Composition Commons^™

Emily Somebody: A Chamber Opera In Three Acts, Rodrigo Afonso Salles Camargo

LSU Master's Theses

Emily Somebody is a chamber opera in three acts that tells the story of the friendship between the American poet Emily Dickinson and the man that would become her first editor, Mr. Thomas Higginson. This story, for me, is ultimately about a poet (or an artist) in the process of finding not only her own voice but also discovering what poetry and art mean to her, in the most genuine way, and standing up for these beliefs and values. All the lyrics used in this work are from Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters exchanged between her and Mr. Thomas Higginson.

A Historical Comparison Of The St. John And St. Matthew Passions Of Johann Sebastian Bach, Emily Dunlap

Honors College

The St. John and St. Matthew Passions, based on the Gospels of the same names, are the only two existing passions by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach that have survived from the Baroque music world. However, the St. Matthew Passion is more well-known and recognized than the St. John Passion. Why is that? One of the reasons why this may be the case is because the St. Matthew Passion is a larger, more extensive work compared to the St John Passion in relation to its parts. The St Matthew Passion is equipped with an orchestra, a double choir, …

Unheard Melodies: The Songs And Sorrows Of German Female Composers, 1700-1900, Brittany Weinstock

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

German classical music is known for its prolific composers who changed Western music as we know it, such as J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, and Robert Schumann. However, music history does not place as great an emphasis on their sisters and wives who were also incredibly gifted musicians. The goal of this study is to create a paper that elaborates on their lives and music while emphasizing their struggles when it comes to gender limitations.

For my research, I chose to focus on Anna Magdalena Bach, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Clara Schumann. I compiled a biography of each woman, with particular emphasis …

Collection Container Inventory, Lynn A. Brock

Winteregg Collection Documents

No abstract provided.

William A. And Merle E. Brock Collection Container Inventories, Lynn A. Brock

Brock Collection Documents

This collection reflects the life and ministry of William A. Brock and his wife, Merle E. Brock. The primary focus for William Brock is on his service as a trustee of Cedarville University. For Merle Brock, the collection houses her extensive repertoire of original compositions of songs and choruses highlighting the words and principles of the Bible and memorials of events, family, and others in ministry.

Franz Schubert, Overture In The Italian Style D. 591, Transcribed For Band By Randall Snyder, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

In 1817, in response to the Italian craze sweeping Vienna, the 20yr Schubert wrote two Overtures “in the Italian Style”. In particular, the second of these, D.591, captures the spirit of Rossini. It begins with a gently portentous slow introduction. After a brief pause, the tempo increases with a sprightly melody, its dotted rhythms echoing Rossini. Another theme is introduced before the eruption of one of those famous slow-building, repetitive “Rossini crescendos.” A repeat of this music leads tp a faster tempo and the Overture’s exciting conclusion.

duration: c. 7 minutes

Instrumentation: Flute 1, Flute 2, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet in …

Identity And Complexity In Chaya Czernowin’S Ina, Eliav Kohl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chaya Czernowin’s Ina (1988) for solo bass flute and six pre-recorded flute parts, unfolds the drama of a protagonist battling her conflicting inner voices. Czernowin interrogates the concept of identity and asks the questions—what is an identity? To what extent can a particular identity endure its own complexities? My analysis demonstrates how the growing levels of musical complexity represent the growing independence of Ina’s multiple inner voices, and how musical simplicity enables their unification. I present two oppositional forces: an intertwining force, and a splitting force. The intertwining force acts very much like a gravitational force in the musical domain—it …

Two Essays On Contemporary Music, Bálint András Varga

Music & Musical Performance

Bálint András Varga (1941–2019) was an advocate for and a keen critic of contemporary music, first on radio, and later as an acquisitions editor for both Editio Hungarica and Universal-Edition. He interviewed many musical figures and planned to interview visual artists before he died. His interlocutors were impressed with Varga’s insightful questions and frequently answered them much more comprehensively than they would ones from standard journalists. These two essays were intended to be published in Varga’s third book, From Boulanger to Stockhausen: Interviews and a Memoir. The first, “What to Listen for in Music,” refers to Aaron Copland’s book …

Monarch Butterflies, Ralph Mendoza

Theses and Dissertations

This piece is a continuation of capturing my experience from my trip to Paraguay. This first part, of a three part movement, attempts to describe the beginning relationship between Human and Nature. This piece focuses on the feeling of tranquility, anxiousness and destruction.

