Alan Berg's two musical settings of Theodor Storm's poem"Schliesse mir die Augen beide" have received little in the way of scholarly analytical attention. The three major chapters of this thesis deal with the two settings on three different levels. Chapter II surveys the political and cultural milieu in which Berg functioned as a young composer of Lieder in the years 1900-1910. Chapter III examines the special quality of lyricism which is often attributed to Berg and his works. Chapter IV provides more definitive and complete musical analyses of the two settings than have heretofore been available. The question of what role songwriting played in the development of Berg's compositional process is addressed in the conclusion.

The document consists of a commentary on the historical background of the work and an edition of the restored score. The commentary treats its relationship to the ballad opera, sources and alternate settings of the music and libretto, a history of the development of "Hail to the Chief," biographical sketches of the primary composers, and a section on early productions in England and America. The commentary includes a history of the English and American premieres, lengths of the first-runs, and the names of the theatres in which the performances were mounted. The reconstructed score is a piano-vocal performance edition with dialogue, cues, scenery, costume and property plots indicated in detail.

This study looks at Jehan Alain's music itself. However, it does not propose to analyze every bar of every composition but rather to point out certain melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic traits that are peculiar to this composer's style. It will also set forth facts concerning Alain's registrations and other items of special interest to organists. Upon such investigation an attempt will be made to reach a critical evaluation of Alain as a composer for the organ.