The American composer Henry Cowell, who lived from 1897 to 1965, wrote thousands of musical works in a wide variety of styles. As a young boy, Cowell lived near San Francisco's Chinatown, so Asian influences are as likely to crop up in his music as European models. And among Cowell's aggressively experimental works are a number of piano pieces that employ what he called "tone clusters"—piano chords played with a fist or forearm.

These pieces piqued the interest of European composers like Bartók and Janáček, but in addition to these strikingly avant-garde scores, Cowell wrote dozens of conventionally tonal works, often hauntingly beautiful.

In 1941, Cowell discovered a collection of evocative 19th century American hymns titled "Southern Harmony." These reminded him of even earlier works by the 18th century American composer William Billings, who liked to write vocal works he called "Fuging Tunes." Combining these two influences, Cowell came up with his own series of over a dozen "Hymns AND Fuguing Tunes" for various combinations of instruments. Today, these rank among his best-known works.

Cowell's "Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 10" for oboe and strings, for example, was premiered on today's date in 1955, in Santa Barbara, California, by oboist Bert Gassman and the Pacific Coast Music Festival orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.