Johanna Beyer

Amy C. Beal is a professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of Carla Bley and New Music, New Allies: American Experimental Music in West Germany from the Zero Hour to Reunification.

"Beyer was a surprising question mark that demanded an answer. A lovely book."--Kyle Gann, author of Robert Ashley"In this much needed study Amy C. Beal, a professor at the University of California, seeks to redress. . . erasure while acknowledging the difficulties of trying to shed new light upon 'the enduring mystery of this prolific yet elusive composer.'"--The Wire"A wonderful introduction to the work of a sadly forgotten composer."--Soundbytes "Amy Beal writes, 'Johanna Beyer's work combines the confidence of an original thinker and the calculations of an analytical mind.' The same could be said of Beyer's biographer, whose amazing detective skills have enabled a troubled and fascinating artist and woman to be rediscovered. In her efforts to act as Henry Cowell's advocate, Beyer neglected to find one for herself. Beal explains why and simultaneously allows us to appreciate the musical rewards in bringing someone in from the cold margins of conventional history."--Judith Tick, author of Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer's Search for American Music "Despite not having written music until age forty-three, Johanna Beyer quickly became a composer of elegant and innovative contrapuntal, percussion, and even . . . electronic works. Given that she was almost totally forgotten for decades after her death, it is a musicological miracle that Amy Beal has been able to compile a record of her life as detailed and touchingly intimate as this one. I'm so thrilled to see this book come out--Beyer was a surprising question mark that demanded an answer. A lovely book."--Kyle Gann, author of Robert Ashley "Beal's groundbreaking study reveals that Johanna Beyer was a key figure in the modernist circle around Henry Cowell and an accomplished composer in her own right during a pivotal moment in American music. Johanna Beyer is an intelligently written and thoroughly engaging biography of this fascinating figure in modern music."--Gayle Sherwood Magee, author of Charles Ives Reconsidered