Padre José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) was perhaps the most prolific, revered, and successful composer in 18th and 19th century colonial and postcolonial Brazil. Padre José Maurício's favor with King Dom João VI, the Portuguese Royal Court, and a catalogue of hundreds of compositions, is validation of his success, yet there is comparatively little academic research and recognition in comparison to his European contemporaries. Padre José Maurício's employment of the trombone within his ambitious capstone, his Missa de Santa Cecília showcases his recognizable and original compositional language. The influence of two contemporaries of Padre José Maurício, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), had an integral and clear influence on the Missa de Santa Cecília without resulting in rote imitation. Mozartian text emphasis, independent part writing, technical demand, and traditional use of the trombone for sacred or supernatural imagery were synthesized by Padre José Maurício swiftly and originally. Simultaneously, Rossinian orchestration, close scoring, limited range, subverted structural arrivals, and emulated percussive effects were personalized and employed by Padre José Maurício. His insular development and instantaneous adaptation of new orchestration and theatrical models yields trombone writing that is idiomatic, in alignment with sacred and symphonic tradition, and essential to the …

The first chapter introduces the purpose and significance of this study for the piano teacher who wants to teach twentieth-century piano music effectively at the elementary or intermediate level, combining it and comparing it with nineteenth-century piano music. The second chapter presents an overview of both Schumann and Liebermann's Album for the Young. In the third chapter, the two collections are analyzed pedagogically and compared in detail. The study should provide piano teachers with an understanding of the musical concepts of each piece and how to effectively teach students about twentieth-century music by pairing them.

Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) composed Dialogue de l'ombre double for clarinet and live electronics in 1985. This same year, Alain Damiens of Ensemble InterContemporain premiered and recorded the work with the help of Andrew Gerzso of Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM). The piece alternates between pre-recorded and live sections that are performed with varied levels of amplification and reverberation creating a dialogue between the parts. Boulez also includes detailed instructions for the spatialization of the pre-recorded tracks that play through six equidistant speakers that surround the audience. Furthering the complexity of this work, it is available in two published versions: version aux chiffres arabes (Arabic numeral version) and version aux chiffres romains (Roman numeral version). Each version includes much of the same musical material, but arranged in a different order. Performance of Dialogue de l'ombre double requires extraordinary technical facility and musical understanding from the clarinetist, the dedicated involvement of a highly qualified sound technician, and the use of a spacious, technologically equipped performance venue. This performance guide aims to facilitate greater accessibility and understanding of this challenging work, in order to encourage widespread performance of this extraordinary piece.

The purpose of this research is to explore the synthesis of folk and Western traditions in Kazhgaliev's Piano Concerto No. 2 and also to examine the uncommon performance practices associated with the genre. The dissertation gives a brief historical background of Kazakhstan, its folk music, and the significance of the country's piano performance practice. It mainly discusses Kazhgaliev's concerto, which is influenced by folk music. I hope that the dissertation will assist in the promotion and comprehension of the Kazakh piano repertoire among international musicians, researchers, and performers.

Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) is widely recognized as a founding father of Russian classical music, but in fact, his music represents a bridge: it establishes a distinctive Slavic sound built on the Italian roots of Glinka's musical inspiration. As a young man, Glinka traveled abroad, which included three years spent in Italy, where he gained extensive exposure to and familiarity with what modern scholarship refers to as the Old Italian School of Singing. This influence makes his songs an ideal introduction to Russian lyric diction while reinforcing the tenets of sound vocalism. This study explores four Glinka melodies: "Doubt ," "To Molly," "The Lark," and "Cavatina." Previously published only in their original keys, the songs are presented here transposed into keys suitable for a young bass and a young baritone singer, with the melody line placed in the bass clef and corresponding IPA transcriptions beneath the original Cyrillic text. Following both an introduction that contextualizes Glinka as a composer enamored of 19th-century Italian opera and a discussion of technical and stylistic aspects regarding the production of sound in that same era, there is a brief examination of Russian lyric diction intended to inspire further study of this unique and rewarding singing …

In the late 19th century, Georg Schumann (1866-1952) composed an attractive sonata for the cello that remains largely unknown today. By presenting a performer's analysis, this dissertation aims to position Georg Schumann's Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, Op. 19 (1898) amongst other more commonly performed sonatas of the era. This paper provides a detailed analysis of each movement of the sonata, an overview of the history and development of the cello sonata and an overview of Georg Schumann's biography leading up to the composition of his cello sonata.

