Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Heirs To Those Before Us: An Exploration Of The Influences On A Young Artist, Hannah Saunders

Honors Theses

The central concept of this thesis all started in March of 2018, when a friend of mine recommended I listen to Joni Mitchell's album, Blue. I loved it immediately. There was something raw and honest about the words she wrote and something fresh about the melodies. Nothing was forced; everything was natural. Not only did I love it, but the melodies constantly swimming around in my head started to sound similar in style. The recitative-like rhythms and the flowing melodies had worked their way into my head. So I started to wonder- how can I use this in my …

Bridging The Gap: A Study Of Compositional Similarities Across Time, The 'Realization' Techniques Of Johann Sebastian Bach And Louis Armstrong, Erin Cheshire

Honors Theses

This study is an examination of certain compositional techniques during the Baroque and jazz eras and how there are unexpected similarities throughout. The premise of this argument draws attention to the notion that, although the world has changed, this particular compositional technique has remained relatively unaltered. Given the aesthetic differences between these two compositional styles, the unlikely conclusion is that some aspects of music truly never go away, they simply change procedures.

By examining the emergence of the figured-bass style in the Baroque period and certain notational features in jazz, the evidence will trace the origins of these compositional techniques …

Living Out The Romantic Heroic Ideal: An Interpretive Study Of The Life And Work Of Edgar Allan Poe And Robert Schumann, John Alexander Dribus

Honors Theses

In 1849, a man was found destitute on the streets of Baltimore and died neglected, a few days later. Likewise in Germany, only seven years later, another great man died in an insane asylum after starving himself to death. Both men were under the age of fifty when they died, and both men had had a profound effect on the artistic world of which they were a part. Yet they met fates that were anything but glamorous. Destitute and abandoned, both died in obscurity. One was a poet and the other a composer. They lived on opposite sides of the …

Bach's Theocentric World View, Jarrell M. Lyles

Honors Theses

Bach's life spanned the gulf between the old-world age of faith and the new-world age of reason. seventeenth-century Germany, especially those portions with a strong Lutheran influence, remained strangely isolated and insulated against the rising storm of skepticism and inquiry, raging elsewhere in Europe. The full force of the Enlightenment broke suddenly over Bach during his latter years in Leipzig, where the younger generation was growing less sympathetic to the ideals of art Bach and others of his generation cherished.

Those who wish to understand Johann Sebastian Bach must first understand his world view, the lens which colored his perception …

One For The History Books Or The Trash? Changes In American Piano Literature, S. Andrew Granade

Honors Theses

Since the eighteenth century, the piano has been one of the dominant instruments for musical expression. In numerical terms, only the symphony orchestra can boast a larger repertoire than the piano. Most of that vast amount of literature was composed during the nineteenth century. At the beginning of that century, technological advances allowed piano makers to add more notes to the instrument's range and more strings to existing notes to strengthen the sound and timbre they produced. In its basic design, that of small hammers striking three strings each, the piano is a percussive instrument. The advances of the nineteenth …

Music And Computers, Roger O'Neel

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Techniques Of Impressionism In The Preludes Of Claude Debussy, Janet Duffel

Honors Theses

Claude Debussy, called by Bartok "the greatest composer of our period," was one of the most important composers in the history of piano music. He introduced a new approach to musical composition which is best summed up in an excerpt from a letter written by Debussy in 1885: "I don't think I shall ever be able to put music into a strict mold. I'm not speaking of musical form; its a literary question. I shall always prefer a subject where, somehow, action is sacrificed to feeling. It seems to me that music thus becomes more human and one can then …

The Significance Of Characterization In The Preparation And Composition Of "The Marriage Of Figaro", Philip Wayne Hardin

Honors Theses

In the 1770's and 1780's two plays written by a Frenchman named Beaumarchais were creating quite a stir in Europe. They challenged and ridiculed the inherent "superiority" of the aristocrats of French society. Later called "the prelude to the French Revolution," these plays were quite controversial and therefore immensely popular. The Barber of Seville and its sequel, The Marriage of Figaro, became instantly well known and both were adapted for opera, the former by Giovanni Paisiello, the latter by Wolfgang A. Mozart.

Sinfonia Eroica: Beethoven's Third Symphony, Rex Moreland Terry

Honors Theses

In 1803 young Europe regarded Napoleon I as its Messiah and apostle of liberty, very much as it was destined for a short time, one hundred and fifteen years later, to regard Woodrow Wilson.

The ambassador of the French Republic to the Austrian court was at that time General Bernadotte. His salon was frequented by distinguished persons of all ranks among whom was Ludwig van Beethoven, who had already expressed great admiration for the First Consul of the Republic. The suggestion was made by the General that Beethoven should honor the greatest hero of the age in a musical composition. …

Trois Petites Chansons Pour Enfants: Three Small Songs For Children In French, Debbie Henry

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Frederic Chopin, Terry Miller

Honors Theses

Frederic Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, Warsaw on February 22, 1810. He was brought up in a private school among sons of Polish nobility. His musical education was entrusted to the Bohemian pianist Albert Zwyny and the Director of the Warsaw School of Music, Joseph Elsner. At the age of seven he played a piano concerto by Gyrowetz, and improvisations in public. His first attempts in composition were dances (Polonaises, Mazurkas and Waltzes), but he published as Opus 1 a Rondo, and as Opus 2 variations on "La ci darem la mano", with orchestra.

