City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Musical Rhetoric, Narrative, Drama, and Their Negation in Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet Ryan Michael Howard Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/487 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] MUSICAL RHETORIC, NARRATIVE, DRAMA, AND THEIR NEGATION IN MORTON FELDMAN’S PIANO AND STRING QUARTET by Ryan M. Howard A dissertation submitted to the Department of Music of the Graduate Center, City University of New York in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 © Ryan M. Howard, 2014 All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Music in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Jeff Nichols, Advisor Dr. Joseph Straus, First Reader Dr. David Olan Dr. Bruce Saylor Dr. Nils Vigeland supervisory committee iii Abstract Musical Rhetoric, Narrative, Drama, and Their Negation in Morton Feldman’s Piano and String Quartet by Ryan Howard Advisor: Dr. Jeff Nichols Though Morton Feldman famously expressed his aversion to conventional compositional rhetoric early in his career, an examination of his music from the late 1970s onward reveals a more complex and ambiguous relationship with musical rhetoric than has often been acknowledged.