Musicology Commons^™

Reimagining Haydn’S Seven Last Words For String Quartet: Recasting, Retelling, And Reorchestrating For A Modern Audience, Jeremy J. Kienbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross stands as an anomaly not just in Haydn’s oeuvre but in the catalogues of all formidable composers over the past three hundred years. It is unique in its construction: seven slow sonata form movements sandwiched by an introduction and a surprising earthquake finale; and even more outstanding that Haydn published three distinct versions of the work over a ten-year period. Further, the transformation of the Seven Last Words from a sacred to secularly performed work in Haydn’s time warrants further discourse, especially considering its present-day performance practice and reception.

This …

Einstein's Dream By Cindy Mctee: An Analysis And Transcription For Wind Ensemble, Kyle Aufderhar

Dissertations

Cindy McTee’s 2005 composition for strings, percussion, and computer music is an exploration in pluralism, combining newly composed music and computer-synthesized sounds with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles Ives. McTee’s initial use of Bach’s music comprises the complete harmonization of the chorale “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott.” In later sections of the work, McTee creates entire textures from the chorale’s soprano line, subjecting it to a variety of treatments including augmentation, diminution, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion. In addition to the inclusion of his music, McTee reiterates the importance of Bach through composition that relies on …

Camp À La Campagne: Francis Poulenc’S Les Animaux Modèles, C.J. Everett

Dissertations

Francis Poulenc’s ballet Les Animaux modèles [The model animals] premiered in 1942 at the Paris Opéra during the German occupation of Paris to favorable reviews from prominent voices in the Parisian musical scene. Set in the French countryside (la campagne) in the seventeenth century, the ballet is a seemingly honest depiction of quaint rural life. To create the short vignettes that comprise the work, Poulenc (1899–1963) adapted well-known fables of the poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95). Existing discussions of Les Animaux modèles primarily focus on the ballet’s conception during World War II and the political implications of …

J.S. Bach's Application Of The Baroque Violin Concerto In His Violin Concerti In A Minor, Bwv 1041 And E Major, Bwv 1042, Stephanie Krell

Graduate Review

Concerti from the Baroque to contemporary times stand as one of the pillars of the violin repertoire. The form initially developed in the 1600s as composers experimented with groups of performers. It became increasingly standardized in the early 1700s, with the violin concerto advancing as a favored application. Several Baroque composers contributed characteristics that were absorbed into the violin concerti of the period, including Arcangelo Correlli, Giuseppe Torelli and Antonio Vivaldi.

Johann Sebastian Bach analyzed the traits of violin concerti from earlier and contemporaneous composers, incorporating certain features while modifying others in his own works. This may be observed in …

French Music By An Italian Count: A Survey Of Selected Recordings Of Ludovico Roncalli, Ellwood Colahan

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

Guitar Etudes In The Lisztian Vein: Zanon Plays Mignone’S Twelve Etudes, Diogo Alvarez

Soundboard Scholar

Diogo Alvarez reviews Fabio Zanon's recording of Mignone's 12 Etudes and other works, with commentary on the music and the composer.

Narciso Yepes And The Composers Of His Time, Belén Pérez Castillo

Soundboard Scholar

At his peak, Narciso Yepes was one of the most celebrated figures in the guitar world, as evidenced by the quantity and reach of his recordings. While he is well known as a proponent of the ten-string guitar with an innovative chromatic tuning, less attention has been focused on his activity as a commissioner of new works (many of them for the six-string guitar). Yet in this domain, Yepes was extremely productive, premiering works by such composers as Ascencio, Bacarisse, Balada, Maderna, Marco, Montsalvatge, Ohana, Palau, and Ruiz-Pipò, to name a few. Yepes's role as a collaborator varied from one …

Composing A Cadenza For Mozart's Violin Concerto In A Major, Gracie Hayes

Honors Projects

Historically, soloists from the Western art music tradition were expected to improvise a virtuosic passage during their performance of a concerto—that is, an extensive orchestral work featuring an instrumental soloist. These improvised passages, called cadenzas, were performed unaccompanied by the soloist during a prominent cadence and were derived from the ornamentation that occurred naturally during cadences in vocal arias. Contemporary composers write out these virtuosic passages for performers, who are rarely expected to improvise during a performance, with the exception of jazz musicians. When performing works dating from before the Romantic period, musicians are left with a dilemma. Should they …

