May 23, 1936: 88 years ago, May 23 1936, left-wing avant-garde composer Henry Cowell was [...]

88 years ago, May 23 1936, left-wing avant-garde composer Henry Cowell was arrested in Menlo Park on a “morals” charge stemming from a gay sexual encounter. Cowell, who was raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown by bohemian anarchist parents, spent four years in San Quentin

One of the most influential composers of the 20th century, Cowell was the first American musician to visit the Soviet Union. He had been a member of the Pierre Degeyter Club, a Communist Party-linked group of musicians and composers named for the author of the “Internationale”

While in San Quentin, he continued to compose prolifically. He was pardoned in 1942 by Governor Culbert Olson, a New Deal liberal elected with the support of the Communist Party, who also pardoned famed political prisoner Tom Mooney
https://t.co/qXk82tyZEb

---