Music Commons^™

Claude Debussy: Harmonic Innovations In Historical And Musical Context, Ford Joseph Forqurean

Theses and Dissertations

Claude Debussy's music developed as a product of his environment and culminated in the creation of a unique harmonic vernacular that permeates the twentieth century's tonal language. Through a historical and musical context, his early life through his formative years as a composer will be examined as a natural progression of his environment. The first section of this work will discuss these developments while the second part will analyze the structure and form of the Premiere Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano to illustrate the culmination of this trajectory.

Late Romanticism pushed tonality to its breaking point. Composers were forced to …

Deconstructing David Lang's The Anvil Chorus, Brandon M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Usually, when a piece of music is taken out of context, that is, when it is learned and performed without studying the piece, the composer, the musical genre, or the historical significance, the understanding of it for the performer is narrow and limited and the performance is less than ideal. This leads to a substandard realization of the music. Contrarily, a musician should integrate research with the learning process as to enhance the comprehensive understanding of the piece, which ultimately results in a high level of performance. This idea is important for the complex and extensive musical repertoire of the …

Analysis Of Toccata And Fugue In D Minor, Isela Guerra

A with Honors Projects

This analysis will not be given as your typical analysis which is made to makes sense mathematically. We could attempt to do this but at times the very soul of music is sucked out and we lose the imagination and spirit behind it. I know this because I attempted to do this same; for that very reason this analysis will be given as a story. There will be a girl, creatures and fairies. The creature will appear when the sound and feel of the music is ominous. The fairies will appear when the sound and feel is playful. This story …

Was That A Song?, Donald J. Herzog

Articles

Jazz constantly spins off new possibilities, seizing on fusion with rock, new rhythms from Brazil and then "world music," astringent harmonies and atonal combinations from "new" music or twentieth-century "classical," and more. [...]jazz musicians have been relaxing constraints since the beginning. Piano players might keep "comping" or accompanying the soloists with well-chosen chords, but they might roam free or just stop playing.\n Again you can wonder how much of this was deliberately plotted out before the trio hit the stage, how much developed on the spot.

Pierrots Fâchés Avec La Lune: Debussy, Fauré And Ravel During World War 1, Arun Rao

Dissertations

This dissertation proposes to consider the music of French composers Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Ravel written during the Great War, under tremendous professional, personal and cultural pressures. These pressures are examined largely through these composers’ correspondence and the writings of contemporary critics, composers and artists in the first two chapters; a selection of their output from the war years, in particular their piano works and their chamber music, is the subject of the third chapter. The aim of the dissertation is to reveal certain aspirations common to all three, aspirations that were motivated, dictated even, by the political …

""A Suitable Soloist For My Piano Concerto": Teresa CarreñO As A Promoter Of Edvard Grieg's Music." Notes. 70.1 (2013): 37-58., Anna E. Kijas

Published Works

Teresa Carreño (1853–1917) first performed Edvard Grieg’s (1843– 1907) Pictures from Folk Life, op. 19 [Folkelivsbilleder] and Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 16, during her tours in the United States in the early 1880s. She continued to perform his works in the United States and abroad through 1914. Previously overlooked correspondence, reviews, and other primary sources, such as concert programs, housed in the Edvard Grieg Collection in the Bergen Offentlige Bibliothek, and the Teresa Carreño Collection in Archives and Special Collections of the Vassar College Libraries, are examined in this article in order to provide fresh …

Redesigning A Performance Practice: Synergising Woodwind Improvisation With Bespoke Software Technology., Seán Mac Erlaine

Doctoral

This research examines how the designing of a new performance practice based on the incorporation of custom digital signal processing software impacts on solo improvised woodwind performance. Through the development of bespoke software, I investigate how these new technologies can be integrated into solo woodwind performance practice. This research presents a new improvised music practice as well as a suite of new software tools and performance techniques. Through a workshop and performance-­‐based research process, a suite of software processors are developed which respond, and are complementary, to a personalised style of improvised performance. This electronic augmentation of the woodwind instrument …

Performing Jonathan Newman's "Symphony No. 1: My Hands Are A City", Joseph Corey Francis

Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to provide analysis for interpretation of and rehearsal suggestions for Jonathan Newman’s Symphony No. 1: My Hands Are a City (2009). This document serves as the first significant scholarly work on the entire composition and is intended to be a resource for musicians seeking to gain information about the work. Included in the document is a biography of Jonathan Newman, as well as history concerning the commissioning of Symphony No. 1, a formal analysis of the work, and insight to conducting concerns. Information was gathered through formal interviews with Jonathan Newman, Jeff Gershman (Associate …

The Influence Of Plainchant On French Organ Music After The Revolution, David Connolly

Doctoral

The period after the 1789 French Revolution was one of turbulence, musically, socially, culturally and politically. The violence against both people and property meant that the nineteenth century was a time of renewal and regrowth. At all times this was uncertain as numerous political upheavals took place as the French attempted to define their future direction. As with all aspects of culture, organ music experienced a slow regrowth over the course of the long nineteenth century, perhaps being at a particular disadvantage due to its role in the church, an institution which also went through a period of difficulty from …

