Colin McPhee: Composer in Two WorldsColin McPhee was a performer, writer, and pioneer among Western composers in turning to Asia for inspiration. A close friend of Aaron Copland, Carlos Chavez, Henry Cowell, and Virgil Thomson, he played a vital role in new music activities in New York in the 1920s, but his most important accomplishments came from his devotion to the music of Bali. Carol Oja's Colin McPhee: Composer in Two Worlds traces his life, his influences on fellow musicians, and the profound experience of a composer striving to comprehend an entirely new musical language. After hearing rare recordings of the Balinese gamelan--a percussion orchestra with delicately layered textures and clangorous sounds--McPhee traveled to Bali and worked closely with such Western anthropologists as Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. The island may also have appealed to him because of its relatively open attitude toward homosexuality. Gay by inclination, he nevertheless married anthropologist Jane Belo and built a native-style house on the island where they lived for most of the 1930s. During this time, McPhee became a devoted and meticulous chronicler of Balinese musical culture, and his Music of Bali remains a classic in ethnomusicology. Beginning in the mid-1930s, his own compositions became an imaginative hybrid of Balinese and Western music, anticipating the later work of such figures as John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Steve Reich. Finally back in print, Carol Oja's account of McPhee's unconventional life and work evokes key issues in composition and ethnomusicology, sure to be of interest to scholars, musicians or anyone interested in 20th century American or Balinese music. |
Contents
THE EDUCATION OF A PRODIGY 190026 | 1 |
A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL IN NEW YORK 192631 | 25 |
ASIA BECKONS 192831 | 55 |
THE FIRST TRIPS TO BALI 193134 | 65 |
A WESTERN INTERLUDE 193536 | 93 |
THE LAST YEARS IN BALI 193738 | 121 |
HARD TIMES IN NEW YORK 193952 | 149 |
CHANGING FORTUNES 195259 | 185 |
THE YEARS IN CALIFORNIA 196064 | 249 |
CATALOGUE OF THE MUSIC OF COLIN McPHEE | 259 |
PRELIMINARY CATALOGUE OF COLIN McPHEES GAMELAN TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR WESTERN INSTRUMENTS | 273 |
WRITINGS OF COLIN McPHEE | 281 |
GLOSSARY OF BALINESE TERMS | 285 |
NOTES | 287 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 337 |
INDEX | 345 |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Copland American Composers American Music angklung April Bali-C Balinese Ceremonial Music Balinese music Benjamin Britten Campbellville Canadian Carl Van Vechten Carlos Chávez Club CM-CLU Colin and Jane Colin McPhee composition concert Concerto for Piano culture December ensemble Ethnomusicology EXAMPLE February field notes film flute Friedheim friends gamelan angklung Gedé Henry Cowell Holograph House in Bali instruments interview with author Iroquois Dances island Jane Belo January Java June letter Lotring Madé Lebah March Margaret Mead Mayer McPhee to Chávez McPhee to Sidney McPhee wrote melody MM-DLC Modern Music movement Music in Bali musicians November October Oliver Daniel Orchestra ostinato Paris Peabody Peliatan performance Piano with Wind piece played postmarked premiere published recital recording rhythm rhythmic Sampih Sayan Score lost Sea Shanty Sea Shanty Suite Sidney Cowell solo Songs Stokowski Tabuh-Tabuhan Toronto Varèse Virgil Thomson Walter Spies Western Wind Octette writing written York City