Digital Commons Network^™

The Reciprocal Interaction Of Musical Performance And Analysis, Gregory Hartmann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Musicians can generally be divided into one of two kinds: practitioners who compose or perform music, and thinkers who analyze or write about music (theorists, musicologists, and critics). These roles might seem to be of approximately equal importance, so the perspectives of each should be given proportionate consideration. Yet the existing music-theoretical literature consistently relegates the performer to an inferior position. When performance is discussed, it is usually done in objective terms; an analysis is presented as a rationale to judge a performance as right or wrong. My dissertation challenges this perspective and provides an alternative. By marrying rigorous, theory-based …

Uncovering The Emotional Line: An Analysis Of Three David Maslanka Wind Ensemble Works Using Formal Emotive Intensity Analysis, Michael John Kahle

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

David Maslanka (1943–2017) was a prolific American composer who wrote most frequently for the medium of concert band/wind ensemble. His music is frequently performed by ensembles around the world. Due to his more intuitive and idiosyncratic compositional style, Maslanka would center what he described as the “emotional line” of the work, certain aspects of his music are undetected by traditional analytical models. Formal Emotive Intensity Analysis bridges that gap to focus on the supposed emotional line within Maslanka’s work. Through a case study of three of Maslanka’s works for wind band, The Seeker, Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Wind …

Voice Leading In Fugue, Yuval Shapira

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines voice leading in the fugues of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier from a Schenkerian perspective. In Bach’s fugues, thematic material usually permeates all the parts, making the surface diminutions unusually complex. Given the predominance of the subject, there is a tendency in the Schenkerian tradition to base the voice-leading analysis of a fugue on an a priori analysis of the subject by itself. Based on the subject’s outline, one might expect to find the fugal thematic layout reflected in the underlying voice leading, conceiving the fugal surface as an elaboration of a simpler quasi-fugal substructure. I argue …

Analysis And Performance Of Osvaldo Golijov’S Hebreische Milonga, Gerardo Sanchez Pastrana

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov is one of the most important and well-recognized composers of the 21^st century. His works are unique because of the diverse mixing of styles due to the interculturalism present in his music. In the program notes of his Hebreische Milonga, Golijov mentions that this piece can connect his Argentinian and Jewish roots as well as the influence of Astor Piazzolla’s music. In addition, there is a connection between the tango and the Jewish people residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that is not addressed frequently when discussing the history of the tango. This research begins …

David Gillingham’S Stained Glass For Wind Ensemble: A Transcription From The Standard Percussion Repertoire, Ashley Shoupe

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Stained Glass (1994), by David Gillingham, is a work that is considered one of the standard pieces of percussion repertoire. To date, there are no known arrangements or transcriptions which exist for wind band that originated from the percussion ensemble repertoire. Stained Glass is a work which utilizes many musical characteristics and compositional techniques that could translate successfully to the wind ensemble, such as sweeping ostinato, sustained chordal structures, and a variety of colors and textures. It is because of this observation of musical characteristics that makes this work a good candidate for a successful first transcription from percussion ensemble …

Simple Gifts In Wind Band Repertoire: A Comparative Analysis Of Three Wind Band Pieces Featuring The Shaker Melody "Simple Gifts", Jared Johnson

WWU Graduate School Collection

The purpose of this thesis is to compare and analyze three works for Wind Band containing the melody from the Shaker song “Simple Gifts” along with providing rehearsal and performance considerations. The melodic source content is scrutinized to show its different appearances and uses throughout each work. Additionally, rehearsal and performance suggestions are dispersed throughout the chapters for consideration. The three works include Aaron Copland’s Variations on a Shaker Melody from his Pulitzer Prize winning ballet Appalachian Spring, the fourth movement of Frank Ticheli’s Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs, and John Zdechlik’s Chorale and Shaker Dance.

Disposizione Scenica Per L’Opera Simon Boccanegra: An Insight Into Verdi’S Sense Of Drama And A Valuable Tool For Contemporary Performance, Giordana Rubria Fiori

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this dissertation is twofold: while it aims to provide a valuable tool for performers and all artists involved in a production of Simon Boccanegra, it also simultaneously explores and outlines several instances in which Verdi’s all-encompassing idea of drama shapes and directs this opera.

