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Harrison (Lou) Papers: correspondence
MS.132.Ser. 3
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Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Lou Harrison papers: correspondence
Creator:
Harrison, Lou, 1917-2003
Identifier/Call Number: MS.132.Ser. 3
Physical Description:
3.6 Linear Feet
9 document boxes
Date (inclusive): 1936-2004
Abstract: Collection includes incoming and
outgoing letters from Lou Harrison and friends.
Language of Material:
English
Collection open for research.
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the Lou Harrison Estate.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Lou Harrison Papers: Correspondence. MS 132 Ser.3. Special Collections and Archives,
University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gift from Lou Harrison 1991-2003.
Lou Harrison (1917-2003) is recognized especially for his percussion music, his work with
just intonation tuning systems, and his syntheses of Asian and Western musics. His
compositions have combined instruments from various cultures and utilized many of his own
construction. His style is marked by a notable melodicism: even his percussion and 12-note
works have a decidedly lyrical flavor.
Harrison spent his formative years in northern California, where his family settled in
1926. In 1935 he entered San Francisco State College (now University), and in his three
semesters there studied the horn and clarinet, took up the harpsichord and recorder, sang in
vocal ensembles and composed works for early instruments. In Spring 1935 he enrolled in
Henry Cowell's course "Music of the Peoples of the World" and began composition lessons with
Cowell, who proved one of the strongest influences in Harrison's life.
Harrison also collaborated with West Coast choreographers and in 1937 was engaged by Mills
College in Oakland, California as a dance accompanist. At Mills in 1939 and 1940, and in San
Francisco, Harrison and John Cage staged high-profile percussion concerts, for one of which
they jointly composed Double Music for Four Percussionists.
In August 1942 Harrison moved to Los Angeles, where he taught music to dancers at
University of California, Los Angeles and enrolled in Arnold Schoenberg's weekly composition
seminar. The following year he moved to New York. There he wrote over 300 reviews for the
New York Herald Tribune, premiered (as conductor) Ives's Third Symphony, and composed works
in a dissonant contrapuntal style. But New York life proved difficult and in 1947 Harrison
suffered a nervous breakdown that ultimately served as a catalyst for a change in his
compositional language. Following this traumatic event, Harrison turned more deliberately to
melodicism and pentatonicism, and embarked on studies of tuning systems. After a two-year
residency at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, he returned to the West Coast. In
1954 he settled in Aptos, California where he remained for the rest of his life.
Studies in Korea and Taiwan in 1961-62 and an intensive exploration of Indonesian gamelan
beginning in 1975 inspired Harrison to bring Asian influences into his musical style and to
write works combining Eastern and Western instruments. In 1967 Harrison met William Colvig
(1917-2000), an electrician and amateur musician who became his partner and collaborator in
instrument-building and tuning experiments. Together they built three instrument sets
evoking the gamelan. In his last years, Harrison returned more avidly to composing for
Western instruments. He wrote four symphonies, various concerti, and numerous chamber
works.
Throughout his life, Harrison articulated political views of multiculturalism, ecological
responsibility and pacifism in both writings and musical compositions. He and Colvig were
also active politically in the gay rights movement. In addition to his musical compositions
and prose writings, Harrison, a published poet and a painter, was renowned for his
calligraphic script, and even designed his own computer fonts.
Leta Miller
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection contains correspondence to and from Lou Harrison.
For single to two letters from the same correspondent, the correspondence is filed in a
separate folder at the front of the alphabetical letter with other single letters. Following
the single letters folder, the bulk of the correspondence is arranged in folders by
correspondent's last name, chronological order within the folder.
Processed by M. Carey, completed 12/2012. EAD encoded finding aid by M. Carey.
- George Barati Papers
- Ernest T. Kretschmer Archive
- Sticky Wicket Scrapbook
- Lou Harrison Music Manuscripts
- Lou Harrison Notebooks
- Lou Harrison Papers: Personal Materials
- Lou Harrison Papers: Writings
- Lou Harrison Papers: Printed Appearances
- Lou Harrison Papers: Photos and Media
- Lou Harrison Papers: Artwork
- Lou Harrison Papers: Realia
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Composers -- United States