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Salome- Femme Fatale, Gaze And Rejection Of The Feminine, Ramya Thiyagarajan

Publications and Research

Salome was an unnamed, minor character in the New Testament of Mark and Matthew, an innocent girl who is presented as a pawn in her mother’s scheme to behead John the Baptist. Over time, Salome developed a life of her own, from being imagined as an acrobat in the Middle Ages, to a virgin beauty in the Renaissance and for Christians a constant example of evil woman. In 1891, Salome was reborn as the erotic femme fatale through the imagination of Oscar Wilde and given an existence on the stage, though the play was banned for years. Only after an …

Investigating The Marketing Language Among Online Retailers Of Violin Strings To Determine The Implied Aesthetic, Kira Kay Browning

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The aim of this research is to determine if language in the advertising of violin strings is acting as an exclusionary tool in favor of a Western art music “sound” produced by “classical” violinists. It posits that the marketing of strings to violinists is a topic laden with unacknowledged biases and values of musicians within Western art music. The aesthetic values attached to playing Western art music for the violin in the United States are passed on through pedagogic practice and acculturation of language. Product descriptions for strings in the United States employ language which adheres to these cultural values …

Evocations Of Nature In Selected Piano Works By Debussy, Heah Zi-Ling

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The connection between nature and the music of Claude Debussy is unique and fascinating, with nature serving as a source of influence and inspiration for Debussy. Debussy looked upon nature with veneration and this viewpoint helped to form the musical ideals that he pursued while breaking with the traditional forms of music. References to nature appear in the descriptive titles of many works by Debussy, but this research focuses on selected piano works from his two books of Images. Debussy’s sense of connection to nature in his music, especially when viewed through the lenses of the Impressionist and Symbolist movements, …

“When Will The Time Finally Come When There Will Only Be Humans”: An Unknown Letter From Beethoven To Heinrich Von Struve, Julia Ronge

The Beethoven Journal

Transcription, translation, and discussion of a recently discovered letter from Ludwig van Beethoven to Heinrich von Struve from 1795. In the letter, Beethoven expresses a yearning for a time when there are only humans, without distinctions of rank and class. This sentiment accords with Schiller’s ode An die Freude, which Beethoven set to music more than once.

Review Of Beethoven 1806 By Mark Ferraguto, Desmond Sheehan

The Beethoven Journal

No abstract provided.

“The Bonn Master-Baker Gottfried Fischer’S Reminiscences Of Beethoven’S Youth” [Des Bonner Bäckermeisters Gottfried Fischer Aufzeichnungen Über Beethovens Jugend]. Translated Into English, With Editorial Commentary And Notes., Susan Cooper

The Beethoven Journal

No abstract provided.

From “Radical Blunders” To Compositional Solutions: A Form-Functional Perspective On Beethoven’S Early Eroica Continuity-Sketches, Thomas Posen

The Beethoven Journal

Beethoven’s sketches to his third symphony, the Eroica, have fascinated scholars since Nottebohm’s pioneering study of the Eroica Sketchbook in the late nineteenth century. More recently, Alan Gosman and Lewis Lockwood finished a complete transcription of the sketchbook, which has led to a resurgent interest in these sketches. In this article, I re-evaluate Beethoven’s approaches to composing the first movement of the Eroica symphony by reappraising two supposed problems with the first two exposition continuity-sketches. Contrary to prior studies, which have interpreted these reputed compositional problems as “failed experiments” or “radical blunders” (Tovey 1941, 80), I interpret them …

A Tribute To Vladimir Morkov (The Czar’S Guitars), Ellwood Colahan

Soundboard Scholar

A review of A Tribute to Vladimir Morkov, by The Czar’s Guitars (John Schneiderman & Oleg Timofeyev) (Hänssler Classic HC20018, 2020, 2 compact discs).

Archetypes (Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad, Third Coast Percussion), Nathan Cornelius

Soundboard Scholar

A review of  Archetypes, by Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad, and Third Coast Percussion (Cedille 201, 2021, 1 compact disc).

On The Need For A Scholarly Edition Of Tárrega’S Complete Works, David J. Buch

Soundboard Scholar

In this guest editorial, the author provides evidence of the unreliable nature of the majority of Tárrega’s first editions, and the substandard quality of most modern editions. The author argues that in light of the recent availability of formerly inaccessible primary sources, the time is right for a scholarly edition of Tárrega’s complete works with state-of-art editorial methods.

