Harry Partch is probably the best-known microtonal composer. He was born in Oakland, Californa in 1901, and died in San Diego in 1974. He devoted his entire adult life to creating and building musical instruments tuned in just intonation, and to composing musical pieces using those instruments. After much experimentation, he settled on a tuning composed entirely of just intonation ratios, with 43 different notes per octave. An important aspect of his compositions is the desire to acheive a "corporeal" (as directly opposed to "abstract") expression. Most of his later works are large theater pieces.
Below is a list of essays by Joe Monzo on various aspects of Partch's work:
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