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Harry Partch
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Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos (Music in American Life) Paperback – June 2, 2000

by Harry Partch (Author)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 5 ratings
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Bitter Music collects writings by one of the twentieth century's great musical iconoclasts. Rejecting the equal temperament and concert traditions that have dominated western music, Harry Partch adopted the pure intervals of just intonation and devised a 43-tone-to-the-octave scale, which in turn forced him into inventing numerous musical instruments. His compositions realize his ideal of a corporeal music that unites music, dance, and theater. 

Winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, Bitter Music includes two journals kept by Partch, one while wandering the West Coast during the Depression and the other as he hiked the rugged northern California coastline. It also includes Partch's essays on and discussions of his own compositions, as well as librettos and scenarios for six major narrative/dramatic works.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    520 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Illinois Press
  4. Publication date
    June 2, 2000
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0252069137
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0252069130
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner of an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, 1992.

"Bitter Music [is] a collation of Partch's miscellaneous writings and lectures. . . . [The] book offers occasion for gratitude, for it reminds us that (in the words of Lou Harrison, the Californian composer who has to a degree assumed Partch's mantle): ‘Harry told the truth about tune, as Kinsey did about sex.'"--Wilfred Mellers, Times Literary Supplement

"This important book documents an often overlooked, yet influential, contributor to twentieth-century American musical life, and deserves a wide audience."--Richard Kassel, Notes

"This splendid collection is a great step forward for Partch."--Peter Dickinson, Musical Times

"It is said that [Partch] is the most innovative, iconoclastic and genuinely American composer of our century and Thomas McGeary, by his excellent editing, has allowed us to understand these statements."--John Beck, Percussive Notes

From the Back Cover

Now in paper for the first time, Bitter Music is a generous volume of writings by one of the twentieth century's great musical iconoclasts. Rejecting the equal temperament and concert traditions that have dominated western music, Harry Partch (1901-74) adopted the pure intervals of just intonation and devised a 43-tone-to-the-octave scale, which in turn forced him into inventing numerous musical instruments. His compositions realize his ideal of a corporeal music that unites music, dance, and theater.

Bitter Music includes two journals kept by Partch, one while wandering the West Coast during the Depression and the other while hiking the rugged northern California coastline. It also includes essays and discussions by Partch of his own compositions, as well as librettos and scenarios for six major narrative or dramatic compositions.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Illinois Press; New edition (June 2, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 520 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0252069137
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0252069130
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

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Harry Partch

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Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
5 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Dean Rosenthal
5.0 out of 5 stars Bitter Music
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2017
Verified Purchase
Bitter Music is an important contribution that Harry Partch makes to the literature of composer's writings and reflections. It contains two remarkable journals, numerous inspiring and original essays (often detailing his philosophic justifications for his outlook as well as his aesthetic) and his librettos, introductions and prefaces to many of his pieces. Several of Partch's essays in particular inspired me to take a more original and experimental view of how to compose and how to consider western music at a time when that perspective was most needed and so for me this book is essential. Perhaps you may find this true for yourself.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Bitter Music
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2009
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This collection is a great insight into the thought and creative process of one of America's most fascinating composers. Passionate, original, non-academic, this collection exemplifies a mind committed to the working out of ideas. The early journals, essays mostly from the middle years and librettos from later work - it's not necessarily a cohesive body of work but it's a welcome antidote to the memoirs of more academic composers whose work slices smaller and smaller into a worked ground. Parallel with Partch's search for the sounds between the notes, is his search for the ideas between the ideas. Partch continually questions, continually searches, as if trying to resynthesise concept and sound world in a vital performance art. You can dip into this collection repeatedly and continue to come up refreshed.
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M. Erickson
5.0 out of 5 stars Like nothing you've ever read
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2008
Bitter Music (as well as the other writings in the collection) reads like a journal, a storybook, and a score simultaneously. The pages are riddled with colorful characters, bizarre situations, and wondrous insights into the musical mind of a brilliant transient.
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Canticle
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for Partch Fans
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
I don't know how many Harry Partch fans are out there but I am one of them and this collection of his journals are a fascinating look at his creative process. These journals were actually destroyed by Partch but someone managed to make copies which preserved them. Not for the casual reader but this is serious candy for fans of this important American composer's works.
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