Since the nineteenth century the Two Part Inventions have become standard repertoire for piano students. However, piano teachers have often failed to give serious consideration to the suitable selection of Inventions for study. Piano students have commonly formed a dislike for Bach's piano music because of an ungratifying initial experience. There is little material written in English dealing with the Two Part Inventions. Those studies of the Inventions which do exist consist mainly of brief articles in periodicals and limited discussions in piano literature books. Therefore, there seemed to be a need for a systematic collection of pedagogical ideas concerning the Two Part Inventions. In addition, it was felt that an analysis of the problems in each piece and a subsequent graded list of the Inventions would be a step toward a more intelligent and more knowledgeable approach in the teaching of these compositions.

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.

The purpose of this study was to examine the justifications for and production problems of presenting elementary children in public performances.

This treatise has been prepared largely because of an increasing interest in contemporary music and an awareness on the part of many music educators of its merits in the curriculum of public schools and colleges. Since contemporary music is a controversial subject among directors, it has become necessary to search for specific, positive approaches to the teaching of contemporary music in high school.

The purpose of this study was to design a rehearsal method for presenting the historical and theoretical aspects of selected works for concert band. 1. 'What systematic approach can be designed for studying the historical aspects of a musical work? 2. What systematic approach can be designed for studying the theoretical aspects of a musical work? 3. What compositions can be used to demonstrate historical and theoretical elements? 4. What rehearsal method can be devised by applying the systematic approaches for studying historical and theoretical aspects to the selected works?

The purpose of this research is to program cycles or units of study which may be used with the Cyclo-Teacher Learning Aid, a commercial teaching machine produced by the Field Enterprises Educational Corporation of Chicago. The program will consist of the mechanics of music and will be designed for use with the seven- and eight-year-old child in primary choirs of the graded choir program of Southern Baptist churches.

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.

This examination of Ralph Vaughan Williams' song cycle to poetry of Alfred Edward Housman, "On Wenlock Edge," will follow primarily two avenues of approach. First, following a brief biographical sketch of Vaughan Williams' career prior to the composition of "On Wenlock Edge," will be a discussion of Vaughan Williams' and Housman's respective aesthetic philosophies. In order to lay the background for certain salient characteristics of this cycle, parallels as well as differences in their artistic thinking will be explained. Secondly, a poetic analysis will precede the musical analysis of each song in order to differentiate between the original intent of the poet and the interpretation of the poetry by Vaughan Williams.

George Frederick Handel is one of the most important composers of oratorio in musical history. Between the year 1704, when he composed his Passion According to Saint John, and 1757, the year of his last oratorio, The Triumph of Time and Truth, Handel composed twenty nine works which have at one time or another been classified as oratorios. Only those works that are considered by all authorities as oratorios and are based on the Old Testament or Jewish history are included in this study. Handel writes solo roles for the tenor voice in all of the sixteen oratorios included in the study with the exception of the revision of Esther and in Deborah. The musical and dramatic function of the tenor solo roles varies with each oratorio. The significance of the tenor roles fluctuates with the dramatic impact of the story related by the oratorio and is completely dictated by it. Handel used all solo voices with concern for the best over all theatrical effect foremost in mind. To place in proper perspective his use of the tenor voice in relation to the other solo voices, such factors as the musical and dramatic importance of the tenor roles, character types …

The primary objectives of this paper are to deal with Stravinsky's use of the trombone and to study the different methods of scoring for the instrument which he has employed in his works. In order to make this discussion more meaningful, the first chapter contains a brief history of the use and the development of the instrument from the fifteenth century up until 1900. In the second chapter Stravinsky's major works are divided into three periods, and each is individually discussed. The general characteristics common to the related major works are pointed out to provide an understanding of each period. The remainder of the paper is devoted to a study of Stravinsky's trombone scoring in three of his major works, one from each period. A concluding chapter summarizes his writing for the trombone as exemplified by these three works, and surveys the scoring for trombone in some of his other works.

