Musicology Commons^™

Review Of Abramo Basevi's 'The Operas Of Giuseppe Verdi' (Edited By Stefano Castelvecchi), Scott L. Balthazar

Verdi Forum

No abstract provided.

Review Of Susan Rutherford's 'Verdi, Opera, Women', Hilary Poriss

Verdi Forum

No abstract provided.

The Scottish Pipe Band In North America: Tradition, Transformation, And Transnational Identity, Erin F. Walker

Theses and Dissertations--Music

For Scots and non-Scots alike, the sounds of the bagpipes and the pipe band serve as a cultural metaphor for Scottish identity: the skirl of the pipes, the crisp sound of the snare drums, and the unique lilt of the music conjure an imagined Scotland of fierce, kilted clansmen and rugged, picturesque Highland scenery. This nearly global association appears to have been constructed on a series of transformations of cultural practices within Scotland itself, as well as throughout greater Britain and the lands of the Scottish diaspora, that began with the early “kiltophiles” in the late eighteenth century. …

Starships, Gallifrey, Krypton, And Earth: Searching For The Hero Archetype In The Melodies Of Science Fiction And Superhero Films, James Wesley Talbot

Wayne State University Theses

The study of science fiction and superhero melodies is relatively new in the academic world of music theory. Analysis of hero archetypes found in Doctor Who, Star Trek (and its major motion pictures), Star Wars, and Superman provide excellent conduits for all students of music to access the hidden and overt musical meaning assigned to heroes. Realization of this study’s findings will feature interval tension and Schenkerian analysis, score reductions, and topic theory to provide perspective on how heroes are identified and perceived by directors, composers and audiences alike. Deryck Cooke, Leonard Ratner, and V. Kofi Agawu’s approach to thematic …

The Social And Cultural Changes That Affected The Music Of Motown Records From 1959-1972, Lindsey Baker

Theses and Dissertations

Motown Records produced many of the greatest musicians from the 1960s and the 1970s. During this time, songs like "Dancing in the Street" and "What's Going On?" targeted social issues in America and created a voice for African-American people through their messages. Events like the Mississippi Freedom Summer and Bloody Thursday inspired the artists at Motown to create these songs. Influenced by the cultural and social circumstances of the Civil Rights Movement, the musical output of Motown Records between 1959 and 1972 evolved from a sole focus on entertainment in popular culture to a focus on motivating social change through …

Verdi At 200: Recent Scholarship On The Composer And His Works, Linda B. Fairtile

Verdi Forum

No abstract provided.

Cammarano's Libretto For 'La Battaglia Di Legnano': A New Translation, Douglas L. Ipson

Verdi Forum

No abstract provided.

Verdi's Shakespearean Operas: Macbeth, Otello, Falstaff, David Lawton, Linda B. Fairtile, Emanuele Senici

Verdi Forum

No abstract provided.

The Microtonal Guitars Of Harry Partch, John Schneider

Soundboard Scholar

Known as an "American Maverick," Harry Partch (1901–1974) was surely one of the United States's most colorful composers. His dissatisfaction with the scales and instruments of Western music inspired him to design and build an orchestra of over two dozen handcrafted "microtonal" instruments that were tuned to his notorious "monophonic" scale of forty-three tones per octave. Between 1934 and 1952, Partch created four different adapted guitars, using them in fifteen compositions ranging from solo song cycles (Barstow, December 1942, U.S. Highball, Three Intrusions) to chamber music, dances, and four of his five major …

Fernando Sor On The Move In The Early 1820s, Erik Stenstadvold

Soundboard Scholar

This article adds to our knowledge of Sor’s final months in London in 1822 and his subsequent Paris sojourn before he went to Russia in 1823. Central to Sor’s activity during this period was his involvement in the ballet Cendrillon, for which he wrote the music. Hitherto unknown reviews of the premiere at the King’s Theatre on March 26, 1822, show that both the ballet and the music were consistently well received by the London critics. This success led to action being taken to have the ballet staged at the Paris Opéra, and in the fall that same year …

Emil Heerbrugger's Grand Grecian Military March In Facsimile, Robert Ferguson

Soundboard Scholar

Ferguson discusses Emil Heerbrugger's Grand Grecian Military March, composed for one or two guitars and published in the 1830s. It is parlor music for the amateur and displays the traits of so much of that repertoire: foursquare phrasing, strict diatonicism, tonic-dominant harmony, and simple rhythm. The tambour technique was a staple of nineteenth-century martial music on guitar, typically used to evoke drums, and Heerbrugger marks it as such in his score. The composer recommends executing the effect percussively with the right-hand middle finger.

