Customer Reviews

Henry Cowell, Bohemian (Music in American Life)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hicks ventures where few have had opportunity to go. This well-documented, in-depth look at Cowell, his philosophically anarchistic parents and the young composer's formative years paints the portrait of an inquisitive youth raised by struggling authors from the San Franciscan Bohemian Club of the early 20th century.
Henry's wife, Sydney Robertson Cowell (also a musicologist), supressed much information surrounding Cowell, going as far as to suppress Joscelyn Godwin's 1969 dissertation for its critical approach to the composer's music. Archives in New York City's Library became available to public eyes for the first time in 2002. Hicks takes full advantage of this fortuitous event and assembles an entertaining, informative, and new look at one of America's most prolific and eclectic composers.

This book does an immense disservice to the study of Henry Cowell's life. Because it reads well, one is fooled into thinking it's reliable, but there are gaping holes in the research, indeed there are many items in the book that are entirely conjecture.