Music Commons^™

Dunstable, John (Ca. 1395–1453), Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Composer, mathematician, and astronomer. He is the author of over 70 surviving works, including music for masses, offices, Marian devotions, isorhythmic motets, and secular songs. Dunstable (or Dunstaple) stands at the head of an influential group of English composers whose music, beginning in the later 1420s and 1430s, circulated on the Continent, where it had an immense stylistic impact. Fifteenth-century musical commentators recognized Dunstable's importance, and he held a high posthumous reputation for many subsequent generations.

Of Dunstable's biography we know little. The paucity of documentation seems to be due to a career that kept him out of the records …

Review Of Yolanda Plumley, The Grammar Of 14th Century Melody: Tonal Organization And Compositional Process In The Chansons Of Guillaume De Machaut And The Ars Subtilior., Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This book is a revised and retitled version of a doctoral thesis presented to Exeter University in 1991. It appears in the Garland series, Outstanding Dissertations in Music from British Universities. In reviewing it I must acknowledge that I am not a disinterested party. Work of my own from the mid-1980s, which Dr Plumley first encountered in the form of a conference paper read at Southampton University in 1987, and which in modified guise was only just recently published ('Signature-systems and tonal types in the fourteenth-century French chanson', Plainsong and Medieval Music 4/2 (1995), pp. 117-47), forms a central point …

Lady Chapel, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

A distinctive formal feature of English Gothic church architecture; provision of a Lady Chapel was a central objective of the campaigns of choir remodeling and eastern extension that altered the floorplans of most English cathedrals and abbey churches from the later 12th through the 14th century. The Lady Chapel, a large hall church of roughly the same dimensions as the choir itself, was most frequently located in a rectangular space thrusting eastward from the east end of the choir. In churches laid out like Salisbury this was a low, projecting space emerging from the main mass of the building by …

Granton: A Parable Of Change, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The mass media abound with tales of fundamental change in the world of classical music. A New York Times article on the crisis in the classical compact disc (CD) industry reports that, after a transient rise in sales during the 1980s, classical CDs' market share dropped to an all-time low of 2.9 percent. There are also frequent reports of funding woes that have reduced and, in some instances, put an end to entire orchestras. A string of articles in the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers has chronicled the seismic shift from classical to mass-media-oriented music in churches, where a …

Harley 978, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

A well-known manuscript from Reading Abbey (BL Harley 978), compiled sometime in the period 1245–65, probably at the behest of a single individual. Its contents are eclectic and reflective of wide intellectual interests and sources, suggesting a university connection. Famous principally because it contains the canon "Sumer is icumen in," Harley 978 also possesses the unique text of the "Song of Lewes" (Calamo velociter), the best English collection of goliardic verse, the largest surviving collection of the fables and lais of Marie de France, an index to the extensive contents of an otherwise lost book of polyphony, and …

Angelas Ad Virginem, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

A devotional Latin strophic song of the first half of the 13th century in five stanzas on the Annunciation of Mary. There is memorable testimony to its widespread popularity and longevity in England in a passage from the Miller's Tale introducing Chaucer’s poor Oxford scholar “hende Nicholas,” who sings Angelus in his lodging to the accompaniment of his psaltery:

And al above ther lay a gay sautrie,
On which he made a-nyghtes melodie
So swetely that all the chambre rong;
And Angelas ad virginem he song. (MilT 3213-16)

Most sources and references to Angelus ad virginem are insular (complete report …

Agincourt Carol, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The best known of all English carols (also called the Agincourt Song), this composition celebrates the victory of Henry V at Agincourt in 1415 and was probably written shortly thereafter. It survives in two of the most important collections of 15th-century carols, the Trinity Roll (Cambridge, Trinity College 0.3.58) and the Egerton Manuscript (BL Egerton 3307). Reference is made to the siege ofHarfleur, success on the field at Agincourt, and the return to London in triumph with hostages. As is often the case, this carol mixes two languages. The burden, or framing refrain, is in Latin ("Deo gratias Anglia, redde …

Alanus, J[Ohannes] (D. 1373), Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

