Thesis examines the life of prolific composer Sergei Prokofiev and his work for the motion picture Alexander Nevsky. Gary Langford analyzes Prokofiev's use of the brass section in his compositions for the film.

Christian Wolff's alternatively notated scores grant the performer several interpretive choices. These pieces feature symbols (known as "coordination neumes") that instruct performers when to begin and end a sound event in relation to the sounds being made around them, thereby generating a reactive improvisation between the musicians. Among these scores are five compositions that form the basis of this project: For 5 or 10 People (1962), In Between Pieces (1963), For 1, 2, or 3 People (1964), Septet (1964), and Edges (1968). Focusing on these pieces specifically, this dissertation explores the unique performance practices required by Wolff's indeterminate music and contextualizes that music within his career in classics and comparative literature, particularly with regard to the concept of translation, and within his creative communities. These creative communities include his fellow New York School composers, New York's wider downtown artistic scenes in the 1950s and 60s, and the experimental music scenes at Cologne and Darmstadt. While scholars such as David Behrman, Thomas DeLio, and Mark Nelson have addressed the interactive quality of Wolff's notation and the technical skills needed to execute his pieces, I argue that there are deeper processes at work in these compositions that go beyond typical discussions of …

This paper explores the development of the hautboy, or early oboe, and highlights the prominent oboe virtuosi of eighteenth-century England. Jennifer Bauer Morgan explains the lives and abilities of the performers and the evolution of the oboe.

This paper presents a brief history of the alto flute and discusses its use in the orchestral literature of European, Russian and American composers. Analysis of selected passage from various works determine its use as either a solo instrument, doubling or reinforcing voice, or as part of an accompanying line.

This dissertation explores the use of topics for dramatic purposes in Mozart's Così fan tutte. The five analytical chapters are organized around a central question: how do pastoral and fanfare topics shape the plot of Così fan tutte? Chapter 2 highlights the role topics and tropes play in emplacing and nuancing emergent meaning in the Così fan tutte motto. Chapter 3 examines transformative topical tropes in "Ah guarda, sorella." Chapter 4 shows how the horn fifths and fanfare topics in "Per pietà, ben mio" frame Fiordiligi's choice: the Albanian or Guglielmo. Chapter 5 illustrates the relationship between fanfare topics and galant recitative schemas to articulate formal boundaries between accompanied recitatives and arias. The expectations of closure emplaced by the examples from Così fan tutte nuance a reading of "Hai già vinta la causa!" from Le nozze di Figaro. Chapter 6 discusses the role of recitative intrusions and their articulation of the Count's unrest in "Vedrò mentre io sospiro." Detailed analyses and close readings of the topics and tropes in this dissertation drawn from throughout Così fan tutte showcase Mozart's rich deployment of topics in varied musical and dramatic roles.

Composition has been conceptualized as a method for communicating a way of thinking (i.e., cognition) from composers to performers and audience members. Music notation, or how music is represented in a visual format, becomes the vehicle through which such cognition is communicated. In the past, research on notation has been approached either categorically or as a taxonomy, where it is placed into separate categories based primarily on visual elements, including its symbols, conventions, and practices. The modern application of notation in Western classical music repertoire, however, has shown that the boundaries between these systems are not always clear and sometimes blend together. Viewing music notation from a spectrum-based approach instead provides a better understanding of notation through its cognitive effects. These spectra can then be viewed through multiple dimensions, all addressing different aspects. The first dimension consists of the historical systems of notation, ranging from standard music notation (SMN) to music graphics. Additional kinds of notation, such as proportional, pictorial, and aleatoric, work as the mediary levels between these two. The second dimension focuses on whether notation is processed intuitively, based on either cultural priming or general cognitive principles, or through conscious interpretation. The last dimension views notation as either …

The purpose of this study is to trace the invention and development of a greatly abused instrument, the saxophone, and its use in the symphony orchestra. The first chapter concerns the instrument's invention and acceptance. The second chapter discusses physical characteristics of the saxophone. The third chapter deals with the particular methods of using the saxophone in orchestral literature by various composers, from its use in the nineteenth century through the present. An appendix provides a comprehensive listing of orchestral literature in which the saxophone is utilized.

In this study, the Anton Webern's music is considered in two groups: that which was written before Webern adopted the twelve-tone technique, Opp 1-16, and that written in the twelve-tone technique, Opp. 17-31. This division is not intended to represent an attempt at periodization of Webern's music, for the changes of style in Op. 17 are not that significant. But the fact that Webern employed the twelve-tone technique in all the works he wrote after Op. 16 makes this a natural point of division for a study of this sort. Besides the music of Webern, two peripheral areas are included in this study. No attempt has been made at an exhaustive biography of Webern, but facts relative to his life, and impressions about the person are presented. Also, to create a proper perspective for the study of Webern's which existed during the time that Webern lived and composed, is presented.

A comprehensive study of all nineteenth-century New Orleans composers is far beyond the scope of this paper. There are simply too many. An attempt has been made, however, to include as many possible in the text. Others, about whom there is insufficient information to include in a narrative, have been relegated to the appendix, where they are treated in the style of a biographical dictionary. The two most important and influential composers of the century, Gregorion Curto and Theodore von La Hache, are covered individually in chapters two and three, respectively. Their music represents all three of the important aspects of composition of the era: opera, salon, and sacred music. Louis Moreau Gottschalk, probably the most famous composer and performer of the period, has been omitted from this study (other than incidental references) because he has already received considerable attention from numerous other researchers. Likewise, another composer of note, Ernest Guiraud, has been omitted because, even though a native of New Orleans, he left America at an early age and never returned. He should more appropriately be considered in annals of French music. Research in this field, a vital part of the American musical heritage, is by no means complete. …

This sonata by Alban Berg is a product of Arnold Schoenberg's teachings and is, indeed, a musical reflection of the Schoenberg of 1907-1908. At this time the musical thought of Schoenberg himself was in a state of metamorphosis, developing from the chromaticism of the late Romantic composers toward the twelve-tone technique which he was to formulate a few years later. The sonata, as a whole and above all, reflects the growth of an important composer, one who is perhaps the most important link between the traditional Classical and Romantic schools and the modern schools. His growth was based on a thorough knowledge of traditional styles and techniques, vestiges of which are seen in the formal design, chromaticism, and evasive harmony of the work. His advance is seen in his peculiar use of polyphony and motivic variation. Compared with many other works for piano, Berg's sonata is perhaps not among the most celebrated. But as indication of the attitude of a great composer who wished to build upon rather than break with his heritage, it is a most significant work.

The English horn has a background of historical confusion because the instrument was built in many different shapes and was given a new name for each change of form.

Traditions in orchestration can be described by relating the practices of most of the important composers of a particular time. This was done with great success by two composers of the nineteenth century, Hector Berlioz and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, in their books on orchestration. These texts are the basis for the traditional uses of brass instruments appearing in the chapter.

This study seeks to examine and describe the use of the piano in Stravinsky's Neo-Classical and Russian periods, as well as provide a history on the use of the piano of an orchestral instrument.

One problem in tuba performance is the use of a mute for the tuba. With no research existing a tubist has two methods with which to gain knowledge about mutes; he can learn by trial and error or he can consult a tubist having more experience with the problem. A source is needed to aid a tubist in locating information on mutes for tuba. By learning more about the uses of mutes, the availability of mutes, and the effects of mutes on tuba performance, a tubist will be better equipped to select a mute for personal use. This study is designed to provide, objectively, that knowledge to the tubist.

The purpose of this thesis is to trace the history of the trumpet in chamber music through the first half of the 20th century. It aims to discuss the technical advances in the instrument and demonstrate the importance of the trumpet in this medium. Chamber music is defined, in this thesis, as all serious instrumental music for two or more instruments played with one instrument to a part. The selections have been chosen on the basis of recognized merit of the composer, the variety of instrumentation, and the availability of music.

