Musicology Commons^™

Cornell University Verdi Study Day 2013: Overview, David B. Rosen, Francesco Izzo, Alessandra Campana, Mary Ann Smart

Verdi Forum

Includes abstracts by Francesco Izzo ("'Quel vecchio': Some Thoughts on Old Age and Aging in Verdi"), Alessandra Campana ("Otello, Falstaff, and the Scene of Spectatorship"), David B. Rosen ("How Verdi's Minor-Mode Set Pieces End -- i, I, or X? -- and Why"), and Mary Ann Smart ("Art and Revolution Italian Style: Ambivalence and Absolutism in Verdi's Early Operas")

Review: "The Life And Operas Of Verdi" By Robert Greenberg, David B. Rosen

Verdi Forum

No abstract provided.

A Footnote To Harold Powers' 'La Dama Velata' (On Un Ballo In Maschera, Act Ii), William Rothstein

Verdi Forum

No abstract provided.

New Tools In Improvised Music Performance., Seán Mac Erlaine

Articles

This paper looks at the synthesis of computer technology and instrumental practice in improvised music performance. The emerging field of performers who use real-time signal processing as a technological extension of their instrument is discussed. How do new tools affect musical practice? Does the use of computers impose an associated aesthetic?

A number of key players are scrutinised including Evan Parker, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Jon Hassell, Miles Davis, Pauline Oliveros, David Behrman. The research provides a historical context to these practices and explores how pre- and post-digital technologies have shaped their work.

This article identifies an innovative and …

Questions Of Authorship In Josquin, Monteverdi, And Mozart: Documentary Versus Stylistic Evidence, Jillian Andersen

Summer Research

No abstract provided.

Nielsen's Arcadia: The Case Of The Flute Concerto, Ryan M. Ross

College of Education Publications and Scholarship

In this essay I suggest that there are distinct patterns pertaining to the Flute Concerto involving the idea of ‘Arcadia’ as it contrasts an idyllic past with a troubled present. In my analysis, I argue that his positioning of simple themes with relation to their surroundings in the concerto’s two movements suggests a process-driven search for an Arcadian ideal. As such, and far from simply being merely an interesting work with several beautiful moments, the concerto is an important access point both for further understanding Nielsen’s creative approach to form and his late-period preoccupation with the idea of simplicity

Ulrich Siegfried Leupold (1909-70), Paul Helmer

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Music In Print: The New-England Tunebook, Francis Russo

The Trinity Papers (2011 - present)

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of The Sacred Choral-Orchestral Works Of Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941), Martin C. Cook

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

In the closing years of the 19th Century, when Charles Villiers Stanford, Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar were at the height of their fame and influence in British musical society Henry Walford Davies emerged as one of the most promising talents of the day, receiving commissions from the provincial music festivals of Great Britain, which were a rite of passage for emerging composers.

Between 1904 and 1929 Davies produced eleven sacred choral-orchestral works for these festivals and one further work, which were received favorably in their day but are now almost forgotten. There are five large multi movement works: The …

William Byrd: Political And Recusant Composer, Ariel Foshay Bacon

Musical Offerings

Amidst the pendulum of political and religious upheaval that pervaded England throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth century, William Byrd stands as one of the best loved and lauded composers. Byrd succeeded in the secular and sacred realms, contributing great works to the Anglican Church, popularizing the English madrigal and producing prolific amounts of sacred music. However, in a time where one’s religious beliefs were often linked with political loyalty, Byrd defied his monarch’s established and enforced Protestant religion, composing politically charged music for recusant use in clandestine Catholic Church services. His themes were aligned with the Jesuit mission and his …

Sacred German Music In The Thirty Years’ War, Brandi Hoffer

Musical Offerings

The religious and political turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War significantly impacted the performance and preservation of sacred Baroque music in the German lands. Conflict between the Catholics and Protestants created an unstable social environment, which resulted in a myriad of responses from composers and performers. Leading composers including Heinrich Schütz, Michael Praetorius, Thomas Selle, and Heinrich Scheidemann, expressed their values either overtly or implicitly depending upon their occupational, geographical, political, and religious positions. Research indicates that the influences of the Thirty Years’ War created an ideal environment for the flourishing of the following German music in the late Baroque …

Guido Of Arezzo And His Influence On Music Learning, Anna J. Reisenweaver

Musical Offerings

Throughout the history of Western music, Guido of Arezzo stands out as one of the most influential theorists and pedagogues of the Middle Ages. His developments of the hexachord system, solmization syllables, and music notation revolutionized the teaching and learning of music during his time and laid the foundation for our modern system of music. While previous theorists were interested in the philosophical and mathematical nature of music, Guido’s desire to aid singers in the learning process was practical. Through his innovations, students were able to classify, sight-sing, and visualize the music they were learning, ultimately resulting in an easier, …

Fiestas, For 12 Percussionists, Bruno Louchourn

Bruno Louchouarn

Fiestas is conceptually inspired by the "Feasts" as social rituals. The musical process and form mirror aspects of group dynamic in these gatherings. Although a few individual players may at times dominate, the ensemble has to "conduct" itself with several sub-groups emerging and disappearing. The main theme, introduced by hand claps, is an oscillation slowly quickening to a fast trepidation, giving way to a stable polyrhythm. The degree of synchronization between players or groups of players varies and generally increases toward more order as the piece unfolds. I wanted to impart a sense of “orchestra” to the group with relatively …

Karol Szymanowski. Etude Op. 4 No. 3, Oscar Macchioni

Oscar Macchioni

Oscar Macchioni plays Karol Szymanowski's Etude Op. 4 No. 3 in B-minor

Various Opera Reviews (2012-17), Edmond Johnson

Edmond Johnson

• The Rake's Progress (Music Academy of the West, 2012);
• The Magic Flute (Music Academy of the West, 2013);
• Cenerentola (Music Academy of the West, 2015);
• Carmen (Opera Santa Barbara, 2016); and
• La Rondine (Opera Santa Barbara, 2017)

Stravinsky, Tempo, And Le Sacre, Erica Heisler Buxbaum

Performance Practice Review

In reviews of recorded performances by others of Le sacre du printemps, Stravinsky contradicted his metronome markings and his own recorded performance tempos. His preferred tempos in the reviews encompass a range wider than the markings imply, yet more narrow than his own performance tempos suggest.

The "Not-So-Precisely Measured" Music Of The Middle Ages, Hendrik Van Der Werf

Performance Practice Review

Evidence from medieval writers, musical notation, and variant readings in the sources all suggest that troubadour and trouvere songs were performed in more or less equal note values and in a manner that presented the poetry clearly.

'Back To The Land': Performance Practice And The Classic Period, Malcom S. Cole

Performance Practice Review

Although much valuable work has been done on performance practice in the Classic period, many issues await detailed study.

The Performance Of French Baroque Music: A Report On The State Of Current Research, Albert Cohen

Performance Practice Review

A survey, with a bibliography, of published research on French Baroque performance practice that appeared during the period 1978-88.

The Maturation Of Pulse: The Rhythmic Evolution From Swing To Bebop, Sam Weber

Masters Theses

The musical style that came to prominence in US in the 1940s, known as bebop, is a style that is remembered and discussed in terms of its harmonic characteristics and its notable soloists. This is the view that is taken in most scholarly writing on the music and also the view that is taught to most students of jazz today. However, there is arguably an equally if not more profound evolution in the rhythmic language of this music which is almost totally un-discussed. By digitally analyzing recordings, tracing musical and personal influence, and by examining related technological developments, it becomes …