John Aleyn, a musician and administrator in royal service, was from 1363 to 1373 a canon of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and from 1361 to 1373 a chaplain of the Royal Household Chapel of Edward III. The last decade of his career is well documented, and he enjoyed the frequent and lucrative patronage of Edward and Queen Philippa, holding numerous benefices. Upon his death he bequeathed a book of music to the chapel at Windsor. Though the surname is common, this individual is the strongest candidate for the J. Alanus who wrote the extraordinary musicians' motet Sub arturo plebs and …

Wiser Than Despair: The Evolution Of Ideas In The Relationship Of Music And The Christian Church, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The fact that human beings want to make music, as well as all other forms of art, is a given of human existence. Artistic expressions, however, are not isolated or autonomous. They are conditioned, among other things, by social and cultural factors, and these factors have a powerful influence in shaping any art form.

There is no more compelling example of a culture's power to condition art than the evolution of European art music during the Middle Ages under the influence of the Christian church and its theological stance with regard to the arts. The church's ideas about the purpose …

The Divine Madness: A Comedic Theater Piece For Six Players In Five Scenes, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

The Players (in order of appearance)

a middle-aged composer, dressed in 19th century costume
an impresario, speaks with W.C.Fields accent, dressed in a Dickensian style
the cast (chorus) of the Willy-Nilly Traveling Opera-Circus Troupe:
a flamboyant soprano, an aging diva, colorfully dressed
an alto, a timid musicologist, dressed as a college co-ed
a tenor, a jazzer, dressed in a pin-striped zoot suit, wearing sun-glasses
a bass, a bitter old man, speaks with a German accent, wearing shabby clothes
stage audience including a critic, and crew

Place

Five days in the present sets a garret and the backstage of a theater …

Die Registrierung Der Orgelwerke J. S. Bachs, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

"Es versteht sich übrigens von selbst, daß beim Gebrauch die gewählten Verbindungen von Stimmen mit dem Geist und Sinn der vorzutragenden Stücke harmonieren müssen, sonst ist das Ganze nur eine theoretische Spielerei, ohne ailen künstlerischen Wert."

So formulierte Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl, der erste Herausgeber von Bachs Orgelwerken, zusammenfassend die Bedeutung der angemessenen Registerwahl für das Spiel dieser Kompositionen. Ein erfahrener Organist liest diese Worte jedoch nicht ohne gewisse Bedenken. Wer hilft einem bei der Wahl der passenden Registrierungen? Die verschiedenen Vorschläge Griepenkerls vergrößern eher die Unsicherheit des Organisten; sie sind zwar sinnvoll, aber zu allgemein, um praktischen Wert zu haben. …

Signature-Systems And Tonal Types In The Fourteenth-Century French Chanson, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Beyond the standard and familiar theoretical instruction materials on notation and mensuration, on mode and hexachord, and on the rules of two-part counterpoint, information and insight about the techniques of musical composition in the later Middle Ages are hard to come by. From a modern vantage point, medieval music theory leaves many of the questions most interesting to us unanswered. And for our part, too, analysts of chansons and motets have yet to agree on many basic notions about how this music works, and therefore what is most necessary to talk about. It is symptomatic of this state of affairs …

Forks In The Road: Challenges And Rewards, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Using music as a focal point, although another of the arts might serve as well, I have discovered that the arts are a kind of camera obscura of society. Like that optical wonder, they reduce the whole of its identity-sanctions and values, sacred and secular beliefs and customs--to a faithful reflection in miniature, in living colors (Mantle Hood, The Ethnomusicologist. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982, p. xviii).

The author of this statement, Mantle Hood, is an ethnomusicologist, one who studies the music of cultures outside those in the western European tradition (his perspective is therefore a global one). If what he …

Information On Organ Registration From A Student Of J.S. Bach, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Despite two centuries of research into the life and music of Johann S. Bach, there is little that can be said with certainty about his organ registration practices. Aside from two short passages (quoted below) that merely assert Bach's understanding of and skill at registration, there is only J. F. Agricola's report that Bach liked reed stops. Up until now, it has not been possible to identify sources, either from Bach himself or from his immediate circle, that offer precise instructions on organ registration. The source described and translated here provides such information.

