The Variations for Piano, Op. 27 of Anton Webern and the Quaderno musicale di Annalibera of Luigi Dallapiccola: A Lecture Recital, Together with Four Recitals of Selected Works of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, F. Schubert, R. Schumann, J. Brahms, F. Chopin, A. Schoenberg, and M. Ravel (open access)

The Variations for Piano, Op. 27 of Anton Webern and the Quaderno musicale di Annalibera of Luigi Dallapiccola: A Lecture Recital, Together with Four Recitals of Selected Works of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, F. Schubert, R. Schumann, J. Brahms, F. Chopin, A. Schoenberg, and M. Ravel

The lecture recital was given on November 20, 1972. The discussion of Webern's Variations and Dallapiccola's Quaderno Musicale consisted of a analysis of the two works followed by a comparison of stylistic and performance aspects. The two works were then performed. In addition to the lecture recital four other public recitals were given. Two of these consisted entirely of solo literature for the piano. The third recital was a vocal chamber music recital and the fourth consisted of a piano concerto performed with an orchestra.
Date: May 1973
Creator: Bell, Digby
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of the Secular Music of the Major Composers at the Court of Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century (open access)

A Study of the Secular Music of the Major Composers at the Court of Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century

The present work is intended to ascertain the most important stylistic developments of one major composer, Binchois, and several lesser composers: Grenon, Fontaine, Vide, Joye, Constans, Morton and Hayne. All of these musicians were employed by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (1420-1467), when he was one of the richest, most powerful and most respected of all the sovereigns of Europe.
Date: January 1955
Creator: Couch, Reginald Leon
System: The UNT Digital Library
Messiaen's Influence on Post-War Serialism (open access)

Messiaen's Influence on Post-War Serialism

The objective of this paper is to show how Olivier Messiaen's Mode de valeurs et d'intensites influenced the development of postwar serialism. Written at Darmstadt in 1949, Mode de valeurs is considered the first European work to organize systematically all the major musical parameters: pitch, duration, dynamics, articulation, and register. This work was a natural step in Messiaen's growth toward complete or nearly complete systemization of musical parameters, which he had begun working towards in earlier works such as Vingt regards sur 1'Enfant-Jesus (1944), Turangalila-symphonie (1946-8), and Cantyodjaya (1949), and which he continued to experiment with in later works such as Ile de Feu II (1951) and Livre d'orgue (1951). The degree of systematic control that Messiaen successfully applied to each of the musical parameters influenced two of the most prominent post-war serial composers, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, to further develop systematic procedures in their own works. This paper demonstrates the degree to which both Boulez' Structures Ia (1951) and Stockhausen's Kreuzspiel (1951) used Mode de valeurs as a model for the systematic organization of musical parameters.
Date: August 1984
Creator: Muncy, Thomas R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Historical and Stylistic Analysis of the Sonata, Op. 31, No. 2 in D Minor of Beethoven (open access)

A Historical and Stylistic Analysis of the Sonata, Op. 31, No. 2 in D Minor of Beethoven

The purpose of this paper is to give a historical and stylistic analysis of the Sonata, Op.31, No.2 in D minor of Beethoven. The historical background of Beethoven, the time period the sonata was written, and the influence that the piano of the time had on the sonata is first discussed. The author then discusses the general aspects of Beethoven's style followed by a detailed analysis of the sonata.
Date: August 1948
Creator: Craw, H. Allen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Influences Seen in Prokofiev's Piano Style (open access)

Influences Seen in Prokofiev's Piano Style

The influence of existing musical trends is evident in almost every composer. Prokofiev entered the musical scene in Russia when Scriabin was the recognized leader in innovation. To understand fully the rapid popularity of Prokofiev one must be aware of the musical forces of his time, the circumstances leading up to them and their influence on Prokofiev. In the latter half of the nineteenth century there began a movement toward nationalism in music. Among the most important of these nationalistic countries were Bohemia and Russia. Composers deliberately drew their inspiration from the musical resources of their native country. From all that is known a native Russian music did not exist before the nineteenth century. The music enjoyed by the upper class and royalty had to be imported. In the eighteenth century this included Italian opera and in the beginning of the nineteenth century, French opera. Pianists such as Field, Mayer and von Henselt were popular as both teachers and performers.
Date: June 1970
Creator: Lewis, Ronald Edwin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Handel and Three Prima Donnas: Reciprocal Influences, a Lecture Recital, Together with Two Recitals of Selected Works of W. A. Mozart, F. Schubert, H. Wolf, R. Strauss, G. Fauré, C. Debussy, D. Moore, and Others, and Opera Roles by Pleyel and Rossini (open access)

Handel and Three Prima Donnas: Reciprocal Influences, a Lecture Recital, Together with Two Recitals of Selected Works of W. A. Mozart, F. Schubert, H. Wolf, R. Strauss, G. Fauré, C. Debussy, D. Moore, and Others, and Opera Roles by Pleyel and Rossini

The lecture recital was given April 1, 1974. Eighteenth-century accounts of the voices and performing styles of Francesca Cuzzoni, Faustina Bordoni, and Anna Strada del Pò were related to six opera arias written for them by George Frideric Handel. The arias, accompanied by harpsichord, violin, and violoncello, were performed with added original ornamentation. In addition to the lecture recital two other public recitals and two opera roles were performed. The first solo recital was on February 11, 1972, and included works by Mozart, Fauré, Rimsky-Korsakov, R. Strauss, Walton, Moore, and others. The second solo recital, on October 15, 1973, included works by Porpora, Rameau, Handel, Wolf, Donizetti, Debussy, and Schubert. The role of "Urgele" in the marionette opera Die Fee Urgele by Pleyel was performed in English on October 30 and 31, 1972, with the Collegium Musicum of North Texas State University. The role of "Clorinda" in Rossini's La Cenerentola was performed in English on November 26 and 28, 1972, with the Shreveport Symphony.
Date: May 1974
Creator: Armes, Mary Beth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Clavecin Pieces of Louis Couperin (open access)

Clavecin Pieces of Louis Couperin

Louis Couperin (c. 1626-1661) was an outstanding member of the seventeenth-century clavecin school and an important link in the Couperin dynasty. His works for the harpsichord, or clavecin, have been neglected. This is due primarily to the fact that there are relatively few of his works, in comparison with those of his nephew, Franois Couperin Le Grand, who greatly overshadows him. Louis wrote no treatise on how his works are to be played, and there are few accounts of him, or his works, that are written in English. There is no biography of Louis Couperin. A more detailed study should be made of his music and its place in the French clavecin literature. Before examiinig the music itself, however, it is necessary to trace the origins and development of the clavecin school and its style.
Date: January 1968
Creator: Hudgens, Cecilia K. Knox
System: The UNT Digital Library
Judgment of Intonation in the Context of Three-Part Woodwind Ensemble Performances (open access)

Judgment of Intonation in the Context of Three-Part Woodwind Ensemble Performances

The purpose of the study was to determine judgments of trained musicians regarding the intonation of complex tones in the context of synthesized woodwind ensemble performances. Problems included in the study were (1) estimation of the point in pitch deviation which would result in out-of-tune judgments, (2) investigation of timbral effects on judged intonation, and (3) investigation of effects of mistuning within differential voices.
Date: August 1987
Creator: Henry, Robert E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Beginning Piano Class at the College Level (open access)

The Beginning Piano Class at the College Level

The problem was to investigate current thoughts concerning the beginning piano class at the college level, Data were collected from published and unpublished materials from 1964 to 1976. It was found that class piano instruction usually occurs in a three- to four-semester sequence, with classes meeting from two to five periods per week, containing from four to twenty-five students. Classification of students is by interview, placement test, and/or audition. Varying room arrangements are used with either conventional or electronic pianos, plus a variety of audio-visual equipment, Course content, with varying emphases, includes sight-reading, functional skills, technique, and repertoire. Teaching techniques used are numerous and varying. Recommendations were submitted for administrators, teachers, and researchers.
Date: August 1976
Creator: LeCroy, Jacquelyn Aken
System: The UNT Digital Library
Respond Motets from Matins for the Dead by Robert Parsons (open access)

Respond Motets from Matins for the Dead by Robert Parsons

The three respond motets from Matins for the Dead by Robert Parsons constitute an important part of the sacred Latin repertory of mid-sixteenth-century England, illustrating central features of the English mid-century style. Although he worked within a conservative musical tradition, Parsons experimented with that tradition in personal and individual ways. Specifically his modal and thematic construction as well as his practice of musica ficta are singled out for closer analysis. Consequently, a methodology for editorial decisions concerning musica ficta is developed. Two special problems, the simultaneous cross-relation and diminished fourth, are shown as the result of normative polyphonic processes and vertical structures.
Date: August 1984
Creator: Nosow, Robert Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library
Florence, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, Manuscript Basevi 2439: Critical Edition and Commentary (open access)

Florence, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, Manuscript Basevi 2439: Critical Edition and Commentary

The subject of the present study, Florence, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, MS Basevi 2439, abbreviated Florence 2439,1 contains secular and sacred vocal music of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, with texts in French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin.
Date: June 1968
Creator: Newton, Paul George, 1930-
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Root Motion in Passages Leading to Final Cadences in Selected Masses of the Late Sixteenth Century (open access)

A Study of Root Motion in Passages Leading to Final Cadences in Selected Masses of the Late Sixteenth Century

This study is concerned with the vertical combinations resulting from late sixteenth century cadential formulae and in passages immediately preceding these formulae. The investigation is limited to Masses dating from the last half of the sixteenth century and utilizes compositions from the following composers: Handl, Kerle, Lassus, Merulo, Monte, and Palestrina, Victoria. This study concludes that the progressions I-V-I and I-IV-I appear to be the only two root progressions receiving high enough percentages to be regarded as significant. These percentages are tempered by the fact that I-V-I and I-IV-I may be interpreted as repetitions of standardized cadential formulae found in the sixteenth century. The study also concludes that root motion by fifth accounts for no less than 67.35 per cent of the root movements analyzed during the investigation. The percentage differential between root movement by fifth and root movement by second (the interval receiving the next highest percentage) at no time drops below 40.41 per cent. The evidence indicates that root movement by fifth does account for the majority of the root motion analyzed in final cadential passages of Masses dating from the late sixteenth century. The percentage differential between root motion by second and root motion by third decreases …
Date: August 1979
Creator: Lindsey, David R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
English Devotional Song of the Seventeenth Century in Printed Collections from 1638 to 1693: A Study of Music and Culture (open access)

English Devotional Song of the Seventeenth Century in Printed Collections from 1638 to 1693: A Study of Music and Culture

Seventeenth-century England witnessed profound historical, theological, and musical changes. A king was overthrown and executed; religion was practiced fervently and disputed hotly; and English musicians fell under the influence of the Italian stile nuovo. Many devotional songs were printed, among them those which reveal influences of this style. These English-texted sacred songs for one to three solo voices with continuo--not based upon a previously- composed hymn or psalm tune—are emphasized in this dissertation. Chapter One treats definitions, past neglect of the genre by scholars, and the problem of ambiguous terminology. Chapter Two is an examination of how religion and politics affected musical life, the hiatus from liturgical music from 1644 to 1660 causing composers to contribute to the flourishing of devotional music for home worship and recreation. Different modes of seventeenth-century devotional life are discussed in Chapter Three. Chapter Four provides documentation for use of devotional music, diaries and memoirs of the period revealing the use of several publications considered in this study. Baroque musical aesthetics applied to devotional song and its raising of the affections towards God are discussed in Chapter Five. Chapter Six traces the influence of Italian monody and sacred concerto on English devotional song. The earliest …
Date: May 1986
Creator: Treacy, Susan
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Male Falsetto (open access)

The Male Falsetto

The purpose of this study was to investigate the uses of the falsetto voice in training the male singer. Developing the upper voice is one of the most difficult problems facing the male singers. A most controversial approach to solving this problem is the use of the falsetto. The falsetto has been a subject of mystery among singers and vocal teachers for centuries. Some authorities have ignored it; some have denounced; others have greatly extolled this vocal enigma. Many myths and misconceptions surround the subject of falsetto. Even in the present age of scientific research and knowledge, there is little understanding of the falsetto--of its value and its use. The material dealing with falsetto is very brief and inconclusive in most pedagogy books. Therefore, there seemed to be a need for a systematic collection of pedagogical ideas concerning the male falsetto. This report will attempt to present all sides of the controversy.,
Date: January 1967
Creator: Coryell, Samuel E. (Samuel Eugene)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Course of Study in Music Education for the Elementary Education Major (open access)

A Course of Study in Music Education for the Elementary Education Major

Since the music requirement does rest with the teacher training institutions, the elementary education major is required, in most colleges and universities, to take six hours of music education. My problem is to develop an adequate course of study in music education to fit the musical needs of the elementary education major which will prepare her as well as possible in the allotted six hours to teach music in a classroom aided or unaided by supervision
Date: August 1948
Creator: Mewborn, Mary Beth
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparative Analysis of the Expositions in the Fugues of J.S. Bach in the Well-Tempered Clavier and Those of Paul Hindemith in Ludus Tonalis (open access)

