View source for Robert Morris (composer)

{{short description|American classical composer}}

{{other people||Robert Morris (disambiguation)}}
{{BLP sources|date=January 2010}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Robert Morris
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|October 19, 1943}}
| birth_name = Robert Daniel Morris
| birth_place = [[Cheltenham]], England
| education = [[University of Rochester]] ([[Bachelor of Music|BM]])<br>[[University of Michigan]] ([[Master of Music|MM]], [[Doctor of Musical Arts|DMA]])
| workplaces = [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]]<br>[[Yale University]]<br>[[Eastman School of Music]]<br>[[Bucknell University]]<br>[[University of Pittsburgh]]<br>[[University of the Arts (Philadelphia)|University of the Arts]]
| discipline = [[Music]]
| sub_discipline = [[Music theory]]<br>[[Musical composition]]
}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=March 2021}}
'''Robert Daniel Morris''' (born October 19, 1943) is a British-born American composer and music theorist.{{r|Randel1996|SlonimskyKuhnMclntire2001|GroveDict2001_Morris}}

==Early life and education==
Born in [[Cheltenham]], England, in 1943, Morris received his musical education at the [[Eastman School of Music]] (B.M. in composition with distinction) and the [[University of Michigan]] (M.M. and D.M.A. in composition and [[ethnomusicology]]), where he studied composition with [[John La Montaine]], [[Leslie Bassett]], [[Ross Lee Finney]],{{r|GroveDict2001_Morris}} and [[Eugene Kurtz]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography of Robert Morris |url=http://ecmc.rochester.edu/rdm/morris.biography.html |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=ecmc.rochester.edu}}</ref> 

== Career ==
As a Margret Lee Crofts Fellow, Morris worked with [[Gunther Schuller]]. Morris has taught composition, electronic music, and music theory at the [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]] and [[Yale University]], where he was chairman of the Composition Department and director of the Yale Electronic Music Studio. He was also director of the Computer and Electronic Studio, director of graduate (music) Studies, and associate professor of Music at the University of Pittsburgh.{{r|GroveDict2001_Morris}} In 1980 Morris joined the faculty of the [[Eastman School of Music]], where he currently teaches as professor of composition. Other teaching posts have included positions at the [[University of the Arts (Philadelphia)|University of the Arts]], the [[Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts]], the University of Pittsburgh Computer Music Workshop, and the Berkshire Music Center at [[Tanglewood]].

==Written works==

===Musical compositions===
Morris has written music for a wide variety of musical forms and media. He has composed over 200 works including computer and improvisational music.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Boretz |first1=Benjamin |last2=Hanninen |first2=Dora |last3=Mailman |first3=Joshua |last4=Slawson |first4=Wayne |date=2014 |title=Robert Morris at 70 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/338/article/778444 |journal=Perspectives of New Music |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=14–16 |doi=10.1353/pnm.2014.0007 |issn=2325-7180|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Much of his output from the 1970s is influenced by non-Western music and uses structural principles from Arabic, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, and early Western musics. While such influences are less noticeable in his more recent works, the temporal and ornamental qualities of Eastern music have permanently affected Morris's style. Moreover, Morris has found much resonance among his [[musical aesthetics]], his experiences in hiking (especially in the Southwestern United States), his study and appreciation of Carnatic Music of South India, and his reading of ancient Indian, Chinese, and Japanese Buddhist texts. Among his present compositional projects is a series of the works to be played outdoors in a natural setting. Seven of these works are complete and have been performed: ''Playing Outside'' (2000), ''Coming Down to Earth'' (2002), ''Oracle'' (2005), ''Sound/Path/Field'' (2006), ''Arboretum'' (2009), ''Sun, Moon, Earth'' (2012) and ''Four Gardens'' (2014). A new work for wind ensemble outdoors was premiered on Sunday September 18, 2022 by the [[Eastman Wind Ensemble]] at [[Durand Eastman Park]] in [[Rochester, New York]]. This new composition is entitled ''Sounds, Trees, Meadows'' and was premiered as a part of the Centennial celebration of the [[Eastman School of Music]].

