell on Petaluma (1966).

Partch, Harry (1901–74) composer; born in Oakland, Calif. Mostly self-taught, he worked out his ideas partly during years of wandering as a hobo. His music involves microtonal scales of his own invention, played on instruments he designed and built.