The compositions to be considered in this study have been divided into three periods, corresponding with certain times in the life of Alfredo Casella. There is enough consistency of style in the compositions of each period to justify this division. The first period, characterized by lyricism and virtuosity, includes the works written in Paris after Casella left the Paris Conservatory. The second period, with its chromaticism and dissonance, comprises his output during the first years after his return to Italy. The third period begins with the close of World War I. In this period Casella returns to a classic style which is firmly embedded in an extended tonal system. The compositions of this period combine various ideas and styles gathered through the years and blend them into works marked by maturity, sincerity, and originality.

This study examines the development and creation of the clarinet in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, and the start of their use as a solo instrument in the eighteenth century. This explores Mozart's utilization and development for the clarinet to other various composers and their contributions.

Sowerby's compositions based on hymn tunes cover the extent of his career - from 1913 to the time of this study. There are two purposes in selecting them for study: to describe the development of Sowerby's musical style; and to show, from a study of these compositions, the various devices, forms, and techniques which are effective in this area of composition in general.

The purpose of this study, ve to analyze the stylistic characteristics in the unaccompanied music of one twentieth century composer, Francis Poulenc, in order to discover the choral problems which would confront choruses and conductors as they performed his music. It is hoped that this study will not only enable choral conductors to better understand, interpret, and appreciate the music of Poulenc, but also will serve as a guide toward the investigation of other twentieth century composers and their works.

The art of transcribing orchestral accompaniments for organ is one of the most difficult problems which organists must face. Although a few will become professional recitalists, most organists will at one time or other have a church position and be required to play oratorios and other large choral compositions which were originally scored for orchestra. Several of the most popular of these works (Handel's Messiah, Saint-Saëns's Christmas Oratorio, Fauŕe's Requiem) have already been arranged for organ, but the majority are available only in piano reductions. The main body of the paper deals with this latter group of works, for it is here that the most urgent problems exist. However, some of the organ arrangements now available need considerable revision because they try to imitate the whole orchestra and are virtually impossible to play. Therefore, some preliminary comments on already existing transcriptions seem necessary.

In order to trace the origin of the chaconne and passacaglia, the much larger classification of basso ostinato, of which the chaconne and passacaglia are two later examples, must be considered. According to one authority, Lili Propper, the earliest beginnings of the basso ostinato can be traced back to the Middle Ages through the use of organ points exemplified in organum purum. A later and more developed use of the basso ostinato can be discovered in the recurring basses of the Montpellier Codex and the masses of the fifteenth century. A freer manifestation of the idea can be found in the reiterated bass motive of the familiar canon, Sumer is icumen in.

The poems of Mignon have inspired song writers for almost two centuries. They have served as the texts for more composers than almost any other single set of poetry. The Romantic composers were especially fond of the words. The poems are full of sadness and yearning and composers found they could be set in different moods. Some settings are in major tonalities while other settings of the same poem can be found in minor. Simple harmonies are used in some settings while others contain more complex harmonies. There are those composers who would have Mignon appear as a lost soul throughout all the poems with each song quietly sung, while others use a variety of dynamics adding drama to the setting and picturing Mignon as full of optimism at the end.

Humfrey's music, which is chiefly sacred, includes a large number of anthems, odes, services and songs. His compositions, particularly his sacred compositions, have received extensive investigation only on one other occasion, in Henry Bryce Jordan's unpublished dissertation on the subject. Of his sacred music, the anthems form by far the largest and most signification part. Six of them were printed in W. Boyce's Cathedral Music (London, 1760); twelve more, including the "club anthem" and an evening service, are to be found as part of the Tudway Collection of the British Museum (Harl. MS 7338) and others are extant in manuscript at the libraries of Ely, Salisbury, Windsor, the Friz-william Museum (Cambridge), Christ Church (Oxford, Birmingham University, St. Michael's (Tenbury), and the Additional manuscripts in the British Museum. It was primarily int he anthems that Humfrey introduced into England some of the declamatory methods of the French theatre and thus secured for himself the credit of having established their form and style. His solo songs, on the other hand seem to occupy a somewhat less esteemed position, attributable perhaps to their remarkable simplicity, and in few cases to their apparent neglect of such musical fundamentals as melody and rhythm. It is …