Editing Morton Feldman (section)

== Biography ==
Morton Feldman was born in [[Woodside, Queens]], [[New York City]], on January 12, 1926. His parents, Irving and Frances Breskin Feldman, were [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jews]] who had emigrated to New York from [[Pereiaslav]] (Irving, in 1910) and [[Babruysk|Bobruysk]] (Frances, in 1901).<ref>[http://www.cnvill.net/mfhistory.pdf Morton Feldman «The Early Years»]</ref> His father was a manufacturer of children's coats.{{sfn|Ross|2006}}{{sfn|Hirata|2002|p=131}} As a child he studied piano with Vera Maurina Press, who instilled in him a "vibrant musicality rather than musicianship".{{sfn|Zimmermann|1985|p=36}} Feldman's first composition teachers were [[Wallingford Riegger]], one of the first American followers of [[Arnold Schoenberg]], and [[Stefan Wolpe]], a German-born Jewish composer who had studied under [[Franz Schreker]] and [[Anton Webern]]. Feldman and Wolpe spent most of their time simply talking about music and art.{{sfn|Gagne|Caras|1982}}

In early 1950, Feldman heard the [[New York Philharmonic]] perform Webern's [[Symphony (Webern)|Symphony]]. After this work, the orchestra was to perform a piece by [[Sergei Rachmaninoff]], and Feldman left immediately, disturbed by the audience's disrespectful reaction to Webern's work.<ref>Feldman, Morton. "Liner Notes". ''Give My Regards to Eighth Street: Collected Writings of Morton Feldman''. Ed. [[B. H. Friedman]]. Cambridge: Exact Change, 2000. 4. Print.</ref> In the lobby he met [[John Cage]], who was at the concert and had also decided to step out.{{sfn|Revill|1993|p=101}} The two quickly became friends, with Feldman moving into the building Cage lived in. Through Cage, he met sculptor [[Richard Lippold]] (who had a studio next door with artist [[Ray Johnson]]); artists including [[Sonja Sekula]] and [[Robert Rauschenberg]]; and composers such as [[Henry Cowell]], [[Virgil Thomson]], and [[George Antheil]].{{sfn|Feldman|1968}} An interview with Feldman was published in the first issue of ''[[0 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 traditional [[Tonality|tonal]] [[harmony]] or [[serialism]]. He experimented with nonstandard systems of [[musical 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 and [[Indeterminacy (music)|indeterminacy]] inspired Cage to write pieces like ''[[Music of Changes]]'', where the notes to be played are determined by consulting the [[I Ching]].{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=June 2023}}

Through Cage, Feldman met many other prominent figures in the New York arts scene, among them [[Jackson Pollock]], [[Philip Guston]] and [[Frank O'Hara]]. He found inspiration in [[abstract expressionism|abstract expressionist]] painting,<ref>[[Nils Vigeland|Vigeland, Nils]]. [http://www.dramonline.org/albums/morton-feldman-the-viola-in-my-life/notes "Morton Feldman: The Viola in my Life"]. Liner note essay. [[New World Records]].</ref> and in the 1970s wrote a number of pieces around 20 minutes in length, including ''Rothko Chapel'' (1971; written for the [[Rothko Chapel|building of the same name]], which houses paintings by [[Mark Rothko]]) and ''For Frank O'Hara'' (1973). In 1977, he wrote the opera ''[[Neither (opera)|Neither]]'' with original text by [[Samuel Beckett]].<ref>Ruch, A. [http://www.themodernword.com/beckett/beckett_feldman_neither.html Morton Feldman's ''Neither''], themodernword.com, May 17, 2001. Retrieved October 30, 2012. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123140524/http://www.themodernword.com/beckett/beckett_feldman_neither.html|date=November 23, 2011}}</ref>

Feldman was commissioned to compose the score for [[Jack Garfein]]'s 1961 film ''[[Something Wild (1961 film)|Something Wild]]'', but after hearing Feldman's music for the opening scene, in which a character (played by Garfein's wife [[Carroll Baker]]) is raped, the director promptly withdrew his commission, opting to enlist [[Aaron Copland]] instead. Garfein's reaction was said to be, "My wife is being raped and you write [[celesta]] music?"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnvill.net/mffilm.htm |title=Canvasses and time canvasses |author=Wilson, Peter Niklas |work=Chris Villars Homepage |access-date=May 30, 2011}}</ref>

Feldman's music "changed radically" in 1970, moving away from [[graphic notation (music)|graphic]] and arhythmic notation systems in favor of rhythmic precision.<ref>{{cite web |author=Feldman, Morton |date=February 2, 1973 |title=Morton Feldman Slee Lecture, February 2, 1973 |url=http://library.buffalo.edu/music/spcoll/feldman/mfslee320.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628215327/http://library.buffalo.edu/music/spcoll/feldman/mfslee320.html |archive-date=June 28, 2010 |access-date=December 17, 2012 |publisher=State University of New York at Buffalo}}</ref> 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 the [[Edgard Varèse]] Professor of Music Composition (a title of his own devising) at the [[University at Buffalo]] in [[Buffalo, New York]]; until then, he had earned his living as a full-time employee at the family textile business in Manhattan's [[Garment District, Manhattan|Garment District]]. Feldman also held residencies at the [[University of California, San Diego]] in the 1980s.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Late in his career, Feldman produced a number of very long works, rarely shorter than half an hour and often much longer. These include ''Violin and String Quartet'' (1985, around 2 hours), ''For Philip Guston'' (1984, around four hours), and ''String 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|date=September 2024}}

Feldman married the Canadian composer [[Barbara Monk Feldman|Barbara Monk]] shortly before his death. He died of [[pancreatic cancer]] on September 3, 1987, at his home in Buffalo.