Adolf von Henselt (1814–1889) was one of the most renowned German pianists and composers of his day. The majority of his compositions are for the piano, one of his most successful being the set of Piano Études, Op. 2. It consists of twelve etudes, each of which is designed for developing a particular technique. Henselt's etudes are as demanding as Chopin's and Liszt's, so this pedagogical guide is designed for advanced-level students. Henselt uses many finger extensions and stretches larger than an octave, which may be difficult for smaller hands to play, but proper flexibility and relaxation should enable all students to play them. This dissertation describes the specific technique for six selected etudes and provides exercises to help students learn each technique effectively. The selected etudes—Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 11—were chosen to cover all three technical levels of less-advanced, advanced, and very advanced as well as a variety of musical styles and technical challenges.

In this paper, I analyze the musical content in Federico Alvarez del Toro's marimba concerto El Espiritu de la Tierra. This dissertation represents my analysis of features I hear in the composition, and does not reflect the composer's original compositional process. Commissioned by the governor of Chiapas, the piece was composed in collaboration with internationally renowned marimba virtuoso Zeferino Nandayapa and premiered in 1984 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City at Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato. The work has not been published and has been mentioned only briefly in scholarship. Particular attention in the analysis is given to indigenous and folk idioms from the southern region of Mexico combined with post-modern compositional techniques. My primary argument within the dissertation is that I believe the piece demonstrates a respect for tradition and heritage while concurrently utilizing non-traditional and contemporary compositional techniques. Analytically, I argue that two basic shapes are used throughout the piece, and I argue that the many cultural references within the piece solidify a preoccupation with the lineage of southern Mexico.

Antonio María Valencia (1902-1952) was one of the leading Colombian composers, pianists, and educators of his generation. His Dúo en forma de sonata (1926) for violin and piano serves as an early example of the composer's aesthetic. According to the programmatic description he sent to his mother, the Dúo depicts Valencia's "indelible impressions" of his homeland. Through structural and harmonic analysis, I examine the piece in relation to the composer's informal programmatic description. The analysis argues that the work poetically re-creates the landscape of Valencia's birthplace region through an international language, devoid of Colombian folk rhythms and melodies. Valencia proposes a different perspective on Colombian music as an alternative to the use of folk-based music elements that were predominant to Colombian music during his lifetime.

Chen Qigang (b. 1951) is one of today's most representative and prolific Chinese composers. His works are regarded as setting a standard of excellence among Chinese composers in the twenty-first century. Like many Chinese composers of his generation, Chen combines in his works the traits of both Chinese traditional music and Western musical language. La joie de la souffrance (The Joy of Suffering) for violin and orchestra, composed for the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition in 2016–17, is one of his mature works that not only represents one of the great achievements of fusing Chinese and Western musical languages, but is also a major addition to the venerable tradition of Chinese concertos. By analyzing La joie de la souffrance as the nexus of old and new, East and West, I hope to provide not only insight into a valuable work of the twentieth-century violin concerto repertoire, but also a glimpse into some of the musical influences of a Chinese composer working in France in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. By extension, I hope to shed light on some of the factors, trends, and developments that have influenced Chinese composers in the early twenty-first century.

Alberto Nepomuceno was one of the leading figures in developing Brazilian art music at the turn of the twentieth century. He became widely known for his Brazilian art songs and kept promoting Brazilian music and the use of Portuguese as an "art language" throughout his life. Nepomuceno has widely been seen as a nationalist composer, yet some of his works adopt a more European style. In this study, I argue that Nepomuceno incorporates European musical languages in his Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 9. I display the rich interaction of Brazilian national identity and European influence within Nepomuceno's musical life. I also provide a thorough formal analysis of this piano sonata to argue that in some of his music he adopted a distinctively European musical language, including baroque and classical elements. In addition to analyzing the sonata-form and rondo-form elements, this dissertation discusses the use of several important topics in the work, including the Siciliano rhythm, contrapuntal writing, pedal points with organ effects, and impact of Brahms on Nepomuceno's piano writing. Moreover, I analyze how Nepomuceno assimilated European musical styles as the basis for his own compositions, as well as the innovations with which he augmented those styles. An …

