The radical music of John Zorn, Diamanda Galás, and Merzbow: a hermeneutic approach to expressive noise

Wilson, Steven

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/50554 Copy

Description

Title

The radical music of John Zorn, Diamanda Galás, and Merzbow: a hermeneutic approach to expressive noise

Author(s)

Wilson, Steven

Issue Date

2014-09-16

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Magee, Gayle S.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Magee, Gayle S.

Committee Member(s)

• Buchanan, Donna A.
• Solis, Gabriel
• Silvers, Michael

Department of Study

Music

Discipline

Musicology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Hermeneutics
• Experimental Music
• John Zorn
• Diamanda Galas
• Merzbow
• Jacques Lacan
• Paul Ricoeur

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.

Graduation Semester

2014-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50554

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Steven Wilson

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