In Search Of The Original "Skewball", Seán Ó Cadhla

Articles

The well-known horseracing ballad ‘Skewball’ has been widely documented in oral tradition on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as on numerous English broadside printings. It recounts the tale of a mid-eighteenth-century horserace held at The Curragh of Kildare, in which a heavily-backed mare is comprehensively beaten by a relatively unknown skewbald gelding leaving the mare’s owner — along with much of the assembled onlookers — significantly out of pocket. The ballad became widely popularised in North America where it was first published in a song book in 1826 (Benton 1826:3-4). It was later subsumed into African-American song tradition, …

A New Kind Of National: Modified String Quartet Practices In Post-Soviet Eurasia, Adam Taylor Lenz

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the practices of string quartet modification implemented by three post-Soviet Eurasian composers: Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (Azerbaijan), Vache Sharafyan (Armenia), and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky (Uzbekistan). After an introduction to the geography of the region and the biographies of the composers, their works containing modified string quartet configurations are examined within three distinct modification practices. These practices consist of the addition of outside instruments, the addition of electronic components, and the alteration of performance practice. The evaluation of these techniques is carried out through musical analysis and examination of cultural context. After each work has been examined, the body of works …

A Study Of Music, Embodiment, And Meaning In The World Of Portal, Helen A. Rowe

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Interactive video game music is a relatively new and quickly expanding art form, incorporating elements of music history, cinema, and video game theory. This study explores how music functions, reveals meaning, and defines player experience within the interactive world of the video games Portal and Portal 2—and how the paradoxical, twisting essence of the Portal world is created and shaped musically. Ultimately, this is a study of the continued existence and relevance of classical music and traditional music history in the futuristic world of video games.

The Self-Fashioning Of A Consummate Musical Orator, Alexis A. Vanzalen

Lawrence University Honors Projects

In 1697 the organist and composer Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707) was deemed “world famous” by a guidebook to the German city in which he lived, Lübeck. Such public acclaim for a musician was unusual in this society where musicians were generally looked down upon and stereotyped as dishonorable and picaresque outsiders. In this context, Buxtehude’s situation begs the question, how did he come to have such an esteemed reputation?

As I will argue, Buxtehude actively fashioned his reputation as an adept member of his capitalistic society, a useful civil servant, and an accomplished and complete musician, throughout his life. In large …

Don Januario, Gustavo Leone

Department of Fine & Performing Arts: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Don Januario is a traditional song from Bolivia. It was collected by musicians from the ensemble Florilegium, and published on their CD, Música de las Misiones y de la Plata (Sucre). This is an original version of the song and a series of variations in the style of the local baroque.

The Carols Of The Ritson Manuscript, Bl Add. 5665, At Exeter Cathedral: Repertory And Context, Anastasia S. Pilato

Honors Scholar Theses

The fifteenth century saw the development of a substantial body of English songs known as carols, characterized by a strophe (multiple stanzas of text set to the same music) and refrain. While late medieval carols enjoyed great popularity, the occasions for their performance remain obscure. Carols on both sacred and secular themes abound, written in Latin, vernacular languages, or a mixture of both. Partially as a result of this fluidity, scholars have proposed widely varying theories about the origins and use of these pieces.

This thesis approaches the question of performance contexts for carols of the late Middle Ages through …

Mary In Three Movements, John E. Accola, Jr

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Mary in Three Movements is an imagined account of how Mary might have felt and observed her experiences through the three most important events of both Christian and human existence, the conception, the birth, and finally the death of her son. I have attempted to remain true to the biblical Marian references which primarily speak to Mary as a young woman in a first century patriarchal Roman Jewish society. Therefore, I have taken these three events and put them to verse for mezzo-soprano with piano accompaniment. The accompanying paper outlines both the historical and musical context in which this project …

The Effects Of Totalitarian Regimes And The Individual On Russian And Soviet Music, Tyler Christian Mills

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper addresses the development of Russian and Soviet music from the 1860’s through Stalin’s terror in the late 1930’s. It focuses on the constraints placed on the composers by the totalitarian regime and how these individual composers were able to not only survive, but leave a greater impact on the development and style of music than the state that was constraining them. The paper focuses on how individual composers were able to use their innovation and talent to create unique material that captivated audiences both at home and abroad.

From Unsung To High-Strung: The Development Of The Viola Through The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, As It Is Used To Introduce Fugues, Anthony Vincent Dell'osso

Music

This paper looks at the development of the viola through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and considers why it has been used to introduce fugues more and more often. The viola has historically been an unimportant filler instrument, but beginning in the nineteenth century, and continuing to the present day, it has been given an increasingly important role in contrapuntal orchestral and chamber music. This study considers twelve pieces in which a fugue is launched by the viola.

Django's Caravan: The Journey Of The Gypsy King, Patrick Ray Monson

Music

The life and musical contribution of Django Reinhardt including musical and visual examples.

