Finding Aid for Harry Partch Estate Archive, 1918-1991 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Title: Harry Partch Estate Archive, 1918-1991

ID: 12/5/45

Primary Creator: Partch, Harry (1901-1974)

Extent: 6.5 cubic feet

Arrangement:

Organized into four series:

Series 1) Writings, 1937-1972. Series 1 is organized into two sub-series: sub-series 1) Writings on Musical Composition and sub-series 2) Lecture Texts, Essays, Drafts, Illustrations, and Statements.

Series 2) Personal Papers, 1930-2001. Series 2 is organized into three sub-series: sub-series 1) Correspondence, sub-series 2) Personal and Financial Records, and sub-series 3) Scrapbooks.

Series 3) Music Score Manuscripts, 1930-1972.

and Series 4) Films, Tapes, and Photographs, ca. 1948-1974. Series 4 is arranged into three sub-series: sub-series 1) 16-mm Films, sub-series 2) Photographs, and sub-series 3) 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes.

Each series, except for 3, is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Date Acquired: 04/01/2008. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), Cage, John (1912-1992), Composers, Compositions-Music, Films, Fulbright Awards, Garvey, John (1921-2006), Graphic Notation--Music, Guggenheim Foundation, Harrison, Lou (1917-2003), Instrumental music, Interviews, Johnston, Ben (1926-2019), Luening, Otto (1900-1996), Manuscripts, Music, School of, Music-Theory, Musical Instrument Makers, Musical Instrument Makers - United States, Music Composition, Rockefeller Foundation, Tourtelot, Madeline (1915-2002), University of Illinois

Formats/Genres: Audio-Visual Material, Correspondence, Experimental Music, Librettos, Papers, Photographs, Scrapbooks, Sheet music

Languages: English

Consists of Harry Partch's personal papers, musical scores, films, tapes and photographs documenting his career as a composer, writer, and music instrument builder. Of special note are the scrapbooks in series 2 that contain newspaper and magazine articles about Partch and his music. Also of note are Partch's original manuscripts, featuring his microtonal music system, including: The Bewitched, The Delusion of the Fury, Oedipus, Revelation in the Courthouse Park, US Highball, and Water! Water!. Also included is correspondence between Partch and Lou Harrison, Benjamin Johnston, John Cage, John Garvey, and Nicholas Slonimsky.

Harry Partch (1901-1974) was an American composer, theorist, instrument designer, and performer. Born in Oakland, California, he was the son of Virgil Franklin Partch and Jennie Partch. The youngest of three siblings, his older brother Paul and older sister Irene had been born in China, while his parents were serving as Presbyterian missionaries. After his mother contracted tuberculosis, the family moved to Benson, Arizona. Partch grew up learning Chinese lullabies from his mother. His sister played violin and and cello and his brother played mandolin. Partch's own musical training began on piano, which he performed well enough on to accompany silent films while the family was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After the Yaqui Nation was forcibily relocated near Benson, Partch encountered their musical traditions as well. After Partch's father died in 1918, Partch moved to Southern California, briefly studying piano at the University of Southern California. After his mother's death in 1920, he spent the next thirteen years working as a proofreader, piano teacher, and violist.

In 1923, Partch discovered Herman von Helmholtz's On the Sensation of Tone. From this and from his study of both Chinese and Native American music systems, he developed a 29-tone scale. This scale first appears in his "Exposition of Monophony" (1928). Partch would continue to develop this microtonal scale system, eventually settling on a 43-pitch system, composing pieces to showcase it, and building instruments upon which it could be played.

Throughout the early part of the 1930s, Partch travelled between California and the East Coast, riding the rails, living as a hobo, and picking up odd jobs to make money. During one of these short term jobs, Partch was hired by the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles (now the Southwest Museum of Pasadena) to transcribe Native American melodies recorded by the folklorists Eleanor Hague and Charles Fletcher Lummis. Around the same time, Partch made his first adapted viola to accomodate for his developing microtonal system. By 1933, he begun to develop several other instruments. In 1934, he earned a Carnegie Grant to study music in England, where he began working with Kathleen Schlesinger, who had reconsted an ancient Greek Kithara. After returning to the US in 1935, he returned to life as a hobo, writing a musical diary called Bitter Music, which was later published in 1940.

