Johanna Beyer hailed from Leipzig and was one among a very few foreign-born composers circulating in the New Music Quarterly cadre surrounding Henry Cowell. She adopted the notion of dissonant counterpoint advanced by Charles Seeger and advocated by his wife, Ruth Crawford Seeger, both of whom were very close friends with Beyer. She produced an impressive amount of work in a very short time; more than 40 compositions in about 14 years, including orchestral music, works for percussion ensembles, chamber groups, piano pieces, ...
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Johanna Beyer hailed from Leipzig and was one among a very few foreign-born composers circulating in the New Music Quarterly cadre surrounding Henry Cowell. She adopted the notion of dissonant counterpoint advanced by Charles Seeger and advocated by his wife, Ruth Crawford Seeger, both of whom were very close friends with Beyer. She produced an impressive amount of work in a very short time; more than 40 compositions in about 14 years, including orchestral music, works for percussion ensembles, chamber groups, piano pieces, and songs. Beyer was infatuated with Cowell and served as his secretary in the years following his incarceration in 1936, though upon his release Cowell decided to end whatever relationship they may have had; Cowell's drastically changed circumstances also inhibited his ability to help promote her music. Her life shortened by the onset of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Johanna Beyer died at the age of 55 in January 1944.During her lifetime, Beyer's music appeared on one NMQR...
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