Tiny infinity for orchestra and Stefan Wolpe's Zone technique and Ralph Shapey's late music: an intensive analysis of String Quartet no.9

This dissertation consists of two components, a composition for orchestra entitled Tiny Infinity and a theoretical study entitled "Stefan Wolpe's Zone Technique and Ralph Shapey's Late Music: An Analysis of the Introduction Movement of Shapey's String Quartet No. 9 ." The article presents a comparative analysis of the first sections of Ralph Shapey's Form for piano and Stefan Wolpe's Form for piano, exploring how Wolpe's zone technique is integral to both composers' methods for working with the pitches of a twelve-tone row. The comparative analysis of the Form compositions elucidates how Wolpe's zone technique contributed to Shapey's development of the serial precompositional structure use in his late serial music, the Mother Lode worksheet. Finally, the study explores how the Mother Lode worksheet is deployed in the Introduction movement of String Quartet No. 9 and contextualizes Shapey's self-imposed label of "radical traditionalist."