Throughout this process, the disposizione scenica to Simon Boccanegra constitutes the central document that connects the practical and the aesthetic perspective of this dissertation. Each chapter is dedicated to a different character of Simon Boccanegra, allowing the reader to follow each character on a journey through the opera as it is presented in …

Chorale And Collapse: An Analysis Of Mahler's Sixth Symphony, Benjamin G. Schweitzer

Student Theses

Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony in A minor, commonly known as the "Tragic," has become one of the Austrian symphonist's most celebrated works. This monumental symphony's direct and powerful expression have assured its place in the concert hall and its labyrinthine structure and wealth of intricate detail have made it an object of fascination for countless analysts and commentators through to the present day. My analysis of the symphony works up from the smallest elements of its harmonic progression and harmony to large-scale issues of tonality and form. In the process, I reveal the connections that bind all of the symphony's …

The Modern Jazz Guitarist's Approach To Standard Repertoire, Stephan T. Wieder

Recital Papers

This paper examines Gilad Hekselman, Jonathan Kreisberg, Julian Lage, Lage Lund, Mike Moreno, and Kurt Rosenwinkel through the lens of written transcription. All six musicians are analyzed using standards such as; "Stella By Starlight", "Stablemates", "I'll Be Seeing You", "Sandu", and many more. The study of their transcriptions combined with details about their technique and musical equipment, will reveal a clearer understanding of their methods and style. The analysis of these transcriptions focuses on four main elements: phrasing, rhythmic choices, melodic choices, and overall thematic development.

A Conductor’S Guide To J. N. Hummel’S Forgotten Oratorio: Der Durchzug Durchs Rote Meer, Rebecca J. Ostermann

Theses and Dissertations

Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s only oratorio, Der Durchzug durchs rote Meer, was lost to the musical world until around 2004. Hummel (1778–1837) was greatly esteemed during his life as a concert pianist and as a composer, and several of his choral works were among those highly regarded by his contemporaries. Interest in his works, along with Hummel scholarship, has increased in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Hummel’s oratorio is for Classical orchestra plus guitar, harp, and bass drum, four to ten vocal soli, and chorus. Its thirteen numbers run about 51 minutes, recounting the biblical story of Moses and Pharaoh, the …

The Quartet’S Death: Embodiment, Performativity, And Physicality In Heinz Holliger’S 1973 String Quartet, Vicente Alexim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Throughout the twentieth century and continuing today, many composers have explored and expanded the ways in which performers are asked to interact with their musical instruments. Often referred to as “extended techniques,” these modes of playing frequently produce sounds of indefinite pitch, or which fall outside equal temperament, and the works that employ them rely on the physicality of these techniques in order to create additional layers of meaning. The concrete parameters involved in making use of such resources can sometimes take precedence over or drive other more abstract compositional materials such as precise pitch and rhythm, but their influence …

The Best Is Yet To Come: Approaches To Rhythmic Development, Robert W. Lindsay Ii

Masters Theses

For my Masters of Arts thesis, I recorded a number of songs that I had written between 2015 and 2020 for an album titled “The Best is Yet to Come.” In this adjunct essay, I will analyze four of those pieces to demonstrate my use of rhythmic development; I use rhythmic development extensively in my work in order to generate cohesion between songs. The opening song, “Fresh Vegetables,” demonstrates the rhythmic motive that all other songs develop from. If anyone chooses to learn or analyze my music in the future, this document can be a reference.

The Integration Of The Style Hongrois Into Brahms’S Musical Language In His Chamber Works, Raymond D. Truong

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The style hongrois is a musical language that Western European composers used to evoke the style of the Hungarian music performed by Romani musicians. This monograph explores the use of the style hongrois in the chamber works of Johannes Brahms. He uses this style often, to the point where it is integrated into his musical language. To understand where this language came from, this monograph provides a historical context of Hungary (the country of origin), the Roma who resided there and migrated westwards, and their musicians.

The second part of this monograph explores the integration of the style hongrois into …

Graduate Piano Recital, Hanxue Gao

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

An abstract of the thesis by

Hanxue Gao

My Master thesis consists of a graduate-level piano recital and a supporting document of program notes. The repertoire for this recital includes the following works: The Prelude and Fugue in E major, BWV 878, from the Well-Tempered Clavier - Book IIby Johann Sebastian Bach; Piano Sonata in F major No. 22, Op. 54, by Ludwig Van Beethoven; Etude in G-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 9, by Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin; Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brilliante Opus 22 by Frédéric Chopin and Three Preludes for the Piano by the young Chinese composer, Shuai …

An Analysis Of Harmonic Color Use By Impressionist Composers, Lennon J. Ashton

Undergraduate Honors College Theses 2016-

Harmony is the musical element that truly distinguishes Western music from other kinds of music around the world. This is the vertical aspect of music that results when two or more pitches are heard simultaneously. The type of harmony that has formed the basis for most music over the past few centuries is known as tonal harmony. Tonal harmony involves having a tonal center, using major and minor scales, and using tertian chords that are related to one another and to the tonal center in various ways.