Modern flute pedagogy tends to focus on repertoire which utilizes or builds upon tonal and Romantic stylistic conventions, largely ignoring works that disregard or reject these conventions until later in student's education. This lack of stylistic diversity in commonly studied works from the first half of the twentieth century can be problematic when students are approaching avant-garde or modernist repertoire for the first time, as they are unfamiliar with the style and technical needs of the pieces. This dissertation provides a style guide and progressive curriculum for the avant-garde repertoire of the early- and mid-twentieth century to help students bridge the gap from commonly-studied early-twentieth century repertoire to Post-War Modernist works. The curriculum and style guide are accompanied by an overview of avant-garde musical styles prominent in Europe and American between the 1890s and 1970s, a discussion of the pedagogical challenges of avant-garde repertoire, and two performance guides for avant-garde pieces included in the curriculum, Diaphonic Suite No. 1 by Ruth Crawford and Variations for Solo Flute by Ursula Mamlok.

Alfred Schnittke was a prolific and nuanced musical figure of the twentieth-century, contributing significantly to the fields of musical philosophy and composition. One of his most researched contributions, that bridges both disciplines, is his definition and implementation of the compositional technique, polystylism. His 1971 essay, "Polystylistic Tendencies in Modern Music," served as the first serious discussion of the term, providing a narrower definition, differentiating it from other techniques, and discussing its importance in the oeuvre of twentieth-century artists. Schnittke is also known for his fervent desire to overcome the gap between Ernstmusik (serious music) and Unterhaltung (music for entertainment). This lifelong pursuit, combined with polystylism, lead him to create an eclectic catalogue that championed the ideas it was pioneering. However, there is little research done on the 1947 literary work that served as a creative catalyst to all these ideas: Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus: The Life of German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as told by a Friend. In contrast to other telling's of the Faust legend, Mann's version features a composer-protagonist, Adrian Leverkühn, who sells his soul for twenty-four years of creative musical-genius. During this time, Leverkühn composes numerous successful works, even developing a new system of musical composition. Mann's telling …

Frédéric Chopin produced a remarkable body of piano works. Even though most of his works are essential repertoire in piano literature, some of them remain less familiar. One such significant work is the Allegro de Concert in A major, op. 46, which was apparently intended to be the first movement of a third piano concerto. Despite the praise the work has received, it is rarely heard, and references to performance are lacking in the scholarly literature. Some reasons include the substantial technical challenges, such as risky skips, trills in double notes, thick harmonic textures, complex passagework, and the perpetual motion. This study provides a performance guide for the Allegro de Concert, looking at various perspectives of an informed musical performance. The historical backstory of the intended third concerto and a detailed form analysis demonstrate that the work has a combined form, incorporating elements of both concerto and sonata-allegro form. The chapter on performance presents the technical issues and a comparative analysis of various editions and arrangements of this work to inspire musical ideas and suggest appropriate solutions to the musical and technical difficulties.

As one of the few piano works with Tibetan folk characteristics, the piano suite Tibetan Sketches composed by Bingyuan Cui presents a vivid depiction of the Tibetan people with colorful sound and considerable imagination. As a Tibetan, I have been greatly honored to research and perform this work and incorporate my understanding into this dissertation. The composer took into account Western composition techniques as well as Eastern music, combining religious and folk musical elements of Chinese ethnic minorities with Western piano techniques to create a wonderful work. This dissertation introduces the characteristics of Tibetan music and analyzes the work, then explores the use of Tibetan elements and the varied styles in the three movements of Tibetan Sketches. Cui uses a large number of Tibetan elements in this work, closely related to the local Tibetan music style in melodies, decorations, harmonies, tone color changes, and performance techniques. Based on the historical background and influence of Western music on the development of Chinese music and some other aspects, a brief description is given of the Eastern and Western music styles in the work. This dissertation introduces my own performance and learning experience when I studied this work, communications and an interview with …

