Musicology Commons^™

From Swing King To Swing Kids: The Jazz Era Of ‘Big Band Orchestras’ In World War Ii, Katie Victoria Burnopp

Student Scholar Showcase

Known as the ‘King of Swing’, clarinetist and band leader Benny Goodman (1909-1986) threatened the Nazi cause during WWII. With intent of improving music pedagogy, the purpose of this research was to investigate swing music during World War II. The particular problems of this study were to: (1) identify how the swing music of Benny Goodman (1909-1986) influenced adolescents in the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Germany; (2) explore the Nazi party view on ‘swing’ music of the era; (3) examine how the music of Charlie and his Orchestra became used as a tool for Nazi propaganda; and …

A Rhythmic Transcription And Spectral Analysis Of Luciano Berio's Thema (Omaggio A Joyce), Christopher C. Mccardle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Thema (Omaggio A Joyce), composed by Luciano Berio resides within a tempo of 80 beats per minute. The discovery of a constant tempo allowed for a precise rhythmic transcription to be created which found musical structures including large formal sections, subsections, phrases, rhythmic and melodic motives, layers, and dialogue. Analysis of the rhythmic phrases shows that electroacoustic music can have a controlled structure and that these structures earned Thema an enduring legacy of masterpiece. The transcription provides a road-map to compare and contrast different elements that reoccur throughout Thema. The work was composed with a well thought-out and …

Bach’S Passion Recitative: Theology, Accidental Placement, And Anti-Semitism Applied To Performance, Blake Beckemeyer 18

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

“I’M Nobody! Who Are You?”: Musical (Re)Presentations Of Emily Dickinson, Abigail Martin 18

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Unmasking Hybridity In Popular Performance, Hannah M. Harder

Student Publications

This paper explores cultural hybridization in popular music and the eroticization of the exotic eastern aesthetic. Using musicology and anthropology as tools, the paper examines varying perspectives of the artists, audience and marginalized groups. Although cultural appropriation has been used recently as a blanket buzzword in mainstream dialogue, it does provide a platform to discuss complex issues on gender, race and sexuality that has been muddled by colonial mentalities.

Musicking, Discourse, And Identity In Participatory Media Fandom, Aya Esther Hayashi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I study three forms of music-making within media fandom and their respective communities: filk, roughly, the folk music of the science fiction and fantasy fandom; wizard rock, a punk/DIY movement inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels; and the YouTube musicals of Team StarKid and AVbyte. I consider their individual histories and the popular music movements and genres that influenced their respective developments. Even though the practices of these three communities are very different, their participants use similar, if identical, discourses when discussing what they do and why they do it, including but not limited to: openness, …

From Maroons To Mardi Gras: The Role Of African Cultural Retention In The Development Of The Black Indian Culture Of New Orleans, Robin Ligon Williams

Masters Theses

After a three hundred year journey from the continent, African cultural retention remains at the core of the Black Indian masking tradition of New Orleans. Prior research from progenitors in anthropology and ethnomusicology, focusing on African cultural retention, include the ground-breaking ethnographies of Robert Farris Thompson, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Michael P. Smith, Margaret Thompson Drewel, Stephen Wehmeyer, Jason Berry and others, have established a solid foundation for research on African influences and retentions in expressive folk cultures, laying a firm foundation for this project. The author’s insider experiences within the Black Indian tradition are underscored by several …

Huérfanos De Orfeo: Poesía Y Música En La Cultura De Los Siglos De Oro, Lorena Uribe Bracho

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an attempt to elucidate some aspects of one of the central issues in the history of lyric poetry, which is the complicated interlace of connections between poetry and music. It focusses on the case of early modern Spain, and it studies a large corpus of poetry in Spanish from 1500 to 1700. The corpus includes Renaissance and Baroque poems of many genres and from many sources, both printed and manuscript, by canonical and by lesser known poets, all of which engage with music and musical practice.

