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Man And Idea: Complexity And Duality In The Hero Of Wagner's "Ring", Elizabeth Mary Szott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The character Siegfried, much like the whole of Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, is open to interpretation by scholars and critics from a variety of different perspectives. Although these interpretations often reflect the historical, political, and cultural circumstances of their times, they nevertheless claim some legitimacy by appealing to the musical and dramatic texts of the Ring for evidence. This thesis examines Wagner's conception of Siegfried and different historical perceptions of the character, discusses ambiguity both in the drama and in the music itself, and suggests a reading of Siegfried as having a dual purpose: that of …

Schubert: The Musical Poet Sonata D 959 And Its Pianistic Challenges, Natalia Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Schubert composed the last three piano sonatas in September of 1828, and these works represent the peak of the composer's achievement in the sonata genre. Schubert's distinctive style lies in his compositional voice, which originated in his lieder, but projected equally well to the medium of piano and other instrumental works.

Some research on pianistic challenges and my own experience playing the sonata have been applied to better understand and experience the depth of Schubert's music on a fuller scale. I have found that the particular challenge of the A Major Sonata in D 959 is the extended length …

Neoclassical Pioneers: Neoclassicism Before Stravinsky, Breanna Corah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For a century and a half composers have been inspired by the classic works of composers from the Baroque and Classical periods. Composers who returned to the sounds and structures of the classics and used them as a model were called neoclassicists and created a new genre of music often identified as neoclassicism. It is commonly understood that the composer Igor Stravinsky and his contemporaries created this genre of music in the 1920s. However, Stravinsky would not have been able to promote this genre of music without the initial efforts of pioneer composers. In fact, composers were experimenting with neoclassicism …