Hidden Meanings In Elementary Instrumental Music Method Books: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, Mara Hope Thompson

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Textbooks serve as the primary resource utilized to deliver curriculum in a variety of subject areas and educational contexts. However, much previous research has found that texts often convey concealed meanings in the form of hidden and null curricula. This Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) explored the musical discourses and cultural contexts of musical examples in two elementary instrumental music textbook series to investigate whose values, cultures, perspectives, and knowledge are conveyed by the texts and whose are excluded or misrepresented. Framed by the social theory of Postcolonialism, the research revealed binary ideologies of exoticism embedded in many aspects of …

Rodrigo’S Concierto De Aranjuez Through The Writings Of Regino Sainz De La Maza, Leopoldo Neri

Soundboard Scholar

Regino Sainz de la Maza was the guitarist who premiered Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona in 1940. Although musicologists have studied this musical phenomenon from different approaches, this study approaches the subject from the perspective of the performer and his musical writings, affording us new historical, aesthetic and technical data on Rodrigo's work.

All Things New: An Analysis Of Alfred Gaul’S “A New Heaven And A New Earth”, Hope V. Dornfeld

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

These program notes originally accompanied the performance of a vocal piece, “A New Heaven and a New Earth” by English composer Alfred Robert Gaul. The notes provide a brief overview of the historical context of Gaul’s work as well as an examination of classification difficulties that arise when dealing with sacred works of the mid-to-late nineteenth century. They further detail the unique challenges that are inherent in presenting an underperformed musical work. As part of a performing arts research project, these program notes also address the methods of expression and creative process that went into preparing the performance of this …

Sculpting Time: A Performance Guide To Four Fragments Of Time By Marcus Siqueira, Luis Felipe Vargas Magdaleno De Moraes

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation investigates the musical and phenomenological aspects of Four Fragments of Time by Marcus Siqueira (b. 1974) and provides a performance guide for this work. Furthermore, this dissertation analyzes previous guitar works by the composer, seeking to understand Siqueira’s compositional idiosyncrasies and to provide context for the interpretation of Four Fragments of Time. This dissertation includes a biography of the composer, an analysis of the compositional process of Four Fragments of Time, an analysis of the recurrent idiomatic procedures in Siqueira’s guitar works, and an overview of the collaborative process between the composer and the author. Additionally, an analysis …

Blending European And Latin Sounds: A Study Of French Horn Repertoire In Mexico, Aj Bernal

Theses and Dissertations--Music

As a first generation Mexican-American, it is crucial that I advocate and promote music of the culture I grew up in. This project aims to unearth Mexican compositional techniques that derive from the fusion of European and Indigenous roots in an effort to promote diversity within the realm of Western Classical music. Music in Mexico is characterized by a unique blend of indigenous rhythms, European classical structures, and regional folk influences. This project will discuss how the bold timbre of the French horn intertwines with traditional Mexican and indigenous melodies, rhythms, and forms that create a unique style. The horn’s …

Understanding The Effects Of Hormone Treatments On The Transgender Singer: A Pedagogical Study And Voice Studio Guide, Erin M. Hannon

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Transitioning from one gender to another can be an arduous and emotionally charged experience, accompanied by many physical and mental transformations. The journey of self-discovery and vocal explorations is both unique and deeply personal. Modifications that emerge in an individual's vocal characteristics have a profound influence on their capacity to communicate and express themselves.

Transgender vocal students and professional singers must navigate the delicate balance between their vocal and gender identities while considering the possible risks of Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy. Though these therapies may significantly alter one's appearance and overall well-being, they are also capable of causing notable declines …

The Forgotten Trio: Tenor, Bass, And Basso Continuo An Exploration Of Music For The Tenor/Bass Ensemble From The 17th And 18th Centuries, Joshua Golden

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Music written for and performed by tenors and basses has permeated vocal expressions since medieval chant. The history of male choral singing is as lengthy and storied as the history of all choral singing. However, the current canon of programming for this type of ensemble reveals a significant gap in historical tradition and presentation.

