Barbour MusicalQuarterly 1950

Review
Reviewed Work(s): Genesis of a Music by Harry Partch

Review by: J. Murray Barbour
Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan., 1950), pp. 131-135
Published by: Oxford University Press
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REVIEWS OF BOOKS
GENESIS OF A MUSIC. By Harry Partch. (University of Wisco
Madison, Wisc., 1949. Pp xx, 362.)
Essentially, this book is an account of the author's re

of conventional music in favor of "Monophony", a syste
tains forty-three irregular, but symmetrically arranged, i
the 2/1 or octave. These intervals are formed by ratio
no prime factors larger than 1i1. Ordinary stringed instru
as the viola and guitar, can be adapted to the subtle inte
system with the aid of a fingerboard guide. Partch's Ch
are harmoniums with unaltered keyboards, but with re
microtones and thus needing three and a half octaves
produce only one octave of sounds. His novel Monopho
ments include the Ptolemy (harmonium with typewrite
board), the Kithara, the Harmonic Canon, and the D
rimba. All of these instruments are beautifully reprod
photographs and contribute to the physical appearance
Some of these instruments have been used more for interval
study than for music-making. But the Adapted Viola early prov
its value in supporting the voice as Partch intoned verses fr
Shakespeare, the Bible, or a Chinese poet. And a small ensemble
the instruments was used for the later, more elaborate music gro
ing out of the composer's wanderings-Bitter Music, U.S. Highba
and the rest.
Partch divides all music into Corporeal (primarily, vocal music

in which the words are of chief importance) and Abstract (all purely
instrumental music and some vocal music). His cult of Monophony
belongs to the former group. The microtones were originally de-
vised to match with greater precision the delicate nuances of the
spoken or chanted word. As historical justification for the integrity
of the Corporeal ideal, we are taken, in the first part of the book,
on a breathless tour of the past, from the Greek philosophers to the
Florentine monodists, and then eventually to Das Lied von der Erde,
Pelleas, L'Heure Espagnole, and Pierrot Lunaire. Gregorian chant,
131
132 The Musical Quarterly
by the way, is Abstract rather than Corporeal, since i
quate respect for the words.
In the latter part of the book there is a breezy history
much of this material being taken fron an unpublishe
modesty forbids naming, as well as discussions of the tun
of Schoenberg, Cowell, Hindemith, and Krenek, of su
sions as those of Yasser and Bosanquet, and of the
intonations of Colin Brown, Perrett, and Kathleen Sc
But our interest centers on those chapters in the
book in which Partch elucidates his theories. The san
ratios of small numbers is the cornerstone of his sy
ratios are always to be taken in two ways: as frequen
in the harmonic series, and as string-length ratios, as
chord. Since the one is the reciprocal of the other, th
sarily becomes symmetric. For example, if C is the ke
than 5/4 represents E, the Odentity (O is for Over), a
4/5, or A-flat, the Udentity (U is for Under).
Using only ratios involving numbers not larger th
obtains a scale of seven notes, and later, by dividing tw
vals, expands it to 13. Despite the closeness of this n
12 notes of our conventional scale, his successive int
size from the syntonic comma (81/80 or 22 cents) to
(9/8 or 204 cents). Later he increases the ratio limit t
11--on the natural trumpet this partial lies between F
His first attempt at using the additional resources res
of 29 notes, and he then increases it to 43 by some m
interval splitting. Here the largest interval is 45/44
about 1/5 tone) and the smallest 121/120 (14 cents or
It is to be noted that the ratio of every interval in
four scales realizes the Ptolemaic ideal of superparticu
having its numerator exceed its denominator by one.
It is difficult to evaluate Partch's theories without
him illustrate them by his compositions. In his Fo
Luening tells of the strong reactions Partch has ha
audiences, both favorable and otherwise. Such scenes are reminiscent,
on a smaller scale, of the impact made by the Sacre du Printemps.
Stravinsky's ballet had novel dissonances and exciting rhythms,
synchronized with absorbing action. If, in addition, it had used a
subtly different musical scale, this would probably have not greatly
affected it for better or worse. So one may hazard a guess that in
Reviews of Books 133
Partch's lectures his enthusiasm and his odd instruments enthral
the audience, whereas in his concerts the vitality and primitivism

the music itself is the drawing card. In other words, if Partch h
self coud be filtered out of the brew, the remainder might well
weak as water.
For certainly his system contains many weaknesses and absurdities.

Symmetry in inverting intervals is not the sine qua non of a satis-
factory scale, nor are superparticular ratios important except as
homage to the Greeks. And even the Greeks, although they did use
ratios smaller than those of the just semitones, did not use more than
two of these in succession. To them a scale of 43 micro-intervals
would have been an abomination.
Partch's method of arriving at his complete scale resem

