ABSTRACT
The wind band legacy of Henry Cowell must be intimately linked to the origins of a modern American wind band repertory. The wind band composition of Cowell, from his first to last piece for the medium, is the quintessence of carefully fashioned, nuanced musical practice. The most plausible explanation is that for Cowell wind scoring was tied to a concept of a composite of chamber wind choirs, encompassed in one ensemble, without the brashness of cymbals and drums and common out-of-doors effects. All of Cowell's band works were conceived in a transethnic aesthetic that ranged from his Celtic jigs and reels to exotic quasi-native American flute solos in "Animal Magic" to the simple Latin American rhythm of "Grandma's Rhumba". It can be argued that Cowell's inspiration in adversity was founded on an ethos based in an unarticulated remorse and quest for redemption.
