Henry Cowell's 'Music as a Social Force': An ultramodernist's advocacy in the 1920's and 1930's.

摘要

This thesis attempts to trace Henry Cowell's musical and philosophical development from his bohemian upbringing, during which his parents attempted to instill a free-thinking radicalism in their son, to his public advocacy for the creation of socially influential music, represented by his writing "Music as a Social Force." In his early writings and lectures Cowell attempted to explain scientifically the current state of modern music. This was followed by a period in the late-1920s when he began to broaden his definition for acceptable music, which included non-European music, and to promote ultramodernist music. Beginning around 1930 Cowell began to explore new applications for music, to promote a narrower group of American composers and to establish publications under the New Music umbrella to promote American ultra-modernist composers and their music. In "Music as a Social Force" Cowell expressed his most comprehensive ideas about the inherent social function of ultramodernist music.