This short song was written while Harry Partch (1901 - 1974) was working at the University of Illinois, often holding open houses just so interested people could come around and hear his music. At one such meeting, a young poet (who was also a painter and musician) named Vincenzo Prokelo, on leave from military service, read some of his poetry.

Partch took Prokelo under his wing, and critiqued some of his poetry. One of the unpublished poems, Bless This Home, had been written for Gary and Susan Everett, mutual friends, who were then expecting a child. The poem is a benediction for them, including the unborn child, in a tender mixture of lullaby and mystery.

Partch wrote its sketch on standard treble and bass clef notation, with some ratio notation to give an indication of the tuning of the scale used, but overall Partch firmly places the song in diatonic scales. The opening section is in F major, the second verse is in G major, and it returns to F major for the final verse. On the piano keyboard, the scales share in common five out of their seven notes, but in Partch's just intonation system, very few of the notes are identical. So, when the piece modulates, the shift is decisive and seems as if it is taking an unpredictable direction. The occasional note from outside either diatonic scale also helps establish the unique quality of Bless This Home.

The opening section is more mysterious, but the rest of the work moves more towards the lullaby mood. The scoring is for intoning voice (speech-song on a precise pitch), adapted viola, oboe (Prokelo's instrument), harmonic canon II, kithara I, and mazda marimba. In the recording made soon after the composition, Prokelo bends the pitch enough to match the Partch scale's slight shift away from the equal tempered tuning. The mazda marimba, with its gentle sound oddly reminiscent of a coffee percolator, is the only percussion. The song sounds like a blessing ritual, which of course is just what it is. It is a lovely little work, Partch in his least pretentious and most affectionate mood

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.