The source is an article found in …

“A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All,” Sgt. Pepper’S Lonely Hearts Club Band: A Brief Consideration, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the 13th of 18 Beatles albums, released in the United States on June 1, 1967, has come to be regarded as one of the seminal artifacts of popular culture of the 20th century. This short paper explores aspects of this music that reached such a broad audience, in particular, some observations of the albums’ astonishing textual and musical diversity as well as less-obvious commonalities that bind the 13 songs with a logic and unity rarely found in popular music.

The Organ As A Profession: Facing The Future, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

A recent issue of the Wall Street Journal features an article about the phenomenal growth of the Assemblies of God: "Heavenly Gifts: Preaching a Gospel of Acquisitiveness, A Showy Sect Prospers."

Eluding the hellfire and smoke surrounding his pulpit, the Reverend Tommy Barnett waves goodbye. With a hearty "Hallelujah," he soars straight toward heaven and out of sight.

The abrupt flight of this Pentecostal Peter Paa in a gray suit brings gasps from many of the 6,500 faithful at Phoenix First Assembly. Joining in the extravaganza are a $500,000 special effects system, 200-member choir and 25-piece orchestra. It's a finale …

Words And Music: The Assembling Of Traveling West, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

This paper is a consideration of the art song as a unique collaboration of poet and composer, the result of which, rarely achieving a balance between the two, often resulting in a creation that comprises the predominant artistic vision of one or the other, with poetry usually getting short shrift. This discussion will examine how dfferent methods of text setting can affect the intended meaning of the poem, citing examples of poet-composer relationships. Then I will discuss how these concepts are utilized in my song cycle, Traveling West, settings of poems by Susan Strayer Deal, Marjorie Saiser, Hilda Raz, …

Subtilitas In The Tonal Language Of Fumeux Fume, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The late 14th-century French repertory contains music characterized by an ingenuity and great subtlety whose terms of reference are entirely derived from within the art itself. One of the best-known French chansons of the period, the rondeau Fumeux fume by Solage, contains a superabundance of artifice, a wide variety of clever and audacious musical techniques. But in contrast to the extravagances of notation and rhythmic language that are the familiar hallmarks of the ars subtilior in music, the most striking feature of Fumeux fume is the proliferation of accidentals, and the bizarre tonal behavior they indicate. In addition to F, …

Griepenkerl On J.S. Bach’S Keyboard Technique: A Translation And Commentary, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Although he was not a professional musician, the German scholar and teacher Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl (1782-1849) studied music theory, organ and piano with Johann N. Forkel, J.S. Bach's first biographer. Throughout his life Griepenkerl actively promoted the performance and study of Bach's keyboard works, and in 1844 he began to issue the first critically corrected complete edition of Bach's organ works, which organists know today as the Peters edition. In the preface to Vol. I of this edition (p. II), Griepenkerl briefly discussed Bach's manner of keyboard performance, and in this regard referred to three sources, each one more detailed …

Schutz And The Organ, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The year 1985 marks the anniversaries of four celebrated Baroque musicians. Three of them--Scarlatti, Handel and Bach--belong to the late Baroque and were renowned during their time as keyboard virtuosi. The fourth, Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672), belongs to the early Baroque, and his relation to the keyboard is neither so clear nor so recognized. Although Schutz was never acclaimed as a keyboard virtuoso, he was indeed an accomplished organist and remained in close contact with that instrument throughout his long career.