As a political disturbance and social movement, the Cultural Revolution hugely impacted the development of Chinese piano art. The piano went through many stages throughout this ten-year period. This dissertation examines the suppression and later expansion of piano music in China during the Cultural Revolution, along with the historical motivations and forces that shaped each stage of its development. The study is supported by historical documents and relevant literature. This dissertation includes an analysis of the roles that piano music played during this era and the piano's relationship with the Cultural Revolution's modernizing goals. The analysis focuses on the musical characteristics of three piano pieces from this period and explores the instrument's historical importance, to better understand how Chinese piano music maintained a careful balance between its value as a tool for socio-political propaganda and its transformation under the burden of political pressure and creative limitations. Additionally, this dissertation examines playing techniques in these works that define a distinctly Chinese piano style that is enormously popular today. To complement the dissertation, these piano pieces were performed during the dissertation recital.

One of the famous Russian composers and a pianist himself, Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) composed a vast quantity of piano music. His nine piano sonatas represent well how he projected his musical individuality and the principles that he addressed in his autobiography: classical line, modern trend, toccata line, lyrical line, and grotesque line. However, even though Prokofiev's piano sonatas are considered one of the important collections in the piano repertoire, not all of them have gained popularity and only a few tend to be frequently performed by pianists today. For this reason, this dissertation focuses on one of his less-performed piano sonatas, No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29. The pianists György Sándor and Boris Berman were chosen as specialists in Prokofiev's piano works, and their performance editions and recordings are analyzed and compared as main references. This study provides analysis and a performance guide to this piano sonata. This guide discusses pedaling, fingering, phrasing, touch, voicing, tempo suggestion, articulation, hand distribution, and expression.

This project offers a comprehensive performance guide to Bartók's Dance Suite for solo piano based on a renewed interpretation of the piece. The Dance Suite (Táncszvit/Tanz Suite) is a unique work in Bartók's oeuvre, presented by the composer in two versions: one for orchestra (1923) and one for solo piano (1925). There has been little research done on this piece to enhance its popularity even though it may be a piece that illuminates one of Bartók's compositional philosophies: the unity of all cultures and folk song. Pianists must interpret this piece not only through the eyes of a soloist, but also as a musician who makes careful decisions—as if one were undertaking the making of a piano reduction of an orchestral score oneself. The methods presented intend to help pianists acquire and maintain a curious and flexible mind where freedom of interpretation is concerned, and hone inquisitive minds to overcome challenges when holding the reins of an orchestra across the eighty-eight keys of the piano towards limitless expansion and development of pianism and musicianship.

This research contributes valuable contextual information to the study of Karol Szymanowski's little-known song cycle Seven Songs to Poems of James Joyce, op. 54 (1926), providing a reliable, comprehensive reference for singers and scholars. In this research, I establish separate historical contexts for James Joyce's Chamber Music and Szymanowski's settings of the poems in op. 54. Using these established historical contexts, I then analyze Joyce's poems and Szymanowski's text settings, focusing on their styles and aesthetics. Szymanowski reorders the seven selected poems, creating a new storyline related to—but different from—the original. Where Chamber Music presents a chronological emotional arc, Seven Songs presents a roller coaster-like storyline, achieved by flashing back and forth between the protagonist's past and present. I demonstrate how Szymanowski's newly-created, complex storyline fits both the surface and deeper meanings of each poem, using specific musical elements to enhance emotional conflicts in the texts. I conclude with a detailed analysis of the relationship between the text and music of this song cycle, serving as a performance guide. I hope that my analysis and complete performance of this cycle will reignite interest in Szymanowski's music outside of Poland, especially in countries where English is the native language.

Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann is a German composer of contemporary music. In his 1980 work for piano, Child's Play, Lachenmann develops one of his own signature concepts, musique concrète instrumentale, in which he uses the "standard" (not prepared) piano in non-conventional and innovative ways to explore new sounds and techniques. This dissertation is a pedagogical study that provides a teaching guide for educators who would like to use Child's Play as an introduction to some of the sounds and techniques of contemporary music for their late intermediate students. In order for educators to effectively guide their students through Child's Play, they should understand the sonorities of musique concrète instrumentale as well as the extended techniques it requires. This dissertation addresses those needs through three principal means. First, it introduces Lachenmann's musique concrète instrumentale and classifies the various sonorities into three types: descriptive, contrasting, and extended. Second, it analyzes and discusses technical elements in the cycle, including notational considerations, pedaling, and sound effects. Last, the dissertation provides pedagogical suggestions to help students master these technical elements. By studying and playing this piece, students not only become intimately familiar with some of the many sounds they are able to produce on the piano, …

Adolf von Henselt (1814–1889) was one of the most renowned German pianists and composers of his day. The majority of his compositions are for the piano, one of his most successful being the set of Piano Études, Op. 2. It consists of twelve etudes, each of which is designed for developing a particular technique. Henselt's etudes are as demanding as Chopin's and Liszt's, so this pedagogical guide is designed for advanced-level students. Henselt uses many finger extensions and stretches larger than an octave, which may be difficult for smaller hands to play, but proper flexibility and relaxation should enable all students to play them. This dissertation describes the specific technique for six selected etudes and provides exercises to help students learn each technique effectively. The selected etudes—Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 11—were chosen to cover all three technical levels of less-advanced, advanced, and very advanced as well as a variety of musical styles and technical challenges.

The purpose of this study is to analyze two of Chen Yi's works that include flute. She was raised in China and later studied in the United States, leading to a compositional output notable for its combination of Eastern and Western musical elements. Her unusual early experiences, such as experiencing the Chinese Cultural Revolution, working in rural areas, studying the violin, playing the piano in the orchestra, and being influenced by Western modernists, became her musical inspirations in her later compositional career. Focusing on the composer's Three Bagatelles from China West and Woodwind Quintet No.3, this study explores how the composer links Chinese traditional folk tunes to Western compositional techniques, as well as Western flute techniques to Chinese musical styles. Since the folk tunes in the first movement, Introduction, and third movement, Miao Dances, of Woodwind Quintet No. 3 are the same as those used in the second and third bagatelles of Three Bagatelles: Nai Guo Hou and Dou Duo, both are studied, presenting how they relate to each other.

In this paper, I analyze the musical content in Federico Alvarez del Toro's marimba concerto El Espiritu de la Tierra. This dissertation represents my analysis of features I hear in the composition, and does not reflect the composer's original compositional process. Commissioned by the governor of Chiapas, the piece was composed in collaboration with internationally renowned marimba virtuoso Zeferino Nandayapa and premiered in 1984 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City at Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato. The work has not been published and has been mentioned only briefly in scholarship. Particular attention in the analysis is given to indigenous and folk idioms from the southern region of Mexico combined with post-modern compositional techniques. My primary argument within the dissertation is that I believe the piece demonstrates a respect for tradition and heritage while concurrently utilizing non-traditional and contemporary compositional techniques. Analytically, I argue that two basic shapes are used throughout the piece, and I argue that the many cultural references within the piece solidify a preoccupation with the lineage of southern Mexico.

This dissertation serves as an analysis and performance guide for No-Re I for Flute Solo (2018) by Gyu-Bong Yi (이규봉), a work that combines Korean elements and Western compositional techniques. The modern flute, developed in the mid-nineteenth century with the Boehm's Schema, has pushed the boundaries of the instrument through experimentation with new techniques, leading to numerous contemporary works presenting unique challenges for flutists. No-Re I includes passages with various extended techniques and unique combinations, requiring specific solutions to overcome the challenges they present. For example, this dissertation offers specific fingering diagrams and descriptions for executing the double trills used in No-Re I. Additionally, certain notations used by the composer may have limitations in projection or clarity, and this dissertation elucidates the composer's intent based on an interview and provides solutions for these limitations. This research also discusses the fusion of Korean and other East-Asian aesthetics with Western musical language including the works of Isang Yun (1917–1995), a Korean-born musical pioneer, who had a successful career as a composer and educator, especially elaborating on his unique compositional technique, the Haupttöne, which is based on tonal centers influenced by East-Asian philosophy, Korean folk music, and its unique characteristic of ornamenting the …