===Books===
In addition to his music, Morris has written three books and over 50 articles and reviews which have appeared in the ''[[Journal of Music Theory]]'', ''[[In Theory Only]]'', ''[[Music Theory Spectrum]]'', ''Journal of the American Musicology Society'', and ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'', contributing to theories of musical analysis and aesthetics, compositional design, and electronic and computer music. Morris was the recipient of the "Outstanding Publication Award" of the [[Society for Music Theory]] in 1988 for his book, ''Composition with Pitch-Classes: A Theory of Compositional Design'', published by Yale University Press, and in 2001 for his article "Voice Leading Spaces" in ''Music Theory Spectrum'' 20/2. ''Advanced Class Notes for Atonal Theory'', is available from Frog Peak Music. Morris is currently co-editor of ''Perspectives of New Music'' and contributing editor of ''[[Open Space (publications)|The Open Space Magazine]]''. His most recent book is ''The Whistling Blackbird: Essays and Talks on New Music'' (2010).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shultis |first=Christopher |date=2014 |title=Robert Morris and the Missing Middle |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7757/persnewmusi.52.2.0316 |journal=Perspectives of New Music |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=316–324 |doi=10.7757/persnewmusi.52.2.0316 |jstor=10.7757/persnewmusi.52.2.0316 |issn=0031-6016|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Notable students==
{{For LMST|Robert|Morris}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=Randel1996>[[Don Michael Randel|Randel, Don Michael]] (ed.). 1996. ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music''. Harvard University Press Reference Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-37299-3}}. p. 610.</ref>
<ref name=SlonimskyKuhnMclntire2001>[[Nicolas Slonimsky|Slonimsky, Nicolas]], Laura Kuhn, and Dennis Mclntire. 2001. "Morris, Robert (Daniel)". ''[[Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians]]'', edited by Nicolas Slonimsky and Laura Kuhn, 6 vols. 4:2513. New York: Schirmer.</ref>
<ref name=GroveDict2001_Morris>{{cite book |last=Swift |first=Richard |date=2001 |chapter=Morris, Robert (Daniel) |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-last=Tyrrell |editor2-first=John |editor2-link=John Tyrrell (musicologist) |title=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]] |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780195170672}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* Alegant, Brian. 2014. "On Robert Morris's ''Refrains''". ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'' 52, no. 2: 42–65.
* Barkin, Elaine. 2014. "Liner Notes in the Form of a Suite". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 14–16.
* Brody, Martin. 2006. "Down to Earth: Robert Morris's Restaging of the Sublime". ''[[Open Space (publications)|The Open Space Magazine]]'', nos. 8–9 (Fall–Spring): 74–81.
* Czerner, Dorota. 2014. "A poem for Robert Morris at 70'". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 26–30.
* Dembski, Stephen. 1989. "The Context of Composition: The Reception of Robert Morris's Theory of Compositional Design". ''Theory and Practice'' 14–15:187–202.
* Forshee, Jon. 2004. "Reflex-Ions of Robert Morris' ''Four or Five Mirrors''". ''The Open Space Magazine'', no. 6 (Fall): 144–50.
* Hanninen, Dora. 2014. "Nature and Composition in Robert Morris's Indoor Music: On ''strange flowers, occasional storms''". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 66–85.
* Hanninen, Dora. 2003. "A Theory of Recontextualization in Music: Analyzing Phenomenal Transformations of Repetition". ''[[Music Theory Spectrum]]'' 25, no.2: 59-98.
* Haskins, Rob. 2014. "Differing Evocations of Buddhism in Two Works by Robert Morris and John Cage". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 345–58.
* Leong, Daphne. 2014. "Time's 'Suchness' in Morris's ''Clear Sounds''". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 195–225.
* Lofthouse, Marcus, and Brian Alegant. 2002. "Having Your Cake and Eating It Too: The Property of Reflection in Twelve-Tone Rows, or, Further Extensions on the Mallalieu Complex". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 40, no. 2 (Summer): 233–72.
* Plylar, David Henning. 2014. "Poset-ting the Phronetic: Coming to Rowing Terms in Robert Morris's ''Doubles and Pairs''". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 226–48.
* Ravikiran, Chitravina N. 2014. "Robert Morris and the concept of ''Melharmony''". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 154–61.
* Scotto, Ciro. 2014. "The Interpretation of a Musical Language from the Perspective of a Compositional Unit". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 325–44.
* Shultis, Christopher. 2014. "Robert Morris and the Missing Middle". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 316–24.
* Slawson, Wayne. 2014. "To Know Robert Morris's ''MA''". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 259–72.
* Straus, Joseph N. 2014. "An Analytical Example for Bob". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 52, no. 2: 162–68.

==External links==
*[http://ecmc.rochester.edu/rdm/morris.bio.html Eastman School of Music: Robert Morris biography page]
*[http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/An-Interview-with-Robert-Morris/ Interview with Robert Morris], ''[[NewMusicBox]]''
*[http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/doors-opened/Content?oid=2127514 Article about Robert Morris], ''[[Rochester City Newspaper]]''

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Robert}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:American male classical composers]]
[[Category:American classical composers]]
[[Category:American music theorists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Twelve-tone and serial composers]]
[[Category:University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni]]
[[Category:Eastman School of Music alumni]]
[[Category:Musicians from Cheltenham]]
[[Category:University of Rochester alumni]]
[[Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty]]
[[Category:Yale University faculty]]
[[Category:Bucknell University faculty]]
[[Category:University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty]]