Background
Cowell, Henry Dixon was born on March 11, 1897 in Menlo Park, California, United States. Son of Harry Clayton Blackwood and Clarissa (Dixon) Cowell.
Cowell, Henry Dixon was born on March 11, 1897 in Menlo Park, California, United States. Son of Harry Clayton Blackwood and Clarissa (Dixon) Cowell.
Self-educated; Doctor of Music (honorary), Wilmington College, 1953, Monmouth (Illinois) College, 1963.
Made professional debut with own secundal piano compositions, San Francisco, 1912, preceding first formal western music studies, University of California, Berkeley. Student Eastern music systems, New York, 1927, Berlin, 1931. Guggenheim fellow to study non-European music under von Hornbostel, U. Berlin, 1931-1932.
Rockefeller grant to survey music in Asia, 1956-1957.
European debut, Leipzig, 1923, New York City, 1924. 1st major orchestra performance, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1932.
Major orchestral compositions commander and or performed, Europe, Asia, Latin-American, United States. 5 European tours, 1923-1933.
Concert and lecturer tours, annually, United States, 1920-1936, 40-56, Asia, 1956-1957, 61.
Lecturer series Stanford, U. Berlin, Sorbonne, Moscow Conservatory, Bennington College, Bauhaus (Dessau), University of Southern California, many others Lecturer New School, 1928-1962. Adjunct professor Columbia, 1951-1965.
Married Sidney Hawkins Robertson, September 27, 1941.