Music Commons^™

Two Essays On Contemporary Music, Bálint András Varga

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

Bálint András Varga (1941–2019) was an advocate for and a keen critic of contemporary music, first on radio, and later as an acquisitions editor for both Editio Hungarica and Universal-Edition. He interviewed many musical figures and planned to interview visual artists before he died. His interlocutors were impressed with Varga’s insightful questions and frequently answered them much more comprehensively than they would ones from standard journalists. These two essays were intended to be published in Varga’s third book, From Boulanger to Stockhausen: Interviews and a Memoir. The first, “What to Listen for in Music,” refers to Aaron Copland’s book of …

The Ossianic Maiden Colma In Compassionate View: Ferdinand Hiller’S “Colma’S Klage” (1873) And Vinzenz Lachner’S Die Klage Der Kolma (1874), James W. Porter

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

The widespread, positive reception of Ossianic poems in Germany and Austria inspired many musical settings from Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and perhaps also Schumann. Settings of the poetic narrative of Colma, which relates the anguish of a maiden discovering that her brother and her lover have slain each other in mortal combat, were composed by Zumsteeg, Reichardt, Schubert, and Weber. This essay examines two later settings composed in the 1870s by Ferdinand Hiller and Vinzenz Lachner. While the settings are undeniably effective in their use of common idioms of German composition in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, they are …

Romances For Voice And Guitar, Arranged By Hector Berlioz. Atma Classique Acd2 2800, 2020 [Review], Peter Bloom

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

‘Brillez, Astres Nouveaux!’ Arias And Other Excerpts From Eighteenth-Century French Operas By Rameau, Leclair, Boismortier, And Others. Aparte Cd Ap223, 2020 [Review], Ralph P. Locke

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Ludwig Van Beethoven: Leonore. Harmonia Mundi 902414, 2019 [Review], Ralph P. Locke

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

A “Free Artist Of Color” In Late-Eighteenth-Century Saint-Domingue: The Life And Times Of Minette, Bernard Camier

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

This article sets forth, for the first time in detail, the life and career of Minette, who was the main female opera singer in Port-au-Prince at the end of the eighteenth century. The city was the capital of the thriving and wealthy French colony of Saint-Domingue (which, upon gaining independence in 1804, took the name Haïti). Theatrical activity in Port-au-Prince was comparable to what one could find in any large provincial city, and the success that Minette gained was all the more remarkable for her being categorized as colored (mestive). The details of Minette’s origins, life, and career …

Expresiones Musicales Rurales, Ana Betina Morgante Combariza, Rosa Delia Acosta León, Manuel Fernando Merchán Bernal, Juan Manuel Urrego Laurin, Andrés Felipe Acuña Duarte

Ciencias Sociales, Humanidades y Ciencias Políticas

La riqueza musical de una región no solo reside en sus sonidos y melodías, sino en las historias, las tradiciones y los valores que estos transmiten de generación en generación. Este libro de partituras es el resultado de un proceso de investigación etnomusicológico que busca documentar, preservar y divulgar las expresiones musicales rurales de tradición oral en Cundinamarca. Las partituras contenidas en esta publicación no son solo transcripciones musicales, representan una ventana a la cosmovisión de las comunidades rurales cundinamarquesas, donde la música es un medio de comunicación, un canal para la memoria colectiva y una herramienta pedagógica de inestimable …

“The Only Maker Of Spanish Guitars” In England: Panormo And His Contemporaries, Stefan Hackl

Soundboard Scholar

The following work is reviewed:

Guitar Making in Nineteenth-Century London: Louis Panormo and His Contemporaries, by James Westbrook (Halesowen, UK: ASG Music, 2023)

classicalguitar.co.uk/shop/guitar-making-in-nineteenth-century-london

Mignone, Fernandez, Guarnieri: Brazilian Guitar Music After Villa-Lobos, Fabio Zanon

Soundboard Scholar

This article challenges the widespread perception of Heitor Villa-Lobos as an isolated peak in Brazilian musical culture with no natural successors. The author focuses on the composers who followed Villa-Lobos—Francisco Mignone, Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez, and Camargo Guarnieri—arguing that their works deserve far more attention in international concert life, not least their contributions to the guitar repertoire.

These twentieth-century Brazilian composers are situated within a broader historical narrative that traces the impact of European colonial models, the delayed and contested formation of musical nationalism in Brazil, and the shifting aesthetic and political conditions of the twentieth century. Analytical discussions of representative …

Foreign Songs, Occitan Voices, And The Guitar In Early Modern France (C. 1570-1650), Ana Beatriz Mujica Lafuente

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The cultural traditions of European nations are too often treated as independent and essential entities, obscuring the transnational and interregional exchanges that have shaped modern cultures. In musicology, recent studies have emphasized the plurality and mobility of people, cultures, and music in Europe. Yet, French songs are still largely explained within the framework of the national, generally privileging written over oral traditions, printed over manuscript music, national over regional languages, and monolingual over plurilingual practices. Through the study of songs in Italian, Spanish, Occitan, and Turkish, this dissertation challenges such preconceptions.