There was a period of time when tonal harmony and its principles were …

A Combined Language: The Application Of Poly-Stylistic Techniques To Concerto Sonata For Alto Saxophone And Piano, James Calderon

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A New Theory Of Musical Semiosis, Matthew Stanley

Music ETDs

Musical semiotics is the study of the various ways in which musical structures become meaningful. This thesis is an attempt to create a logical, systematized, transformational theory of musical semiotics that can elucidate the various ways in which music conveys meaning. While the semiotic exploration of music is by no means novel, this thesis presents a unique, highly rigorous, and truly theoretical approach to musical semiotics that differs significantly from previous theories. By combining all aspects of the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce with the metaphor theories of George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, and Zoltan Kovecses, a theoretical apparatus is …

A Linear Approach To John Adams' Recent Works, Olivia Maynard

Master's Theses

This paper presents and demonstrates a linear approach to works from John Adams’ most recent compositional period (1991–). Existing research into this period primarily focuses on specific surface-level events, with little examination of deeper large-scale structures within the works. Chapter 1 reviews the existing research, as well as relevant research into minimalist music and post-tonal analysis, and some existing approaches are then incorporated into the methodology presented in Chapter 2. The methodology is presented in three stages: identifying formal structure, identifying linear structures through salient pitches, and determining harmonic support for those salient pitches. The methodology is demonstrated in greater …

Marcel Tabuteau’S System Of Phrasing Applied To The Primary Themes In Carl Maria Von Weber’S Second Clarinet Concerto, Christopher Charles Bowmaster

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This research document provides a biographical sketch of Marcel Tabuteau’s life beginning with his childhood and extending to his retirement from the Philadelphia Orchestra and Curtis Institute of Music. The sketch provides a thorough timeline explaining how each colleague, teacher, student, and ensemble influenced his phrasing system.

Following a series of handwritten notes completed by Tabuteau in his native language in chapter two, application of the system to Carl Maria von Weber’s Second Clarinet Concerto takes place in chapters three to six. The four portions of the system used are the Interrogative/Affirmative/More-Affirmative, Note Grouping, Up and Down Gestures, and Phrasing …

Rachmaninoff And The Flexibility Of The Score: Issues Regarding Performance Practice, Tanya Gabrielian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s piano music is a staple of piano literature, but academia has been slower to embrace his works. Because he continued to compose firmly in the Romantic tradition at a time when Debussy, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg variously represented the vanguard of composition, Rachmaninoff’s popularity has consequently not been as robust in the musicological community. He left a rich legacy of recorded material which provides a first-hand account of his approach to musical interpretation. Few have analyzed Rachmaninoff’s recordings in great detail, and there are even fewer studies addressing Rachmaninoff’s performances of works by other composers.

The aim of this …

An Exploration And Analysis Of The Unaccompanied Viola Sonatas Of Günter Raphael, Gregory K. Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Günter Raphael (1903–1960) was a skillful German-Jewish composer, organist, pianist, violinist and violist largely unknown outside of Europe. Although he is best known for his sacred choral and keyboard music, he was prolific in composing for strings, especially for his beloved viola. Raphael's unaccompanied viola sonatas are particularly fascinating to study and perform because of their complex harmonies and sonorities, and rhythmic and technical challenges.

This dissertation offers the first significant English-language biographical account of Raphael’s life, a thorough analysis of his unaccompanied viola literature, and performance issues through annotated passages and notes on interpretation. This dissertation also examines the …

The Significance Of Aram Khachaturian And His Piano Concerto, Sarah M. Dardarian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Aram Khachaturian, a Soviet-era Armenian composer, wrote his Piano Concerto in D♭ major in 1936. He was born in Tbilisi, Georgia to an Armenian family and moved to Moscow for his musical training at the age of nineteen. As a child, he was exposed to Eastern music of the Transcaucasus, which remained a lasting influence in his music. He created a unique musical sound that includes Eastern and Western elements. Khachaturian’s music achieved success early in his career. The Piano Concerto, written during his time as a post-graduate student under Myaskovsky, remains one of his best-known works.