While it is possible that Schutz had already begun keyboard training as a student in Weissenfels, the early formation of …

The Motet In England In The Fourteenth Century, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The history of polyphonic music in late medieval England is difficult to reconstruct on account of the paucity of intact sources, the concomitant lack of a substantial number of complete pieces, and the difficulty with which the surviving repertoire can be associated with any specific institutions or social milieu. Nonetheless, there are significant scattered remains, and this study endeavors to examine in detail one important genre, the motet, in light of all surviving music, placing a great deal of weight on the analysis of fragments. The evidence suggests that the motet was cultivated for the larger abbeys and monastic cathedrals, …

J. S. Bach’S Keyboard Fingering: New Evidence, Quentin Faulkner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

There is presently considerable interest among scholars and performers of early music in early keyboard fingering practices and their effect on the music’s articulation and phrasing. This is nowhere more evident than in the current reconsideration of Johann S. Bach’s keyboard music in the light of primary source material on his keyboard fingering. The primary sources available to us up to now are three in number:

1. Applicatio (BWV 994)
2. Praeambulum (BWV 928)
3. Praeludium und Fughetta in C-dur (BWV 870a)

During recent research into Bach’s keyboard fingering practices, I had occasion to examine Johann Philipp Kirnberger’s Clavierübungen mit …

Ma Fin Est Mon Commencement (My End Is My Beginning): An Allegory In Five Scenes, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Dramatis personae: Artist, Narrator, Chorus

Synopsis

PROLOG

Perceiving society as decadent, an artist ruminates over his existence. A narrator describes the chorus as they reluctantly assemble on a black box stage.

SCENE 1

Painful thoughts force the artist to remember his past as essentially a trilogy of forces: (1) Caritas – mystical religious feelings embodied in the Latin liturgy; (2) the narrow space between the five lines – an allusion to the musical staff and his career as a composer; (3) post puterbific thoughts – physical, carnal instincts. The chorus dismisses the composer’s concerns as superficial. They speak of their …

Noumenon: A Metaphysical Comedy, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Noumenon: Synopsis

The work, which perhaps could best be described as a “metaphysical comedy”, consists of three levels:

1) the biography of the unnamed dilettante artist-philosopher “__”
2) personal interpolations by the biographer, Russel Stanford
3) editor’s commentary by Randall Snyder

Stanford, in spite of a lack of enthusiasm for the subject, agrees to write the biography. During this period his health degenerates and he increasingly imposes his own irrelevant opinions into the biography (his remarks are all indented, using the Palatino font, and further identified by the use of the small case “i”. The “biography” uses the New York …

Giovanni Gabrieli’S Canzon In Echo Duodecimi Toni, Donna Kay Van Riper

Open Access Master's Theses (through 2010)

This thesis is a study of the Canzon in Echo Duodecimi Toni (number twelve) by Giovanni Gabrieli, an early and lonely example of the use of the organ with instruments. While it is true that contemporaries of Gabrieli composed for organ and instruments, the organ remained strictly in its role as a continuo instrument. Gabrieli, however, was apparently thinking in terms of the organ as a solo instrument, an instrument which could serve as an adequate echo to the brass.

Recordings of the work are disappointing or non-existent. A string transcription of number eleven on an Angel label is romanticized, …

Tones And Intervals Of Hindu Classical Music, Donald A. Lentz

University Studies (University of Nebraska) (1888–1984)

ART IS ALL ENDURING and limitless, and defies positive, unvariable classification. No attempt is being made in this book to compare artistic, subjective or emotional factors. Only the objective elements, techniques and procedures of music that are tangible and definite are being compared and classified. Western music, having reached a plateau under the present harmonic system, is projecting into new channels for textural inspiration. Composers have exploited the present system, using existing intervals in every conceivable manner under existing tonal and atonal theories. Devices such as smaller intervals (example: tempered quarter tones), electronic combinations, aleatonic principles, etc. are being dealt …

An Analysis Of The Compositional Devices In Wozzek By Alban Berg, John Charles Nelson

Open Access Master's Theses (through 2010)

One of the most significant trends in twentieth-century music is that which embodies an abandonment of all of the traditional concepts of tonality.Since it is conceivable that complete freedom of the twelve tones without some logical organization may result in a form of musical anarchy, any investigation of works in the atonal medium should, first of all, determine what devices are used to give order and logic to the work.These devices may then substitute for the cohesive force of tonality which is lacking in atonal works.In order to investigate the compositional devices of the atonalist writers, Wozzeck by Alban Berg …