This project offers a comprehensive performance guide to Bartók's Dance Suite for solo piano based on a renewed interpretation of the piece. The Dance Suite (Táncszvit/Tanz Suite) is a unique work in Bartók's oeuvre, presented by the composer in two versions: one for orchestra (1923) and one for solo piano (1925). There has been little research done on this piece to enhance its popularity even though it may be a piece that illuminates one of Bartók's compositional philosophies: the unity of all cultures and folk song. Pianists must interpret this piece not only through the eyes of a soloist, but also as a musician who makes careful decisions—as if one were undertaking the making of a piano reduction of an orchestral score oneself. The methods presented intend to help pianists acquire and maintain a curious and flexible mind where freedom of interpretation is concerned, and hone inquisitive minds to overcome challenges when holding the reins of an orchestra across the eighty-eight keys of the piano towards limitless expansion and development of pianism and musicianship.

The cantata A World Without War (2009), by Armenian-born composer Edward Manukyan (b. 1981), was written, in part, to support increased awareness of human rights issues. Based on a quote from linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), the narrative of the cantata states: "We can, for example, be fairly confident that either there will be a world without war or there won't be a world." In addition to Chomsky's words, the cantata excerpts quotes of two additional literary giants advocating human rights, Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), and Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989). The purpose of this dissertation is to focus attention on human rights activism; using Manukyan's A World Without War, I highlight moral and ethical questions at the center of this work and explain how this cantata embraces the ideal of moral cosmopolitanism. I strongly believe in the importance of human rights for all citizens of the world, and the role music plays in advancing its cause through performance arts.

This dissertation serves as an analysis and performance guide for No-Re I for Flute Solo (2018) by Gyu-Bong Yi (이규봉), a work that combines Korean elements and Western compositional techniques. The modern flute, developed in the mid-nineteenth century with the Boehm's Schema, has pushed the boundaries of the instrument through experimentation with new techniques, leading to numerous contemporary works presenting unique challenges for flutists. No-Re I includes passages with various extended techniques and unique combinations, requiring specific solutions to overcome the challenges they present. For example, this dissertation offers specific fingering diagrams and descriptions for executing the double trills used in No-Re I. Additionally, certain notations used by the composer may have limitations in projection or clarity, and this dissertation elucidates the composer's intent based on an interview and provides solutions for these limitations. This research also discusses the fusion of Korean and other East-Asian aesthetics with Western musical language including the works of Isang Yun (1917–1995), a Korean-born musical pioneer, who had a successful career as a composer and educator, especially elaborating on his unique compositional technique, the Haupttöne, which is based on tonal centers influenced by East-Asian philosophy, Korean folk music, and its unique characteristic of ornamenting the …

This document aims to add diversity to advanced violin repertoire being taught and performed. Specifically, this project revives late German Romantic composer Robert Kahn (1865-1951) and argues for his violin sonatas to be included in standard violin repertoire due to their immense pedagogical wealth. Kahn was a prolific composer and left behind a large collection of pieces including twenty-five chamber works, the majority involving string instruments. Yet Kahn is rarely performed and hardly known to modern violinists. His works embody the late Romantic style in their expression, harmony, form, and drama and deserve renewed recognition. This document narrows its focus to Kahn's Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 5 and provides an extensive pedagogical guide for violinists. The guide includes chapters on both collaborative and technical challenges that exist within this piece. The collaborative chapter offers guidance and suggested rehearsal techniques for both instruments regarding balance challenges throughout the first movement. The technical chapter provides exercises for violinists on how to approach several difficult passages within the first and third movements. This project includes an interview conducted by the author with Julia Bushkova and Arsentiy Kharitonov, the first artists to record all three Kahn Sonatas. The transcript of …

The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce and provide a pedagogical guide for two etude works by Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961): Four Etudes on Songs of Brahms, Op. 88 (2004) and Four Etudes on Songs of Robert Franz, Op. 91 (2005). It includes a brief biography and observations on the compositional style of the composer; a history and development of the etude from the eighteenth century to Liebermann's time; research on Liebermann's works based on songs of other composers; and a pedagogical guide on how to approach each piece, covering four types of technical issues: articulation, phrasing, voicing of the melodic lines, and fingerings.

Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann is a German composer of contemporary music. In his 1980 work for piano, Child's Play, Lachenmann develops one of his own signature concepts, musique concrète instrumentale, in which he uses the "standard" (not prepared) piano in non-conventional and innovative ways to explore new sounds and techniques. This dissertation is a pedagogical study that provides a teaching guide for educators who would like to use Child's Play as an introduction to some of the sounds and techniques of contemporary music for their late intermediate students. In order for educators to effectively guide their students through Child's Play, they should understand the sonorities of musique concrète instrumentale as well as the extended techniques it requires. This dissertation addresses those needs through three principal means. First, it introduces Lachenmann's musique concrète instrumentale and classifies the various sonorities into three types: descriptive, contrasting, and extended. Second, it analyzes and discusses technical elements in the cycle, including notational considerations, pedaling, and sound effects. Last, the dissertation provides pedagogical suggestions to help students master these technical elements. By studying and playing this piece, students not only become intimately familiar with some of the many sounds they are able to produce on the piano, …

The dissertation presents a female German composer Ellinor Valesby, who composed Chinese art songs in Chinese with classical Chinese poetry. For political reasons, she used her pseudonym rather than her given name Irmgard Heinrich (1894-1969). As a western composer, also the wife of a Chinese poet and composer Ching-chu, who lived in China for 25 years, Valesby's songs present various interpretive challenges stemming from the combination of traditional Chinese poetry, folk music vernacular, and Western music components. Because no documentation in English can be found about Valesby or her songs, there is a need to provide performers with a better understanding of her perspective in these increasingly multicultural times. In addition, the dissertation discusses the germination and development of the Chinese Art Song and introduces the school song, the predecessor of Chinese art songs. The focus is on examining the Chinese and Western influences that appear in Valesby's art songs, revealing through examination of text setting, form, musical texture, and the role of piano how this female Western composer who did not speak Chinese set Chinese poetry from her unique cross-cultural perspectives. Today the legacy of these Chinese art song pioneers remains incomplete, but Valesby and her husband Ching-chu's profound …

In Chinese musical history, piano works have played an important role in modern times. The flourishing of the instrument and its music have in fact greatly developed Chinese modern music. Zhao Zhang's masterpiece Pi Huang, with its elements of Peking Opera, is one representative of the latest Chinese classic solo piano works. By coincidence, the introduction of the first Western keyboard instrument to China and the rise of Peking Opera came almost at the same time, during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Therefore, the incorporation of Peking Opera into Pi Huang is a reasonable and creative combination. This dissertation conducts a pedagogical analysis of Pi Huang, showing how it was influenced by elements of Peking Opera. The three main chapters discuss the background of Peking Opera, the biography of Zhao Zhang, and the musical background and performing issues of Pi Huang.

In the West, operas in Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian are the best known in collegiate and professional classical music settings. Given the changes in social climate in recent decades, however, attention is being given to the study and performance of under-represented minorities. There have been operas composed in the West on Asian topics, but one does not yet hear operas in Asian languages programmed as part of a regular season in major opera houses in the United States. The challenge for Western singers is threefold: access to the music, reading and pronouncing the language, and understanding the nuance of the rich Chinese culture in the libretto. This study presents the following five arias: "We Have to Be Apart," from The Dawns Here Are Quiet (这里的黎明静悄悄) by Tang Jianping; "The Daughter of Yimeng" and "Milk, Tears and Blood," from The Mountain of Yimeng (沂蒙山) by Luan Kai; "Forgetting Everything While Turning," from Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again (再别康桥) by Zhou Xue Shi; and "Lullaby," from the opera The Orphan of Zhao (赵氏孤儿) by Lei Lei. It includes a brief biographical introduction to the composer and librettist for each opera, a synopsis of the plot, a description of …

