Portrait of a young Harrison at the piano, c. early 1940s
Born
(1917-05-14)May 14, 1917
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Died
February 2, 2003(2003-02-02) (aged 85)
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.
Occupations
Composer
music critic
music theorist
painter
Partners
William Colvig (1967–2000)
Todd Burlingame (2001–2003; his death)
Signature
Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his former teacher and contemporary, Henry Cowell, but later moved toward incorporating elements of non-Western cultures into his work. Notable examples include a number of pieces written for Javanese style gamelan instruments, inspired after studying with noted gamelan musician Kanjeng Notoprojo in Indonesia. Harrison would create his own musical ensembles and instruments with his partner, William Colvig, who are now both considered founders of the American gamelan movement and world music; along with composers Harry Partch and Claude Vivier, and ethnomusicologist Colin McPhee.
The majority of Harrison's works and custom instruments are written for just intonation rather than the more widespread equal temperament, making him one of the most prominent composers to have experimented with microtones. He was also one of the first composers to have written in the international language Esperanto, and among the first to incorporate strong themes of homosexuality in his music.
Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments...
aluminum. Harrison worked with John Cage in the 40s on percussion compositions with found metal objects, resulting in alternate scaled music. LouHarrison and...
LouHarrison composed in a wide array of musical styles and for various ensembles. The following list is all of his compositions sorted by both genre and...
electrician and amateur musician who was the partner for 33 years of composer LouHarrison, whom he met in San Francisco in 1967. Colvig helped construct the American...
Composer LouHarrison has been one of the most recent proponents and developers of new pentatonic scales based on historical models. Harrison and William...
consciously or unconsciously by the desire for the regeneration of mankind. LouHarrison reviewed a 1945 concert of Hovhaness' music, which included his 1944...
1916 – Marco Zanuso, Italian architect and designer (d. 2001) 1917 – LouHarrison, American composer and critic (d. 2003) 1921 – Richard Deacon, American...
on Indonesian composers (1991), and for work on the gamelan music of LouHarrison (2007). She has created numerous works for gamelan, some based on songs...
addition to his work in contemporary classical music—notably performing LouHarrison's compositions—Winant has worked in a variety of genres, including noise...
recognized through the efforts of contemporaries like Henry Cowell and LouHarrison, and he came to be regarded as an "American original". He was also among...
date from 1984 and 1990. In 1988, New World Records released the CD LouHarrison: Piano Concerto and Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra, featuring...
context. Composers such as Charles Ives, Dane Rudhyar, Duke Ellington, and LouHarrison connected the emancipation of the dissonance with the emancipation of...
century, they have prominently featured in the work of composers such as LouHarrison, Giacinto Scelsi, Alfred Schnittke and Karlheinz Stockhausen, and later...
Additionally, notable contributors to the subsequent repertoire include LouHarrison, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney, and Christian Wolff. When a properly...
in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales, alongside LouHarrison. He built his own instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions...
Quartet and Silk Road Ensemble, and has premiered works by Philip Glass, LouHarrison, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Zhao Jiping, and Zhou Long, among...
serving as a great influence to similar artists at the time, including LouHarrison, George Antheil, and John Cage, among others. He is considered one of...
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, NY ECM 2019 1986-01-30, 1988-05-21, -22 LouHarrison: Piano Concerto - Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra With The...
Miller, Fredric Lieberman (2006). LouHarrison, p.72. ISBN 0-252-03120-2. Leta E. Miller, ed. (1988). LouHarrison: Selected keyboard and chamber music...
Bradley Joseph, John Adams, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, and LouHarrison reacted to the perceived elitism and dissonant sound of atonal academic...
In the 1940s, composers John Cage, Virgil Thomson, Henry Cowell, and LouHarrison, composed a set of pieces using this same process—writing a measure of...
Cowell, John Cage, LouHarrison, and Johanna Beyer. The year 1939 saw the composition of Cage's First Construction (in Metal) and Harrison's Canticle no. 1...
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