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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
One For The History Books Or The Trash? Changes In American Piano Literature, S. Andrew Granade
One For The History Books Or The Trash? Changes In American Piano Literature, S. Andrew Granade
Honors Theses
Since the eighteenth century, the piano has been one of the dominant instruments for musical expression. In numerical terms, only the symphony orchestra can boast a larger repertoire than the piano. Most of that vast amount of literature was composed during the nineteenth century. At the beginning of that century, technological advances allowed piano makers to add more notes to the instrument's range and more strings to existing notes to strengthen the sound and timbre they produced. In its basic design, that of small hammers striking three strings each, the piano is a percussive instrument. The advances of the nineteenth …
The Techniques Of Impressionism In The Preludes Of Claude Debussy, Janet Duffel
The Techniques Of Impressionism In The Preludes Of Claude Debussy, Janet Duffel
Honors Theses
Claude Debussy, called by Bartok "the greatest composer of our period," was one of the most important composers in the history of piano music. He introduced a new approach to musical composition which is best summed up in an excerpt from a letter written by Debussy in 1885: "I don't think I shall ever be able to put music into a strict mold. I'm not speaking of musical form; its a literary question. I shall always prefer a subject where, somehow, action is sacrificed to feeling. It seems to me that music thus becomes more human and one can then …