Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Prologue: Of the Three Ladies, Henry, and Some Others

Part I -- Child to Man
Chapter 1: Clarissa and Harry
Chapter 2: Henry
Chapter 3: Years of Voyage
Chapter 4: The Turning Point
Chapter 5: The Expanding Circle
Chapter 6: Bi-Coastal Life
Chapter 6: Genesis of a Theoretical System
Chapter 8: Henry Goes to War
Chapter 9: Marketing Henry

Part II -- International Ultramodernist Virtuoso
Chapter 10: The Trio
Chapter 11: Conquering Europe, First Attempt (1923)
Chapter 12: Attacking the American Market
Chapter 13: Europe Again (1926)
Chapter 14: Making It in America, Scene 2
Chapter 15: Europe, Third Installment (1929)
Chapter 16: New Musical Resources
Chapter 17: New Projects and Old (1929-1931)

Part III -- The Frenetic Years
Chapter 18: Looking beyond Europe from Berlin
Chapter 19: American Interlude
Chapter 20: Berlin Again
Chapter 21: The End of Virtuosity
Chapter 22: The New Technologies
Chapter 23: Collapsing Dreams
Chapter 24: American Composition or Americanist Music
Chapter 25: Surveying the Larger Musical World
Chapter 26: Music and Politics
Chapter 27: Henry and His Circle
Chapter 28: A Doomed Romance
Chapter 29: Compositions of 1929-1936
Chapter 30: Thirty-Nine

Part IV -- Four Endless Years
Chapter 31: Life Stops
Chapter 32: The Hearing
Chapter 33: Arriving and Adjusting: The First Summer
Chapter 34: The Second Day of Reckoning
Chapter 35: Living With It
Chapter 36: Living With It (continued)
Chapter 37: The Melody Book and Other Ideas
Chapter 38: Toward the Exit

Part V - Life Resumes
Chapter 39: The First Six Months
Chapter 40: First Turning Point
Chapter 41: Problem Solved
Chapter 42: End of an Era
Chapter 43: The War Effort
Chapter 44: Old Friendships Renewed
Chapter 45: Figs
Chapter 46: A Settled Life
Chapter 47: Simplicity
Chapter 48: Collaborations and an Ives Biography
Chapter 49: Europe Again

Part VI -- World Traveler
Chapter 50: The Big Trip
Chapter 51: Iran, I
Chapter 52: India
Chapter 53: Iran, II
Chapter 54: Change of Plans
Chapter 55: A New Radicalism, 1957-1961
Chapter 56: Asia Again
Chapter 57: Years of Honor, 1961-63
Chapter 58: The Cold War Again
Chapter 59: Home Again, 1963-1964
Chapter 60: Finale
Chapter 61: Who Was Henry Cowell?

Epilogue

Notes
Selective Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Joel Sachs is Professor of Music History, Chamber Music, and New Music Performance at The Juilliard School, where he conducts the New Juilliard Ensemble.

Reviews

"Sachs leaves us thinking of Cowell as not just a great American musician but a
great American, period." --Booklist
"Gorgeously written...Sachs sets a furious narrative tempo from the get-go, each page seemingly revealing a nugget of information that history was hitherto reluctant to divulge...This man made of music deserves this first biography and a revival too; let's hope Sach's book seals the deal." --Gramophone
"A magisterial biography...Essential." --Choice
"A more complete picture of these years than we could have hoped for. Henry Cowell is a compelling read, but it also offers a remarkable contribution to studies of American musical culture in the twentieth century...Sachs has offered both a captivating biography for the general reader interested in American music and an excellently documented version of the composer's life in which even a dedicated Cowell scholar is sure to find something new and of
interest." --ARSC Journal
"Offers a rich discourse not only on the life of Henry Cowell (1897-1965), but also a
commentary on the many prolific figures close to him...Joel Sachs has not only deftly navigated through an extraordinary amount of source material but also delivered a riveting
account of Cowell the musician. This book will provide a rich resource for anyone with
an interest in American music, ethnomusicology, music and politics, and music and
society in the first half of the twentieth century. Henry Cowell: A Man Made of Music is
an extraordinary contribution to the field." --Notes
"An expert sleuth, Sachs is able to tease a trustworthy narrative out of conflicting reports, correcting, corroborating, and expanding upon the account of events given by both Henry and Sidney Robertson Cowell, his wife...This careful approach is fully displayed in Sachs's treatment of Cowell's arrest, jail term, pardon, and unusual marriage...Joel Sachs is to be commended for his detailed attention to the wide variety of documents and sources in the Cowell
Collection at the New York Public Library and elsewhere, a patient and major undertaking of several decades...With Sachs's monumental new biography we can now examine all facets of Cowell's entire life
and career. His book is a major contribution to U.S. musical scholarship and points scholars of early twentieth-century experimental music in new directions."--Journal of the Society for American Music