ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

20th Century Composers: Harry Partch, "The Hobo Composer"

Updated on November 29, 2010

Harry Partch (1901-1974) was a visionary American composer who found the inspiration for most of his mature work in the ideal of the hobo.  Partch was born to parents who had recently moved back from China where they were American missionaries.[1]  Harry Partch’s childhood was spent in the Southwest under the musical and cultural influence of his parents.  From his parents, Partch learned an appreciation for Chinese folk music, Mexican traditional, church hymns, and Native American music.  When he was old enough, Harry attended music school for one year but left after concluding that the studies were of no benefit to him.


[1] Chris Morrison, Harry Partch; available from http://www.thestore24.com/classical; INTERNET; Accessed 29 September 2003.

Harry Partch, The Hobo Composer in the flesh.
Harry Partch, The Hobo Composer in the flesh. | Source

Sometime during the 1920s and 1930s, Harry Partch began to change. It was during this time that he burned all of the music he had ever composed. During this time, Partch also studied music theory and composition on his own, without guidance. He focused on the ancient Greek philosophies of music and rejected a lot of the basis for western music that had developed since then. During a large portion of the 1930s and 1940s, Partch lived the life of a hobo.[1] Partch’s liberated view of the world that he expressed through his new compositions allowed him to think in terms of new scales and even new instruments. The American that in less than a decade would birth the “beat” generation that also idealized similar hobo ideals into literature and poetry inspired Partch’s music in a similar fashion.

During his time as a hobo, he began collecting what others would consider junk and built instruments which used a mathematically revolutionary tuning system known as “just intonation”. Partch composed original pieces for instruments the world had never heard or even imagined before. Some of these instruments, based upon the principals of just intonation, used scales with as many as 43 tones.[2] Just intonation works on principals theorized by Greek musicians centuries before Western music adopted the twelve-tone scale system. Partch, along with other American and international composers of the time, brought a renewed interest to just intonation in modern composition.


[1] Preston Writing, Harry Partch’s World ; available from http://www.musicmavericks.org/features/essay_partchworld.html; INTERNET; Accessed 29 September 2003.

[2] Preston Wright, Just Intonation ; available from http://www.musicmavericks.org/features/essay_justintonation.html; INTERNET; Accessed 29 September 2003.

See and Hear the Music of Harry Partch

The "Zymo Xyl"

This is the "Zymo Xyl" a Partch instrument from 1963.
This is the "Zymo Xyl" a Partch instrument from 1963. | Source

In his lifetime, Partch also created an estimated thirty different instruments from all sorts of source material. Partch used glass, metal, bamboo, and wood in the creation of his instruments.[1] Often times, his instruments appeared as if they were created right in a junkyard, which is both directly reflective of his hobo ideals while adding to his hobo reputation. If an orchestra of Partch’s instruments could be assembled, it would look as varied and unique as his experiences as a hobo would. This is yet another, though often un-thought of, example of art and life mirroring one another. It is no accident that the subject of the pieces Partch used such instruments to compose was a mixture of the hobo and Greek mythology his life and art had embraced and reconciled within himself.

Partch went on to write a book on his philosophies on music called Genesis of a Music. In it, he discusses his philosophy on intonation and how it affects the creative musical process in his work.[2] As a result of the experimental nature of his work, much of Partch’s career involved getting people to accept his ideas about music. Ultimately his status as an outsider in Western music resembles his personal life’s relationship to western society, which is, that of the hobo. In both his life and his art, the spirit of the hobo made Harry Partch unique, independent, and free.


[1] New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians s.v. “Harry Partch”

[2] Harry Partch, Original preface to “Genesis of a Music”; available from http://www.musicmavericks.org/features/archive_genesis.html; INTERNET; Accessed 29 September 2003.

Music By Harry Partch

Quadrangularis Reversum

Another one of Partch's instruments.  This one is from 1965, and it is called the "Quadrangularis Reversum".  Doesn't that sound like a Harry Potter spell?
Another one of Partch's instruments. This one is from 1965, and it is called the "Quadrangularis Reversum". Doesn't that sound like a Harry Potter spell? | Source
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)