I address the questions of how music is involved in poetry’s …

Schumann’S Frauenliebe Und Leben: An Analysis Of “Nun Hast Du Mir Den Ersten Schmerz Getan”, Emily Schwitzgebel

Black & Gold

"Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan" ("Now you have caused me pain for the first time") is the eighth and final song in Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe Und Leben song cycle, based upon a poem cycle by Adelbert con Chamisso, which follows the stages of love as told by the woman—the narrator. Unique from the previous seven songs in both content and musicality, this song mourns the loss of the woman in the poem’s husband. Schumann uses techniques such as tonal unclarity, dynamics, tempo markings, and a lack of cadences in order to connect the music to Chamisso's words, …

The Creation: Haydn's Drama, Alexis K. Aguilar, Rami N. Halabi, Jared S. Pector

2018 Festschrift: Franz Josef Haydn's "The Creation"

This paper focuses on Haydn’s use of drama in regard to his oratorio The Creation. To understand Haydn’s use of drama, we considered three main aspects. The first aspect is the means by which Haydn came about The Creation text and the meaning it held for him. The second aspect is an analysis of the work, particularly looking at text painting, comedic elements, and orchestration. Finally, we will discuss the reception of Haydn’s work and the importance it held in relation to the aesthetics of the time. The Creation was a staple of Haydn’s work, and would prove to …

Salvaging The Style Of Frei Aber Einsam In The Music Of Brahms: Proposing A Historically Informed Performance Practice For The Three Sonatas For Violin And Piano Of Johannes Brahms, Opp. 78, 100, And 108, Phillip Alexander Ducreay

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis explores scholarship relevant to assembling a historically informed performance practice of Brahms’s three Violin Sonatas, Opp. 78, 100, and 108 in the nineteenth-century Germanic violin tradition of which, Joseph Joachim was its greatest proponent. This inquiry, which primarily examines surviving evidence of Joachim, his pedagogical ilk, and the circle of Brahms, engages with a variety of 19th and early 20th century Germanic musical and textual evidence, including nineteenth-century musical editions, correspondence and other archival materials, and early recorded performances to propose a historically informed style. In presenting this historiography of materials relevant to forming a historically informed interpretation …

Mbalax: Traces Of Tradition In Senegalese Hip-Hop, Mikayla Simeral

Masters Theses

What is mbalax and how is it adaptively transforming the modern-day culture of Dakar, Senegal? Throughout This this study, willI plan to provide a glimpse into the current hip-hop culture of Dakar, ultimately revealing how up-and-coming artists are implementing mbalax. The research for this study took place I was in Dakar, Senegal from January 26th - February 16th, and was completed my field research in both Washington D.C. and New York City from February 22nd-26th. During this time m, I was able to connect with multiple hip-hop artists, political activists/rappers, drummers, and sabar dancers were consulted. More knowledge was obtained …

Women In Music: Letting A Long Story Be Long Contemplating Women’S Sonic, Musical, And Spiritual Experiences In Prehistory, Deborah J. Saidel

Theses and Dissertations

Situated within deep history, this study explores the auditory and spiritual lives of Paleolithic women. It considers their personal agency in mediating the spiritual power of sound and how doing so contributes to a multifaceted musicality. The theoretical framework involves a wide spectrum of topics, from ways of rethinking the writing of history and reckoning with time, to sound studies and the study of acoustics in ancient sites, to a critical examination through a feminist lens of normative disciplinary scholarship in anthropology and archaeology, religious studies, and musicology. I explore potential audio-visual-lithic relationships for their implications for deepening an understanding …

The Soul Of Black Opera: W.E.B. Du Bois’S Veil And Double Consciousness In William Grant Still’S Blue Steel, Toiya Lister

Graduate Thesis Collection

In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), W.E.B. Du Bois theorized that black peoples were viewed behind a metaphorical “veil” that consisted of three interrelated aspects: the skin as an indication of African Americans’ difference from their white counterparts, white people’s lack of capacity to see African Americans as Americans, and African Americans’ lack of capacity to see themselves outside of the labels white America has given them. This, according to Du Bois, resulted in the gift and curse of “double consciousness,” the feeling that one’s identity is divided. As African Americans fought for socio-political equality, the reconciliation of these …

Reflections Of The Don: Zerlina's Empowerment Narrative And The Inclusion Of "Per Queste Tue Manine" In Don Giovanni, Sarah Miller

Graduate Thesis Collection

After the premiere of Don Giovanni in Prague, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte brought their opera to Vienna on May 7, 1788. One point of interest in the Viennese version of the score is the added duet “Per queste tue manine.” In this duet, the enraged Zerlina overpowers the bewildered servant Leporello with a handkerchief, a razor, and passion. She constrains the floundering fool and punishes him for his misconduct. In most modern performances, companies look no further than the Prague version of the score. Additionally, singers often portray Zerlina as either a mischievous temptress or a virginal …

Science In Music, Joy Lee

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

This presentation for the Natural Science Poster Session touches on the science of music, including wavelength and frequency, and the history of Musicology, with attention to Pythagoras and the Pythagorean Scale.