Resurrecting The Hip-Hop And Christian Cultures: Lecrae's Unashamed Use Of The Rap Narrative, Persona, And Language, Marci Swank

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Hip-hop and Christian cultures do not overlap too often, or do they? As a rapper, Lecrae is able to share his narrative through his lyrical content, which includes his Christian faith. This thesis examines the history of hip-hop, Lecrae’s personal influences, and the overarching movement within the two cultures. Lecrae’s persona, use of the hiphop and Christian platforms, and rhetorical decisions reveal him as an example of how the American culture both resists and embraces the less-likely artist. Some view Lecrae as the one bringing hip-hop back to its original origins, but others believe that he is tainting both cultures …

The Decibel Scoreplayer - A Digital Tool For Reading Graphic Notation, Cat Hope, Lindsay R. Vickery Dr

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In 2009, the Decibel new music ensemble based in Perth, Western Australia was formed with an associated manifesto that stated “Decibel seek to dissolve any division between sound art, installation and music by focusing on the combination of acoustic and electronic instruments” [1]. The journey provided by this focus led to a range of investigations into different score types, resulting in a re-writing of the groups statement to “pioneering electronic score formats, incorporating mobile score formats and networked coordination performance environments” [2]. This paper outlines the development of Decibel’s work with the ‘screen score’, including the different stages of the …

Towards An Interactive Environment For The Performance Of Dubstep Music, James Herrington

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This Masters by Research project explores the integration of different concepts relating to the presence of the human body in Dubstep music performance. Three intended performance systems propose that the body is the logical site for the interactive control of live Dubstep music. The physicality and gestures of instrumentalists, choreographed dancers, and audience members will be examined in order to develop new and exciting ways to perform this genre in a live setting.

The systems take on a three-tiered hierarchical approach on two levels in regards to the extraction of gestural information from human body movements, as well as in …

Editorial: Guitar Research Resources—An Update, Thomas Heck

Soundboard Scholar

In early May, 2015, there was a biennial gathering of guitar history enthusiasts and scholars at the town of Hemmenhofen, Germany, on Lake Constance. One of the sessions was a round table with the title, "Old and New Sources and Horizons for Historical Research on the Guitar." It was designed to stimulate audience participation and certainly succeeded. Brief papers were offered by three scholars in attendance. Here, Heck identifies eight points of progress, each of which can be considered good news for those who work in the field of guitar history.

The Guitar As An "Open-Air" Instrument In The Early Romantic Era, Panagiotis Poulopoulos

Soundboard Scholar

In the first decades of the nineteenth century, playing music outdoors became a popular trend in Europe and North America. This largely reflected the Romantic ideal of coming closer to nature, whose allure played a significant role in contemporary education, literature, art, fashion, and music. By investigating a wide variety of written and pictorial sources, as well as surviving instruments in museum collections, this article discusses the development of the guitar as an “open-air” instrument as epitomised by the invention of guitar variants for use “on the go”. Moreover, the article sheds new light on the guitar’s connections to other …

An Uncatalogued Piece By Fernando Sor?, Ricardo Aleixo

Soundboard Scholar

This article discusses a page of music manuscript, shelf no. MD-C-90 (4), preserved in a royal monastery situated in Madrid: the Convent of the Descalzas Reales. It contains three works for guitar, including two attributed to the Catalan composer and guitarist Fernando Sor (1778–1839). The first, entitled Minué de Sors, is known as Sor's Op. 23, No. 6, while the second short composition, Alemanda desors [sic], is not yet officially attributed to Sor. While recent research has revealed that Salvador Castro de Gistau (ca. 1770–?), a publisher originally from Madrid, issued this same piece in his Op. …