Béla Bartók: The Uncompromising Hungarian, Sally Mccarty

Honors Theses

Years before the earliest recorded compositions by professional musicians, the common people sang, danced, and chanted lullabies, work songs, and prayers to their gods. Gradually, professional musicians and art music developed, and a distinction grew up between art music and folk music. The theory was that everything good and beautiful came from the gifted few and never from the common crowd. It never struck anyone as odd that those who expressed contempt of the people and all their works, continued to borrow all the best productions of the people, such as its finest folk melodies, dance rhythms, scales, and instruments. …

The Effects Of The Bolshevic Revolution Of Four Russian Composers, Philip Wayne Hardin

Honors Theses

The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 was the culmination of over fifty years of political and social unrest. For millions of Russian peasants it represented a welcome and just end to an unresponsive, autocratic government. The communism being preached by the Bolsheviks promised economic improvements for these oppressed masses, and they needed and wanted such improvements.

But in the minds of the intellectual classes of Russia, the teachers, scholars and artists, the Revolution created a fear. A fear that in place of an unpredictable, stifling autocracy, a government would develop that would completely control even the creative activity of Russian life. …

Music Scores Of John Bull And William Byrde Arranged By Connie Bowie, Connie Bowie

Honors Theses

These are two arrangements for bells. First for "Courante Jewel" by John Bull, and the second for "The Carman's Whistle" by William Byrde.

The Keyboard Suites Of Johann Sebastian Bach, Karen Shank

Honors Theses

The suite developed over a period of years in several European countries. At first suites were simply collections of songs performed together. The form gradually stabilized to contain the specific dances now included, although the order of the dances varied. The dance forms used came from such countries as England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. composers in France and Italy had written suites before Bach did, but he perfected the form. In all, Bach wrote thirteen suites for the harpsichord: six French Suites, six English Suites, six Partitas, and the Overture in the French Manner.

The suite is a musical …

Handel And The Messiah, Bernice Battle

Honors Theses

Because of my interest in music and the fact that the Ouachita Baptist University Choir, of which I am a member, performed George Frederick Handel's work, The Messiah, this semester, I chose to delve into the world and work of this artist and to investigate his talent in relation particularly to The Messiah. I placed particular emphasis in my study on the purpose of the writing and the effect this great oratorio has produced

Palestrina And His Rhythmic Style, Shelby Earl Cowling

Honors Theses

Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina, an Italian composer, was one of the greatest musical figures in the latter half of the sixteenth century, the "golden age" of church music. Giovanni Pierluigi was born in about 1525 at Praeneste (Palestrina). The name of the town has been added to his won family name, Pierluigi. Palestrina's fame as a composer rests mainly upon the incomparable liturgical works for unaccompanied voices--Masses, motets, hymns, and canticles--which he produced for the services of St. Peter's and other Roman basilicas. He wrote them in the polyphonic style which for centuries had dominated Europe as a kind of …

The Clarinet Choir, Donna June Pike

Honors Theses

Music has played a major role in the development of man from ancient cultures to the present. The study of music includes such areas as techniques, melody, harmony, rhythm and musical form. The clarinet choir has become a potential force in music and in its education. In the past two decades there has been an increasing interest in the clarinet choir, a relatively new medium for performing music although it has been around for nearly two centuries in one form or another. This choir is now included in state festivals and many schools and college have active groups.

The Reformation Hymn Of Martin Luther, Shelby Earl Cowling

Honors Theses

Luther proclaimed as did no other religious leader of his century the value of music in church life. A performer and a composer himself, he strove for superior quality in music. When stating that the singing of praises to God was profitable to devotion, Luther was on common ground with his fellow reformers. In his encouragement of all forms of church music appropriate to worship, Luther was very much alone. Since Luther was anxious that music in church fulfill its true purpose, the service of God, he preferred the music of voices. He did not, however, discourage the use of …

Fugue For Three Flutes, Marilyn Rauch

Honors Theses

In addition to her composition, "Fugue for Three Flutes," Rauch has researched the history of fugues.

Nineteenth Century German Art Song: A Research Paper, Kathlyn A. Ramsey

Honors Theses

The musical genius of German composers created the art song, or Lied. This song form, designed for the single voice with piano accompaniment, achieved its fixed position among the historical musical forms in the nineteenth century. It has been said that "Germany is the only country in which the art of song in orderly and progressive development can be traced from the simple Mediaeval Volkslied to the elaborate productions of Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms."

It is the purpose of this paper to study the development of the German art song in the nineteenth century. The study will present the …

The Oratorio: Paradox In Music, Carolyn Yeldell

Honors Theses

Without a doubt, the most ambiguous and obscure of the larger musical forms is the oratorio. It is extremely difficult to define because it has taken so many meanings at different times and in different countries. One may explain or describe it as a dramatic poem, usually of religious or contemplative character (but not liturgical), to be performed throughout by solo voices, chorus, and orchestra in a concert hall or church without the assistance of scenery, costumes, or action. This description, however, does not cover every example of oratorical literature; exceptions are already evident, even with the works by composers …

Chords Employed In Twentieth Century Composition, Camille Bishop

Honors Theses

The traditional triad of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries tends to sound trite in the surroundings of twentieth century dissonance. The composer faces the problem of imaginative use of the triad so as to add freshness to a composition. In modern composition, major and minor triads are usually used as points of relaxation before and after sections of tension.