McPhee, Colin, 1900-1964

McPhee was born on Mar. 15, 1900 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; graduated from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD (1921) and studied in Paris with Paul Le Flem (1924-6) and in New York with Edgard Varèse (ca. 1927); he was based in the US from 1926, except for the years he spent in Indonesia; went to Bali in the early 1930s after having heard recordings of Indonesian music, where he composed the toccata Tabuh-Tabuhan; his books A house in Bali (1946), Dance in Bali (1948), and Music in Bali (1966) gained him an international recognition as an authority on Balinese culture; he also wrote 2 symphonies, concerti, scores for 2 experimental films, piano pieces, and Balinese ceremonial music for orchestra; during the last 6 years of his life, McPhee was a UCLA faculty member; died on Jan. 7, 1946 in Los Angeles.

Commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress. Composed 1954. Dedicated to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Biography

McPhee was born on Mar. 15, 1900 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; graduated from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD (1921) and studied in Paris with Paul Le Flem (1924-6) and in New York with Edgard Varèse (ca. 1927); he was based in the US from 1926, except for the years he spent in Indonesia; went to Bali in the early 1930s after having heard recordings of Indonesian music, where he composed the toccata Tabuh-Tabuhan; his books A house in Bali (1946), Dance in Bali (1948), and Music in Bali (1966) gained him an international recognition as an authority on Balinese culture; he also wrote 2 symphonies, concerti, scores for 2 experimental films, piano pieces, and Balinese ceremonial music for orchestra; during the last 6 years of his life, McPhee was a UCLA faculty member; died on Jan. 7, 1946 in Los Angeles.

Biography

In the 1930s, Colin McPhee lived in Bali where he studied the sacred gamelan tradition and other musical genres. When he worked in New York during the 1940s, he was among the talented, young generation of composers that included Aaron Copeland and Henry Cowell. In California, where he died in 1964, he contributed greatly to the study of world music. McPhee was a faculty member of the Music Department at UCLA from 1960-1964. Besides his musical talents, he was an excellent photographer (as seen in the Archive's collection). His publications include A Club of Small Men (1948), A House in Bali (1947), and Music of Bali (1956). A review of a biography written by Carol Oja, Colin McPhee: Composer in Two Worlds, is available here. More information about the Archive's Colin McPhee Collection is available here.