Trickster (Coyote)

Henry Cowell

General Info

Year: 1941
Duration: c.
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Peters
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Movements

(1). Moderate (♩=100), pl-2
(2) Allegro (♩ = 120) - (♩ = 60), p2-3
(3) Rubato (♩=120), p3-5
(4) ♩ = 120, p5-6
(5) ♩=100-♩=60, p6-7

Instrumentation

Player I: low rattle, tom-tom (sm), low drum, thunder stick
Wind: Chinese fl & ob, Hungarian pipe [tarogato?], English rec in C. - "All movements may be played on an ordinary flute if preferred."

Program Notes

HC to Olive Cowell, 3 Feb 1941: ". . . just finished the music (5 movements) for Erick Hawkins's dance." Written at the request of Erick Hawkins for his first solo dance recital.

YMHA Dance Theatre, New York, 20 Apr 1941. The program announced in the New York Times and New York Herald-Tribune that morning and the printed program in the YMHA Archives both specify only "piano by Ralph Gilbert" as accompaniment. But SBC, who was there, says that HC played the wind instruments and Ralph Gilbert the percussion; and several dance reviewers mention HC's masterful use in his score of exotic instruments, one going so far as to mention the Chinese oboe. Evidently the program was made up and sent to the printer and to the newspapers before the more elaborate last-minute arrangements were made.

The unusual score drew unusually favorable reviews. Edwin Denby, in Modem Music 18:4 (May-Jun 1941), p270: "I enjoyed Henry Cowell's music for the Coyote dance on the program, and noticed again how an interesting accompaniment helps me watch a dance in a friendly and lively spirit." Robert Sabin, Dance Scope 2:2 (May-Jun 1941), p8: ". . . one of the best dance scores written in years.... like other Cowell dance scores [it] employed some of the unusual percussion instruments."

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra (Cowell) - Percussion Quartet
Ostinato Pianissimo - Percussion Octet
Pulse - Percussion Quintet
Return - Percussion Trio; Wailer
Set of Five - Multiple Percussion; Violin; Piano
Trickster (Coyote) - Multiple Percussion; Flute; Oboe; Dance