In 1941, Partch found himself in Chicago, where he began developing speech music, based on heightened speech used in ancient Greek dramas. During this time, he also constructed his first Kithara, Harmonic Canon, and Chromelodeon. Shortly thereafter, Partch began setting his experience of living as a hobo to music, composing works like Barstow, The Letter, and US Highball. During this period he received two Guggenheim grants and received support from composers like Otto Luening. From 1944 to 1947, he was briefly employed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In 1947, Partch finally completed his book A Genesis of Music, which outlined his rationale for adopting a 43-pitch system. By the early 1950s, he had begun to gain some notariety, establishing the Gate 5 Ensemble, a group that specialized in performing his music instruments, and record label. During this period, Partch completed his first major stage play King Oedipus (1952) and had it performed at Mills College in Oakland, CA. He had also begun a musical partnership with fellow composer Ben Johnston, who advocated for Partch to receive a visiting artist position at the University of Illinois in 1956.

While at Illinois, Partch premiered his large stage work, The Bewitched (1957), as part of the Festival of Contemporary Arts. He would premiere two additional music theater works at the University of Illinois, Revelation in the Courthouse Park (1960) and Water! Water! (1961). In 1958, he began collaborating with filmmaker Madeline Tourtelot, producing films for Windsong (1958), Harry Partch Music Studio (1960), US High Ball (1968), Rotate the Body in All Its Planes (1961), The Renascent (1963), and Delusion of the Fury (1969). Also in Urbana, Partch met Danlee Mitchell, a percussionist and student at the University who later became Partch's principal percussionist, assistant, amanuesis, and eventually the executor of Partch's Estate.

After failing to secure a permanent faculty position at the University of Illinois, Partch returned to California in 1962, where he completed his final projects, a stage drama based on a Japanese Noh play called The Delusion of the Fury (1966) and music for the Stephen Pouliout Film The Dreamer that Remains (1972). Partch died in San Diego, California in 1974.

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Cage, John (1912-1992)
Composers
Compositions-Music
Films
Fulbright Awards
Garvey, John (1921-2006)
Graphic Notation--Music
Guggenheim Foundation
Harrison, Lou (1917-2003)
Instrumental music
Interviews
Johnston, Ben (1926-2019)
Luening, Otto (1900-1996)
Manuscripts
Music, School of
Music-Theory
Musical Instrument Makers
Musical Instrument Makers - United States
Music Composition
Rockefeller Foundation
Tourtelot, Madeline (1915-2002)
University of Illinois

Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Accruals: First donation came in December 29, 1992 directly from Danlee Mitchell. Second accrual in April 2008 came from Mitchell as well.

Use Restrictions: All usage permissions for materials from the Partch Estate archives that fall outside of U.S. fair use statutes must be approved in writing by Danlee Mitchell, executor of the Partch Estate. (August 4, 2017)

Acquisition Source: Danlee Mitchell, Harry Partch Foundation, San Diego

Acquisition Method: Donation

Related Materials:

Jean Cutler Theatrical Films, Audio Recordings and Papers, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Kenneth Gaburo Papers, University of Illinois Archives

2005 Harry Partch Guide to the Collection, Music and Performing Arts Library. This collection finding aid's content has been updated and included in the Harry Partch Archive and Music Library Harry Partch Collection.

Photographic Subject File 39/2/20, Col 3-5.

See also record series 35/3/68 Music and Performing Arts Library Harry Partch Collection.

Other Note: Whenever possible an identification of the format of the music for each title (i.e., full score, condensed score, piano score, and parts) has been noted with the following corresponding abbreviations: FS, CS, PS, P.