Khachaturian is one …

Exploring The Past, Present, And Future Of Romanticism: Analyses With Brief Biographies Of Works Performed In A Senior Recital, Jordan Langberg Hastings

Honors Theses and Capstones

A melodic and harmonic analysis of four instrumental works performed in a senior recital is presented in this thesis with brief biographical outlines of each composer. Three of the works, Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda's Morceau de Salon, Edmund Rubbra's Sonata in C, and Robert Schumann's Three Romances are written for oboe and piano. The remaining piece, Paul Hindemith's English Horn Sonata, is written for English horn and piano. The author provides a detailed and methodical approach for understanding the functionality of each piece.

Compositional Craft And Theory Across Tonal Languages, Liam Butchart

Honors Theses

This paper accompanies Liam Butchart's senior honors voice recital and his composition for the Colby Symphony Orchestra, Genevan Overture. The essay examines how form and cadence, two integral components of compositional craft, have been utilized by composers who either were included in the voice recital or were major influences on the composition. Specifically, the paper analyzes how different composers end their musical sentences similarly and differently through the lens of structurally-relevant cadences.

A Pedagogical Analysis Of Select Etudes From Jakob Dont’S 24 Etudes And Caprices, Op. 35, Daniella Greene

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The study of etudes is essential for all musicians to learn and practice the technical challenges of their instrument in a practical way. There is a large selection of etudes for the violin, created and collected by numerous composers targeted for all levels of playing. This document will focus on a select number of etudes from the first half of “24 Etudes and Caprices, Opus 35,” by Jakob Dont. The analysis of the etudes will include descriptions of the technical challenges in the left and right hands, recommended practice sequences, and variations on the etude to further challenge the student …

Spectral Analysis And Comparison Of Analog And Digital Recordings, Hannah N. Frosch

Honors Theses

The music industry is constantly shifting and changing as new developments emerge. The biggest transition still discussed to this day is the shift from analog to digital. The digital world of media has opened many doors and created a simpler way of making and consuming media. However, the desire for a vintage/analog sound environment has grown increasingly popular over the years. The main research question I will be addressing in this thesis is: How do analog and digital recordings compare at a signal level? I will attempt to answer this research question through analyzing different audio signals. To do so, …

It Can't Be! Faked Functionality And Ambiguity In Brahms's F Minor, Kyle Kostenko

Honors Projects

A performance of any piece of music is not complete if the performer has not looked at the piece from historical and analytical perspectives. Having decided to perform the first movement of Johannes Brahms’s Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No.1 on my senior recital, I wanted to analyze the piece so that I had an understanding of how it was composed, hoping that this knowledge would influence my performance. Knowing that Brahms is considered a formalist composer writing in the Romantic era, I hoped to discern how Brahms was able to create a piece that was both Romantic and …

Teleology In César Franck's Prélude, Choral Et Fugue, Stephanie Gouin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

César Franck’s Prélude, Choral et Fugue is a fine example of the composer’s mature style and contribution to musical form and language at the end of the nineteenth century. The use of a Baroque structure, such as the fugue, has a significant impact on the overall unfolding of this Romantic work. A teleological perspective will inform the analysis of the Fugue, which will constitute the core of the study. It will use concepts of design and purpose in order to explain the development of the piece as a whole, and the transformation of the musical language within the Fugue in …

Sketches Of A Life, Alexander D. Morris

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Sketches of a Life is a work for a small chamber ensemble and depicts small sections of an unidentified person's life. It is scored for 13 instruments and runs eight minutes in length. The piece itself is supplementary to this project, which is largely a descriptive and theoretical analysis of the work. The analysis and score are submitted as PDFs. A link to the recording is included in the appendix.

Symmetry And Interval Cycles In The Quartettos Of Mario Davidovsky, Ines Thiebaut Lovelace

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The music of Mario Davidovsky has seldom been analyzed past the timbral implications of his electroacoustic pieces and gestural aspects of his phrasing, and there has been virtually no attention paid to its pitch organization, despite the composer’s longstanding interest in writing for acoustic instruments. In this dissertation, I demonstrate how two main consistent resources for the organization of pitch govern the musical continuity and formal structure of his music, what I’ve called symmetry potentiality—actuality, and interval cycle potentiality-actuality processes. The interval cycle potentiality-actuality process refers to the various interval cycles that self-perpetuate, completing aggregates. This self-perpetuation means that incomplete …