The Wind Band Music of Henry Cowell

Jeremy Brown, Jeremy S. Brown

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351239240
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

The Wind Band Music of Henry Cowell studies the compositions for wind band by twentieth-century composer Henry Cowell, a significant and prolific figure in American fine art music from 1914-1965. The composer is noteworthy and controversial because of his radical early works, his interest in non-Western musics, and his retrogressive mature style—along with notoriety for his imprisonment in San Quentin on a morals charge. Eleven chapters are organized both topically and chronologically. An introduction, conclusion, series of eight appendices, bibliography, and discography complete this comprehensive study, along with an audio playlist of representative works, hosted on the CMS website.

Chapter 1
Introduction: Destined to Compose for Wind Band

The works conceived for a large complement of wind instruments by Henry Dixon Cowell (1897–1965) were, as expressions of the modern era, boldly original and delicately path-breaking. Most importantly, perhaps, they reflect the “central kindness and the gentle smile of the composer.”¹ Described at various times as a prodigy, an innovator, a genius, a pioneer, and the “godfather of the avant-garde,”² Cowell began composing for wind band at San Quentin State Prison, where he was incarcerated from 1936 until 1940 as the result of a felony charge. Although he composed for a wide array of musical forces during his four-year confinement, it was his numerous works for wind ensemble that, in retrospect, represent a new—and unexpected—addition to his output. He had arranged two small pieces as a bandsman in World War I, but it was not until his years of imprisonment that he demonstrated a constant interest in the medium.

His works for band were encouraged and supported primarily by the Australian-born composer Percy Grainger (1882–1961), a friend and peer who visited him at San Quentin and who was in the process of finishing his iconic band composition, Lincolshire Posy (1905–1937), at the time of Cowell’s ordeal.³ Indeed, Grainger’s friendship and his attention to Cowell’s plight, made evident in their prolific correspondence, support the notion that Cowell began composing for band because of his imprisonment. Nonetheless, he faced serious obstacles in the process.

At the very least, his restricted circumstance was the critical factor that made writing for the wind band all but inevitable. Cowell created many compositions for the San Quentin Concert Band as well as works for Grainger and for the Goldman Band led by Edwin Franko Goldman.⁴ His sojourn at the California penitentiary marked the beginning of a series of compositions for band: more than thirty-six pieces altogether, with fifteen of them dating from this time.⁵ Later, a number of these were organized into multi-movement cycles and published as discrete works, such as Celic Set (1937–1938) [L 543].⁶

Possibilities for Cowell with the San Quentin Concert Band, a unit of uneven instrumentation, poor equipment, and unskilled players, were not particularly promising. Nevertheless, John A. Hendricks, bandmaster and violinist, protected Cowell from other inmates by virtue of his own high status as a murderer. The seasoned convict encouraged him to compose for the band and provided him the opportunity to rehearse original works for weekly concerts. Cowell also served as the music librarian and played the flute (as he had done during World War I in an Army band); he acted eventually as both concertmaster and associate conductor.

Illustration 1.1. Publicity Portrait of Henry Cowell (ca. 1924)
Photograph by Florence Vandamm. Courtesy of The New York Public Library

The extensive correspondence between Cowell and Grainger, the so-called “prison dialogues,” has never been fully explored, and yet it merits recognition as an incontrovertible testimony to the concerns for modern American wind band composition. In letters over a period of three years the two composers addressed specific wind band procedures such as cross-cues, scoring of instruments, doubling of instrumental voices, and the role of percussion, among many other topics. Their letters serve to confirm the importance of these two figures in the propagation of an American wind band literature of a higher artistic nature and to affirm the generosity and kindness of Grainger, who consistently worked on behalf of Cowell’s music beyond prison walls and, later, advocated for his release on parole. The bond that developed between the two, conditioned by their common experiences and attitudes as musical bohemians, resulted in tangible compositional effects for both. Cowell adopted a number of conspicuous “Graingerisms”: preference for a choir of saxophones, prominence given solo double reeds and the double bass, and the use of colloquial English expression markings in his band scores. Grainger undoubtedly advised Cowell of the need for original works for the burgeoning school band programs in the United States as well as the potential for earning royalties from such efforts. Cowell, similarly, seems to have inspired Grainger to compose new pieces for band and to revise existing ones at a time when he had become increasingly involved in educational activities. While corresponding with Cowell between 1936 and 1940, Grainger “dished up,”⁷ composed, revised, or arranged seven works for band, including Lincolnshire Posy. Such productivity represented an unprecedented flurry of compositional activity in this particular medium for him. In November 1940, while living with Grainger and his wife Ella in White Plains, New York, Cowell even prepared the short score for Grainger’s “Immovable ‘Do’” (or “Ciphering ‘C’”).⁸

