Music Performance Commons^™

Honors Recital Presentation, David Rutter

Honors Projects

The purpose of this project was rooted in the belief that the reception of a piece of music can be altered or enhanced when the audience is given a compelling historical or cultural background of each composition. With sometimes hundreds of years between the audience members and the composers, to deliver an emotionally stirring and relevant performance to a modern audience is an incredible feat. In the spirit of making my senior violin recital more accessible and entertaining to my own audience, I devoted my Honors project to gathering information on the philosophies, personalities, successes and tragedies of each of …

Blue Mountain: A Chamber Opera For Winds And Voices By Justin Dello Joio: A Unique Contribution For Wind Band Literature, Armando Saldarini

Dissertations

Blue Mountain is an opera in one act scored for four voices, and thirty-three instruments, commissioned by Det Norske Blaseensemble. Under the direction of Kenneth Jean, the premiere took place on October 8, 2007, at Kanonhalen in Oslo, Norway, as part of the Edvard Grieg Centennial celebrations and the 2007 Ultima contemporary Music Festival. The opera takes place in Troldhaugen, Norway, during the last days of Edvard Grieg’s life. Suffering from emphysema, Grieg was being treated by his doctor with morphine that created great anxiety, fear, and mental torment. A visit from his friend, Percy Grainger, gave Grieg great …

A Document In Death And Madness: A Cultural And Interdisciplinary Study Of Nineteenth-Century Art Song Settings On The Death Of Opelia, Jennifer Leigh Tipton

Dissertations

In the nineteenth century the character of Ophelia transformed from a minor role in Hamlet into one of the great muses of the Romantic period. Ophelia’s rise to an archetype of feminine madness was not a result of Shakespeare’s pen alone, but of the accumulation of interpretations of her character from actresses, artists, critics, writers, musicians, and social attitudes toward women. This paper focuses on nineteenth-century interpretations of her death, specifically art song.

A brief survey of the nineteenth-century European cultural and social climate pertaining to Ophelia is included in the paper:

*Shakespeare in France and Germany

*Nineteenth-Century Actresses in …

About This Issue, Nancy November

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

No abstract provided.

Folk Influences Of Aaron Copland And Britten, Tyler Krug

Theses and Dissertations

In the more recent past, nationalism, or a pride in one's country, has been the dominating factor for much of the world's historical events. Wars have been propagandized, countries have been fundamentally built, destroyed and reinvigorated, and for better or worse, this principle influences one's beliefs today as one's knowledge of the world expands in conjunction with technology. Folk music has always been a form of national pride and has been used as an exploit for the reasons listed above; therefore composers have maintained an interest in a national sound. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, composers began to use …

About This Issue, Michael E. Ruhling

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

No abstract provided.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 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.

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 …

Voice Recitals At The Unl School Of Music: Compilation Study, Audrey M. Nicholson

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

An informative compilation of Voice Recitals at the UNL School of Music categorized by Masters, DMA, and Faculty recitals from 1988-2012. Information includes: composer, work title, song title, performer, performance date, instrumentation, audio availability, and online program link.

"Download" button links to pdf version of file. Spreadsheet version (.xls) is attached below as "Related file." ".xlr" files are spreadsheets and can be opened from MS Excel.

Werner Jaegerhuber's “Messe Folklorique Haitïenne”: A Conductor's Guide, Lauren Michelle Brandon Lindsey

Dissertations

Werner Jaegerhuber (1900-1953), a composer and leading ethnographer from Haiti, lived a life and career committed to bringing the folk music of Haiti to international recognition. His most significant work, Messe Folklorique Haïtienne, the background leading to its composition, performance of the work and a conductor’s analysis is the focus of this study. The folk music of Haiti consists primarily of Vodou melodies which are performed in Vodou ceremonies. Haiti’s long history of colonization, slavery, chronic economic struggle, African roots, and Catholic influence all play unique, but significant roles in the life of Werner Jaegerhuber and his passionate study. …

By Word Of Mouth: Historical Performance Comes Of Age, Ingrid E. Pearson

Performance Practice Review

Since Clive Brown’s 1991 accusation that many twentieth-century manifestations of historical performance lacked an appropriate degree of musical sensitivity, the historical performance movement has truly come of age. In the arena of Western Art music, historical performance is now an essential component of musical training and education. Successful performers must be able to seamlessly function across the widest possible range of musical styles, accommodating an equally wide gamut of tastes, both individually and collectively.

In 1982, nine years earlier, Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word explored differences between oral and literate cultures. Of particular interest to …

A Performer’S Guide To Six Song Cycles Composed Between 1959 And 2010 By Mississippi Composers, Sarah Hogrefe Mabary

Dissertations

This dissertation offers a performer’s guide to six song cycles by Mississippi composers, including the structure and form of the songs, possible poetic interpretations, and performance practice techniques. The song cycles addressed are Samuel Jones’s Four Haiku, Howard Keever's Dreams, Raymond Liebau's Song Set I and Song Set II, and James Sclater's Three Songs on Texts of Emily Dickinson and Songs from “Telephone Poles.” For the purposes of this study, a Mississippi composer is defined as one who has a significant connection to Mississippi, either by birth or by having worked as a musician in the state for many years. …

Joseph Kreines: A Biographical Sketch, An Analysis Of American Song Set For Band And A Descriptive Catalogue Of His Original Compositions And Transcriptions For Wind Band, Paul Eugene Weikle Jr.