The Guitar In America As Mirrored In Cadenza (1894–1924), Peter Danner

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

Remembering Tom Heck And His Legacy, Robert Ferguson

Soundboard Scholar

An obituary of Thomas Heck (1943–2021), outlining his contributions to guitar scholarship, especially with reference to his seminal biography of Giuliani and his research into musical iconography. This article also describes his contribution to the classical guitar community in the United States, as the founding visionary of the Guitar Foundation of America.

Of Self And Circumstance: Music And Representation In The Works Of Rodrigo, Walter Aaron Clark

Soundboard Scholar

Though Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-99) is renowned for his guitar works, especially the Concierto de Aranjuez, less well known is the fact that his compositions embrace a wide variety of genres, styles, and media, from piano solos to art songs and from orchestral tone poems to film scores. This article proposes a novel way of organizing and comprehending the roughly 200 works in his catalogue. Rather than the standard method of organization by chronology or medium, it surveys his oeuvre through multiple lenses, including literary, folkloric, virtuosic, sacred, historical, theatrical and descriptive. Each of these categories represents the salient dimension …

How I Got Into This: Toward A Social History Of The Guitar In America, Peter Danner

Soundboard Scholar

An introduction to a series of five articles by Peter Danner on the history of the guitar in the United States from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. Written between 1977 and 1994, these articles first appeared in early issues of the GFA’s magazine Soundboard. They are reprinted here in tribute to Danner’s pioneering contribution to guitar research and to bring them to the attention of a new generation of scholars. The author has generously provided this newly written introduction to the series.

Notes On Some Early-American Guitar Concerts, Peter Danner

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

The Catalan Guitar, Part 1: Four New E-Books By Brian Jeffery And Josep María Mangado, Richard M. Long

Soundboard Scholar

A review of four new biographical studies of Fernando Sor:

• Brian Jeffery, Fernando Sor: Composer and Guitarist, 3rd edition (N.p.: Tecla, 2020), PDF or ePub
• Josep María Mangado Artigas, Fernando Sor (1778–1839), vol. 1, Aportaciones biográficas (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona: Self-published, Tecla, 2020), PDF
• Josep María Mangado Artigas, Fernando Sor (1778–1839), vol. 2, Documentos inéditos: Reflexiones e hypótesis (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona: Self-published, Tecla, 2018), PDF
• Josep María Mangado Artigas, Fernando Sor (1778–1839), vol. 3, La actividad guitarrística en París (1825–1839) (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona: Self-published, Tecla, 2010), PDF

The Flight Of The Maiden: Representations Of Women And The Guitar In Brazilian Culture, Cláudia Araújo Garcia

Soundboard Scholar

This article examines the relationship between women and the guitar in the context of both Brazilian literary discourse and the instrument’s culture and history. To this end, I have sought out texts that illustrate intersections between women and the guitar from the perspective of both female and male authorship. We see that the guitar provides a vehicle for the woman’s voice in all its restlessness, violation, and libertarian desire; but equally, it enables the perpetuation of stereotypes linked to the mirroring of the guitar and the female body. In the absence of literary and historic records of the guitar in …

A Noteworthy Early-American Guitar Treatise: James Ballard’S Elements Of 1838, Peter Danner

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

The Guitar In Nineteenth-Century America: A Lost Social Tradition, Peter Danner

Soundboard Scholar

This article is one of a series of five by Peter Danner on the history of the guitar in the United States from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. Written between 1977 and 1994, these articles first appeared in early issues of the GFA’s magazine Soundboard. They are reprinted here in tribute to Danner’s pioneering contribution to guitar research and to bring them to the attention of a new generation of scholars. The author has generously provided a newly written introduction to the series.

Return With Us Now: Featured Facsimiles, Peter Danner

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

The Catalan Guitar, Part 2: Two New E-Books By Josep María Mangado, Richard M. Long

Soundboard Scholar

A review of two studies by Josep María Mangado of the history of the guitar in Catalonia:

• Josep María Mangado Artigas, La guitarra en Cataluña, 1769–1939: Con especial referencia a los guitarristas José Ferrer (1835–1916), Sor, Brocá, Viñas, Bosch, Costa, Más, y otros, version 2.0 (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona): Self-published, Tecla, 2010), PDF
• Josep María Mangado Artigas, Los conciertos de guitarra en el Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona): Desde sus inicios en 1908 hasta el estreno en 1940 del Concierto de Aranjuez (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona: Self-published, Tecla, 2018 [2019?]), PDF

