"The Ultra-Modern Idiom": A Survey of New Music

Abstract

From its inception New Music was the vision and work of its founder, owner, and chief editor Henry Cowell, although it was Charles Ives whose financial support made continuing publication possible. The Edition made its debut in October of 1927 with Carl Ruggles' orchestral tone poem Men and Mountains. During its first eight years of existence New Music originated from San Francisco, where it was edited by Cowell and printed by the Golden West Music Press under the direction of Herman Langinger. In 1936 Cowell was sent to prison (on entirely extra-musical charges) and his editorial duties were reassumed by Gerald Strang, while at the same time Langinger and Golden West moved to Los Angeles. After his parole in 1941 Cowell brought New Music to New York, where he resumed his editorship with the help of the American Music Center. (It was at this time that a smaller format was adopted for the Edition, and some of the earlier