THE RADICAL MUSIC OF JOHN ZORN, DIAMANDA GALÁS, AND MERZBOW: A HERMENEUTIC APPROACH TO EXPRESSIVE NOISE BY STEVEN ALAN WILSON DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Gayle Sherwood Magee, Chair Associate Professor Donna Buchanan Associate Professor Gabriel Solis Assistant Professor Michael Silvers Abstract Music at the turn of the twenty-first century has expanded in new, previously inconceivable directions, many of which espouse a newfound freedom from dominant models of beauty and aesthetic excellence. From this musical space, vital new musical practices are emerging from composers such as John Zorn, Diamanda Galás, and Merzbow; however, because their music is so utterly unconventional, existing critical tools are failing to lead toward a greater understanding of the meaning created through the music. This interpretive lacuna has compelled the present study, which seeks to create a discursive space along with appropriate critical tools to help scholars and listeners better understand new streams of radical music from the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. The radical music of John Zorn, Diamanda Galás, and Merzbow presents special hermeneutic challenges to anyone who endeavors to find meaning within their aggressively alienating expressive languages. To this end, I propose a multifaceted, multi-perspectival approach that is grounded the hermeneutic philosophy of Paul Ricoeur and the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, but that also emerges organically from the exigencies of the works under consideration. Across case studies on Zorn, Galás, and Merzbow, I demonstrate how a hermeneutic approach can uncover comprehensible musical meaning even when confronting the extreme expressive languages of these composers. Ultimately, I hope to provide a model for future investigations into musical meaning to help elucidate the work of other radical composers. ii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of many people, some of whom are mentioned below. Heartfelt thanks to my advisor, Gayle Sherwood Magee, who encouraged me even as I worked on a dissertation project that she once referred to as a peanut butter and jalapeño sandwich. She gave me the freedom to explore some very strange music in a very strange manner, all while keeping me grounded. Thanks also to my committee—Donna Buchanan, Gabriel Solis, and Mike Silvers—for their input and perspectives on my project. Along the way, I have been blessed with the friendship and colleagueship of numerous individuals. When the rigors of graduate school proved most trying, they were the ones who made the journey truly rewarding. Thanks to my dear friends Elissa Harbert and Catherine Hennessy Wolter. They have been my most trusted colleagues in academia and my closest allies in life. I am grateful to my wonderful friends and colleagues in Champaign-Urbana: Megan and Alex Woller, Michael Siletti, and John Stanislawski. Whether they were reading and commenting on my drafts, or just hanging out and commiserating on the status of graduate school affairs, they have been a tremendous source of happiness and normalcy during some very difficult (and occasionally wonderful) times. Sincerest thanks to my parents, Mark and Debbie, who have shown me unwavering love and support through my entire life, who believed in me even when I didn’t, and who always knew exactly what to say when life seemed most unfathomable. Special thanks are also due to my mother for setting aside her own career to homeschool me. Any scholastic aptitude that I possess is thanks to her. Thanks, finally, to my sister Katie, for being my fellow explorer of the arts and my best friend. And, ultimately, thanks to God, my sine qua non. iii Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2.0 Background ........................................................................................................................ 5 2.1.0 Radical Music ............................................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 Expressive Noise ......................................................................................................... 9 2.2.0 John Zorn .................................................................................................................. 11 2.2.1 Diamanda Galás ........................................................................................................ 13 2.2.2 Merzbow ................................................................................................................... 14 2.2.3 Radical Composers and Radical Music .................................................................... 17 2.3.0 Music and Discourse ................................................................................................. 22 2.3.1 Previous Work on Musical Hermeneutics ................................................................ 26 2.3.2 Towards a Hermeneutics of Radical Music and Expressive Noise .......................... 32 3.0 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................................ 34 Chapter 1 – Towards a Hermeneutics of Radical Music and Expressive Noise ................... 36 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 36 2.0 Paul Ricoeur ..................................................................................................................... 36 2.1 Discourse: Event and Meaning .................................................................................... 38 2.2 Metaphor and Mimesis ................................................................................................ 41 2.3 Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 43 2.4 Problems of Interpretation: Authorship, Distanciation, and Appropriation ................ 45 2.5 Validity in Interpretation .............................................................................................. 51 3.0 Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics and Musical Interpretation ....................................................... 52 3.1 Savage and Musical Hermeneutics .............................................................................. 54 3.1.1 Music and Metaphor ................................................................................................. 55 3.1.2 Ontological Hermeneutics and Musicology .............................................................. 60 3.2 Summary of Ricoeur and Music .................................................................................. 63 4.0 Jacques Lacan .................................................................................................................. 67 4.1 Lacan and Music .......................................................................................................... 69 4.1.1 The Lacanian Subject ................................................................................................ 71 4.1.2 Desire ........................................................................................................................ 74 4.1.3 The Law, Jouissance, and Radical Music ................................................................. 76 4.1.4 The Real .................................................................................................................... 78 4.2 Lacan and the Social .................................................................................................... 85 iv 4.3 Interpretation in Psychoanalysis .................................................................................. 88 5.0 Ricoeur and Lacan ........................................................................................................... 91 5.1 Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis ........................................................................... 92 5.2 Two Hermeneutics ....................................................................................................... 97 6.0 Toward a Hermeneutics of Radical Music and Expressive Noise ................................... 99 Chapter 2 – Towards a Theory of Radical Music and Expressive Noise ............................. 106 1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 106 2.0 Radical Music ................................................................................................................ 107 2.1.0 Key Moments in the Development of Radical Music: A Historiographical Problem 110 2.1.1 Key Moments in the Development of Radical Music: A Brief History ................. 112 2.1.2 Early Twentieth-Century Modernist Movements ................................................... 113 2.1.3 Musical Modernism ................................................................................................ 119 2.1.4 The Dawn of Electronic Music ..............................................................................