"For Andrés Segovia": Francisco De Lacerda’S Suite Goivos (1924), Pedro Rodrigues

Soundboard Scholar

Suite goivos by Francisco Lacerda (1869–1934) stands out not only as one of the first examples of symbolist literature for guitar but also as the first work written for guitar by a Portuguese non-guitarist composer. So far, however, it has remained in relative obscurity. In this article, I first explore the suite’s context and history: its origin in meetings and correspondence between Lacerda and the work’s dedicatee, Andrés Segovia; its place among new works commissioned by Segovia from non-guitarist composers; and available manuscript sources for the work. I then argue for the work’s importance as music, highlighting its innovative features, …

"The Lutenist!": Anxieties, Ambiguities, And Deviations In Julian Bream’S Discography, Sidney Molina

Soundboard Scholar

The recent passing of English guitarist Julian Bream (1933–2020) has prompted a reevaluation of his artistic legacy by critics around the world. In this article, I propose a way of reading Bream’s discography in relation to that of his predecessor, Andrés Segovia, utilizing Harold Bloom’s theory of influence, a methodology that I first proposed in application to music in 2006. After dividing Bream’s fifty albums into phases inspired by Bloomian categories, I examine the works that Bream chose to record more than once, with a focus on those to which he returned three or more times.

Spanish Guitarists In Nineteenth-Century São Paulo, Flavia Prando

Soundboard Scholar

This article explores the presence and activities of guitarists in nineteenth-century São Paulo. Drawing on reviews written by the pianist Alexandre Levy in 1890, I analyze concerts by Martínez Toboso and Gil-Orozco, two Spanish guitarists whose duo seems to have been the first to perform formal concerts in São Paulo. I also investigate Gil-Orozco’s subsequent work in São Paulo, where he lived for seventeen years (1890–1907), playing an essential role in the guitar’s development in the city.

Soundboard Scholar No. 7: Cover

Soundboard Scholar

Cover image: José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior (1850–1899), O violeiro (The Guitarist). Oil on canvas, 1899. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Cover design by Colleen Gates.

Five Songs By Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960): From Nostalgia To Christian Hope And The Assurance Of Heaven, James K. Richardson

Dissertations, 2020-current

During the first few decades of the twentieth century, prolific composer, teacher, and conductor, Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960), was well-regarded for his contribution to the landscape of English art song. However, against the backdrop of Modernism and the tumult of the Second World War, his musical style was deemed “out of touch.” In a 1943 chain of correspondence with fellow songwriter Roger Quilter, Gibbs describes feeling “exceedingly sore and discouraged at neglect at the hands of the critics.” He further explains, “Just because we both write music that is intelligible & frankly tries to aim at beauty, we are considered beneath …

"A New World For Instrumental Art": An Exploration Of The Nineteenth-Century Saxophone Quartet And Its Repertoire, Laney Sheehan

Honors Projects

This Honors Project examines the major characteristics of the nineteenth-century saxophone quartet and its repertoire through the lens of four musical works: Hector Berlioz’s Hymne (for six wind instruments of Adolphe Sax), Jean-Baptiste Singelée’s Premier Quatuor, Jérôme Savari’s Quatuor pour Saxophones, and Caryl Florio’s Quartette (Allegro de Concert).

Early History And Performance Of The Saxophone, Margo Alibeckoff

Honors Projects

This project explores the early history of the saxophone, including its invention and integration, as well as the inventor, Adolphe Sax, and how this information can inform and enhance performances of relevant pieces from this time period.

Selections From Wagner's "Wesendonck Lieder" Arranged For Alto Saxophone And Piano, Kaitlyn Grella

Honors Projects

Arrangements of Im Treibhaus and Träume from Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder for alto saxophone and piano, with accompanying program notes.

Clube Da Esquina 1970-1972: A Compositional Analysis According To Ron Miller's Modal Jazz Concepts., Tullio Mesquita Cunha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main goal of this paper is to analyze the harmonic and melodic transcriptions from the LPs Milton and Clube da Esquina according with the book Modal Jazz Composition and Harmony by Ron Miller in order to exemplify the compositional idiosyncrasy from Milton Nascimento, and especially, Lô Borges. The result is that Borges has a linear approach to write melodies while his vertical line has the use of open strings chords with mixed upper structures such as tertian, quartal and clusters.