In the West, operas in Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian are the best known in collegiate and professional classical music settings. Given the changes in social climate in recent decades, however, attention is being given to the study and performance of under-represented minorities. There have been operas composed in the West on Asian topics, but one does not yet hear operas in Asian languages programmed as part of a regular season in major opera houses in the United States. The challenge for Western singers is threefold: access to the music, reading and pronouncing the language, and understanding the nuance of the rich Chinese culture in the libretto. This study presents the following five arias: "We Have to Be Apart," from The Dawns Here Are Quiet (这里的黎明静悄悄) by Tang Jianping; "The Daughter of Yimeng" and "Milk, Tears and Blood," from The Mountain of Yimeng (沂蒙山) by Luan Kai; "Forgetting Everything While Turning," from Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again (再别康桥) by Zhou Xue Shi; and "Lullaby," from the opera The Orphan of Zhao (赵氏孤儿) by Lei Lei. It includes a brief biographical introduction to the composer and librettist for each opera, a synopsis of the plot, a description of …

The cantata A World Without War (2009), by Armenian-born composer Edward Manukyan (b. 1981), was written, in part, to support increased awareness of human rights issues. Based on a quote from linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), the narrative of the cantata states: "We can, for example, be fairly confident that either there will be a world without war or there won't be a world." In addition to Chomsky's words, the cantata excerpts quotes of two additional literary giants advocating human rights, Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), and Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989). The purpose of this dissertation is to focus attention on human rights activism; using Manukyan's A World Without War, I highlight moral and ethical questions at the center of this work and explain how this cantata embraces the ideal of moral cosmopolitanism. I strongly believe in the importance of human rights for all citizens of the world, and the role music plays in advancing its cause through performance arts.

Alberto Nepomuceno was one of the leading figures in developing Brazilian art music at the turn of the twentieth century. He became widely known for his Brazilian art songs and kept promoting Brazilian music and the use of Portuguese as an "art language" throughout his life. Nepomuceno has widely been seen as a nationalist composer, yet some of his works adopt a more European style. In this study, I argue that Nepomuceno incorporates European musical languages in his Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 9. I display the rich interaction of Brazilian national identity and European influence within Nepomuceno's musical life. I also provide a thorough formal analysis of this piano sonata to argue that in some of his music he adopted a distinctively European musical language, including baroque and classical elements. In addition to analyzing the sonata-form and rondo-form elements, this dissertation discusses the use of several important topics in the work, including the Siciliano rhythm, contrapuntal writing, pedal points with organ effects, and impact of Brahms on Nepomuceno's piano writing. Moreover, I analyze how Nepomuceno assimilated European musical styles as the basis for his own compositions, as well as the innovations with which he augmented those styles. An …

In this dissertation, I study four choral works by Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles through musical, thematic, and theoretical analysis to synthesize her compositional style. In addition to analysis, I created supplemental educational guides for each piece. These guides are intended to facilitate an intentional teaching process that leads to meaningful performances that engage the community. I investigate Robles' intersectional approach to composition as it reflects her identity as a Black, female composer. This project contextualizes Robles' voice and her impact on 21st-century choral music. I selected four works for study—"Umoja," "No Fairy Tale Here," "Can You See?" and "Psalm 61"— to represent three overarching themes in her oeuvre: spirituality, mental health awareness, and social justice. This research provides greater insight into Robles' choral works and serves as a thought-provoking introduction to commissioning works from underrepresented communities.

Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873-1953) was an eclectic composer who successfully maintained his own unique musical vocabulary—particularly in his piano compositions. Jongen composed very little between 1940-1941—the period in which he and his family fled to the countryside of Mazères, France, living as refugees for several months before returning to Sart-lez-Spa, Belgium, due to the outbreak of WWII. Reflective of this time in his life, Vingt-quatre petits préludes dans tous les tons pour piano, op. 116 is composed in a particularly intimate and despairing way. Through a complete Schenkerian analysis and outline of the musical framework of op. 116—Jongen's last collection of piano pieces—this dissertation sheds light on the technique, imagination, and uniqueness of Jongen's WWII-period piano compositions. More specifically, this research outlines the deep-level tonal and formal structures, investigates the cryptic semantic meaning and intimate personal expression, and defines the aesthetic achievements of Jongen's Twenty-four Little Preludes in All Keys for Piano, op. 116.