This research delves into the historical, cultural, and artistic milieu that influenced the development of tenor/bass choral music throughout this time period. Utilizing primary sources, as well as a rich body of secondary literature, the study employs a comparative analytical approach to dissect the musical styles, …

How Spirituals Influenced Both Resistance To Nazis And Civil Rights Protests, Chandi Plummer

Theses and Dissertations--Music

How have American Negro Spirituals inspired later generations of oppressed and marginalized people? Which songs of suffering and hope were particularly poignant in providing courage and inspiration? Questions such as these sparked my research journey, reaching a crescendo during a lecture recital on November 10, 2023, and now culminating in a dissertation.

Spirituals inspired Albert Franklin Fisher and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in New York City in 1930 during the Harlem Renaissance and traveled (via phonograph and music books) with Bonhoeffer to Nazi Germany during World War II. In America, spirituals influenced Myles and Zilphia Horton, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, …

Rudolph Süss’S Lyrische Suite No. 1, Op. 23, Matanya Ophee

Soundboard Scholar

This article reproduces the Lyrische Suite [no. 1], op. 23, by the Austrian composer Rudolph Süss, with a short introductory commentary. First published in Vienna around 1921, this suite is a fine example of the enthusiasm for the guitar in early twentieth-century Austria and Germany, which resulted in much music that has been overlooked, overshadowed as it was by the emerging Spanish repertoire.

Note

This article is one of a series of seven celebrating the work of Matanya Ophee (1932–2017) on the ninetieth anniversary of his birth. Written between 1982 and 1991, these articles first appeared in early issues of …

The Reed-Above Embouchure: History, Geography And New Avenues For Clarinet Pedagogy, Gregorio Maria Paone

Dissertations, 2020-current

Clarinet is a versatile and expressive instrument that can be used in a variety of musical genres. This document is intended to investigate its versatility, how to develop it, and whether there are benefits from the adoption of an old approach, which today is generally considered obsolete.

Chapter 1 explores major issues involved in clarinet playing and tone production. I will discuss the physics of clarinet tone, as well as secondary approaches to tone production, such as double-lip embouchure. I will also devote a section of this chapter to clarinet equipment, especially the mouthpiece and the reed, and their mutual …

Andrés Segovia And Federico Moreno Torroba’S Danza Castellana, Julio Gimeno

Soundboard Scholar

The guitar’s early twentieth-century repertoire is of unique importance, containing as it does the first guitar pieces by non-guitarist composers known for their symphonic, operatic and chamber music. Many of these composers wrote for the pioneering Andalusian guitarist Andrés Segovia, and among the most prolific of them was Federico Moreno Torroba. In various memoirs and interviews, Segovia identified Torroba’s miniature Danza castellana as not only the first piece written for him by a non-guitarist composer but even the first such piece by anyone, predating, in Segovia’s telling, Falla’s 1920 Homenaje. This article challenges Segovia’s claim by recounting the details …

Joaquín Rodrigo And Julian Bream: Aspects Of A Relationship, Javier Suárez-Pajares

Soundboard Scholar

In light of the complex diplomatic relations between Spain and the United Kingdom in the 1950s, the deteriorating relationship between the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo and the English guitarist Julian Bream describes a telling arc—from 1951, when Bream gave the British premiere of the Concierto de Aranjuez, to 1959, when he emphatically rejected the Sonata giocosa that Rodrigo had written for him. To explore Bream's negative reaction, this study considers both Rodrigo’s relation to England and Bream’s ambivalent attitude toward the Spanish guitar tradition. An epilogue examines the recordings that the guitarist subsequently made of the Concierto de Aranjuez …

Music Of The Divine: Interweaving Threads Connecting Contemporary Chant-Based Piano Repertoire, Jeremy D. Duck

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

The purpose of this document is to prove chant remains an important source of inspiration among living composers, and, despite the number of piano works already incorporating chant, composers today are still finding unique ways to include chant in their music. To achieve this objective, representative works have been selected for research and analysis for four of the major chant traditions. Connor Chee’s The Navajo Piano, Victoria Bond’s Illuminations on Byzantine Chant, and Hayes Biggs’ E.M. am Flügel: Poem-Étude for Piano Solo, though the chants from which they are inspired are diverse in concept and style, they …

The Dilemma Of Empty Halls, Joanna Lauer

Musical Offerings

Today, live classical concert attendance is low, a fact which threatens the careers of professional musicians. This paper examines recent statistics of classical concert attendance, theories as to why attendance rates are low, marketing methods for target audiences, and finally, recommendations to solve the dilemma of empty concert halls. To encourage concert attendance, classical music must be tastefully marketed to present-day audiences through the experience of technically excellent, musical, and interesting live performances. Ultimately, the relationship between art and its audience (the consumer) reveals that the key to the dilemma is the audience.

