The Two Etudes: "Harmonies," and "Coulée" and the Volumina of Ligeti were performed following a lecture on avant-garde techniques in organ works of György Ligeti. The lecture included a brief discussion of earlier twentieth century antecedents of new sound materials and concepts, a biographical sketch of Ligeti and general style features of his works. The main body of the lecture included notational methods, specific style features, and performing scores of Ligeti's three organ works. In addition to the lecture recitals three other public recitals were performed which consisted of solo compositions for the organ.

The lecture recital was given on March 25, 1984. Commotio by Carl Nielsen was performed following a lecture on that particular organ composition. The lecture included a discussion of Carl Nielsen, characteristics of his six symphonies, a detailed analysis of Commotio, and the symphonic characteristics found in Commotio. Some examples from the symphonies as well as other works were performed during the lecture to illustrate the similarities between Commotio and his orchestral works. In addition to the lecture recital, three other public recitals were performed, all of which consisted of solo compositions for the organ. The first solo recital, including works of Couperin, Bach, Hindemith, and Duruflé, was performed on October 30, 1980. On May 6, 1981, the second solo recital was performed. Compositions by Raison, Buxtehude, Bach, Reger, and Martin were included in the program. The third solo recital which included works by Weckmann, Tunder, Lübeck, C. P. E. Bach, and Vierne, was performed on April 25, 1983. The four programs were recorded on magnetic tape and are filed with the written version of the lecture material as a part of the dissertation.

This dissertation is a study of the styles shown in Reubke's The 94th Psalm. As a student of Hermann Bonicke, Theodor Kullak, and Adolf Marx, Reubke was trained in the masters of the Baroque and Classical traditions. Written after his study with Franz Liszt in the newer style, The 94th Psalm is a crystallization of these various influences into his own personal style, a remarkable achievement at age twenty three. It is a synthesis of two different styles of organ music at the time; the traditional and conservative represented by Mendelssohn and Schumann, and the progressive by Liszt. Reubke's unique approach to the sonata fomi in the "double function" unified three individual movements into one musical entity by the use of the cyclic theme. The harmony and the tonality are advanced and anticipate the late nineteenth-century style. As the first programmatic organ music in the nineteenth century, The 94th Psalm is an idiomatic organ work which employed the virtuoso piano technique of the time. In spite of Reubke's young age, The 94th Psalm demonstrates his great maturity. His wish to express himself is realized in the work in profound depth and imagination. Through the psalm text he poured out his …

The lecture recital was given on July 2, 1984. The Megalith Trilogy was performed following a lecture which examined the internal structure of the work. The main body of the lecture focused on motivic and tonal considerations and included motivic and pitch reductions of the three movements. In addition to the lecture recital three other public solo recitals were performed. The four programs were recorded on magnetic tape and are filed with the written version of the lecture as a part of the dissertation.

This dissertation is an analysis of two of the six sonatas for organ using rhetorical-musical prescriptions from seventeenth and eighteenth-century German theorists. It undertakes to examine the way in which lines are built by application of figurae, to observe the design of each of the six movements, and to draw conclusions concerning implications for performance based upon the use of figurae in specific contexts. The period source on melodic design and the ordering of an entire movement based upon principles of rhetoric is Johann Mattheson's Per volkommene Capelmeister (1739). Guidelines for categorization of figures derive from the twentieth-century writers Timothy Albrecht, George Buelow, Lena Jacobson, and Peter Williams. Chapter I provides justification for the rhetorical approach through a brief description of the rise of the process as applied to composition during the Baroque period by relating Bach's own familiarity with the terminology and processes of rhetorical prescription, and by describing the implications for performance in observing the sonatas from the rhetorical viewpoint. Chapter II deals with the process of composition by rhetorical prescription in (1) the invention of the subject and its figural decoration and (2) the elaboration of the subject through the sixpart discourse of an entire movement. Specific …

This dissertation is concerned with the relationship between the trumpet and organ in twentieth-century music for this ensemble and how that relationship effects performance with regard to organ registration and synchronization. The compositions discussed include "The Other Voices of the Trumpet," by Daniel Pinkham (1971); "Jericho: Battle Music," by William Albright (1976); "Three Pictures of Satan," by Jere Hutcheson (1975); and "Okna," by Petr Eben (1980). The theoretical writings of Pierre Boulez, Robert Erickson, and Donald Cogan deal with developing a contemporary concept of texture. This dissertation applies their theory that texture exists in two dimensions: vertical and horizontal. Stratification and blending of timbres comprise the vertical dimension. The succession of textures, governed by tempo, creates the second dimension. Chapter I provides an historical setting for the genre, introduces the theory of Boulez, Erickson, and Cogan, and supplies the programmatic content of the four works chosen for analysis. In Chapter II , the vertical elements of texture in these four works are isolated and examined. Chapter III deals with Pierre Boulez's theory that the succession of textures, governed by tempo, shapes the work. Each work is examined with regard to tempo, either mobile (fluctuating) or fixed. In Chapter IV the …