Yasser's Just Intonation. But Yasser took the further step of temp
ing his 19 degrees equally. Partch spurns the notion of temperame
although the equal 43-division was favored by the famous Fre
acoustician, Joseph Sauveur. Thus he loses all power of transpos
and modulation takes on a different meaning than it has for us. Tr
his system has, in addition to the usual major and minor triads
ratios 4, 5, 6 and io, 12, 15, such triads as 7, 9, 11 and 5, 6, 7
6, 7, 9. Whether the ear enjoys these or not is a matter of demons
tion.
Although all ratios are to be preserved inviolate, Partch ad

that strings are too unreliable to be tuned directly, but must
tuned in unison with the Chromelodeon. He declares that the latter's
reeds may all be tuned by ear, by the elimination of beats, although
the intervals include such admittedly difficult ratios as 8/7, 7/4,
11/8, and 16/11. "How easy it is to tune in tune!" One is always
inclined to suspect people who claim phenomenally keen ears.
Alexander Ellis, less gifted aurally, had even found it difficult to
tune by ear a 5/4 ratio, the just major third. Assume, however, that
the reeds have been tuned perfectly and that the 72 strings of the
Kithara have been tuned to them. What is to prevent some of the
strings from getting a beat or two out of tune later? If they do, the
sacred ratios of Monophony will be knocked into a cocked hat.
Temperament, in which no ratios are pure, can easily absorb slight
errors without injury.
But there are some indications that the ratios are not sacrosanct
after all. Partch tells us that although both the major tone (9/8)
and the minor tone (g9/9) are heard as entities and can be dif
134 The Musical Quarterly
ferentiated easily, even such a comparatively large
chromatic semitone (25/24 or 70 cents) cannot pos
as such. He says that if it were to have the large-n
ratio of 250/241, the ear would accept it as rea
2501/2398 and even less simple ratios would all be l
This sounds like heresy. If it is true, of what value are
as 100oo/99 (17 cents), 99/98 (18 cents), and 121/12
Furthermore, the human voice does not have th
permanent tuning or of a fingerboard chart. Fran
cannot cope with the finer nuances of intonation. A
a part to read in ordinary staff notation, implying
in the octave, with the expectation that the accom
ments will help him attain exact pitch, within somewh
Of course, the voice will have vibrato and the other deviations
from regularity explored by Seashore and his associates, all of which
effectively prevent singers from attaining the Monophonic ideal.
But if the singer, for whom the system was originally devised, cannot
perform in it, why should it exist?
The notation of the monophonic instruments is still in a state of
flux. 71 he Adapted Viola uses ratios, the Chromelodeon ordinary
staff no' ttion (interpreted in the ratio of 12 to 43), and the other
instruments a sort of tablature. A practical and common notation for
them is highly desirable, but might be extremely difficult to realize.
Anyone who has struggled with other speculative treatises will
have anticipated that the terminology is not easy. Most exasperating
is the use of ratios instead of the intervals, 2/1 for octave, etc. In the
less technical parts, Partch's style is very readable. At times it be-
comes pedantic, as in the word "xeno-melophobics", which no doubt
means people who dislike new music, or even verges on preciosity.
Again it may be learned playfulness rather than ignorance that led
him to write, "making the modern corpus of their art a little less
delicti".
The bibliography is somewhat of a hodgepodge. His authority on
medieval music is R. C. Hope, whose book was published in 1894.
Sir John Hawkins is his authority on Greek music. The well-known
dictionaries of Grove and Scholes are often quoted, where a spe-
cialized work would seem to be needed, or, better still, a reference
to the source material. Candor compels the reviewer to state that this
dependence upon second-hand materials does not seem to have
injured any of the author's major premises.
Reviews of Books 135
In his preface Partch says that

musicologists or ordinary musician
attitude, especially composers. He
mark rather badly. The earlier
interest by the musician, music-love
cal part is hard going. It will b
comparatively few music theorists,
the composer comes off is anybody'
present his music itself, direct an
have had the stimulating effect Lue
it has become hopelessly bogged dow
Without the theory, it might hav
J. MURRAY BA
THE MUSIC OF ISRAEL: Its Rise and Growth Through 5000 Years. By
Peter Gradenwitz. (W. W. Norton &, Co., New York, 1949. Pp. 334.)
Dr. Gradenwitz appears in this book under three guises. In the

first chapters, devoted to the music of ancient Israel, he is the
musical archeologist; as he passes on to the medieval world, he
quietly drops his scientific baggage and becomes the music historian,
and, somewhere in the neighborhood of Mendelssohn, one realizes
that he has transformed himself into a journalist-critic. He has
something substantial to contribute to practically all of us under
one or more of these categories, but, unfortunately, he cannot be
accepted without reservation in any of them.
The music of the ancient Hebrews has long been an irritant to
all who are engaged in musical archeology. The literary references
are relatively abundant but the iconography is non-existent and
the actual musical literature of the period, while it has left bold
fingerprints in the Near East and in the tradition of the Church,
was never committed to any kind of notation. History has be-
queathed us a challenging mystery; Gradenwitz seems determined
to leave it as far from solution as he found it.
The latest research in the field has been thoroughly digested

here. Robert Lachmann, Curt Sachs, and Eric Werner have been
drawn on extensively (and due credit has been given them). It is
in the interpretation of the material and its integration into some
logical sequence of esthetic development that much could be asked
for. A typical example is the discussion of the musical relationship
between the Hebrews and the Egyptians. We are told that after

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Review

Reviewed Work(s): Genesis of a Music by Harry Partch

Essentially, this book is an account of the author's re

Partch divides all music into Corporeal (primarily, vocal music

Partch's lectures his enthusiasm and his odd instruments enthral

the audience, whereas in his concerts the vitality and primitivism

For certainly his system contains many weaknesses and absurdities.

Partch's method of arriving at his complete scale resem

Although all ratios are to be preserved inviolate, Partch ad

In his preface Partch says that

Dr. Gradenwitz appears in this book under three guises. In the

The latest research in the field has been thoroughly digested

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