Musicology Commons^™

Women Guitar Orchestra Conductors, 1885 To Present, Part 1, Mariette Stephenson

Music Faculty Publications

Passion, innovation, musicianship: these are reflected in the careers and offerings of women and the guitar. As I continue my research on women’s contributions to guitar orchestras, I became interested in discovering how many women have led guitar orchestras since they began in the 1800’s and learn what women today are experiencing in this role. Guitar orchestras have played an important role in many musicians’ development throughout its history, but unfortunately women have been often unacknowledged and under-represented in this ensemble format’s leadership roles.

This article includes a list I have compiled of women guitar orchestra conductors (past/present), will discuss …

The Tradition Of Microtonal Guitar On The American West Coast, Kenneth M. Cotich

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Microtonal music in the United States has a significant connection with the American West Coast. Influential microtonal musicians and theorists originated on the West Coast or passed through California, subsequently inspiring future generations of composers to work outside of twelve-tone equal temperament (12tet). This project begins by examining the early trailblazers of music education and composition in California who sought to rearticulate the fundamentals of music. Two substantial sources that influenced new musical materials were the harmonic series and non-Western music and culture. Microtonal music in California is then examined through the efforts of a series of outsider speculative music …

Introduction, Oliver Chandler

GFA Refereed Monographs

While the history of the formation of a modern British guitar repertoire around the central figure of Julian Bream is known in broad brushstrokes, we lack a thoroughgoing, technical understanding of the particular idiom that Bream’s composers developed. Important in the nascent stages of the guitar’s modernist evolution, for example, was its relationship to twelve-tone serialism. Through close readings of individual works by Reginald Smith Brindle (El polifemo de oro, 1956), Denis ApIvor (Variations, 1958), Thomas Wilson (Three Pieces, 1961; Soliloquy, 1969), and Richard Rodney Bennett (Impromptus, 1968; Sonata, 1983), I map the …

"Now, Then, Then:" An Original Composition And Examination Of The Influence Of Blues, Bluegrass, And Rock In Western Concert Music, David Klock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines four pieces by three composers and one creative team, focusing on connections to bluegrass, blues, and rock music in each. The pieces are Raphael by Bryce Dessner, Cognitive Consonance II: Westering by Christopher Trapani, Bog Bodies and other Macabre Miniatures by Nicolas Lell Benavides, and “Three Dots and a Dash” by Punch Brothers. Each of these works uses distinct instrumentations, but every ensemble includes guitar in some fashion. This examination informs the original composition entitled Now, Then, Then, scored for violin, cello, electric guitar, and marimba. In this original composition, Klock uses devices found within these …

“An Attractive And Varied Repertoire”: Full-Data List, Christopher Page

Soundboard Scholar

This document presents the complete set of data analyzed in Christopher Page, “‘An Attractive and Varied Repertoire’: The Guitar Revival of 1860–1900 and Victorian Song,” Soundboard Scholar, no. 8 (2022), https://digitalcommons.du.edu/sbs/vol8/iss1/3.

“An Attractive And Varied Repertoire”: The Guitar Revival Of 1860–1900 And Victorian Song, Christopher Page

Soundboard Scholar

Most modern histories of the classical guitar are devoted to solo playing. They therefore forego a different kind of history based upon the guitar used as an accompaniment for a singer. This article explores how that alternative history might be framed with reference to England during the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). This is the ideal laboratory for such an experiment, not least because the compositions of Catharina Pratten (1824–1895), the most influential guitar player of the day, are often thought to reveal a late-Victorian public with little interest in the guitar as a solo resource. Yet the newspaper …

On The Need For A Scholarly Edition Of Tárrega’S Complete Works, David J. Buch

Soundboard Scholar

In this guest editorial, the author provides evidence of the unreliable nature of the majority of Tárrega’s first editions, and the substandard quality of most modern editions. The author argues that in light of the recent availability of formerly inaccessible primary sources, the time is right for a scholarly edition of Tárrega’s complete works with state-of-art editorial methods.

Of Self And Circumstance: Music And Representation In The Works Of Rodrigo, Walter Aaron Clark

Soundboard Scholar

Though Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-99) is renowned for his guitar works, especially the Concierto de Aranjuez, less well known is the fact that his compositions embrace a wide variety of genres, styles, and media, from piano solos to art songs and from orchestral tone poems to film scores. This article proposes a novel way of organizing and comprehending the roughly 200 works in his catalogue. Rather than the standard method of organization by chronology or medium, it surveys his oeuvre through multiple lenses, including literary, folkloric, virtuosic, sacred, historical, theatrical and descriptive. Each of these categories represents the salient dimension …

"For Andrés Segovia": Francisco De Lacerda’S Suite Goivos (1924), Pedro Rodrigues

Soundboard Scholar

Suite goivos by Francisco Lacerda (1869–1934) stands out not only as one of the first examples of symbolist literature for guitar but also as the first work written for guitar by a Portuguese non-guitarist composer. So far, however, it has remained in relative obscurity. In this article, I first explore the suite’s context and history: its origin in meetings and correspondence between Lacerda and the work’s dedicatee, Andrés Segovia; its place among new works commissioned by Segovia from non-guitarist composers; and available manuscript sources for the work. I then argue for the work’s importance as music, highlighting its innovative features, …

