Music Theory Commons^™

Reassessing Haydn’S Orfeo In The Theatre, Dorian Bandy, Caryl Clark

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

Haydn’s last opera, L’anima del filosofo (The Soul of the Philosopher), is a highly unusual retelling of the Orpheus myth. Written for London in 1791 to a libretto by C. F. Badini, the opera was never staged during the composer’s lifetime. Shut down in rehearsal and banned from performance, the opera never reached the stage because many of its themes—including the apocalyptic storm at the end—piqued British anxieties towards events unfolding in revolutionary France. The opera finally premiered in 1951, with Maria Callas singing the role of Euridice. Universal Edition prepared the performing material from sources photographed behind …

Musical Semiotics In Kate Soper’S Ipsa Dixit (2010–2016), Scott A. Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the six parts of Kate Soper’s Ipsa Dixit (2010–2016). While individual parts have received some music theoretical attention, this is the first analysis of the entire Pulitzer Prize-nominated work. Ambiguity and contingency are major themes of Ipsa Dixit, and by treating each part independently and in combination, I hope to honor Ipsa’s contingent status as a unified work comprised of six complete works. Soper’s libretto unifies an assemblage of texts with adaptations of Aristotle to investigate the intersections of language and music with authority, veracity, and (un)intelligibility.

I theorize that Soper’s “philosophy-opera” dramatizes the formation of …

Experimental Document Analysis—An Analytical Framework For Document Design, Niels W. Lund

Proceedings from the Document Academy

In this paper I will present an analytical framework for future documents, an experimental document analysis providing support for document design. The American economist, Herbert A. Simon outlined how to design an artificial object in his work "The Sciences of the Artificial" (1969, 1996) and described how this can be done in a systematic way, by a science of design. Simon describes the design process as a matter of finding possible alternatives among the potential optimal alternatives and finding a satisficing solution, by which he means a solution in-between satisfactory solutions and optimal solutions which can work in real life, …

Making Malice Musical: Verdi’S Compositional Journey Through The Eyes Of Six Villains, Michael Chadwick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Giuseppe Verdi is a pillar of the operatic world and had a profound impact on the evolution of the art form. From a rudimentary beginning, he developed over time from a popular creator of operas in the solita forma style of 19^th century Italy into a master craftsman of combining music, text, and theatrical drama. Verdi utilized the popular compositional formal convention of solita forma to begin his career. Over time he evolved beyond its boundaries and shifted his focus to the holistic theatrical presentation of the drama. Much has been written about this evolution through analysis of Verdi’s …

The Music Of Sylvano Bussotti And Its Interpretation: Biopolitics, Intersubjectivity, And Modernist Canon Formation, Charles A. Rudig

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The music of Italian composer Sylvano Bussotti (1931–2021) presents intentional challenges to interpretation and canonization. These particular challenges and Bussotti’s reasoning for implementing them are interrogated in this dissertation by reading the score to Bussotti’s La Passion selon Sade (1966) through contemporaneous European social theory, philosophy, and political developments. La Passion selon Sade is a theatre piece for a chamber ensemble, with a primary vocal and dramatic role written for mezzo-soprano Catherine Berberian, with whom Bussotti frequently collaborated. Like much of Bussotti’s music from the 1950s and 1960s, the discourse surrounding the piece and its reception largely relates to its …

Listen To The River: Dolores, Ophelia, And Female Resistance In Opera, Daniel Aaron Barnidge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The music of female characters in the great masterpieces of opera often demonstrates resistance to and undermines the abuse they have historically received in opera plots. The Mexican folktale that my opera, The Tragedy of La Llorona, draws inspiration from plays on many of the same tropes historically found in female characters in opera including madness, sexuality, and lack of agency. This led to research into the portrayal of women in opera as part of my pre-compositional process and my desire to access this tale free from the traditional 'marianismo' and 'machismo' narratives it is associated with and which …

X Marks Nothing: Chiasmus And Kenosis In Kaija Saariaho's La Passion De Simone, Desiree Scarambone

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Composer Kaija Saariaho’s 2006 work La Passion de Simone often leaves audiences and critics at a loss to understand what they have witnessed. The title, subject, and sparse libretto only complicate this confusion. The genre of the work is ambiguous to many; some critics call it an opera, some an oratorio. Because the subject of the work, French philosopher Simone Weil, is widely unknown to the public, her placement within the framework of a Passion is often met with confusion if not criticism.

