Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Amor Fati, Aaron Lee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Amor Fati, for wind ensemble, is built upon a formal design that divides the work into harmonic regions whose durations are based on approximations of the golden ratio. The harmonies in these regions are orchestrated using techniques inspired by Spectralism as well as the electro-acoustic technique of time-variant harmonic enveloping. Klangfarben technique is used to pass sustained harmonies around the ensemble, thereby stretching the duration of individual chords. These harmonies and their progressions are derived from several juxtaposed harmonic series and, at times, resemble the gradually changing triadic progressions characteristic of some examples of Minimalism. Layered with these elements …

Evolve, Brian L. Topp

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Evolve is a c. 16 minute work for full orchestra that explores various ways in which a single hexachord can be used to govern a variety of aspects and parameters within a work across multiple levels of structure. This includes melodic, harmonic, durational, temporal, textural and even formal aspects of the work, all derived as expansions, reinterpretations or explorations of specific relationships found within this collection of pitches. These relationships include the inherent intervallic and harmonic content found within the collection, but also extends to the frequency ratios found between pitches in the hexachord. In total, the piece is comprised …

Concerto Suite: For Viola Da Gamba And String Soloists, Matthew W. Tozer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Concerto Suite explores a unique hybridization of aspects from the baroque dance suites of the 17th and 18th centuries and from the classical concerto of the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition it also showcases some noteworthy differences in the performance technique and timbre of the viola da gamba in contrast to today's modern string instruments: the violin, viola, cello and double bass. ­

Concerto Suite is made up of three movements that are based on the form, rhythmic patterns, and meters of typical dance suites of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue. Concerto Suite combines …

Kontakt, Michael Lukaszuk

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Kontakt is a c. 14-minute composition for string orchestra and audio signal processing that deals with imitation and ensemble communication. The first and third section of the piece consist of a collection of sound objects. The second section uses one of these objects to form a collection of palindromic motives, phrases and subsections. The pitch material consists of a slowly evolving cell containing three intervals at a time. The piece uses Max/MSP software to create delay networks, for live recording and playback of audio material, harmonization of live material, and quadraphonic sound diffusion. In Kontakt, ensemble communication is explored …

Green Glass For Orchestra, Carolann K. Deyoung

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis work, Green Glass, is a single movement piece for orchestra lasting 10'30. The piece consists of three main sections and explores spectral harmonies in combination with my own pitch material.

A Modest Proposal: A Chamber Opera In One Act, Kevin Morse

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A Modest Proposal is a chamber opera in one act adapted from the 1729 satirical essay of the same name by Jonathan Swift. The opera’s narrative was developed in close partnership with Toronto-based Governor-General’s Literary Award-nominated playwright Lisa Codrington, whom I commissioned to write the libretto. Set in an unnamed city in the present day, the work explores themes of economic disparity, social class, political power and process, parents and children, love, anger, and revenge. I integrate musical quotations from (or references to) folk lullabies and the works of Mahler, Debussy, and Schoenberg to support and enhance the richness and …

Mythologies: Three Tableaux For Flute, Harp, Strings And Percussion, Alice J. Hansen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mythologies: Three Tableaux for Flute, Harp, Strings and Percussion is a c. 12-minute composition that deals with the nature of ambience in music. Compositional procedures used in each tableau attempt to highlight acoustic and atmospheric idiosyncrasies within the instrumental ensemble. The first tableau is based on two melodic and harmonic motives which are systematically expanded through repetition and variation. The second tableau features a call and response between flute and harp in a dreamy and lyrical interlude. The third tableau develops material through a process of shifting harmonic and rhythmic textures to create a mosaic of ambient colour. Each tableau …

Garden Theatre, Patrick F. Arteaga

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Garden Theatre is a fifteen-minute piece for voices and chamber ensemble, which sets to music two poems by William Carlos Williams entitled Daisy and Queen Anne’s Lace. This piece is divided into two scenes (movements), each comprising three distinct sections. Garden Theatre will combine allusions to early music elements such as forms and methods of motivic development with a modern music aesthetic.

In Garden Theatre there are four main pitch collections from which pitch material is derived. Continuity is promoted throughout the work by using many large and small-scale inter-referential elements such as recurring instrumental textures, pitch structures and …

Dawn: A Symphonic Sketch For Orchestra, Jeff Mcclellan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dawn was written as a tribute to the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, and, more particularly, its author, Elaine Morgan, who has been a restless proponent of the hypothesis for more than three decades. The evolutionary theory explains the anatomical differences between modern humans and apes by proposing that hominids lived through a semi-aquatic phase at some time in their development, providing reason for many of the aquatic characteristics & impulses that humans have and experience today.

My composition aims to capture the magic of this divergence of the genus homo over several million years. The music is programmatic, meaning an …