Adapting J.S. Bach's Solo Violin Sonatas And Partitas For The Marimba: Broken Chord And Arpeggio Performance Practices, Jason Eugene Mathena

Dissertations

This purpose of this study is to provide the keyboard percussionist with information and examples for breaking chords and properly executing arpeggio passages in J. S. Bach’s solo violin Sonatas and Partitas. Primary sources included Baroque treatises on performance practice and recent scholarship of the past one hundred years. Various editions of the Sonatas and Partitas were surveyed for this document but, in the end, only Bach’s autograph manuscript and Gunther Hausswald’s critical edition were used for the musical examples as well as the marimba transcriptions included in appendices.

Topics covered are appropriate places to break chords and the various …

The Introduction Of The Black Conductor, Akeila Thomas

Undergraduate Research Conference

The conductor has become a position of great influence and necessity to the performing ensemble due to innovations in performance between the Baroque and mid to late Romantic periods. With such prominence given to the title, one such conductor has gained very little mention throughout the course of music's history. African-American musicians have played such a catalytic role in the shape and progression of Western music.

The Choral Works Of Hamish Maccunn (1868–1916), Jennifer Oates

Publications and Research

This article provides an overview of the partsongs of Hamish MacCunn and places them within the context of British choral music in the nineteenth century. A complete list of MacCunn's partsongs are included. To access the embedded sound files, access the article via the American Choral Review homepage.

Across The Red Steppe: Exploring Mongolian Music In China And Exporting It From Within, Thalea C. Davis

Masters Theses

Mongolian music culture as it exists in China is a unique entity unto itself as it features a base of traditional Mongolian practice and also includes aspects of Chinese music and culture. As the world becomes more interconnected and as China continues to display a markedly Han society to the world at large, Mongolian musicians and Mongolian-music enthusiasts in China maintain and evolve their musical culture in a nebulous middle-ground between Mongolian and Han-Chinese culture. How Mongolian music culture in China came to be and its ultimate function in global society are the key questions being investigated in this thesis. …

Commonality And Diversity In Recordings Of Beethoven’S Middle-Period String Quartets, Nancy November

Performance Practice Review

A widespread opinion in recent research about the performance of Beethoven’s works is that artists need to restore a connection to "tradition," and that recordings from the early twentieth century can help with this. However, these early recordings tell us most about the aesthetics and performance ideals of their day, and hence how Beethoven and his string quartets were received by early twentieth-century audiences. Case studies of early recordings of Beethoven middle-period quartets reveal ways in which these these performances differed, sometimes radically, from the kinds of performances Beethoven would have expected to hear, especially with regard to the use …

Unearthing Forgotten Treasures: Anonymous Arias With Obbligato Violoncello At The Estense Library, Modena, Alessandro Sanguineti

Performance Practice Review

Recent studies regarding the first steps of the violoncello in North Italy at the end of the seventeenth century have been concentrating on the vast musical output collected by Francesco II, Duke of Modena, now held at the Biblioteca Estense Universitaria. Nonetheless, there is still a conspicuous number of anonymous manuscripts copied in Modena at the end of the seventeenth century containing opera arias which include several examples with obbligato violoncello. A connection has been made with one of these collections and a particular performance of L’Ercole Trionfante in Piacenza in 1688 with music by the composer and organist Bernardo …

In Search Of Song: The Life And Times Of Lucy Broadwood, By Dorothy De Val (Review), Julian Onderdonk

Music Theory, History & Composition Faculty Publications & Performances

No abstract provided.

Gerald Barry, Mark Fitzgerald

Books/Book Chapters

Gerald Barry (b 1952) Biography, List of Compositions, Bibliography

[Sabbatical Report], Mary Wolinski

Sabbatical Reports

My work in the academic year 2013- 14 has resulted in a manuscript of approximately 75,000 words. The monograph, entitled The Making of W2: Musical Compilation and Intention in the Shadow of Notre Dame. is a study of the creation of the thirteenth-century Parisian manuscript 1099, known as W2 and preserved in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel, Germany.

Ben Wendel : The Manipulation Of Sound And 'Shapes' In The Construction Of An Improvised Solo, Luke Christopher Minness

Theses : Honours

The aim of this dissertation is to define and analyse several idiosyncratic devices utilised by tenor saxophonist Ben Wendel in order to manipulate elements of sound, rhythm and melody in the construction of an improvised solo. Through transcription and analysis of selected improvisations performed both live and in the recording studio. This paper will also outline and observe Wendel’s use of several articulation techniques as well as examining key methods of manipulating melodic and rhythmic cells unique to Wendel’s improvisational style. Definitions of each device and their application will be taken from transcription analysis of solos taken over "What …

Hispanismo En Seis Cuerdas, Roberto Hermosillo

Global Tides

This article is a survey on the role that the guitar plays in the Spanish-speaking countries of the world. The guitar, introduced by Spaniards in Spanish America, reflects the culture of every country that has adopted the instrument as part of their culture. Such reflection can be observed by finding traces of cultures of some countries such as Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and Cuba in the guitar music of each of those nations. The guitar, as a cultural icon, can also be observed in other forms of art from such places such as literature and painting. Finally, the article gives a …