By fusing Weil’s life and philosophical ideas in this work, Saariaho explores how the awareness of the …

Peculiar Attunements: How Affect Theory Turned Musical [Table Of Contents], Roger Mathew Grant

Philosophy & Theory

Peculiar Attunements places the recent turn to affect into conversation with a parallel movement that took place in European music theory of the eighteenth century. During that time the affects—or the passions, as they were also called—formed a vital component of a mimetic model of the arts. Eighteenth-century critics held that artworks imitated or copied the natural world in order to produce copies of the affects in their beholders. But music caused a problem for these thinkers, since it wasn’t apparent that musical tones could imitate anything with any dependability (except, perhaps, for the rare thunderclap or birdcall). Struggling to …

The Challenges And Limitations Of Adapting Mozart's Così Fan Tutte For A Small University Setting, Christopher Lovely

Dissertations

In this dissertation, challenges and limitations related to presenting Così fan tutte within a small university setting are conveyed, as well as offering innovative ideas to create a manageable presentation. I recall my personal experience as Korepititor/Vocal Coach for The University of Southern Mississippi’s 2014 production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. This document presents topics on the various workings of an opera production: pre-rehearsal preparation, language issues, rehearsal preparation, selection of singers, and production issues. It offers practical solutions to overcome various challenges a small university may encounter. Smaller university opera programs were surveyed regarding their adaptations of …

The Analysis Of Musical Dramaturgy In Mozart's Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail, Danielle J. Bastone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It has long been recognized that the music of Mozart’s Singspiels bears more dramatic weight than that of most eighteenth-century German comic operas. Yet this view arises from a body of scholarship that heavily privileges Die Zauberflöte at the expense of Mozart’s other German-language operatic works, including Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), which constituted Mozart’s first big statement in Vienna and became easily the most popular of his operas during his lifetime. This is an analytical study of Mozart’s Entführung that examines form, phrase rhythm, and text-setting as agents of musical dramaturgy throughout the score. More specifically, it demonstrates …

Musical And Dramatic Roles Of The Chorus In Hugo Weisgall’S "Esther", Michael A. Capobianco Iv

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hugo Weisgall is considered one of America’s most important opera composers. He invariably chose subject matter of high artistic or philosophical importance, composing operas that dealt with significant 20th-century moral, social, and philosophical issues. In writing his final opera, Esther, which the New York City Opera premiered in October, 1993, Weisgall was able to make a larger statement about his Jewish heritage, the history of Jewish persecution and ultimate survival. The dissertation suggests that we enter the music and meaning of the opera most deeply through a consideration and study of the Chorus. The Chorus’s roles are as essential …

Tone Row Partitions In Schoenberg's Moses Und Aron The Volk Partition And The Zwischenspiel Partition, William E. Johnson

Graduate Thesis Collection

Arnold Schoenberg's development of twelve-tone serial ism in the early 20th Century had profound and far-reaching impact on the musical world. As Schoenberg himself grew and matured as a composer, so did the compositional technique of, and indeed his proficiency with, serialism. The opera Moses und Aron was composed in Schoenberg's third compositional period that lasted from 1923 through Schoenberg's death in 1951 and was characterized almost exclusively by this new technique of twelvetone serialism. Moses und Aron's first two Acts (as well as the libretto for the third) were written from 1930 to 1932 and based entirely on a …

Romantic Exoticism: The Music Of Elsewhere In The Nineteenth Century, Josiah Raiche

Senior Honors Theses

Western art music has drawn on many sources. One of these is non-western music, which can be integrated into European classical music tradition in the form of exoticism. This paper will highlight musical elements used by composers seeking to create exoticism, examine selected works, and note common elements of western music that have exotic roots. In the nineteenth century, there were three general trends in exoticism. The first, non-musical exoticism, utilizes conventional western music alongside extra-musical exotic elements. Romantic exoticism portrays distant lands using musical elements, drawing these from the audience’s perceptions of the music represented. Realistic exoticism attempts to …

Metrical Theory And Verdi's Midcentury Operas, William Rothstein

Publications and Research

Both historical and recent theories of meter have tended to assume that meter is a single phenomenon, definable in a single (though perhaps complex) way. Most U.S. theories of meter have been based on a limited repertoire: instrumental music by German composers. Examination of Verdi's mid-century operas, from Macbeth through La traviata (1846–53), suggests that different theoretical approaches may be appropriate for different repertoires. National traditions of composition, depending often on national poetic traditions, may require different ways of hearing and counting, and thus different ways of modeling meter. The metrical theories of Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, David Temperley, …

Abstracts, James Hepokoski, David Lawton, Martin Chusid, Andrew Hornick, John Nádas, Gary Tomlinson, Leonard Garrison, Harold S. Powers, Gregory W. Harwood, Richard B. Beams, William P. Cole, Albert O. Cordell, Marianne Davis, Loryn E. Frye, Ben King, James Mason, William E. Mccauley, Stephen Town

Verdi Forum

Abstracts of papers about Giuseppe Verdi and his works, presented at joint meetings of the AIVS and Greater NY Chapter of the American Musicological Society, 1979-81 (Hepokoski, Lawton, Chusid, Hornick, Nádas, Tomlinson, Garrison, Powers), at the 1982 national meeting of the American Musicological Society (Harwood), and at an NEH-sponsored summer seminar at NYU in 1980 (Beams, Cole, Cordell, Davis, Fry, King, Mason, McCauley, Town).