Dissertations

Joseph Kreines is a well-respected composer, conductor and educator who has maintained an illustrious musical career in Florida and elsewhere. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Kreines came to Florida in the 1960s as the Associate Conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra. Other professional conducting appointments with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, The Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra and appointments as the conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra Youth Symphony, Pinellas Youth Symphony Orchestra and Brevard Youth Symphony Orchestra proved to be the launching of a successful free-lance career as guest conductor for hundreds of Secondary programs in Florida and elsewhere including band, orchestra …

Polychoral Performance Practice And "Maestro Di Cappella" Conducting, Florian Bassani

Performance Practice Review

This article disputes some basic questions concerning the coordination of seventeenth century sacred music, approaching the phenomenon through a musical species of particular interest, though largely unstudied from a performance practice point of view. Roman polychorality with its specific performing conditions offers an illuminating perspective on principles of musical direction and interaction which differ significantly from our modern access path towards these topics. The inquiry ranges from basics of performance (such as sheet music, rehearsals, direction technics, models and stylistic conditioning of the performers) over the concrete role of the maestro di cappella as well as the tactus as cornerstones …

A Survey Of The Sacred Choral–Orchestral Works Of Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869–1941), Martin C. Cook

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

In the closing years of the 19th Century, when Charles Villiers Stanford, Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar were at the height of their fame and influence in British musical society Henry Walford Davies emerged as one of the most promising talents of the day, receiving commissions from the provincial music festivals of Great Britain, which were a rite of passage for emerging composers.

Between 1904 and 1929 Davies produced eleven sacred choral-orchestral works for these festivals and one further work, which were received favorably in their day but are now almost forgotten. There are five large multi movement works: The …

New Tools In Improvised Music Performance., Seán Mac Erlaine

Articles

This paper looks at the synthesis of computer technology and instrumental practice in improvised music performance. The emerging field of performers who use real-time signal processing as a technological extension of their instrument is discussed. How do new tools affect musical practice? Does the use of computers impose an associated aesthetic?

A number of key players are scrutinised including Evan Parker, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Jon Hassell, Miles Davis, Pauline Oliveros, David Behrman. The research provides a historical context to these practices and explores how pre- and post-digital technologies have shaped their work.

This article identifies an innovative and …

Exploring Low Brass Recording Techniques, Phillip Andrew Broome, Philip Andrew Broome

Theses and Dissertations

The modern day art and science of music recording evolved through a constant process of trial and error. Although many of these techniques are well-documented and commonplace in modern recording studios, most of them are generalized recording techniques used in the popular and classical music industries. Among these techniques, there is an observable lack of recognized standards for the recording of low brass instruments. This project aims to articulate quality techniques for low brass recording through research in early recording techniques and through an experimental study comparing many popular stereophonic microphone techniques. Although testing every low brass instrument would give …

Stravinsky, Tempo, And Le Sacre, Erica Heisler Buxbaum

Performance Practice Review

In reviews of recorded performances by others of Le sacre du printemps, Stravinsky contradicted his metronome markings and his own recorded performance tempos. His preferred tempos in the reviews encompass a range wider than the markings imply, yet more narrow than his own performance tempos suggest.

The "Not-So-Precisely Measured" Music Of The Middle Ages, Hendrik Van Der Werf

Performance Practice Review

Evidence from medieval writers, musical notation, and variant readings in the sources all suggest that troubadour and trouvere songs were performed in more or less equal note values and in a manner that presented the poetry clearly.

'Back To The Land': Performance Practice And The Classic Period, Malcom S. Cole

Performance Practice Review

Although much valuable work has been done on performance practice in the Classic period, many issues await detailed study.

The Performance Of French Baroque Music: A Report On The State Of Current Research, Albert Cohen

Performance Practice Review

A survey, with a bibliography, of published research on French Baroque performance practice that appeared during the period 1978-88.

From Bendinelli To Arban: Styles Of Articulation Within Selected Trumpet Method Books, Nate Locke

Theses and Dissertations

The earliest known trumpet method book to be compiled was Tutta L 'arte della Trombetta (The Entire Art of Trumpet-Playing) in 1614 by Cesare Bendinelli. This book proved to be the pioneer for six that followed by: Girolamo Fantini (1638), Johann Ernst Altenberg (1795), Joseph-Gebhardt Kresser (1836), Raniero Cacciamani (1853), Francois Georges Auguste Dauverne (1857), and Jean Baptist Arban (1864). These books alone attest that articulation was a worthy topic of discussion during this 250-year period. The purpose of this paper is to address how articulation developed through the above seven method books as well as consider how articulation is …

The Life And Selected Piano Works Of David Burge, Mary Chung

Dissertations

Although David Burge is recognized as one of the most important American pianists dedicated to contemporary music in the twentieth century, little is known about his contributions as a pedagogue, lecturer, writer, novelist, and, especially, as a composer. This biographical study focuses on three of his piano compositions: Second Sonata, Eclipse II, and Go-Hyang. Each work represents one of three distinct compositional periods: the first reflects the influence of Prokofiev and features characteristics of the neoclassicism; the second marks a turn to experimentalism, atonality, and serialism; and the final indicates the return to a more traditional style that makes use …

The Tardy Recognition Of J.S. Bach's Sonatas And Partitas For Violin Solo, Di Su

Publications and Research

J. S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo (BWV 1001-1006) are among the most important masterpieces in the literature of violin music. They are included in standard repertoire for serious violin students; they are frequently performed in solo recitals; they are recorded by numerous virtuosi; and they are required in major violin competitions. The vast amount of editions also indicates the importance of the works. In Edlund’s catalogue, one finds as many as seventy-seven editions ranging from Simrock (1802) to Henle (1987)

However, the Solos did not enjoy such a prominent status in Bach’s own time and even in …