It is the purpose of the study to make a survey of the larger libraries in this region and to compile a list of the holdings of books about music. With the impetus of the North Texas Regional Union List of Serials, 1943; Comprising the libraries of North Texas State Teachers College. Southern Methodist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Texas Christian University Texas State College for Women, and the Public Libraries of Dallas and Fort Worth, and its two supplements of 1943-45 and 1945-46, and following the general form of that work, the present "Union List of Musical Literature in North Texas Regional Libraries, 1946," has been compiled. The libraries represented in the North Texas Regional Union List of Serials are included here, with holdings listed as of March 1, 1946. These libraries are: North Texas State Teachers College and Texas State College for Women, Denton, Texas; Texas Christian University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Fort worth Public Library, Fort Worth, Texas; Southern Methodist University and Dallas Public Library, Dallas, Texas.

The problem which is reported in these pages represents an attempt to bring into one work a critical and analytical survey of the material currently available in the field of music therapy. There is such a wealth of new material, especially since the termination of the war, that the necessity for a new and up-to-date compilation of material is evident. The objective of this thesis is to collect general information as to the theory and practices of music therapy, rather than to secure for purposes of statistical analysis great numbers of detailed items in regard to a technique that has not yet been carried to a point where it can be standardized. However, this compilation does include some actual experiments which have been conducted in hospitals with the object of determining the effect on physical and mental patients of certain musical compositions and certain instruments.

It was this writer's problem to determine which of these two contentions is correct; i.e., to find out whether or not it is possible for a person to perceive a difference in 2/4 and 4/4 meters by listening to the accents. It was felt that a large group of college music students and faculty members should provide satisfactory subjects for this experiment. If, as a result of this experiment, it was found that these trained musicians could actually discriminate between the simple meter and its compound with any marked degree of consistency, it would then be admitted that the difference in the two meters is important. If, however, it was found that even musicians, who knew the technical distinctions between 2/4 and 4/4, could not really hear the difference in the two when the music was played by competent performers, it would then be contended that no important difference exists.

For several decades since the rise of extensive instrumental music instruction, various music periodicals have devoted a certain amount of space to printing comments, suggestions, and other pedagogical material to aid the student in playing a particular instrument. The writer, in his belief in the value of this material, has chosen to make a survey of various periodicals and to catalog certain items as a reference guide to the location of significant articles.

The problem and purpose of this study is to attempt to establish a reasonably accurate basis for planning a program of educating prospective public school instrumental music teachers that meets the demands of present-day educational practices in the public schools. This present study may provide a simplification of the methods of teaching instrumental classes at the college level through a criticism of the preparation of instrumental teachers in an effort to discover specific contributing elements that assist the instrumental teacher to teach economically and effectively by making an investigation into the factors involved in teaching techniques that depend upon the acquisition of instrumental performance skills and upon practical principles of procedure in organizing and teaching instrumental music in the public schools.

The following study is designed to define the existing differences of opinion regarding the solution of vocal problems. Some twenty-five vocal methods have been examined with reference to the principles set forth on what are generally considered the most important vocal problems, viz., Breathing, Registers, Resonance, Tone and Interpretation.

The use of television as an aid to music education is a relatively new and unexplored field. It is so new, in fact, that to undertake a study of what has been accomplished until the present may seem at first rather premature and unfruitful. It is my belief, however, that if television is to become the prominent factor in education that has been predicted, there is a definite need for a study of what has been done to date toward the development of this new medium. This will provide the background and foundation for further experiment and use. The study shall include, therefore, a brief history of television itself, general educational experiments in television, experiments in televised music education, problems involved in presenting musical television programs, and suggestions for the development of this newest of teaching aids.

Anyone concerned with the harp in this century knows of the genius of Carlos Salzedo. His pedagogical, compositional and professional activities have had a tremendous impact on the harp world. With this in mind, the present study considers his transcriptions for harp from other works and his editings of other composers' harp compositions. It is the purpose of this study to find in what ways his work in this area has been helpful to harpists.

The object of this study was to compile a list of solo literature for beginning college voice students and analyze these solos for pedagogical and performance purposes. There is no lack of printed material on the subjects of singing and voice culture. But it is not readily accessible to teachers since it is extremely diversified and rather diffusely distributed throughout a variety of sources, such as books, periodicals, and scientific papers. Several lists and books containing songs for beginners have been compiled.