A Structural Comparison Of Traditional Opera And Music Drama, Charles H. Stephens

All Master's Theses

This paper presents a structural comparison of traditional opera and music drama. It uses Wagner's criticism of traditional opera, and his plan of incorporating the individual arts into a unified art form, to contrast the two forms. An identification of motives from a section of Wagner's Die Walkure further demonstrates the unifying factors in music drama.

Romanzen Aus Magelone: Characteristics Of Style, Benjamin Fredrick Hammack

All Master's Theses

Brahms' Romanzen aus Magelone serves as an excellent model for the German lied. Although other musical elements are important, Brahms never sacrifices his melodic lines, which progress diatonically in a wide range. Complex rhythms, with such devices as hemiola and holding over the measure line, are frequent. Although some songs are ternary or strophic, a free-sectional form is generally employed. The textures vary; one song may be both homophonic and polyphonic. A complex piano accompaniment always enhances the text and requires an accomplished pianist.

An Analysis Of Verdi's Dramatic And Musical Unity In Desdemona's Monologue, Georgia A. Zutavern

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine as thoroughly as possible Desdemona's monologue in Verdi's fourth act Otello. The study includes a detailed analysis of the composer's approach both musically and dramatically.

Benjamin Britten: Stylistic Devices And Characteristics Of Peter Grimes, Aletha Warring Farrell

Graduate Student Research Papers

It is the purpose of this study to investigate, compile and elucidate techniques, devices, and stylistic characteristics employed by Benjamin Britten in the opera Peter Grimes.

Monteverdi: Characteristics Of His Operatic Style, Mallory C. Mcmanus

Graduate Student Research Papers

With this emphasis on textual understanding, opera, as introduced by a group or amateur composers called the Florentine Camerata, was born. These composers wrote in a recitative style for the solo voice. Being amateurs, however, they did not possess the professional musicianship to amplify the textual implications. Therefore, Monteverdi, the trained musician, established many musical innovations still in effect.

Puccini's Treatment Of Verismo, Janet M. Ice

Graduate Student Research Papers

The employment of verismo, or realism, in opera did not begin with Puccini; however, his treatment developed the concept to its fullest. Inasmuch as Puccini was one of the foremost composers of his time, a study of his treatment of verismo seems valuable.

Volume 73, Number 05 (May 1955), Guy Mccoy

The Etude Magazine: 1883-1957

Problems of the Operatic Conductor (interview with Alberto Erede)

Musical Experience of the Classroom Teacher

Universal Appeal of Sir William Walton's First Opera

Development of Pianism (interview with Robert Casadesus)

Does Practice Make Perfect?

Music and the Mails

Youth Made the Challenge

Volume 52, Number 01 (January 1934), James Francis Cooke

The Etude Magazine: 1883-1957

Studying Music for the Joy of It (interview with Artur Bodanzky)

Old Friends are Best

Evening of Mozart: A Musical Play in Three Acts for Children and Adults

You Can Sing—If You Will! (interview with Ernestine Schumann-Heink)

Music of Nature: A Series of Programs for Studio, Club or Radio Recital

Coming Back Without Teacher

Why Not Give an Etude Radio Recital?

Music Supervisor's Forum

New Deal, the New Leisure, and Music

Interesting Stephen Heller

Here's a New One

Those Troublesome Octaves

Value of Music Study to a Business Woman

Ledger Lines and Spaces Simplified

Sight Reading Suggestions

Drilling for Independence …

Volume 30, Number 02 (February 1912), James Francis Cooke

The Etude Magazine: 1883-1957

Probable Origin of Syncopation

Opera of the People (interview with Victor Herbert)

Boccherini and His Friends

If My Daughter Should Study for Grand Opera (interview with Andreas Dippel)

When Different Pupils Make the Same Mistakes

How a Great Operatic Production is Prepared: Opinions from Many Celebrated Specialists upon a Subject of Much Human Interest to all Music Lovers

Grand Opera as a Business

Self-Help in Voice Study (interview with Charles Dalmores)

Alphabet of the Opera Composers

Names of the Notes in Other Languages

Success at the First Lessons: Five Important Points for Teachers to Remember and Employ

Well-Known Composers of …

Lesson Book: Grand Opera, Rubinkam I. Nathaniel

Siegel-Myers Correspondence School of Music

A Music Lesson Book for the correspondence courses offered through the Siegel-Myers Correspondence School of Music.
Lessons and Examinations: Grand Opera, number 1 through 10

Volume 05, Number 04 (April 1887), Theodore Presser

The Etude Magazine: 1883-1957

Expression in Piano Playing

Talk About Some Young Pianists

Accentuation in Piano Playing

Early Education

Maxims

Current Chats

Musical Societies in Colleges

Who Has Blundered?

Carefully Selected List of American Songs Suitable for Concert and Teaching Purposes with Key, Compass, Grade and Price

Liszt!

Musician: Guide for Pianoforte Students