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If There's No "Fat Lady," When Is The Opera Over? An Exploration Of Changing Physical Image Standards In Present-Day Opera, Emily L. Stephenson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though present-day American society generally assumes opera is one of the few remaining entertainment fields where talent matters more than physical appearance, as the 2004 firing of Deborah Voigt demonstrates, present-day opera singers are increasingly being held to stricter image standards. In 2004, Covent Garden dismissed Voigt from their production of Ariadne auf Naxos, in which Voigt was supposed to reprise her critically acclaimed interpretation of the title role. According to Voigt, Covent Garden's casting director Peter Katona felt that she was too large to fit into the black dress the new production required of the character. Voigt's removal …

Graduate Recital, Clarinet, Flute, Bassoon, Christopher Ciarlariello

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital features three members of the woodwind family: clarinet, flute, and bassoon. The primary focus of this recital is on the clarinet repertoire. The music ranges across the eras, from Baroque to 20th Century, and is written by composers from North America and Europe. Along with the wide range of compositional styles, the music presents the virtuosity and range of the woodwind family. Brahms' Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, No. 1 demonstrates a very classical approach to the clarinet after he was inspired by clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. Harvey's Three Etudes on Themes of Gershwin focuses more on a jazz …

Graduate Recital, Voice, Rebecca Belczyk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This graduate recital in voice presents a wide scope of the soprano recital repertoire and explores the relationship between music and literature throughout the centuries. Mozart's "Bella mia fiamma… Resta, o cara, " K. 528 represents the Italian Classical period; the text is based on the Roman myth of the goddess Ceres. Strauss' Drei Lieder der Ophelia, Op. 67 represents German Lieder from the late-Romantic period; the set presents a German translation of Ophelia's mad scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Argento's Six Elizabethan Songs represent 20th-century music, but Argento draws the text from various poets of the Elizabethan era. Selected songs …

Graduate Recital, Viola, Kate Kroko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital explores the solo viola literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. Pieces range in date from 1922 to 2005 and present the various styles and techniques of virtuoso viola playing developed in the modern era. The selection of pieces presented on this recital chronicles the viola's journey to become a legitimate solo instrument in the 20th century. Works performed include: Cadenza per viola sola by Krzysztof Penderecki, Purple Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra by Joan Tower, Suite for Viola Solo (Unfinished) by Ernest Bloch, Lamentations of Jeremiah for Viola Solo by Milton Barnes, and Sonata for Viola and …

Mississippi Breakdown: A New Look At The Mississippi Old Time Fiddle Music Traditions, Joseph Jamison Hollister

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a cultural study that focuses on the fiddle music of Mississippi. It includes both Anglo and African American roots. Also, the white blues fiddle traditions of Mississippi are examined and analyzed.

Graduate Recital, Vocal Performance, Christopher Fiano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The master of music recital, being one of my final musical endeavors before the completion of my graduate degree in vocal performance, featured a wide variety of repertoire. As a new member of the tenor fach, finding music that is challenging and appropriate for my level of development was difficult. The recital featured works by Stefano Donaudy, Hugo Wolf, Èduardo Lalo, Gabriel Faurè, Georges Bizet, and Samuel Barber. Each musical set presented its own challenges. The Italian set by Donaudy featured smooth legato vocal lines intertwined with a thick musical texture and lavish supportive harmonies. The German Wolf set featured …

Graduate Recital, Violin, Ingrid Gerling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital's program consists of Romantic works, which are part of the standard repertoire for violin. The Carmen Fantasy composed by Pablo de Sarasate is one of the most popular showpieces for the violin. The Violin Sonata by Ottorino Respighi is not as well known as other violin sonatas, but is gradually gaining more exposure. The Saint-Saens Sonata No. 1 is a very energetic and virtuosic work that showcases Saint-Saens brilliant compositional talents. These three pieces came together in this recital to produce and challenging and exciting program, which was both entertaining to the audience, and an excellent learning experience …