Indeed, band composition—and, perhaps, composition in general—may have been a form of restitution or rehabilitation through an artistic process for Cowell. Rehabilitation, one often-invoked justification for sending criminals to prison, was, in the case of Cowell, earned through working with prison inmates in the band, composing new music, and teaching classes in music. Although he seldom, if at all, spoke or wrote of any regret for the events leading to his compromised freedom, others noticed a change in him: the prison experience drastically altered, perhaps even damaged, him artistically and emotionally. On the other hand, it may be that his family and friends spoke of Cowell’s understated regret because he did not or would not. Grainger worked tirelessly for his eventual parole and pardon as did Cowell’s stepmother Olive, his father Harry, and his future bride, the ethnographer Sidney William Hawkins Robertson.⁹ In the eccentric Grainger’s “Blue Eyed English,” a language from which he hoped to purge all Greco-Roman words, “rue-worthy” was his equivalent for “regrettable.”¹⁰ This small group of Cowell’s freedom fighters were his only champions, and each was acutely aware of the “rue-worthy” situation he faced.¹¹

In this study I supply context and commentary for thirty-six projects completed by Henry Cowell that feature the medium of the wind band.¹² They range in date from 1936 until 1963. Several were published in the course of the prolific composer’s career; others still remain in unpublished manuscript form. Representative works in both categories were given public performances and can be connected to other prominent musicians. A number of these began their existence as pieces for other media and were later transcribed or arranged by the pragmatic Cowell at a time when he and several other fellow composers were bringing a fresh approach to the long-standing tradition of the military band.¹³ Taken together, his works for professional, collegiate, and public school bands represent a dynamic aspect of his creativity and constitute a significant contribution to the history of American music.

A Brief Overview of American Wind Band History

The wind band became part of the American landscape during the colonial period in imitation of the Harmoniemusik tradition favored by European aristocrats and introduced into the trappings of European military ensembles.¹⁴ By the time of the Revolution, comparable musical units were created for similar purposes in the newly formed American army.¹⁵ Fife and drum corps enjoyed popularity. In the first decades of the nineteenth century bands became prominent throughout the country as sources of civic identity and community entertainment. This was due, in part, to the military culture in Europe and America that enjoyed unequaled prestige. By association, so did military bands. David Whitwell identified three periods of such ensembles in the nineteenth century:

First, there is the period from the beginning of the century through the Napoleonic wars, when the military bands in most countries seem only to continue the fundamental Harmoniemusik approach of the eighteenth century. Second, beginning about 1820–1825, is a period of extraordinary developments in individual wind instruments, both old and new, and a corresponding growth in the size and instrumentation of military bands everywhere. Finally this leads, by mid-century to the “Golden Age” of military bands.¹⁶

In the United States the impact of innovations in instrumental design, together with the growth of military bands in general, resulted in even greater popularity by the time of the Civil War. Both the Union and the Confederacy invested in musical ensembles, initially at the brigade and regimental levels, to accompany ceremonies, to ensure encampment order, and to boost unit and community morale.¹⁷ Following the War, American bands flourished as never before. Several, such as those led by Patrick S. Gilmore (1829–1892) and John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), functioned as professional ensembles and achieved sterling reputations as international touring artists. Ultimately the study of wind instruments was introduced into the system of public education, and the school band movement was initiated.¹⁸

The instrumentation of early American bands, whether official or unofficial, was not standardized.¹⁹ The quality of instruments, the skill with which they were played, and the number of band members varied greatly. Such circumstances were influenced by a host of conditions: the majority of instrumentalists were amateurs and lacked formal training, the manufacturing of instruments was dramatically changed by the Industrial Revolution, and brass instruments were undergoing a significant evol...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations: Facsimilies of Manuscripts and Printed Music, Photographs, and Poetic Texts
• Tabular Information
• Foreword: From the Series Editor
• Preface: From the Author
• Abbreviations for Sigla
• Treatment of Titles
• 1 Introduction: Destined to Compose for Wind Band
• 2 The Genesis of the Early Band Works
• 3 Celtic Set for Band: The Countless California Confluences
• 4 The Celtic Set Letters from Cowell to Grainger, 1937-1940
• 5 Celtic Set—Composed by Cowell, Edited by Grainger, Rescored by Goldman
• 6 Cowell on His Own: Sublime Wind Band Music
• 7 Unpublished Band Works for Friends and Fellow Prisoners, 1938-1940
• 8 On Parole: Compositions for Band
• 9 Works for Band, 1942-1950
• 10 "Simplification with Substance": 1950-1965
• 11 Conclusions
• Bibliography: Suggested Further Reading
• Discography: Recorded Performances
• Appendix 1: The Wind Band Works of Cowell: A Classification
• Appendix 2: The Unfinished Band Works of Cowell
• Appendix 3: Inventory of Letters Consulted
• Appendix 4: Grainger's Letter of Support for Cowell's Parole
• Appendix 5: Scoring Comparison of the Four Versions of Celtic Set
• Appendix 6: A Henry Cowell / Ben Weber Curiosity
• Appendix 7: Directions to Cowell's New York Home
• Appendix 8: The Cowell Collective
• Index 1: Titles of Musical and Literary Works
• Index 2: Names and Subjects
• Playlist: Recorded Examples