Harold S. Powers papers, 1904-2010

Collection

Identifier: 2007-045

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Harold S. Powers papers include manuscripts; research and pedagogical materials, including notes, handouts, transcriptions, analyses, and maps; and audio materials, including reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes, and compact discs—all associated with Powers’s musicological, ethnomusicological, and theoretical work related to mode in the musics of India, Java, the Middle East, Japan, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe. The series are arranged by various geographic entities, including continents, regions, and nations. They are further arranged, where applicable, into sub-series including manuscripts, research and pedagogical materials, and audio materials. These sub-series are arranged first chronologically (where dates are available) and then alphabetically by title. The audio materials sub-series are further arranged into sub-series by media type, including reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes, and compact discs. The penultimate series aggregates all of Powers’s later cross-cultural research, particularly on “melodic geography,” melodic typology, musical translation, music and language, “nominal equivalence,” and “temporal flexibility.” The final series includes restricted materials.

Dates

Creation: 1904-2010

Creator

Powers, Harold (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

University records - Copyright held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the creator - In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted

Biographical / Historical

Harold Stone Powers was an American musicologist, ethnomusicologist, and music theorist born on August 5, 1928 in New York, New York. He was known for his cross-cultural and theoretical studies of various world music traditions, which allowed him to reevaluate the concept of mode. He earned the B.Mus. in piano performance from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York in 1950 and the MFA in composition and musicology from Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey in 1952. He studied Indian music in Madras for two years as a Fulbright Fellow before continuing his studies at Princeton University and subsequently earning the Ph.D. in musicology. Powers taught at Harvard from 1958 to 1960, University of Pennsylvania from 1961 to 1973, and finally at Princeton University where he was named the Scheide Professor of Music history in 1995. In 2001, Powers assumed Emeritus status at Princeton University. Powers died on March 15, 2007 in Santa Monica, California.

Extent

10.5 Linear Feet (11 Hollinger boxes and 5 Paige boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Hindi

Sanskrit

Javanese

Arabic

Japanese

Greek, Modern (1453-)

Additional Description

Abstract

The Harold S. Powers papers include manuscripts, research and pedagogical materials, and audio materials related to Powers’s musicological, ethnomusicological, and theoretical work in the musics of India, Java, the Middle East, Japan, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe.