Beethoven's folksong arrangements and variations have been coldly received in recent scholarship. Their melodic and harmonic simplicity, fusion of highbrow and lowbrow styles, seemingly diminished emphasis on originality, and the assorted nationalities of the tunes have caused them to be viewed as musical rubble within the heritage of Western art music. The canonic composer's relationship with the Scottish amateur folksong collector and publisher George Thomson, as well as with his audience, amateur music lovers, has been largely downplayed in the reception of Beethoven. I define Beethoven's engagement with folksongs and their audience as the "Beethoven Folksong Project," evaluating it in the history of Beethoven reception as well as within the cultural and ideological contexts of the British Isles and German-speaking lands at the turn of the nineteenth century. I broaden the image of Beethoven during his lifetime by demonstrating that he served as an ideal not only for highly educated listeners and performers but also for amateur music lovers in search of cultivation through music. I explore the repertory under consideration in relation to the idea of Bildung ("formation" or "education" of the self or of selves as a nation) that pervaded contemporary culture, manifesting itself in music as the …

Heinrich Koch completed his treatise in 1793, a pioneering work regarding the musical phrase as well as a sonata form description (lacking that term). Composition of Opus 18 began in 1798, a momentous project for several reasons in Beethoven's early career. Here, the theories expressed in Koch's Versuch are taken as an analytic springboard into a thorough analysis of the first movement of the quartet published no. 3, which was the first composed; additionally, nos. 1 and 6 are explored to a lesser degree. This study in phrase-analysis demonstrates significance in the fundamental ideas of Koch as applied to a masterwork of the turn of the 19th century.

Nicknamed "Mr. Bass Trombone" for his role as a prominent, trailblazing recording artist, George Roberts (b. 1928) has often been recognized as redefining the role of the bass trombone in popular music as well as setting new standards for technical refinement and expressive possibilities of the instrument. Through two interviews and a comparison between ten recorded performances by Roberts and corresponding lead sheets, I make observations about Roberts' performance techniques and illustrate various examples of those techniques. The document includes 35 pp. of interview transcriptions.

The clarinet works of Marcel Mihalovici (1898-1985) represent significant contributions to the twentieth-century clarinet repertoire. Metric and rhythmic variability, melodic primacy, counterpoint, structural clarity, and elements of Romanian folk music permeate his writing and reflect a highly developed musical language. Mihalovici's educational background and cultural heritage provide important clues toward understanding his artistic legacy. His clarinet works are musically demanding and contain some of the most technically challenging passages in the repertoire, while at the same time, exhibit a distinctively French style influenced by traditional Romanian music. Mihalovici's writing follows familiar but variable formal procedures and conveys a diverse, modally influenced approach to tonality. While his harmonic language is frequently dissonant, his clarinet music offers a unique variety of musically rewarding styles.

China's role in Western music is ever-expanding. Echoing the growth of classical music in China is the importance of Chinese musicians in the global music world. However, it is easy to forget that Western classical music is a foreign import to China, one that has been resisted for most of its history. The intent of this study is to evaluate the role of Chinese music in the Western classical world. This includes Western education, Western repertoire, and also a historical exploration into the mutual influence of the two styles. One Chinese composition in particular, Huang An-lun's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 57, is selected to analyze the Western and Chinese elements present in the work. This analysis will shed light on the relationship of the two styles and how they amalgamate in modern Chinese music. Although Western classical music today has a strong foothold in China, Chinese contributions to piano literature are largely unknown to the West. China possesses one of the richest musical histories in the world, one which until the twentieth century has largely remained unaffected by Western elements. Its musical heritage extends over thousands of years, deeply rooted in tradition and nationalism. Over the …

Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908) contributed to the development of violin performance through his innovative virtuosic techniques and popular Spanish characteristics, and his influence on violin performing style remains even in the present day. He composed virtuosic compositions to showcase his excellent technique, and well-known composers of the time such as Camille Saint-Saëns and Edouardo Lalo composed for him as well. These compositions include not only virtuosity but also Spanish characteristics that were suitable to Sarasate's nationalistic heritage. The combination of Spanish and virtuosic characteristics made these pieces as standard violin repertoire for modern violinists. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was his distinct performance style that broke the boundary of technical virtuosity in violin performing. The following generations - Kreisler, Heihetz, and in the present day, Isaac Permann - developed their performance techniques based on Sarasate's performance style. To examine Saraste's influences and contributions to the development of violin performing style, this dissertation focuses on Sarasate's performance practices, his technical developments, his unique style of playing, and his music to discuss his influences on composers and violinists alike. This study places Sarasate's performance style in the context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century violin performance practices through a discussion of …

The first purpose of this study was to investigate whether different modeling conditions (Aural and Aural/Notated Transcription) produced significant differences for improvisation achievement. Another purpose was to investigate whether music learning theory-based improvisation instruction had an effect on students' self-efficacy for improvisation and for instrumental music. Participants (N = 76) from an accessible population of 6th through 8th grade instrumental music students were assigned to either an aural model group or an aural and notated transcription model group based on scores from Gordon's Harmonic and Rhythmic Readiness Records (1998). All students were administered two researcher-designed self-efficacy scales before and after a 10 treatment session music learning theory-based improvisation instruction. Following the treatment sessions, each participant was individually recorded and assessed by three experienced music educators. The posttest improvisation scores were subjected to an ANOVA, while the pretest to posttest scores of the students' self-efficacies for music improvisation and instrumental music were subjected to two repeated measures ANOVAs. The Bonferroni technique was used to adjust the alpha level from .05 to .017. The statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference in improvisation achievement for the modeling conditions of aural and aural/notated transcription. Further statistical analyses showed there were significant …