The purpose of this study was to determine and describe ways in which music education can be used in Protestant churches. During the last twenty years, participation in church music has grown very rapidly. The increase is a result of the growth of music in general. Music has become an important part of home, school, church, and community functions. This is evidenced by many facts: symphony orchestras, as well as community instrumental and choral groups have increased in number to the extent that there are more today than at any time in history; school music has taken tremendous strides since 19257 and church music programs have been developed to such a degree that they attract large numbers of people. In spite of the tremendous advance of music in general, and in the field of church music in particular, there is still much that needs to be done in church music. For example, when "Sacred Music" is mentioned to an average group of Americans, some will respond with blank and uninterested stares. Others will mention some of the well-worn sentimentalized, semi-religious songs such as "He," "The Man Upstairs," "You'll Never Walk Alone," or other examples of commercialized religion, Those people, and …

In music, the term verismo usually refers to a realistic or naturalistic movement in Italian operas of the late nineteenth century. From the dawn of Italian opera four features have been manifested--umanita (humanism), sincerity (sincerity), passione (passion), effetto (not only theatrical effect but the supreme dramatic moment). The elements of verismo are among the characteristics present in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi where they reached a zenith of development. It is upon these veristic aspects, as identified in the second chapter, that the operas Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci were based. Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata richly exhibit these elements of verismo which have been identified in the fourth chapter.

The need for a valve mechanism of some type was first felt by French horn players, and after the horn's valve system had somewhat proved itself to composers as well as instrumentalists, it was adapted for the other brass instruments.

Analyzes music of Ravel, Debussy, Schoenberg, Webern, Milhaud, Bozza, Francaix, Poulenc, Cowell and Riegger.

The primary purpose of this thesis will be to examine the orchestration of the trombone section in the Viennese symphonies of the early Romantic period. In order to fully understand the function of the trombone section in these syphonies, a review of the trombones usage in previous centuries is in order.

Performances of Fitrabras and the other Schubert operas have been very rare. Parts of Fierrabras were given in concert form in Vienna in 1853 and again in 1858. The first stage production was in Karlsruhe, February 9, 1897, but the music was revised for that performance by 0. Neitzel and the text by F. Mottl. The text was translated into French for a production in Brussels in 1926. A concert version was also heard in London in 1938. None of these performances, with the possible exception of the one in Brussels, was in the original version. It has always been assumed that the work could not be performed as it stands; at any rate, no one has ever tried. True, there are certain problems in production, especially in the rapid shift of scenes in the third act, but modern stage technique could undoubtedly conquer such difficulties easily.

The comparison of structural and formal traits in the concert grossi of Corelli's Opus VI and Vivaldi's Opus III will proceed in the following manner: first, the cycle as a whole will be taken up; next, the individual movements will be considered. Finally, in each instance of comparison, Corelli's music will be dealt with first.

The term ballade is the French and German spelling of the English word "ballad" and the Italian ballata. Although each of these terms is derived from the Latin ballare, meaning "to dance," each denotes an entirely different meaning. The synonomous usage of these terms is definitely misleading (1,p. 67), Frederic Chopin, 1810-1849, was first to use this term as a title for piano compositions. The purpose of this study is to reveal the formal characteristics of each of the four ballades that Chopin wrote for solo piano and to determine,through a comparison of the similarities and differences, some identifying characteristics of a ballade. These characteristics will be illustrated through a formal analysis of each ballade.

Whereas general conceptions of Menotti's style are available in various articles, none of the previous writings on this subject have attempted to give a detailed analysis of the techniques and devices used by Menotti in his operas. As has been stated, Menottils greatest asset as a composer of opera is his genius for employing a unique fusion of music and drama. The purpose of this study, then, is to isolate the various concepts and devices of composition used by Menotti and deduce how he has used them to create dramatic impact. The work chosen for this analysis is The Medium, which established Menotti as the foremost composer-librettist of modern opera.1 4 It is felt that this opera offers a cross section of the concepts and devices used in all of the operas composed thus far by Menotti.

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.

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 …

Bela Bartok's six string quartets are generally regarded as the next most significant works in the medium after the quartets of Beethoven. Unlike some of his contemporaries in the field, e.g, Hindemith, Milhaud, and Schoenberg, Bartok's quartets are representative of his musical growth and, as such, are worthy of equal status with those of such recognized masters as Haydn and Mozart, as well as Beethoven...

It now seems necessary to follow the further development of Schoenberg and his first pupils, Berg and Webern. "Starting from their twin conceptions of the dethronement of tonality and the free use of the former 'discords', they produced a series of pieces of which the foremost characteristics were their extreme expressiveness and their extraordinary brevity."