Musicians Necrology, 1991-2018, Nathan Eakin, Paul Hahn, University Libraries, Washington University In St. Louis

WashU Libraries Publications

Nathan Eakin (1932-2000) first began the Gaylord Music Library Necrology file as a card file in the mid-1980s. In 1991, the project moved to a word processing file and in 1995, became available as a web page. The column formerly published in the Music Library Association’s journal, Notes, called the Necrology Index, was extracted from this Necrology file. Library Assistant Paul Hahn continued to update the necrology on the Gaylord Music Library’s website through 2018.

A Checklist Of Works Attributed To Charles De Marescot, Damián Martín-Gil

Soundboard Scholar

The musical output of Charles de Marescot (1790–1842) has never been subjected to close examination. Only a few of his compositions are featured in guitar scholarship, notably his Méthode de guitare, op. 15, and the collection of pieces entitled La Guitaromanie, op. 46. And yet Marescot was rather prolific in his time. This checklist offers, for the first time, a catalogue—albeit incomplete—of all his guitar music published in France and England, offering, if possible, locations and dates for each work.

A Performance Guide: An Analysis Of Richard Faith’S Settings Of Mother Goose, David B. Baker

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This study provides a performance guide to the nine song settings of Mother Goose Lyrics and Mother Goose Lyrics II by American composer Richard Faith (b. 1926). Included is a biography of the composer. The primary purpose is to provide analysis that shows that these nine songs are accessible to undergraduate singers and that these are arguably Faith’s most approachable songs for the young singer. As is pertinent to each individual song the discussion may include information on the poetry, musical form, textual support, pedagogical issues, harmonic progressions, melodic ideas, rhythmic devices, character analysis, as well as information on text …

Exploring The Past, Present, And Future Of Romanticism: Analyses With Brief Biographies Of Works Performed In A Senior Recital, Jordan Langberg Hastings

Honors Theses and Capstones

A melodic and harmonic analysis of four instrumental works performed in a senior recital is presented in this thesis with brief biographical outlines of each composer. Three of the works, Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda's Morceau de Salon, Edmund Rubbra's Sonata in C, and Robert Schumann's Three Romances are written for oboe and piano. The remaining piece, Paul Hindemith's English Horn Sonata, is written for English horn and piano. The author provides a detailed and methodical approach for understanding the functionality of each piece.

Chopin Onscreen: Media Representations Of Frederic Chopin, Monika Cecilia Franaszczuk

Honors Papers

The purpose of this research project is to investigate the relationship between biographical films and the context in which they were produced through a focus on media representation of Frederic Chopin. Chopin’s life lends itself well to the “tortured romantic artist” trope, due to his estrangement from his home country, his romantic troubles with George Sand, and the illness that led to his untimely death. His dramatic story has yielded several fictionalized interpretations of his life. This project explores several of these adaptations, discussing the portrayal of Chopin’s character as well as his music, and how the cultural context of …

Music In The Northern Woods: An Archaeological Exploration Of Musical Instrument Remains, Matthew Durocher

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Archaeological and historical literature neglects music and sound. The quantity and distribution of musical remains found during archaeological excavations at Coalwood, a Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company (CCI) logging camp active from 1901-1912 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, addresses the importance of music to the people that lived there. Musical reed plates from harmonicas, concertinas, and accordions were recovered and examined. These musical remains have traditionally been ignored as a diagnostic artifact, but here, I use them as primary evidence to access the daily lives of people in the northern woods. To do this, I will present how CCI developed Coalwood …

Frank Zappa And His Conception Of Civilization Phaze Iii, Jeffrey Daniel Jones

Theses and Dissertations--Music

When Frank Zappa died in 1993, he left Civilization Phaze III as a last testament to both his musical and thematic purpose. The work received a handful of reviews in the popular music press, and has subsequently been ignored by both the popular press and, with few exceptions, academia.

