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ORIGINAL SILVER PRINT PHOTOGRAPH of THE AMERICAN COMPOSERS CARL RUGGLES and HENRY COWELL by Cowell's wife SIDNEY ROBERTSON COWELL annotated & initialed by her on the verso.
1961rif. 100696Sushan New York 1961. 1961. Fine. - An original 7-1/8 inch high by 9-1/8 inch wide matte finish black & white photograph portraying both modern American composers Carl Ruggles & Henry Cowell in profile from the chest up. With a grassy hill rising in the background Cowell at left is attired in a suit jacket over a plaid shirt and tie a wry smile on his face as he gazes at Ruggles. Ruggles pictured at right is attired in a dark jacket over a white shirt and tie his hand resting on Cowell's shoulder. The photographer Henry Cowell's wife Sidney Robertson Cowell has boldly penciled editorial annotations in graphite on the verso and further identified and initialed the photograph in purple ink in her hand "Henry Cowell & Carl Ruggles at Shushan N.Y. 1954 / Photo SRC" subsequently crossing out the date and correcting it to "1961". The photograph is further identified by Sidney Cowel on a typed label mounted on the verso stating "HC & Carl Ruggles Shushan NY 1961. SC. her initials. Carl had the best composer's ears of his time for trapping sounds." Indeed from the image both composers seem to be listening to the natural sounds around them. There are minute faint creases else fine. The American composer Henry Cowell 1897-1965 was strongly influenced by Oriental music as well as Irish and Midwestern folk tunes. Exploring the music of Africa Java and India he revolutionized American music with innovations such as tone clusters and directly plucking the piano's strings. His compositions include "Aeolian Harp" "The Tides of Manaunaun" "Sinister Resonance" and "The Lilt of the Reel". The American composer painter and teacher Carl Ruggles 1876-1971 was a modernist composer who employed dissonant counterpoint in his works. He was one of the founders of the ultramodernist movement along with Henry Cowell and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Henry Cowell's wife Sidney Robertson Cowell 1903-1995 was a pianist and an American ethnomusicologist and collector of folk songs. Sushan, New York, 1961.
