Morton Feldman | |
|---|---|
 Feldman in 1976 | |
| Born | (1926-01-12)January 12, 1926 Queens, New York City |
| Died | September 3, 1987(1987-09-03) (aged 61) |
| Works | List of compositions |
| Spouse | Barbara Monk Feldman (m.1987) |
| Signature | |
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Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer ofindeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimentalNew York School of composers also includingJohn Cage,Christian Wolff, andEarle Brown. Feldman's works are characterized by notational innovations that he developed to create his characteristic sound: rhythms that seem to be free and floating, pitch shadings that seem softly unfocused, a generally quiet and slowly evolving music, and recurring asymmetric patterns. His later works, after 1977, also explore extremes of duration.
Morton Feldman was born inWoodside, Queens,New York City, on January 12, 1926. His parents, Irving and Frances Breskin Feldman, wereRussian Jews who had emigrated to New York fromPereiaslav (Irving, in 1910) andBobruysk (Frances, in 1901).[1] His father was a manufacturer of children's coats.[2][3] As a child he studied piano with Vera Maurina Press, who instilled in him a "vibrant musicality rather than musicianship".[4] Feldman's first composition teachers wereWallingford Riegger, one of the first American followers ofArnold Schoenberg, andStefan Wolpe, a German-born Jewish composer who had studied underFranz Schreker andAnton Webern. Feldman and Wolpe spent most of their time simply talking about music and art.[5]
In early 1950, Feldman heard theNew York Philharmonic perform Webern'sSymphony. After this work, the orchestra was to perform a piece bySergei Rachmaninoff, and Feldman left immediately, disturbed by the audience's disrespectful reaction to Webern's work.[6] In the lobby he metJohn Cage, who was at the concert and had also decided to step out.[7] The two quickly became friends, with Feldman moving into the building Cage lived in. Through Cage, he met sculptorRichard Lippold (who had a studio next door with artistRay Johnson); artists includingSonja Sekula andRobert Rauschenberg; and composers such asHenry Cowell,Virgil Thomson, andGeorge Antheil.[8] An interview with Feldman was published in the first issue of0 to 9 magazine in 1967.
With Cage's encouragement, Feldman began to write pieces that had no relation to compositional systems of the past, such as traditionaltonalharmony orserialism. He experimented with nonstandard systems ofmusical notation, often using grids in his scores, and specifying how many notes should be played at a certain time but not which ones. Feldman's experiments with notation andindeterminacy inspired Cage to write pieces likeMusic of Changes, where the notes to be played are determined by consulting theI Ching.[citation needed]
Through Cage, Feldman met many other prominent figures in the New York arts scene, among themJackson Pollock,Philip Guston andFrank O'Hara. He found inspiration inabstract expressionist painting,[9] and in the 1970s wrote a number of pieces around 20 minutes in length, includingRothko Chapel (1971; written for thebuilding of the same name, which houses paintings byMark Rothko) andFor Frank O'Hara (1973). In 1977, he wrote the operaNeither with original text bySamuel Beckett.[10]
Feldman was commissioned to compose the score forJack Garfein's 1961 filmSomething Wild, but after hearing Feldman's music for the opening scene, in which a character (played by Garfein's wifeCarroll Baker) is raped, the director promptly withdrew his commission, opting to enlistAaron Copland instead. Garfein's reaction was said to be, "My wife is being raped and you writecelesta music?"[11]
Feldman's music "changed radically" in 1970, moving away fromgraphic and arhythmic notation systems in favor of rhythmic precision.[12] The first piece of this new period was a short, 55-measure work, "Madame Press Died Last Week at Ninety", dedicated to his childhood piano teacher.
In 1973, at age 47, Feldman became theEdgard Varèse Professor of Music Composition (a title of his own devising) at theUniversity at Buffalo inBuffalo, New York; until then, he had earned his living as a full-time employee at the family textile business in Manhattan'sGarment District. Feldman also held residencies at theUniversity of California, San Diego in the 1980s.[citation needed]
Late in his career, Feldman produced a number of very long works, rarely shorter than half an hour and often much longer. These includeViolin and String Quartet (1985, around 2 hours),For Philip Guston (1984, around four hours), andString Quartet II (1983, over six hours long without a break). These pieces typically maintain a very slow developmental pace and a very quiet dynamic range. Feldman said at the time that quiet sounds had become the only ones that interested him; in a 1982 lecture, he asked: "Do we have anything in music for example that really wipes everything out? That just cleans everything away?"[citation needed]
Feldman married the Canadian composerBarbara Monk shortly before his death. He died ofpancreatic cancer on September 3, 1987, at his home in Buffalo.
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