Traditional scholarship has stated that the serpent and ophicleide (as well as their successor, the tuba) were developed and added to the standard orchestra to add a bass voice to the brass, allowing a tonal compass to match a similar downward expansion in the strings and woodwinds. A closer reading of the earliest scores calling for these instruments reveals a more coloristic purpose, related to timbre as much as to compass. Indeed, the fact that composers rarely wrote for serpent and ophicleide makes two points: it proves them to be inadequate choices as a brass bass, and when they were called for, they had an expressive, often descriptive purpose. Despite his conservative musical education supervised by Carl Friedrich Zelter, the seventeen-year-old Mendelssohn, under the influence of A. B. Marx, used the Corno inglese di basso, an upright version of the serpent, in his Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream to give a more rustic flavor to Bottom's ass-braying. Even when the English bass horn functioned as a bass voice, it was playing in contexts that were descriptive, where it often demonstrated its musical inadequacy. Berlioz's descriptive writing for the serpent and ophicleide are well known. A remarkable feature which Symphonie …

An investigation of current practices in the teaching of the bass tuba in the applied studios of U.S. colleges and universities as determined by survey. Survey recipients were low brass teachers at American colleges and universities who were members of one or more of the following professional organizations: International Tuba Euphonium Association, College Music Society, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. Topics examined are: general practices among teachers, including performance usage and literature, pedagogy and equipment. The survey instrument as well as a list of the respondents is included.

In the domain of music education philosophy there are, at present, two foundational systems that purport to be self-contained philosophies of music education. These are music education as aesthetic education, often referred to as MEAE, espoused by Bennett Reimer, and the praxial philosophy of music education posited by David Elliott. The debate between these two philosophies has been contentious and has had the effect of fracturing the philosophical underpinning of the music profession in an irreconcilable way. It is the purpose of this dissertation to introduce a third voice, that of the Danish philosopher Knut Løgstrup, to serve as a synergy between the philosophies of Reimer and Elliott and lead toward a framework of thinking for music education philosophy. I assert that the philosophies of Reimer and Elliott represent a modern articulation of an ancient dialectic between Platonic and Aristotelian ideals. Thus, the Reimer philosophy has its foundation in Platonic thought and Elliott has embraced an Aristotelian philosophical perspective. Løgstrup's position provides a third fundamental viewpoint that includes both Platonic and Aristotelian thinking and can therefore provide a synergy for these two music education philosophies. He refers to his philosophy as an ontological ethics. As a methodological approach, I utilize …

Olivier Messiaen and Naji Hakim are both representative composers of the twentieth century. For the performer this "modern" music is difficult to analyze because of the increased complexities of its harmonic language. Therefore the purpose of this study is to demonstrate a way to approach Naji Hakim's Le Tombeau d'Olivier Messiaen through Messiaen's own musical language. This study examines how Hakim has borrowed Messiaen's theory and used it in his own piece. Chapter I outlines the purpose and motive of this study. Chapter II briefly outlines the piece, introduces the meaning of Tombeau in music history, and presents Messiaen's modes of limited transposition, one of the main sources used in the composition of Le Tombeau d'Olivier Messiaen. Chapter III details Messiaen's influence in Hakim's piece. This influence consists of four elements: melody, mode, harmony, and extra-musical ideas. This chapter is the primary portion of the document. After examining the influence of Messiaen, a conclusion of this study is offered in Chapter IV. Four appendixes are attached to this document: an interview with Naji Hakim about Le Tombeau d'Olivier Messiaen; the modes of limited transposition in Le Tombeau d'Olivier Messiaen; a biographical sketch of Naji Hakim; and program notes from Le …

Sonatas for oboe in the classical period are classified as 'solo sonatas.' These 'solo sonatas,' which originated in the baroque period, consist of a melody instrument and basso continuo. Solo sonatas for oboe, which account for a sizeable repertory in the baroque period, continued to be composed in the classical period but in the baroque style. The basso continuo setting for sonatas gradually disappeared toward the end of the period, developing into the duo sonata in which a solo instrument and piano played an equal role in presenting melodic material. While the fully developed classical sonata was written for piano alone, and duos for violin and piano and cello and piano, the sonatas for oboe did not make this transition. The duo sonatas for oboe and piano by Jacques Christian Michel Widerkehr are exceptions to the baroque style 'solo sonatas.' Widerkehr's sonatas are the only true 'duo sonatas' for oboe and piano written in the classical period. François Devienne's sonatas deserve special recognition as the only 'solo sonatas' for oboe written predominantly in the classical style. In addition to presenting an overview of sonatas for oboe, biographical information on Widerkehr and Devienne, current state of research of Widerkehr's sonatas, changes …