This study examines what makes a keyed brass instrument, early keyed brass instruments, and keyed brass instruments of today. Focuses on the Cornett, the Serpent, the Basshorn and Russian Bassoon, the Ophicleide, the Horn, the Keyed Trumpet, and the Keyed Bugle.

The two basic needs which motivated this study were instructional material and instruments. By investigating these problems the writer hopes to improve not only his own techniques of teaching, but to present a useful source of information concerning the tuba. Analysis of the problem statement led to subordinate questions, or sub-problems, which may be stated as follows: 1. What do the authorities consider to be the desirable physical and mental characteristics in the tuba player? 2. How do the authorities teach the specific techniques of tuba performance. 3. What are the authorities' opinions concerning tubas and tuba mouthpieces? 4. What are the authorities' recommendations concerning instructional materials for tuba students?

The purpose of this study is to trace the invention and development of a greatly abused instrument, the saxophone, and its use in the symphony orchestra. The first chapter concerns the instrument's invention and acceptance. The second chapter discusses physical characteristics of the saxophone. The third chapter deals with the particular methods of using the saxophone in orchestral literature by various composers, from its use in the nineteenth century through the present. An appendix provides a comprehensive listing of orchestral literature in which the saxophone is utilized.

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.

Although many volumes concerning the life and works of Johannes Brahms have been written, it has been found that the majority of these writings treat the material of the subject in a rather poetic and romanticized fashion. This is especially unfortunate in those volumes where the works of Brahms are analyzed with pragmatic implications, since Brahms himself eschewed the use of extramusical elements in his composition. This investigation, therefore, is an attempt to present a careful analysis of one of these compositions, the Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115, for clarinet and string quartet.

Since the time of Johann Sebastian Bach many musical compositions have been written on the letters of his last name. In German musical notation, these letters are the equivalents of out B flat, A, C, and B natural. This study traces the use of this motive in works written for the organ throughout the past two centuries. The discussion in these chapters has been an attempt to illustrate the use of the motive B A C H in organ compositions from before the time of Bach up to the present. Time limitations required that this study limit itself to those works appearing in generally available editions.

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.

In this study, the Anton Webern's music is considered in two groups: that which was written before Webern adopted the twelve-tone technique, Opp 1-16, and that written in the twelve-tone technique, Opp. 17-31. This division is not intended to represent an attempt at periodization of Webern's music, for the changes of style in Op. 17 are not that significant. But the fact that Webern employed the twelve-tone technique in all the works he wrote after Op. 16 makes this a natural point of division for a study of this sort. Besides the music of Webern, two peripheral areas are included in this study. No attempt has been made at an exhaustive biography of Webern, but facts relative to his life, and impressions about the person are presented. Also, to create a proper perspective for the study of Webern's which existed during the time that Webern lived and composed, is presented.

In this thesis, Ned Rorem's Poems of Love and the Rain is analyzed, with conclusions being drawn in the sphere of musico-textual relationships within individual songs.

A comprehensive study of all nineteenth-century New Orleans composers is far beyond the scope of this paper. There are simply too many. An attempt has been made, however, to include as many possible in the text. Others, about whom there is insufficient information to include in a narrative, have been relegated to the appendix, where they are treated in the style of a biographical dictionary. The two most important and influential composers of the century, Gregorion Curto and Theodore von La Hache, are covered individually in chapters two and three, respectively. Their music represents all three of the important aspects of composition of the era: opera, salon, and sacred music. Louis Moreau Gottschalk, probably the most famous composer and performer of the period, has been omitted from this study (other than incidental references) because he has already received considerable attention from numerous other researchers. Likewise, another composer of note, Ernest Guiraud, has been omitted because, even though a native of New Orleans, he left America at an early age and never returned. He should more appropriately be considered in annals of French music. Research in this field, a vital part of the American musical heritage, is by no means complete. …

The purpose of this study was to analyze for reasons of interpretation the unaccompanied choral music of Felix Mendelssohn. What are the stylistic characteristics in each of the compositions selected for examination in this study? What comparisons and conclusions based on the analyses can be made concerning the character of compositional style in Felix Mendelssohn's unaccompanied choral music? What conclusions can be made concerning the interpretation of Felix Mendelssohn's unaccompanied choral music based on the compositional style of his music and an understanding of his musical attributes?

This sonata by Alban Berg is a product of Arnold Schoenberg's teachings and is, indeed, a musical reflection of the Schoenberg of 1907-1908. At this time the musical thought of Schoenberg himself was in a state of metamorphosis, developing from the chromaticism of the late Romantic composers toward the twelve-tone technique which he was to formulate a few years later. The sonata, as a whole and above all, reflects the growth of an important composer, one who is perhaps the most important link between the traditional Classical and Romantic schools and the modern schools. His growth was based on a thorough knowledge of traditional styles and techniques, vestiges of which are seen in the formal design, chromaticism, and evasive harmony of the work. His advance is seen in his peculiar use of polyphony and motivic variation. Compared with many other works for piano, Berg's sonata is perhaps not among the most celebrated. But as indication of the attitude of a great composer who wished to build upon rather than break with his heritage, it is a most significant work.

This study seeks to examine the history of the ricercare, specifically in the baroque era. In this work, all types of keyboard compositions that utilize imitative counterpoint have been examined. Late baroque fugues have been examined to determine which characteristics of the earlier ricercare remained in general use and which specific compositions contain elements causing them to resemble strongly the parent form.

Hugo Wolf drew the strands of form, rhythm, and other elements together to form tightly woven songs, each element of which can be traced to the text as its original inspiration. Truly this was a genius of romantic expression, who took the tools developed by his predecessors in song, tempered them with his own sensitive personality, and used them to the fullest in setting the meaning and the mood, as well as the words, of the poems he had chosen.