This study shows that secular songs in foreign and …

Cecil Taylor, 1950–1976: Theory & Practice In His Own Words, Michelle A. Yom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cecil Taylor (1929–2018) was a poet, composer, pianist, and dancer who is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of Free Jazz. Despite this historical significance, Taylor has not been a subject of substantial archival research. Some scholars have written his name into music scholarship through explicitly or implicitly reiterating the notion of “freedom” that circulated among contemporary jazz critics of the late 1950s and the 1960s. Others have focused on analyzing Taylor’s solo piano music, often reducing Taylor’s musical theories and practices into the formal structures of the music itself. To date, the scholarship has simplified Taylor’s work …

The Six-Course Guitar In Spain: Some Considerations Of Repertoire And Musical Practice, Thomas Schmitt

Soundboard Scholar

The six-course guitar is still a little-known instrument. One need only look at books on the history of music to verify that claim: there is hardly any mention of it, nor are its composers or repertoire often cited. In fact, researchers have given far more attention to other plucked-string instruments than to the six-course guitar—whether for reasons of tradition or ideology—leading to a major gap in the literature. The repertoire of the Spanish Golden Age, to take one example, has been thoroughly explored, in the domains of both vocal and instrumental music (as in the vihuela). Similarly, there is quite …

Juventino Rosas, Sobre Las Olas, And Their Place In Defining Mexican Music In The Porfirian Nineteenth Century, Catherine J. Langevin-Falcon

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the life and music of Juventino Rosas (1868–1894), the Mexican composer whose most enduring work is Sobre las olas (1888), a Viennese-style waltz. I ask the question: Why was Sobre las olas so well-known and why does it remain beloved with audiences around the world, even today, while Rosas is hardly known outside his native Mexico? I considered historical, social and cultural factors, as well as musical events of the day, that may have had bearing on the question. I describe the broad outlines of Rosas's life and the challenges he faced as an indigenous person, composer …

Toward A British Guitar Canon: Ernest Shand’S Collected Works, Declan Hickey

Soundboard Scholar

A review of Guitar Music from Late Victorian England: Collected Works, by Ernest Shand, edited by Stanley Yates (Classical Guitar Study Editions, 2022), publisher's website.

A Study Of The Mikrokosmos By Bela Bartok, Carolyn M. Totaro, Cameron Thorne

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok discussing its organization, focus, and significance.

A Profile Of Jerome Robbins, Carolyn M. Totaro, Victoria Sims

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of the legendary dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins covering his many collaborations with twentieth century composers.

A Profile Of Placido Domingo, Carolyn M. Totaro, Jadyn Case

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Placido Domingo covering his education, operatic career, and legacy.

A Profile Of Keith Lockhart, Carolyn M. Totaro, Gavin Buhr

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Keith Lockhart and his rise to fame as a young American conductor.

A Study Of The String Quartet By Maurice Ravel, Carolyn M. Totaro, Annie Mcmillion

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the String Quartet by Maurice Ravel discussing its innovation and significance.

A Profile Of Van Cliburn, Carolyn M. Totaro, Ava Kronenberger

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Van Cliburn discussing his background, performing, and legacy.

A Study Of Le Tombeau Du Couperin By Maurice Ravel, Carolyn M. Totaro, Reece Logan

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of Le Tombeau du Couperin by Maurice Ravel discussing its origin, orchestration, and significance.

A Study Of Also Sprach Zarathustra By Richard Strauss, Carolyn M. Totaro, Luke Stephens

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss covering its inception and iconic status.

A Study Of The Opera Trouble In Tahiti By Leonard Bernstein, Carolyn M. Totaro, Skyler Orr-Depner

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the opera Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein discussing the libretto, roles, and music.

A Study Of The Opera Tosca By Giacomo Puccini, Carolyn M. Totaro, Natalia Hernandez

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini covering its libretto, music, and significance.

Chaotic Complexity: Order And Chaos In Works Of Cage, Xenakis And Boulez, Levi Graham

Music Theses

My thesis explores specific applications of chaos theory in contemporary twentieth-century music and analyzes the relationship between order and chaos in their creation. I will do this by referencing the levels of chaos presented by Katherine Hayles and categorized by Judith Lochhead. These levels of chaos include “Expressive Chaos,” “Denotative Chaos,” and “Ontological Chaos,” which provide a framework for grouping expressions of chaos in music.  I will analyze works of John Cage, Iannis Xenakis and Pierre Boulez through the lens of these types of chaos, with a particular focus on “Ontological Chaos,” which describes chaos as both dependent on and …

Book Review: Inside Chinese Theater: Community And Artistry In Nineteenth-Century California And Beyond By Nancy Yunwha Rao, Jiyoon Auo

Asia Pacific Perspectives

No abstract provided.

A Profile Of Arnold Jacobs, Carolyn M. Totaro, Caedmon Goettel

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Arnold Jacobs including his books and extraordinary tenure with the Chicago Symphony.

A Profile Of Vaslav Nijinsky, Carolyn M. Totaro, Megan Hoggarth

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Vaslav Nijinsky

A Study Of Ionisation By Edgard Varese, Carolyn M. Totaro, Mason Weintz

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of Ionisation by Edgard Varese discussing the instrumentation and significance.

A Study Of The Makrokosmos By George Crumb, Carolyn M. Totaro, Hampton Turner

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the Makrokosmos by George Crumb covering its inspiration, innovative composing, and significance.