1st Amer. ed. w/scarce dj - Antheil by Ezra Pound

George Antheil, the person behind this book’s theme, would ultimately become integral to the future of the world, literally affecting most of us right up to today. It’s an incredibly intriguing story. George Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the modern sounds – musical, industrial, mechanical – of the early 20th century. The story takes root in the years leading up to the first world war. Creativity in the arts was breaking new ground, with Picasso and others stretching the rules to broaden the scope of human invention. Enter Antheil with his new music. Pound was an advocate of Antheil, going so far as to be one of the eleven proponents of Vorticism, an early abstractionist movement that embraced such things as Antheil’s modern approach to musical theory. In this work, Pound endeavors to erect a whole novel system of musical harmony, one which he asserts has always been the true system. But there is a greater story that continues beyond this book’s scope. In 1940 Antheil met Hedy Lamarr and the two eventually conceived of a unique concept that would permit radio-controlled guidance of torpedoes with something known as Frequency Hopping. A single frequency would be simple to jam by an enemy, but constantly-changing frequencies would be impossible to stop. They hit upon 88 as the number of frequencies due to the different keys on a standard grand piano. The device would employ a mechanical piano roll, which is poetic when you think of music playing a role in war. They were granted a patent in 1942 but the U. S. Navy opposed the idea and it was forgotten until the early 1960s. Eventually the concept was rediscovered and used as the basis for modern spread-spectrum communications technology, such as wi-fi and Bluetooth. Thus, Antheil’s approach to music, as expounded upon by Pound, has had a profound effect on our modern culture. Antheil and the Treatise on Harmony with Supplementary Notes by Ezra Pound. Published 1927 by Pascal Covici, first American edition. Brown-stained top page edges. Very good plus with no major faults. Tiny ding in back cover and just minimal rubbing to tips and spine ends--a very clean, presentable example. Included is the scarce dust jacket. Significant chips at top folds with smaller chipping and short edge tears. Toning to outside areas of jacket. 150 pages. 5.25 x 7.75.

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Very good plus in a good jacket