Maurice Ravel’S Le Tombeau De Couperin: Human Emotions, Grief, And The History Of The Tombeau, Tin V. La

Dissertations, 2020-current

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) dedicated Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-1917) to 17th-century French music and his friends who died in World War I. Although the work has an elegiac purpose, its music does not correlate with the common characteristic of an elegiac work. This document investigates the elegiac aspect of this work through the scope of psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the theory of musical equilibration.

The first chapter briefly discusses the history of the "Tombeau" in 17th-century French literature and music. The second chapter compares Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin to three pieces titled "Tombeau" written by Johann Froberger (1616-1667), Louis Couperin …

Conference Report: Reassessing Haydn’S Sacred Music, 12–14 June 2023, Eisenstadt, Austria, Robert B. Wrigley

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

A conference entitled "Reassessing Haydn's Sacred Music" took place in Eisenstadt 12-14 June, 2023. Historical, political, and religious contexts, reception, compositional and religous influences upon Haydn, and stylistic characteristics of specific works were all discussed.

Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, Gurminder Kaur Bhogal

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The harmonium is prominent in Sikh practices of devotional music known as kirtan and yet its significance has barely been addressed in Euro-American scholarship. Following on the heels of a recent ban against using the instrument at the holiest temple of the Sikhs, Harmandir Sahib (popularly known as the Golden Temple), this article explores how the ban seeks to discard this colonial instrument and return to playing traditional string instruments (tanti saz) associated with the courts (darbar) of the Sikh Gurus. This study is the first to examine primary missionary sources from the nineteenth and early …

Florence Price: Forgotten No More, Kathryn E. Amdahl

2023 Symposium

Florence Price was a composer and musician who lived from 1887 to 1953. She composed music in every genre except for opera. The music of Florence Price traveled practically everywhere; from the radio to the concert halls to the church. Throughout her life, she became well-known as the first African American female composer who was featured by a major symphony. Florence Price was tenacious, brave, and courageous during her era which contributed to the level of acceptance that society now holds for African American composers. Despite the challenges she faced during her lifetime, she never gave up or collapsed due …

Play Makes Perfect: An Exploration Of Game And Play Elements In Composition And Performance, Gabrielle Chou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to explore the intersection of play and games in Western classical music and define a new category of pieces, “ludic pieces,” which contain play structures and game mechanics within their composition. Starting with surveying perspectives in ludology and ludomusicology, including those by Roger Caillois, Johan Huizinga, Jesper Juul, Katie Salen, and Eric Zimmerman, I will examine various definitions of a “game” and what its qualifying aspects are. I will then turn to music and consider pieces that interact with play and games without containing game structures, including examples of musical humor and pieces which evoke the imagery …

Pange Lingua, Gustavo Leone

Department of Fine & Performing Arts: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in South America in 1767, leaving behind a remarkable musical legacy that was buried for over two hundred years. But the music did not disappear completely. Thanks to the Chiquitos people of Bolivia, the music was played and preserved throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1985, Swiss architect Hans Roth discovered 9,000 of these musical manuscripts and in 1990 UNESCO declared the churches of the Chiquitos a “patrimony of humanity”. Dr. Gustavo Leone of Loyola University Chicago's Department of Fine and Performing Arts has painstakingly retrieved and restored several of these …

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 …

Singing Planets Don't Sing; They Speak, Joanna R. Lauer

Musical Offerings

Ancient Greek philosophers conceived a theory called Music of the Spheres. This ancient theory progressed for almost one thousand years before finally proving itself untrustworthy. However, this examination uncovers an overlooked fact: the large amount of natural order in sound and music existing before the creation of man. Scripture reveals that God is a God of order, and an extensive amount of natural order is found in the universe. Evidence points to God being the creator of the universe. Specific examples of such evidence are the inherent order of sound laid out in pitches, interval ratios, the overtone series, the …