Johann Anton Kobrich (1714-1791) was the priest and organist of the parish church of Landsberg am Lech in upper Bavaria from 1730 until his death. A prolific composer, Kobrich wrote several works for organ, including the Wohlgeubter Organist (1762), a three-part collection of preludes, fugues, and toccatas. The major portion of this thesis consists of an edition of twenty-six selected pieces from the original fifty-eight in this collection. Also included are a bibliography of Kobrich, a discussion of his significance among other contemporary composers, and a survey of the organs and organ music of eighteenth-century southern Germany. In addition, there is an analysis of the Wohlgeubter Organist and a commentary on its significance.

Joseph Joachim Raff, a nineteenth-century composer of Swiss-German descent, emerged during the 1870's as one of the leading composers of the symphony and was heralded by his peers as the successor to the symphonic tradition of Schumann. Of the eleven symphonies published between 186U and 1883, nine are program symphonies. Hired as an amanuensis by Liszt during the latter part of 181+9, Raff became involved in the New Weimar School surrounding Liszt, but disenchantment with their dogmas and a need to preserve his own identity caused Raff to resign his position with Liszt in 1856. Although his symphonies reflect the programmatic philosophy of the Weimar school, they also maintain a strong affinity to the classicism of Beethoven, a quality inherent in Raff's more conservative outlook. In order to become familiar with this large body of orchestral literature which is virtually unknown today, both a programmatic and formal analysis for each symphony has been presented, although in some instances the two could not be separated. The symphonies have been grouped according to related programmatic content. Because of the wider acceptance of symphonies 1, 3 and 5 during Raff's lifetime and the programmatic relationship of nos. 6 and 7 to these, form …