Scores Of Nature (Volume 2), Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Research

Scores of Nature (Volume 2) is a collection of experimental notation and scores, which are created through serial, unplanned, and partially planned musical sequences overlaid onto natural scenes, spaces, or objects that the composer has taken photographs of in different places. This sequence is of five sets of images, many of them with curvature or lines that can be redesigned within an imaginative or manipulated musical staff with parallel or intersecting lines, clefs, time signatures, and other elements of a traditional score. In some cases the composer has offered a possible interpretation of the experimental score and notation through traditional …

"Overture" (For Emmanuel), Katherine Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

“Overture” (For Emmanuel) is a piece derived from twelve melodies from the composer’s original musical, Emmanuel. The piece is for full orchestra, and is five minutes and forty-seven seconds long.

Scores Of Nature (Volume 1), Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Research

1. Bone & Stone Sonata;

2. Jellyfish & Seaweed Suite;

3. Bonfire Bay Sonata;

Three works of experimental music and notation are included in Scores of Nature (Volume 1), which include pieces written on beaches with fishbone and pebbles, a bonfire and bay in Sointula, and a piece recommended for solo 'cello, where the score is an image of a beached jellyfish in a bedding of seaweed, in which the musician needs to react to the image and play what they are imagining from that image. From the description provided in the score text: "In this piece, Jellyfish & …

Cello In Film And Television Music, Annastasia M. Yoshida

Composition/Recording Projects

Throughout the ages, the cello has had a specific role in symphonies, operas, musicals, and pop concerts. In the last century, one of the fastest-growing music practices has been soundtracks to film and television shows. String instruments and specifically the cello hold an integral role within this type of music. In this project I present a study on the use of the cello in film and television show music, using eight representative soundtrack cues. In this project, I seek to do an extensive study of the use of cello within film and TV show music. I have chosen a selection …

An Analysis Of Common Music Production Elements From The 1980s: Highlighting The Musical Influences Of Michael Jackson, Prince, And Madonna, Marcus Perry

Composition/Recording Projects

This production paper analyzes the impact the music technology used in the music productions of Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna has had on today's music. The history and application of music technologies such as the Yamaha DX7 and LinnDrum are discussed at length. The music of the 1980s era played a significant role in inspiring how music sounds in the 2020s decade, and the music production elements used by Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna can still be heard today

Composition Recital Program, Cedarville University

Student Composition Recitals

No abstract provided.

Same As It Ever Was: An Exploration And Demonstration Of Techniques For Repurposing And Modernizing Advanced Musical Vocabulary In Mainstream Commercial Music, Aidan Scrivens

Composition/Recording Projects

In the market for tertiary level commercial music education, educators find themselves pulled between students' commercial stylistic interests and the seemingly incommensurable genres better suited to exploring advanced theoretical concepts and vocabulary. This divide can lead to a motivational deficiency in a student that, in turn, can hinder their development and render their collegiate experience less worth the expense. In the interest of combating this potential motivational deficiency, this recording project and accompanying paper explores and demonstrates the process of modernizing and recontextualizing material found in these less commercially mainstream genres. By adapting vocabulary and approaches learned from the transcription …

Co-Writing Nashville Style: A Recital Of Selected Country Songwriters, Joseph H. Wandass Iv

Recital Papers

Country music and songwriting have been hallmark features of the Nashville music scene for well over a century. Due to the development of the concept of "the Nashville Dream," the idea that one can "make it" in music by moving to Nashville and writing songs, migratory patterns to Nashville from across the United States have changed the ways in which Nashville-based music is created and disseminated. In the thesis and accompanying recital, these trends are analyzed through the lens of ten selected active Nashville songwriters who have seen these trends. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree …

The Planets, Reimagined: Translating Science Into Music, Kaitlyn Wincup

Honors Projects

Inspired by Gustav Holst’s The Planets, this project analyzed the qualitative properties of the planets in our Solar System and translated them into a composition, created by Connor Gibbs, to represent an overall aural depiction of each planet. Where Holst created an astrological depiction of each of the planets, this piece is an astronomical depiction that broadens the perspectives of its listeners.

Cereal Variations, Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Research

The “Cereal Variations” are short works of experimental notation using different types of cereal or other grains (rice, wheat, bran, and “Honey O’s”), in order to expand the notions of the score. Each piece is very short (10 or fewer measures) and written in C—but this should not restrict performers from transposing or trying pieces in other keys. No tempo or instrumentation is given either, so that performers may use whatever instruments they want. It is encouraged that musicians use anything from percussion to strings and even attempt slow versions of multiple voice choruses. Performers may also want to try …

Sound Chapel, Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Research

The idea of "Sound Chapel" liturgies, in the manner of matins or vespers, is that a chapel space is darkened with only the light of a single or several candles available. The organ shall play sustaining notes in various, slow, elongated and sustained ways, at the discretion of the organist. The piece shall create a meditative space with the music being of "piano" (p/pp/ppp) or quieter levels. Various "liturgies" are suggested by the composer below, but may be altered and done ad lib by the performer(s) as the tone or mood of the early morning or early evening "sound chapel" …