Genesis of a Music

Genesis of a Music is a book first published in 1949 by microtonal composer Harry Partch (1901–1974).

Partch first presents a polemic against both equal temperament and the long history of stagnation in the teaching of music; according to Alex Ross, this is "the most startling forty-five-page history of music ever written". In particular, Partch holds Johann Sebastian Bach responsible for "the movement toward equal-tempered tuning, which meant that composers could not absorb the scales of other world traditions; and the urge to make music ever more instrumental and abstract."^[1]

He then goes on to explain his tuning theory based on just intonation, the ensemble of musical instruments of his own invention (such as the "Surrogate Kithara, a struck-string, harplike instrument",^[2] and the guitar with movable frets he used to compose Barstow^[3]), and several of his largest musical compositions.

The book has been highly influential to succeeding generations of microtonal composers, including Lou Harrison,^[4] Ben Johnston,^[5] and James Tenney.^[6] A revised and enlarged second edition was published just before Partch's death in 1974.^[7]

Partch presents 4 "basic monophonic concepts":

1. Consonance and dissonance: "The ear informs us that tones which are in small-number proportion, say in the relation of 2 to 1, are strong, clear, powerful, consonant."^[8]
   • "The smaller the number involved in the [interval] ratios, the more consonant the ratio; the larger the numbers, the more dissonant".^[9]
2. "Dual Identity": "Every ratio of a Monophonic system is at least a dual identity."^[8]
   • "Odentity [is] determined by the odd-number ratio component of the numerator, and another one, the Udentity [is] determined by the odd-number component of the denominator. A ratio thus always belongs to two tonalities, an Otonality in accordance with its Odentity, and an Utonality in accordance with its Udentity."^[9]
3. Minor: "Under-number Tonality, or Utonality ("minor"), is the immutable faculty of ratios, which in turn represent an immutable faculty of the human ear."^[8]
   • See: Arithmetic progression and Undertone series
4. History: Music has appeared to have advanced up the harmonic series throughout history.^[8]
   • Pythagorean tuning is 3-limit, "just intonation" often refers to 5-limit tuning, while Partch uses an 11-limit tuning. Partch admirer Ben Johnston uses 31-limit or higher "extended just intonation". See: Emancipation of the dissonance

• Genesis of a Music: Monophony: the relation of its music to historic and contemporary trends; its philosophy, concepts, and principles; its relation to ... and its application to musical instruments, University of Wisconsin Press, 362 pp., 1949. ASIN B0007DM7I8
• Genesis Of A Music: An Account Of A Creative Work, Its Roots, And Its Fulfillments, Second Edition, Da Capo Press, Paperback, 544 pp., 1979. ISBN 0-306-80106-X. 2009: ISBN 9780786751006.

• Preface from the original edition