A Comparative Analysis of the Expositions in the Fugues of J.S. Bach in the Well-Tempered Clavier and Those of Paul Hindemith in Ludus Tonalis

The problem with, which this thesis is concerned is that of analyzing and comparing the fugal writing and contrapuntal style of J. S. Bach in the fugue expositions of The Well-Tempered Clavier and that of Paul Hindemith in the fugue expositions of the Ludus Tonalis. This comparison is made on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the fugal expositions both collections of fugues mentioned ( The Well-Tempered by Bach and the Ludus Tonalis by Hindemith). Chapter I includes a discussion of the careers and compositional techniques of Bach and Hindemith. An emphasis is placed on a comparison of Bach's fugal writing with that of his immediate predecessors (composers of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries who were writing in the fugal style) and on a comparison Of Hindemith's theory of tonality, as expressed in The Craft of Musical Composition, with that of the traditional harmonic concept of Bach's day. Chapter II deals with the evolution of the fugal concept. In this chapter, imitative forms of composition which gradually evolved toward the fugue are traced from their very early beginnings through the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Emphasis is placed on the fugal form that Bach used and …
Date: August 1973
Creator: Foster, Dorothy N. (Dorothy Nell)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Piano Music Inspired by the Visual Arts from 1870 to 1970 (open access)

Piano Music Inspired by the Visual Arts from 1870 to 1970

The purpose has been to prove that there are connections between the visual arts (including architecture) and music. In the development of the argument it is shown that common themes exist in the arts, such as style, form, balance, line, color, and texture. Examples of piano music are offered from the last 100 years that show, to a greater or lesser extent, the influence of art. In some cases this is simply a matter of titles, whereas in other instances, such as Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, the influence goes deeper. In the final chapter the proposition is presented that the composer himself sometimes acts as a painter, portraying concrete images directly in music. Examples are offered of piano pieces depicting people, animals, places, objects or activities.
Date: May 1974
Creator: Hall, Donna Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Development and Evaluation of a Series of Video-Tape Lessons to Supplement a College Course in Advanced Music Theory (open access)

The Development and Evaluation of a Series of Video-Tape Lessons to Supplement a College Course in Advanced Music Theory

The purpose of the study was to develop and evaluate a series of video-tape lessons to supplement the traditional lecture-discussion method of teaching a college course in advanced music theory. The specific problems investigated were: 1) to evaluate the effect of video-tape material on achievement in an advanced music theory course. 2) To assess the effect of the video-tape materials on the achievement in harmony, keyboard, sight singing, and ear training for students who had differential learning ability levels. 3) To assess the attitudes toward music theory and the use of the supplemental lessons. 4) To assess attitudes toward music theory and the use of the supplemental lessons and achievement for all students involved in the study. Analysis of co-variance, simple analysis of variance, t tests, and Pearson correlations produced statistical results that led to the following conclusions: 1) Students who used the video-tape supplemental lessons did not score higher on achievement tests in harmony, keyboard, sight singing, and ear training than the students who did not use those lessons. 2) Students who used the video-tape lessons had greater variance among the ability levels on the achievement tests; and for those using the lessons, students in the low beginning-ability level …
Date: May 1979
Creator: Robbins, David E. (David Elden)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Schoenberg's Janus-Work Erwartung: Its Musico-Dramatic Structure and Relationship to the Melodrama and Lied Traditions (open access)

Schoenberg's Janus-Work Erwartung: Its Musico-Dramatic Structure and Relationship to the Melodrama and Lied Traditions

Arnold Schoenberg's atonal monodrama, Erwartune. Op. 17 (1909). has been viewed as an unanalyzable athematic aberration, without any discernible form. Recognizing Erwartune's forward-looking aspect, this dissertation also explores the melodrama and the Lied, a connection with the past which forges a new understanding of its form and structure.
Date: December 1989
Creator: Penney, Diane Holloway
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Life and Works of Antonius Divitis (open access)

