It is the purpose of this thesis to present a study of music written for the clarinet during the period from 1600 to 1800. The first part is a history of the clarinet showing the stages of development of the instrument from its early predecessors to its present form. Part one also explains the acoustics of the clarinet and its actual invention. The second part deals with composers and their music for the clarinet. No attempt is made to include all music written for the instrument during the prescribed period; rather, the writer's intention is to include chiefly those works by composers whose musics has proven to be outstanding in clarinet literature or interesting historically. The order in which the works themselves are taken up is chronological, by composers, with comment on their styles as to form, harmonic content, melodic content, rhythmic content, problems in phrasing, or any other general technical problem. All of these elements are illustrated with examples taken from the music.

For this study, the forms of the movements of forty-four symphonies of Mozart-those appearing in the Breitkopf and Hartel "complete" edition of his works- were analyzed. For convenience of reference, the symphonies are discussed in this thesis in their conventional numbering-that of the Breitkopf and Hartel edition- except for six symphonies that appeared in a supplementary volume and are inserted in this study into their approximately correct chronological positions.

The significance of the application of valves to brass instruments will be better understood by a brief discussion of conditions immediately preceding this innovation.

Of all the composers of German Lied, Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf can be considered the true giants of this musical form. Schubert's position is secure as the greatest composer of the Lied. Wolf, though challenging Schubert in this particular idiom only, brought the Lied to its culmination. This study will show, by comparative analysis, the respective treatment by Fr anz Schubert and Hugo Wolf of selected poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Though Schubert composed some seventy songs (not including multiple settings of the same text), and Wolf fifty-one, based on the poetry of Goethe, they shared only thirteen of these poems in common. Four songs by each composer have been selected for detailed analysis.

The harmonic practices of the late romantic period are often discussed in general terms, categorical phrases, and a score of subjectivisms characteristic of the era. It is the purpose of this thesis to clarify certain aspects of the harmonic vocabulary which developed in the late romantic period.

Draws a comparison between the piano variation techniques of Beethoven and Copland with reference only to the two works discussed herein, Thirty-Two Variations and Piano Variations, with the intent of gaining from these isolated examples knowledge of the changes in variation writing from Beethoven's time to the present.

Instead of putting the emphasis on color in his orchestration, Brahms felt that the music was more important; not the orchestration. However, it would be a mistake to feel that he was deaf to orchestral color. When discussing color in regard to Brahms' orchestration it is necessary to realize that his use of color is much different than that of his contemporaries. This thesis discusses the four symphonies of Brahms and his usage of brass instruments within these symphonies, specifically the french horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba. It is apparent that he used considerable care in writing for the brasses as well as the other instruments and had complete command of the use of their individual colors.

The purpose of this study is to describe contemporary plans for training the boy's changing voice and to prescribe ensemble material for these voices. Specific Problems: Analysis of the general problem leads to subordinate questions, or sub-problems, which may be stated as follows: 1. What are the contemporary plans of training the boy's changing voice? 2. What are the most usable musical materials available for use by ensembles which include boys with changing voices?

Sinfonia Concertante is a name for an eighteenth-century composition as well as a name of an eighteenth-century instrumental form that was modeled after the earlier concerto grosso. It may be defined as a composition for two or more solo instruments with orchestral accompaniment and written in a style that admits the brilliant display of skill on the soloists' part. It is also thought that the form is nearer that of the symphony than that of the concerto. This thesis discusses the many different influences that resulted in the instrumental form of the sinfonia concertante as well as analyzes specific sinfonia concertanti of Bach, Haydn, Karl Stamitz, and Mozart.

There are two major purposes in selecting Couperin's programmatic clavecin pieces for study; to prove their importance in the evolution of programmatic music and to prove the value of their study by the modern pianist. Due to the enormous number of Couperin's programmatic pieces, a detailed analysis of each piece will not be attempted in this paper. Instead, a general survey will be made.

Samuel Barber was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a town on the outskirts of Philadelphia, on March 9, 1910. He was the son of Samuel Le Roy Barber and Marguerite Beatty Barber. His father came from a long line of tradesmen and professional people and was a doctor and prominent citizen in the Pennsylvanian town in which his son was born. Although no musical tendencies existed on the father's side, there were numerous accounts of musical abilities in his mother's family. Marguerite Beatty Barber was a talented pianist and the sister of the celebrated contralto, Louise Homer. At the age of six, Samuel Barber began to play the piano and a year later began to compose. Although his mother helped to write down some of his first compositions, neither she nor her husband made any attempt to develop a possible prodigy. Instead, they tried to encourage him to indulge in the activities of any normal American boy.