This dissertation considers Gervais-François Couperin (1759-1826) and his offertories, providing a performance guide relevant to French organ literature of the beginning of the nineteenth century. To fulfill this purpose, the research is divided into five chapters and a conclusion. Chapter 1 is an introduction explaining the purpose of the research and significance of the research. Chapter 2 presents the Couperin Dynasty and their lineage at Saint-Gervais, as well as the evolution of the musical market in the middle of the eighteenth century in Paris, which influenced Gervais-François Couperin's Offertories. Chapter 3 to Chapter 6 present the performance guide to playing Gervais-François Couperin's offertories: Chapter 3 focuses on the significant development of the French organ building in the 1800s and the registration of Grand-Jeu. Chapter 4 deals with the addition of the pedal, and Chapter 5 focuses on embellishment using tremendo (tremolo) and arpegio (arpeggio). Lastly, Chapter 6 offers a guide for adding manual indications where the score did not include them or in places where ambiguities remained. Synthesizing these elements, a newly edited full score of Gervais-François Couperin's Offertory in G Minor is provided in Chapter 7 to exemplify this dissertation's conclusion.

In this dissertation, I study four choral works by Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles through musical, thematic, and theoretical analysis to synthesize her compositional style. In addition to analysis, I created supplemental educational guides for each piece. These guides are intended to facilitate an intentional teaching process that leads to meaningful performances that engage the community. I investigate Robles' intersectional approach to composition as it reflects her identity as a Black, female composer. This project contextualizes Robles' voice and her impact on 21st-century choral music. I selected four works for study—"Umoja," "No Fairy Tale Here," "Can You See?" and "Psalm 61"— to represent three overarching themes in her oeuvre: spirituality, mental health awareness, and social justice. This research provides greater insight into Robles' choral works and serves as a thought-provoking introduction to commissioning works from underrepresented communities.

Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873-1953) was an eclectic composer who successfully maintained his own unique musical vocabulary—particularly in his piano compositions. Jongen composed very little between 1940-1941—the period in which he and his family fled to the countryside of Mazères, France, living as refugees for several months before returning to Sart-lez-Spa, Belgium, due to the outbreak of WWII. Reflective of this time in his life, Vingt-quatre petits préludes dans tous les tons pour piano, op. 116 is composed in a particularly intimate and despairing way. Through a complete Schenkerian analysis and outline of the musical framework of op. 116—Jongen's last collection of piano pieces—this dissertation sheds light on the technique, imagination, and uniqueness of Jongen's WWII-period piano compositions. More specifically, this research outlines the deep-level tonal and formal structures, investigates the cryptic semantic meaning and intimate personal expression, and defines the aesthetic achievements of Jongen's Twenty-four Little Preludes in All Keys for Piano, op. 116.

This research contributes valuable contextual information to the study of Karol Szymanowski's little-known song cycle Seven Songs to Poems of James Joyce, op. 54 (1926), providing a reliable, comprehensive reference for singers and scholars. In this research, I establish separate historical contexts for James Joyce's Chamber Music and Szymanowski's settings of the poems in op. 54. Using these established historical contexts, I then analyze Joyce's poems and Szymanowski's text settings, focusing on their styles and aesthetics. Szymanowski reorders the seven selected poems, creating a new storyline related to—but different from—the original. Where Chamber Music presents a chronological emotional arc, Seven Songs presents a roller coaster-like storyline, achieved by flashing back and forth between the protagonist's past and present. I demonstrate how Szymanowski's newly-created, complex storyline fits both the surface and deeper meanings of each poem, using specific musical elements to enhance emotional conflicts in the texts. I conclude with a detailed analysis of the relationship between the text and music of this song cycle, serving as a performance guide. I hope that my analysis and complete performance of this cycle will reignite interest in Szymanowski's music outside of Poland, especially in countries where English is the native language.

The purpose of this study is to analyze two of Chen Yi's works that include flute. She was raised in China and later studied in the United States, leading to a compositional output notable for its combination of Eastern and Western musical elements. Her unusual early experiences, such as experiencing the Chinese Cultural Revolution, working in rural areas, studying the violin, playing the piano in the orchestra, and being influenced by Western modernists, became her musical inspirations in her later compositional career. Focusing on the composer's Three Bagatelles from China West and Woodwind Quintet No.3, this study explores how the composer links Chinese traditional folk tunes to Western compositional techniques, as well as Western flute techniques to Chinese musical styles. Since the folk tunes in the first movement, Introduction, and third movement, Miao Dances, of Woodwind Quintet No. 3 are the same as those used in the second and third bagatelles of Three Bagatelles: Nai Guo Hou and Dou Duo, both are studied, presenting how they relate to each other.

