Arts and Humanities Commons^™

String Quartet, Brut, Bernie Walasavage

Masters Theses

l’Art Brut , also commonly referred to as “outsider art,” is comprised of a variety of visual media by untrained or mentally ill artists. The string quartet is subtitled this because it takes inspiration from the work of these artists; with its jagged edges, vibrant colors, and horrid scenes, there is an organic beauty inherent in such eclectic and divergent art. Another factor which drew me to the artwork of the mentally ill was the commonality of Kenophobia: an abnormal fear of empty spaces. Schizophrenic, Swiss artists, Adolf Wölfli (18641930) and Aloïse Corbaz (18861964) were noted for suffering this phobia …

Requiem For The Transient, Brian Palmer Gee

Masters Theses

Requiem for the Transient is a six-movement piece of music for full orchestra and choir. The six movements are the “Prelude,” “Introit,” “Sequentia,” “Agnus Dei,” “Lux Aeterna,” and “In Paradisum,” As with most Requiems, the music is a setting of prayers from the Roman Missal. Historically composers have used various prayer choices, sometimes even including texts outside of the Missal. Requiem for the Transient contains only one source of text outside of the Missal; the first movement, “Prelude”, uses text from the New King James version of Ecclesiastes 12:1-7.

This document will compare and contrast Requiem for the Transient with …

Northsong, Neal Endicott

Masters Theses

Northsong is a 20 minute tone poem for Wind Ensemble based on the landscapes of northern Michigan and my own personal and musical background. The piece takes its name from a melody that I composed during my undergrad while recovering from back surgery in Traverse City. Unable to actually play any of my instruments, I started composing for the first Mme. In addition to a number of jazz and saxophone quartet arrangements, I wrote a short melody that reflected my mood while I was stuck inside during a snowstorm. I titled the melody Northsong, but didn’t know what to do …

Characteristics Of A Modern Ballet: The Adoption Of Sonic Vocabulary And Textual Treatment In The Earth Without Water (2014), Mark Luke Rheaume

Masters Theses

The modern ballet, as an orchestral genre, owes much of its status and value to composers of the early 20th century. Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky’s groundbreaking works, Prélude à l'apres-midi d'un faune and Le Sacre du Printemps respectively, revolutionized the sonic landscape of ballet and expanded the ideas of interaction with texts and scenarios. This paper demonstrates the continued use of these innovations in the author's composition, The Earth Without Water. This analysis identifies three categories—harmonic vocabulary, rhythmic/formal organization, and textual treatment—by which The Earth derives content or technique from Prélude and Le Sacre.