The Life and Works of Antonius Divitis

Antonius Divitis (ca. L4715-ca. 1525) was born in Louvain, Belgium, and belonged to the generation between Josquin and Gombert. Divitis is listed in various sources as Antoine de Rycke, Le Riche, Davitz, Davtitz, and possibly Richardus Antonius, all of which mean "Anthony the Rich." His extant works include three complete masses, two parts of masses, three magnificats, five motets, two fragments (probably parts of motets) and one chanson. The purpose of this study was to collect, transcribe, and collate all existing manuscripts and prints of Divitis' compositions as well as biographical information about the composer, and to analyze the compositions for information about his techniques, as well as those of his contemporaries. Only two compositions came to the investigator in modern notation, with the remainder in various manuscripts and printed editions by such notable printers as Attaingnant, Gardane, Giunta, Petreius, Petrucci, Rhaw and Rotenbucher, from the first half of the sixteenth century. All variants in the sources were recorded and, in several instances, included in this edition wherever they seemed'to improve the musical readings.
Date: May 1970
Creator: Nugent, B. A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of the Vocal Chamber Duet Through the Nineteenth Century (open access)

A Study of the Vocal Chamber Duet Through the Nineteenth Century

In this study of vocal chamber duets the various approaches used in duet writing from the late sixteenth century through the nineteenth are examined. Various meanings attributed to the terms "vocal duet" and "chamber duet" are considered, and an appropriate delineation of the genre is determined. The study begins with examination of bicinia, dialogues, and concertato madrigals of the late sixteenth century, three kinds of works related to the continuing lines of interest in duets of later centuries: pedagogical duets, dialogue duets, and duets shaped by general musical trends. After a foundation has been laid in the sixteenth century, examples of duets of various kinds for the next three centuries are considered. It is seen that a discontinuity in the history of the vocal chamber duet occurs during the Classical period. Operatic and chamber duets prior to this time show great similarities in style. Operatic and chamber duets of the nineteenth century show distinct differences in style. At the same time that differences between operatic and chamber duets were increased, the differences between solo and duet chamber works by the same composer were decreased.
Date: December 1974
Creator: Brusse, Corre Berry
System: The UNT Digital Library
Spółka Nakładowa Młodych Kompozytorów Polskich (1905-1912) and the Myth of Young Poland in Music (open access)

Spółka Nakładowa Młodych Kompozytorów Polskich (1905-1912) and the Myth of Young Poland in Music

This study deals with the four-composer Polish musical association, Young Polish Composers' Publishing Company, which became commonly known as the group Poland in Music. Young Poland in Music is considered by Polish and non-Polish music historians to be the signal inaugurator of modernism in Polish music. However, despite this most important attribution, the past eighty-odd years have witnessed considerable confusion over the perceptions of: 1) exactly who constituted the publishing company, 2) why it was founded, 3) what the intentions of its members were, and 4) the general reception its members' music received. This paper addresses and resolves this multiple confusion. Chapter I presents an introductory survey of the political, socio/cultural, and musical developments of Poland between 1772 and c1900, the period of the Polish Partitions through the beginnings of the "Young Poland" era. Chapter II presents a discussion of the facts surrounding the founding of the publishing company, as well as a discussion of the eighty-odd years of historical misinterpretations that have developed about the composers' company and its relationship to "Young Poland in Music." Chapter III discusses the interpersonal relationships of the composers and other persons directly involved with them and their company, and the impact that these …
Date: December 1987
Creator: Hebda, Paul Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Keyboard Ricercare in the Baroque Era: Volume 1 (open access)

The Keyboard Ricercare in the Baroque Era: Volume 1

This study seeks to examine the history of the ricercare, specifically in the baroque era. In this work, all types of keyboard compositions that utilize imitative counterpoint have been examined. Late baroque fugues have been examined to determine which characteristics of the earlier ricercare remained in general use and which specific compositions contain elements causing them to resemble strongly the parent form.
Date: August 1963
Creator: Douglass, Robert S. (Robert Satterfield), 1919-
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Chansonnier Biblioteca Casanatense 2856: its History, Purpose, and Music (open access)

The Chansonnier Biblioteca Casanatense 2856: its History, Purpose, and Music

The chansonnier held by the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, designated Codex 2856 (0. V. 208), is a handsome volume containing 123 polyphonic compositions in the style of the Franco-Flemish School, circa 1450 to 1400. Although no text beyond the incipit is found in the manuscript, the value of the source is enhanced by the names of the composers of 106 of the compositions. Volume one focuses on the manuscript, giving a physical description of the manuscript, recounting the history of the manuscript, and includes discussion of selected composers and a concordance. Volume two contains the music of the chansonnier Biblioteca casanatense 2856.
Date: August 1970
Creator: Wolff, Arthur S.
System: The UNT Digital Library