In his Southern Harmony collection, William Duckworth extracts existing material from shape-note hymns found in William Walker's 1835 publication A Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. He then applies minimalist and postminimalist processes to this material to create innovation choral compositions. This document provides a comprehensive analysis of the methods used to construct all twenty works in Duckworth's collection by tracing the extracted source material through the fabric of the new compositions. This study provides substantial evidence of Duckworth's place as a pioneer of the postminimalist genre. It also provides a discussion on the vocal implications of utilizing shape-note hymns as source material as traditional performances of the genre are typically associated with a unique vocal style.

Chinese art songs—which are derived from over four thousand years of Chinese culture and combine unique Chinese literary and musical flavors with Western compositional techniques—remain largely unknown in the Western world. Chinese art song, a treasure of a genre, deserves more attention from Western singers and scholars. With a population of 1.41 billion, China has the largest potential market for bel canto singing. Not only will studying Chinese art songs enrich a singer's worldview and repertoire choices, doing so will also be advantageous when singing internationally. In order to assist non-Chinese-speaking singers overcome the difficult language barrier that often prevents them from studying Chinese art songs, I have chosen six songs by the renowned early twentieth century Chinese composer, Huang Zi (1904–1938) to analyze. Although he remains virtually unknown in the Western scholarly world, Huang's Chinese art songs, which include both ancient and contemporary Chinese poetry as well as Chinese and Western musical characteristics, are representative of this genre. By analyzing the poetry and musical settings of six Chinese art songs by Huang Zi, providing pronunciation instructions for Mandarin Chinese, word-for-word and poetic translations, practical International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions from the Pinyin system, and creating an interpretive guide of …

Undergraduate cellists from diverse pedagogical backgrounds with various levels of technical proficiency often struggle to adapt to the demanding performance standards of the university environment. Frequently, these challenges are caused by technical concepts that have been incorrectly learned or unaddressed in the cellist's previous educational experience. Designed for university cello professors and undergraduate cello students, this study is a remedial and enhancement technical method for developing efficient performance habits; it presents a synthesis of cello performing ideologies, comprehensive technical analysis, physical conformation solutions, original sequential exercises, practice models, and recommendations for supporting literature. The method provides a structured path to expressive mastery and artistic freedom in performing advanced cello repertoire.

Wonju Lee (b. 1979) has already made her own unique contribution to Korean art song. Her songs commissioned by classical Korean music performers have been recorded and released on record labels such as Universal Music and Sony Music. Albums include the Gagok collection, Lee Hwa-woo, The Pear Blossom Falls published by Soo Moon Dang. Some songs have been published by music publishers in the United States such as Classical Vocal Reprints and in Korea by the Korean Traditional Music Resource Center. Wonju Lee's songs are being performed by singers not only in Korea but also in the United States. This study provides information regarding the history of Gagok (Korean art songs) and discusses two duets "Scent of Ink" and "Under the Cherry Tree," and three solo songs "Sam-Arirang," "Relationship," and "Loom Song" by Wonju Lee. This critical essay includes biographical information about the composer and poets, IPA transcriptions for each song, and both word-for-word and poetic translations. In addition, using the methodology from Carol Kimball's book Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature, style sheets of musical characteristics for each song and for the composer are provided and serve as the basis for interpretive recommendations for performers.

The purpose of this project is to help bridge the gap of available solos for the novice bass tuba player. It is necessary for the growing tuba player to transition to the bass tuba for solos at the professional level, but the majority of pieces that are written for the bass tuba are at the professional level, and it leaves very little for the transitional phase from a repertoire standpoint. Through transcribing vocal works, an aspiring bass tuba soloist can focus on fundamental aspects of tuba playing like tone quality, breathing, intonation, and musicianship. Generally speaking, tuba solos are written for the contrabass tuba and accessible to late high school and early college musicians, or they are written at the professional level for bass tuba. There is a gap in the repertoire for the solo tuba, pieces that can help transition young students to the later repertoire demands of the bass tuba. This project will address the need for more novice solo works accessible to the young collegiate tubists transitioning to the bass tuba by identifying current deficiencies in the repertoire available for the developing solo tubist. This project concludes with a transcription and performance edition of Franz Schubert's Op. …