Women’S Contributions To Guitar Orchestras Prior To 1930, Mariette Stephenson

Music Faculty Publications

Guitar orchestras were at their height of popularity in the late 1800's and early 1900's in Europe, South America and North America, and played an important role in the promotion of the suffragette movement. Although the popularity of this ensemble type declined after WW1, they have seen a strong resurgence within the past 20 years. Many influential women in the guitar world, including Madame Sydney Pratton and Vahdah Olcott-Bickford, played crucial roles in the development of guitar orchestras. That continues to this day with composers such as the internationally renown Dutch composer Annette Kruisbrink writing works for this ensemble format …

“So That The Soul Would Dance In You,” By Jukka Savijoki, Kenneth Sparr

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

Un Angelo Senza Paradiso, By Nicoletta Confalone, Richard M. Long

Soundboard Scholar

A review of Nicoletta Confalone, Un angelo senza paradiso: La chitarra alla ricerca di Schubert (Bologna: Ut Orpheus, 2017).

A Critical And Performance Edition Of Agustin Barrios’S Cueca: Comparative Analysis Of Form, Notation, And Performance Practice Of Barrios’S Work To Traditional Chilean Cuecas From The Beginning Of The Twentieth-Century, Enrique Sandoval-Cisternas

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Agustin Barrios's guitar music has become increasingly popular over the last forty years. After his death, a revival of interest in his compositions began in the 1970s, motivated by a series of publications and recordings of his music by important guitar performers at that time. The most important of these recordings came from the Australian guitar performer John Williams, who was interviewed in 1976 by ABC Television Australia for a film about the Paraguayan composer. The next year, Williams recorded a collection of fifteen works in his album John Williams-Barrios: John Williams Plays the Music of Agustín Barrios Mangoré. …

The History Of The Guitar, Júlio Ribeiro Alves

Júlio Ribeiro Alves

Conceived as instructional material for the guitar students at Marshall University (or anyone interested in the subject), it presents the historical process of the guitar in a clear and attainable fashion. Several topics related to the guitar will be discussed in detail throughout the book: the postulates associated with its origins, its evolution through the centuries, its repertoire, composers, performers, techniques, etc., culminating with the achievement of the privileged status of a respected concert instrument which it currently possesses.

El Murciano's "Rondeña" And Early Flamenco Guitar Music: New Findings And Perspectives, Mª Luisa Martínez Martínez, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

The "Rondeña" of guitarist Francisco Rodríguez Murciano (El Murciano, 1795-1848) of Granada--as documented in a notation made by his son--has been a subject of considerable interest among scholars interested in the evolution of flamenco guitar playing (toque). Such authors as Eusebio Rioja (2008, 2013), Javier Suárez Pajares (2003), Guillermo Castro Buendía (2014), and Norberto Torres Cortés (2010) have recognized the importance of this piece in the attempted reconstruction, however hypothetical, of the development of the art of flamenco guitar. These authors have raised various questions about the piece, involving the date and circumstances of its preparation and the …

The Guitar In Tudor England: A Social And Musical History, By Christopher Page, Richard Long

Soundboard Scholar

Long reviews The Guitar in Tudor England: A Social and Musical History by Christopher Page.

Henry Worrall (1825–1902): Anglo-American Guitarist, Robert Ferguson

Soundboard Scholar

Anglo-American guitarist Henry Worrall appeared on the American scene just as the guitar reached a plateau of popularity. As vital as the guitar itself, the prevailing social, philosophical, and aesthetic tenets of Worrall's era also wove a unifying thread through his life, career, and oeuvre. His immersion in both the graphic and musical arts; his straddling of vernacular and high culture; his connection to nature and especially agriculture; his nationalist and regionalist sympathies; and his fondness for folk, popular, and heroic musical themes all drew from and evinced a Romantic worldview. Here, Ferguson discusses Worrall's professional life.

The History Of The Guitar, Júlio Ribeiro Alves

Music Faculty Research

Conceived as instructional material for the guitar students at Marshall University (or anyone interested in the subject), it presents the historical process of the guitar in a clear and attainable fashion. Several topics related to the guitar will be discussed in detail throughout the book: the postulates associated with its origins, its evolution through the centuries, its repertoire, composers, performers, techniques, etc., culminating with the achievement of the privileged status of a respected concert instrument which it currently possesses.

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 …

Exodus Concerto For Guitar And Chamber Orchestra, Spencer Joel Kappelman

Masters Theses

Exodus is a four-movement composition for solo guitar accompanied by a chamber orchestra. This piece is composed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Master of Music with a concentration in Music Composition from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Exodus was composed during the 2010-2012 academic years.
This paper provides a narrative analysis of Exodus in terms of its musical content, and relationships to other composers of the last century. Similarities to these composers refer to form, orchestration, melody, harmony, rhythm, and meter.

Rallying Round Our Liberty, Wendell Dobbs, Leo Welch, Linda Dobbs, Neil Cadle

Linda Dobbs

No abstract provided.

Rallying Round Our Liberty, Wendell Dobbs, Leo Welch, Linda Dobbs, Neil Cadle

Recordings

No abstract provided.