Graduate Recital, Saxophone, Abby Gross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The young age of the saxophone in the existence of the music world has influenced the instrument's repertoire and programs to be versatile in genres and stylistic influences. This program features styles from several time periods and cultures including 20th and 21st century contemporary saxophone and piano duets, Brazilian choro, electronic music, and jazz. The nature of the instrument also allows pieces written for other instruments to take a different characteristic and open new meaning to a piece when played on the saxophone. For example, the element of passion in Brahms's Sonata in F minor No. 1 for clarinet takes …

Graduation Recital, Piano, Jamie Mazza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This graduate recital features significant piano works from the major periods in music history. The opening pieces - the Scarlatti sonatas - are technically challenging but allow the pianist to show a great deal of expression. Schumann's Liederkreis, Op. 39 as well as the Weisgarber Sonatine are collaborative works; the first features a soprano soloist and the second is written for flute, clarinet, and piano. Ending the first half of the program is Schumann's Concerto in A minor, op. 54, extremely challenging for both soloist and accompanist, especially during the cadenza. The second half of the recital includes another contemporary …

Graduate Recital, Voice, Elizabeth Patterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Entitled "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman: Pastoral Reflections by Passionate Women," this recital seeks to sing the unsung. The program features music of forgotten composers, forgotten cultures, and especially of forgotten women. The recital speaks on behalf of these composers through pastoral themes. The women of these texts express love and loss through communion with nature. They see their hearts' reflections in the sun and the moon, the flowers, the birds, and the seasons. These women articulate their emotions and explore their identities within a pastoral framework.

Graduate Recital, Clarinet, Paul Quinn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital seeks to explore the various ways in which Eastern-European composers have utilized traditional folk-music as inspiration for their works. The programing focuses on several techniques used as a means for synthesizing folk-songs and art-music, ranging from setting preexisting melodies to accompaniment, to manipulating the idiomatic musical and linguistic features of folk-music as the basis for one's musical language. In addition, this recital reveals the wide range of styles and genres, including neoclassicism, expressionism, and polytonality, that can be derived from Eastern-European folk-songs. In this regard, the program itself highlights the relevance of folk-music as a viable source of …

Graduate Recital, Violin, Caitlin Shroyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sonata in C Major for Violin

J.S. Bach

Bach began composing his six sonatas and partitas for solo violin while in Weimar, but completed the set during his time as Kapellmeister in Köthen. Although completed in 1720, during a time in which the solo violin repertoire was actively growing, these works were not published until 1802 and did not gain recognition until Josef Joachim began performing them. Today the six sonatas and partitas are an essential part of the violin repertoire and have served as an example for later polyphonic compositions for solo violin. The Sonata in C Major is …

Graduate Recital, Trumpet, Stephen Slivka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My concept for this recital was to pay tribute to the trumpet lineage of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. I owe a great deal to Blakey, as some of the trumpeters in this group are my biggest influences. Lee Morgan made such an impact on Bobby Timmons' "Moanin" that future Messengers horn players would quote the beginning and ending of Lee's solo. This tune became synonymous with the Jazz Messengers. Horace Silver's composition "Nica's Dream" was recorded on an album featuring trumpeter Donald Byrd. The beautiful Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach ballad "Yesterdays" was a personal favorite of Kenny …

Transforming The Past : Luciano Berio's Appropriation Of Folk Materials And Idioms In "Folk Songs" (1964)., Jamison Tyler Fritts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this preliminary search for a coherent and continuous cohesion of western art and folk music-cultures, Berio utilizes folk songs from seven distinct as the basis for composition. The technique for combining western classical and folk music is one that Berio modified throughout his career, although it is with Folk Songs that the appropriation of vernacular musical idioms is most transparent. In the arrangement of the songs for this cycle, Berio circumvents his earlier handling of the vocal line as evident in Circles (1960) and Epifianie (1961/65). The unencumbered lyricism demonstrates a desire, on some level, to preserve the identifying …

