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Composers At War: A Study Of Composers Who Fought In World War I And World War Ii, Jason T. Hoffmann

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This research document explores the connections between the war experiences of four composers and whether the possibility existed that any of the composers had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), moral injury, mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI), traumatic brain injury (TBI) or chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Scholars have not thoroughly examined the music of composers written before, during, and after war experiences and any potential changes to musical styles or compositional techniques. In my research I look at the effects that war can have on composers through autobiographical and biographical accounts of Ivor Gurney (WWI), Olivier Messiaen (WWII), Maurice Ravel (WWI), and …

Qigang Chen’S Synthesis Of Multicultural Compositional Features In Er Huang, Isaac Reel

Student Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to identify prominent multicultural features of Qigang Chen's piano concerto, "Er Huang." It looks at theoretical aspects borrowed from Chinese practice as well as the practices of Chen's mentor Olivier Messiaen. This thesis then shows how Chen synthesizes those traditions. Chinese concepts discussed are banqiang, gong shift, bian sheng (changed notes) and the specific luogu dianzi (percussion topoi from beijing opera) ji-ji-feng. Messiaenic concepts discussed are motivic recycling and transformation, added values, irregular augmentation and diminution, modalism and rhythmic contrast.

An Exploration Of Octatonicism: From Liszt To Takemitsu, Yagan M. Kiely

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The octatonic pitch set can be found in the works of many composers since the early nineteenth century, often with different characteristics of the pitch set being exploited by the composers. Much of the literature on octatonicism relates to specific instances in compositions or a specific composer’s approach to it rather than exploring octatonicism from a more holistic perspective. This dissertation serves as a holistic resource for the characteristics of the octatonic pitch set; whether as a scale, especially with regards to common practice harmony; or an unordered set. It does this by considering the contextual historical implications of the …

Escaping Time: Messiaen’S Musical Language, Religious Symbolism, And Undermining Time In Quatour Pour La Fin Du Temps, Sarra Elizabeth Hey-Folick

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Scholars, including Robert Fallon and Wilfred Mellers, understand Olivier Messiaen’s Quatour pour la fin du Temps through the lens of war and captivity. Written during Messiaen’s imprisonment in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII A during World War II, Quatour portrays the biblical “end of time” described in the book of Revelations. Messiaen drew connections between Quatour and the apocalypse with references to the angel of the apocalypse, the abyss, and the end of time. Messiaen, along with Étienne Pasquier, Jean Le Boulaire, and Henri Akoka premiered Quatour on January, 15th 1941, for their fellow prisoners and guards …

Eternity In Art: The Embodiment And Transcendence Of Time In Proust And Messiaen, Yichun Wu

Senior Projects Fall 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

1981: One Or Several Aesthetics?, Jacob Norris

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Gilles Deleuze’s monograph on Francis Bacon, The Logic of Sensation (1981), proposes a theory of aesthetic experience that prioritizes the material depths of sensation over stable, identifiable forms. Deleuze’s key references in The Logic of Sensation to playwright Antonin Artaud arouse the suspicion that Artaud’s schizophrenic experience of language, wherein words are reduced to phonetic ramblings, illuminates how Deleuze interprets this chaos of sensation in Bacon’s art. My work therefore calls back to The Logic of Sense (1969) and the first section of his book on Masochism (1967) to explore the waves of consistency between Deleuze’s understanding of language and …

Sonority And Linear Structure In Three Early Works Of Olivier Messiaen, Krista Lenore Beckman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study I examine three early works of Olivier Messiaen: the motet O sacrum convivium (1937), "La colombe" from the eight piano preludes (1928-9), and the closing passage of "La fiancée perdue" from the song cycle Trois méodies (1930). All three works exhibit varying degrees of tonal behavior in combination with a foreground focus on harmonic sonority. As such, I approach each of them with two contrasting analytic methods: modified Schenkerian linear-reductive analysis, informed by the interaction of diatonic and octatonic collections, and set-class analysis. The latter approach incorporates the harmonic complexity index (HCI) as an innovative harmonic measure …

Olivier Messiaen’S Couleurs De La Cité Céleste: A Conductor’S Guide, Michael Thomas King

Theses and Dissertations

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) was one of the leading composers of the twentieth century. He was renowned for developing his own personal style of composition of which he outlined in his Technique de mon Language Musical. This style includes the use of color chords, birdsong, plainchant, and Hindu and Greek rhythms. His compositions were written for, and championed by conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, and of course his primary artistic partner, pianist Yvonne Loriod.

Over the course of his compositional career, Messiaen wrote five works for winds and percussion. The first three works Oiseaux exotiques, Couleurs de …

Otterbein Aegis Spring 2013, Otterbein Aegis

Aegis: The Otterbein Humanities Journal

Contents: Editors’ Introduction; Interview with Dr. Terry Castle; Interview with Dr. Karen Stohr; Essays: Olivier Messiaen and the Quartet for the End of Time—Jody Sjogren; No Ultimatums Necessary: Defending Diverse Poetry—Beth Gier; Are Negative Duties Enough? Basic Goods Deficits and the Institutional Approach to Human Rights—Beth Dwyer; Israel contra Becker: Rescuing the Enlightenment?—Emmy Hammond; Book Reviews: Ruins—Zach Alexander; Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace—Toshia Fries; Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times—Beth Dwyer; Mortality—Emmy Hammond; Gone Girl—Whitney Reed; Ten Thousand Saints—Beth Gier; The …

Unity Through Duality: An Exploration Of Paradox In Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant-Jesus Vol Ii, Deirdre Hatch

Dissertations

Contemplation de l'Ellfant-Dieu de la creche et ReBards qui se posent sur lui : depuis le Regard indicible de Dieu le Pere jusqu'au Regard multiple de l'Kglise d'amour, en passant par le Regard inoui tie l'Esprit de joie, par le Regard si tendre de la Vierge, p'uis des Anges, des Mages et des creatures im'.naterieUes ou symboliques (le Temps, les Hauteurs, re Stlence, l'Etoile, la Croix). L'Etoile et la Croi:c ontle m!me theme parce que l'une ouvre etl'autre ferme la periode terre!\lre de Jesus. Le theme de Dieu se retrouve evidemment dans les "Regards du Pere", "du FiIs" et "de …

Unity Through Duality: An Exploration Of Paradox In Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant-Jesus Vol. I, Deirdre Hatch

Dissertations

Olivier Messiaen is one of the major musical figures of the twentieth century. His music draws on a diverse set of influences, yet always remains unique and entirely his own. His unwavering religious beliefs constitute the source of inspiration behind most of his music. Vingt Regards sur ['Enfant-Jesus for solo piano was composed in 1944. It forms a powerful and personal musical statement concerning one of the central mysteries of the Catholic faith, the Incarnation. As such, it is an important work within Messiaen's output. Its musical language and spiritual message are typical ofMessiaen's style.