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Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 - September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century composers in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales. He built custom-made instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described his theory and practice in his book Genesis of a Music (1947). Partch composed with scales dividing the octave into 43 unequal tones derived from the natural harmonic series; these scales allowed for more tones of smaller intervals than in standard Western tuning, which uses twelve equal intervals to the octave.

Supported by Guggenheim and university grants, Partch took up residence at the University of Wisconsin from 1944 until 1947. This was a productive period, in which he lectured, trained an ensemble, staged performances, released his first recordings, and completed his book, now called Genesis of a Music. Genesis was completed in 1947 and published in 1949 by the University of Wisconsin Press. He left the university, as it never accepted him as a member of the permanent staff, and there was little space for his growing stock of instruments.  In 1949, pianist Gunnar Johansen allowed Partch to convert a smithy on his ranch to a studio. Partch worked there with support from the Guggenheim Foundation, and did recordings, primarily of his Eleven Intrusions (1949-1950). He was assisted for six months by composer Ben Johnston, who performed on Partch's recordings. In spring 1951, Partch moved to Oakland for health reasons, and prepared for a production of King Oedipus at Mills College, with the support of designer Arch Lauterer. Performances of King Oedipus in March were extensively reviewed, but a planned recording was blocked by the Yeats estate, which refused to grant permission to use Yeats's translation.  In February 1953, Partch founded the studio Gate 5 in an abandoned shipyard in Sausalito, California, where he composed, built instruments and staged performances. Subscriptions to raise money for recordings were organized by the Harry Partch Trust Fund, an organization put together by friends and supporters. The recordings were sold via mail order, as were later releases on the Gate 5 Records label. The money raised from these recordings became his main source of income. Partch's three Plectra and Percussion Dances, Ring Around the Moon (1949-1950), Castor and Pollux, and Even Wild Horses, premiered on Berkeley's KPFA radio in November 1953.  After completing The Bewitched in January 1955, Partch tried to find the means to put on a production of it. Ben Johnston introduced Danlee Mitchell to Partch at the University of Illinois; Mitchell later became Partch's heir. In March 1957, with the help of Johnston and the Fromm Foundation, The Bewitched was performed at the University of Illinois, and later at Washington University in St. Louis, though Partch was displeased with choreographer Alwin Nikolais's interpretation. Later in 1957, Partch provided the music for Madeline Tourtelot's film Windsong, the first of six film collaborations between the two. From 1959 to 1962, Partch received further appointments from the University of Illinois, and staged productions of Revelation in the Courthouse Park in 1961 and Water! Water! in 1962. Though these two works were based, as King Oedipus had been, on Greek mythology, they modernized the settings and incorporated elements of popular music. Partch had support from several departments and organizations at the university, but continuing hostility from the music department convinced him to leave and return to California.
Harry Partch