Graduate Recital, Euphonium, Jeffrey A. Stentaford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This M.M. thesis, encompasses a variety of styles which showcase both the natural technical and vocal ability of the euphonium. It also demonstrates versatility, a trait that has enabled the continued success and development of this unique instrument. This thesis features a recently accepted addition to the euphonium repertoire, Euphonium Concerto by Jukka Linkola. Transcriptions, since the euphonium's conception, have been the pillar of its repertoire library. Transcriptions included in the thesis are Andante and Rondo by Antonio Capuzzi and Piece En Forme De Habanera by Maurice Ravel. Finally, it features traditional tunes from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, by the …

Graduate Recital, Flute, Joo Yeon Jung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Andre Jolivet is an iconic figure in contemporary French music. Many of his composition have a unique configuration of high character, maturity, combined with a sense of mysticism, religious influence, and the concept of returning to its origin give the foundation for Jolivet's music. Jolivet's composition, Chant De Linos, was composed during his mid-life stage (2nd stage) for the Paris Conservatory as a competition piece for the Morceau de Concours. Chant de Linos is a literal translation "Linos' Song" and depicts a chant during an ancient Greek funeral. Jolivet combined the Greek funeral chant with his unique compositional style. "Mourning", …

Graduate Recital, Trumpet, Christine Betschart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My graduate recital included two major works for solo trumpet and piano and five works for brass quartet. The works for solo trumpet and piano that were performed were Second Concerto Pour Trompette by Andre Jolivet and Sonata Prima by Giovanni Buonaventura Vivianni. The five pieces for brass quartet that were performed were a Stephen McNeff arrangement of Fanfare from Orfeo by Monteverdi, a William Schmidt arrangement of Fuga I by Johann Sebastian Bach, Canzona per sonare No. 1 La Spiritata by Giovanni Gabrieli, Suite for Brass Quartet by Robert Sanders, and a Bill Holcombe arrangement of Pineapple Rag by …

Saint-Saens' "Other": Orientalism In Samson Et Dalila, Elizabeth Janelle Sallinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Subtleties in art and music have always been a factor in swaying people's ideas and opinions. Some pieces of music make a direct attempt to communicate and influence how one should view a certain group of people or a culture, often creating a great social divide and a tense atmosphere. Ralph Locke and Edward Said explain "Orientalism" as "a corporate institution for dealing with the Orient- dealing with it by making statements about it . . . a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient." Though Orientalism began as working with just a Far Eastern sound, …

Being Touched By Music: A Phenomenological-Hermeneutical Approach To Understanding Tranformational Musical Experience, Kurt Kumler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the lived experience of being personally transformed by listening to music. The investigation started with an exploration of the literature that relates to the phenomenon of musical transformation, including natural-scientific research as well as ideas from musicology, ethnomusicology, psychology, literature, and philosophy. This research was designed to access the nuanced and subjective aspects of the phenomenon by attending to the experience as lived by the experiencer. The method was qualitative in nature, based on a phenomenological-hermeneutical methodology. Throughout the research process, the researcher maintained a reflexive stance, attending to assumptions and preconceptions held about the phenomenon. This …

Multicultural Music Perspectives Of Faculty Members At The University Of Mississippi / By Jill A. Ward, Jill A. Ward

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Violent Lyric Content In Rap Music On Aggressive Behavior, Catherine Rose Michas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Candid Attitudes Of The Twentieth Century Negro Toward The Performance Of Negro Spirituals, Clarence Samuel Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Negro Art, Vera Helena Richards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, submitted to Xavier University in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1932, surveys the contributions of Black artists to literature and music in America, situating these contributions within a broader history of African civilization and creative achievement. The thesis opens with a discussion of ancient African scientific, religious, and artistic accomplishments before turning to its central focus on Black American literary and musical figures from the eighteenth through early twentieth centuries.

The thesis profiles a series of poets and writers, including Phyllis Wheatley, described as the first Black woman in American literature; Paul …