Many are the composers whose careers have been thought describe a mid-period mastery, followed by later decline. This presumption seems to have fallen upon Frank Zappa, apparently due to his retirement from the concert stage, and final years writing music on the Synclavier. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that Zappa's compositional …

Music In The Midst Of Desolation: A Conductor’S Analysis Of Cyril Bradley Rootham’S For The Fallen, Opus 51, Cameron Lee Weatherford

Theses and Dissertations--Music

World War I (1914-1918) brought with it unimaginable disaster and destruction, reshaping the world and its culture forever. Out of the ashes of this unparalleled conflict came numerous triumphs of art, fueled by the surrounding conditions and personal expressions of their artists. English composer, Dr. Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875-1938) set a powerful and haunting poem from the poet Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) titled "For the Fallen” from a larger collection of his poetry called The Winnowing Fan. The poem was published in The Times on September 21, 1914, just seven weeks after the war began.

This monograph seeks to bring …

Guitar Arrangements Of Selected Danzas Of Juan F. Acosta, With New Considerations Of His Music And Musical Life, Hermelindo Ruiz Mestre

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Juan Francisco Acosta (1890-1968) was a prolific composer, band conductor, and educator from Puerto Rico who created 1,256 original compositions. Even though his activities and influence were integral to the musical life of Puerto Rico in the twentieth century, many details of his life and works remain unknown.

This project centers on Acosta’s contribution to the Puerto Rican tradition of the danza—a dance-based genre originating in the nineteenth century—through the study and arrangement of five of Acosta's danzas. Although Acosta composed most danzas for piano, he adapted them for performances by the municipal bands that he led …

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. …

Max Neuhaus, R. Murray Schafer, And The Challenges Of Noise, Megan Elizabeth Murph

Theses and Dissertations--Music

In this dissertation, I analyzed Max Neuhaus’s (1939-2009) and R. Murray Schafer’s (b. 1932) commentary and work regarding noise, its control, and its relationship with the environment from the 1960 to the 1980s. Both Neuhaus and Schafer as well as those more directly involved with noise abatement research and policy were responding to the challenges and possibilities that noise posed in the latter twentieth century. In this project, I delved into these substantial links and argued that responding to and engaging with noise abatement policies was a key impetus to much of their work, which scholarship has yet to critically …

John Williams: An Evaluation Of His Impact Upon The Culture Of The Classical Guitar, Michael O'Toole

Doctoral

This thesis examines the career of the Australian guitarist John Williams and his impact upon the culture of the classical guitar. Williams has been a celebrated guitarist for more than six decades and has performed and recorded extensively during that period. He has made a remarkably varied contribution to guitar culture, performing in a wide variety of different styles, highlighting the guitar’s unique strength as a versatile and adaptable instrument. Williams’ career is in marked contrast to that of many of his contemporaries, including his mentor Andrés Segovia. Segovia believed the classical guitar must assert its individuality in order to …

Rethinking Interaction: Identity And Agency In The Performance Of “Interactive” Electronic Music, Jacob A. Kopcienski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This document investigates interaction between human performers and various interactive technologies in the performance of interactive electronic and computer music. Specifically, it observes how the identity and agency of the interactive technology is experienced and perceived by the human performer. First, a close examination of George Lewis’ creation of and performance with his own historic interactive electronic and computer works reveals his disposition of interaction as improvisation. This disposition is contextualized within then contemporary social and political issues related to African American experimental musicians as well as an emerging culture of electronic and computer musicians concerned with interactivity. Second, an …

The Guitarist Behind La Guitaromanie : Charles De Marescot, Damián Martín-Gil

Soundboard Scholar

The guitarist Charles de Marescot is a figure often cited when referring to the guitar mania that arose in France during the first decades of the nineteenth century. Yet very little is known about his life and musical production, which was dedicated almost entirely to the guitar. Drawing on several newly discovered documents, this article aims to understand the role of this polemical figure in the vogue for the guitar by reconstructing his whereabouts. Particular attention is given to his relationship with Hector Berlioz, with whom he conducted some minor business.