Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was an important exponent of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle 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.
Career Journey
Background
- Born in
- New York City
- Educated at
- New York UniversityFiorello H. LaGuardia High School
- Awards
- 🏆 Guggenheim Fellowship🏆 Arts and Letters Award in Music
Trending & Selected Quotes
Trending topics shown first"To understand what music has to be, you have to live for music. Who's ready to do that?"
"It appears to me that the subject of music, from Machaut to Boulez, has always been its construction. Melodies of 12-tone rows just don't happen. They must be constructed....To demonstrate any formal …"
"Music can imply the infinite if enough things depart from the norm far enough. Strange "abnormal" events can lead to the feeling that anything can happen, and you have a music with no boundaries."
"To me, I took a militant attitude towards sounds. I wanted sounds to be a metaphor, that they could be as free as a human being might be free. That was my idea about sound. It still is, that they shou…"
"For years I said if I could only find a comfortable chair I would rival Mozart."
"Do we have anything in music for example that really wipes everything out? That just cleans everything away?"
Works & Publications
No works or publications documented yet.
Timeline
1926
Born
Birth1987
Died
Death
Influenced By
Thinkers whose ideas shaped Morton's philosophy
No known influences documented.
Influenced
Thinkers whose work was shaped by Morton's ideas
No influenced thinkers documented yet.
Source Attribution
Information about Morton Feldman is sourced from curated knowledge bases and cross-referenced for accuracy. Influence relationships are scored by thematic overlap and historical plausibility.
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