It can be said that Strauss not only brought the valved trumpet to prominence but revived somewhat the use of the trumpet as a solo instrument to the importance it had attained during the baroque period. From the time of these works to the present there have been many improvements in the instruments themselves and the players have become more proficient. At the time these works were written and first performed the trumpets were not yet perfected. They were difficult to play and the intonation of the instrument was very poor. With the improvements in the instruments and the works of Strauss to show what could be done by the trumpet, composers started using the instrument in more important passages. In the compositions for orchestra written in the twentieth century up until the present time it is not uncommon to find the trumpet used extensively as a solo instrument. Some of the more prominent compositions employing the trumpet in this manner are: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by Dimitri Shostakovich, The Quiet C by Aaron Copland, L'Histoire du Soldat by Igor Stravinsky, Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra by Maurice Ravel. In fact, in most of the larger orchestral …

The London British Museum Manuscript Additional 35087, hereafter referred to as London Add. 35087, is an important parchment manuscript in large octavo choirbook arrangement from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Its measurements are 19.4 x 29.3 centimeters. The manuscript contains ninety-five folios and one stub where a leaf has been torn out (f. 4).1 The last composition in the manuscript is incomplete, which indicates that one leaf is lacking at the end (f. 96). Two sets of foliation are shown: the original Roman and a more recent Arabic. Both are placed in the upper right hand corner of folio recto. The sets agree in folios 4-93. Folios 1 and 2 show no Roman figures now; folio 3 has "ii," and therefore the missing leaf probably had "iii." The Arabic numbering does not account for this missing leaf. This folio might have been assigned "4," but this number is given on the next complete leaf to coincide with the Roman "iiii." At the end, by mistake, folio 94 has "xciii" and folio 95 has "xciiii."

The purpose of this study is to show how standards of pitch became a matter of importance in musical performance. The existence of innumerable varieties of pitches was not an actual handicap in a time when voices were accompanied by only one instrument, or when a singer accompanied himself. But when instruments began to be used with the church organ, and ensembles were formed to play in the royal courts, a standard pitch was found to be desirable. Many factors were involved in the adjustments of pitch as small ensembles evolved into the military band and the symphony orchestra. An attempt will be made to show how many of the standards were derived, and what long lasting effects they had.

The arrangement of movements in the Grand Sonata in B flat follows traditional classical lines, as is true of almost all the Schubert sonatas. A complete structural analysis of the work reveals some modifications in the architecture of individual movements; this is especially evident in the first movement. The departures from usual treatment of first movement sonata form may be classified as follows: 1. Developmental procedures begin in the exposition. 2. The second subject begins in a distantly related key. 3. The development section stresses melodic treatment rather than contrapuntal technique. The second movement is in ternary form and exhibits little irregularity in structure. The movement is an excellent example of the employment of an accompaniment figure as a unifying element.

The five Preludes, Op. 15 were composed in the year 1897 while Scriabin was occupied in concert tours with his friend and publisher, Beliaef. This year brought no less than forty-seven short preludes written at various times and collected in five sets: Opp. 11, 13, 15, 16, and 17. These preludes, though clever and original in melody, show the great influence of Chopin on Scriabin.

This song cycle consists of ten settings, and has been divided into two parts by the composer. Each part is preceded by a short quotation in Latin which has been inserted by the composer. The two parts of the cycle are evidently meant to typify the division of a human life into the periods of youth and old age. The Latin quotations which divide the cycle into its two parts are taken from the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, Psalm 89, verse six.

Not only did Debussy find the Symbolist movement a source of inspiration for his artistic aims, he often selected his literary collaborators from them. Pelleas et Melisande, Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un Faune, Chansons de Bilitis, Trois Pomes de Stephane Mallarme, Fetes Galantes, Ariettes Oubliees, all had Symbolist authors. Moreover, the poetic style of the Proses Lyriques, of which Debussy himself was the author, is in the Symbolist manner.

Louis Couperin (c. 1626-1661) was an outstanding member of the seventeenth-century clavecin school and an important link in the Couperin dynasty. His works for the harpsichord, or clavecin, have been neglected. This is due primarily to the fact that there are relatively few of his works, in comparison with those of his nephew, Franois Couperin Le Grand, who greatly overshadows him. Louis wrote no treatise on how his works are to be played, and there are few accounts of him, or his works, that are written in English. There is no biography of Louis Couperin. A more detailed study should be made of his music and its place in the French clavecin literature. Before examiinig the music itself, however, it is necessary to trace the origins and development of the clavecin school and its style.

The purpose of this study is to analyze and codify the basic principles and techniques of composition and arranging as used in ten selected published dance band stock orchestrations of popular ballads.

Both science and empirical knowledge seem to indicate that anatomical considerations relating to potential muscular interference be established at the incipiency of the serious study of voice. Experience shows that if this aspect of vocal development is not pursued with utmost diligence, an early deterioration of the vocal instrument is possible many years before a normal expectancy. It has been discovered, also, that the study of articulation, pronunciation, modulation, emphasis, gestures and interpretation seem to avoid, primarily, the necessity of muscular training, per. This thesis will not include, in detail, the aspects of the use of the breath, except in a perfunctory manner. The same can be said of resonance and diction. It will endeavor, however, to indicate the muscular differences of the singing and swallowing actions. Furthermore, it will advance some suggestions for the avoidance of constrictive muscular influences which might impede the singing musculature. Finally, a phonatory process will be presented for consideration as a muscular mechanism to be made operative in connection with a direct control procedure.