Scriabin's piano miniatures are ideal for the study of evolution of his style, which underwent an extreme transformation. They present heavily concentrated idioms and structural procedures within concise form, therefore making it more accessible to grasp the quintessence of the composer's thought. A plethora of studies often reviews isolated genres or periods of Scriabin's legacy, making it impossible to reveal important general tendencies and inner relationships between his pieces. While expanding the boundaries of tonality, Scriabin completed the expansion and universalization of the piano miniature genre. Starting from his middle years the 'poem' characteristics can be found in nearly every piece. The key to this process lies in Scriabin's compilation of certain symbolical musical gestures. Separation between technical means and poetic intention of Scriabin's works as well as rejection of his metaphysical thought evolution result in serious interpretive implications. Music of Scriabin provides an excellent opportunity for a performer to find a proper balance between rational and intuitive. The lack of any of these qualities will impoverish his works, making their interpretation incomplete. Following one of main Scriabin's ideas - synthesis of all arts - this study approaches his music not from the narrow analytical, but broad synthetic standpoint. The …

Arnold Cooke composed many works for oboe including two sonatas, a concerto and several pieces for chamber ensembles; however, his works are rarely performed. Through the analysis of form and tonality in his first oboe sonata, Cooke's musical style and influences become apparent. His musical style was primarily influenced by his teacher, Paul Hindemith, and can be characterized by traditional forms with the contemporary use of quartal harmonies and a variety of tertian sonorities. Cooke wrote music that is accessible for performers and audience members, and one way he achieved this accessibility is through the repetition of melodic ideas. In addition to exact melodic repetition, he also unified his works through fugue-like passages and sequences. Although he lived during a time of experimentation by many composers, Cooke maintained conservative elements in his music that he learned through his studies at Cambridge and through his studies with Hindemith. His first oboe sonata is tonal although he varied modes and used chromatic harmonies throughout. Cooke's clear writing and unique sound in his Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1957) provide oboists a solo piece for the repertoire that demonstrates a modern approach to the traditional style of composition.

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze Concerto No.3 "Ave Maria" by Alemdar Karamanov (1934-2007) and to elucidate the work through historical background and the composer's ideas. This concerto is presented as a significant gesture of dramatic emotion, religious belief, romantic spirit and universal feeling. The subtitle "Ave Maria" relates to a set up already present within the music program. An analysis of interval relationships will help performers better realize Karamanov's music language. In view of the complicated nature of this piece, an analytical study is considered necessary. The study centers principally on analysis, with an emphasis on the developments of form, tonality and motives to help performers better understand the work, and how to best approach this concerto.

This dissertation presents a historical and analytical study of the organ works of Anthoni van Noordt. Van Noordt's Tabulatuurboeck is one of the most important music publications in mid-seventeenth-century Netherlands. It gives unique, valuable information on organ playing of its time. The process of discrete analysis has led to the identification and exploration of many details, such as extensive use of pedal, the reliance of the composer on rhetorical principals of composition, and his integration of the Italian and German principals of ensemble techniques. The dissertation is divided into three major parts. The first part contains chapters on van Noordt's biography based on available archival documents as well as a chapter on the organ and its role in seventeenth -century Amsterdam. The second part is solely dedicated to the Tabulatuurboeck examining the physical and technical features of the publication including the style of the publication, the letter and staff notation, hand positions, and rhetorical components. Finally, the third part studies the music and its peculiar characteristics with separate chapters on the variations and fantasias.

John Stevens was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and the Edward F. Schmidt Family Commissioning Fund to compose a concerto for its principal tubist, Gene Pokorny. The piece began with multiple conversations between composer and performer and from these meetings actualized the influences that shaped the work. The most important influences that the performer mentioned were his passions for American steam locomotives and the Three Stooges, both of which were used by Stevens in his rendering of the composition. This concerto was designed to be played on the famous CC York tuba that was played by the former principal tubist of the CSO, Arnold Jacobs, the same instrument used today. Insight into the history of the York tuba will be given as well as their influence on contemporary manufacturing and design. Focus is given to how Stevens writes the piece idiomatically to the CC tuba and potential performance problems when a performer uses tubas of a different key. Conversations with both gentlemen will display the non-musical influences on Journey and how this effects the composition. Stevens' compositional language is explored and discussed in respect to the challenges and idiosyncrasies within the work. Collegiate tuba professors provide explanation for …

This study documents the career of Joseph Eger (b. 1920), who had a short but remarkable playing career in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. Eger toured the United States and Britain as a soloist with his own group, even trading tours with the legendary British hornist, Dennis Brain. He recorded a brilliant solo album, transcribed or arranged several solos for horn, and premiered compositions now standard in the horn repertoire. He served as Principal Horn of the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the National Symphony. Despite his illustrious career as a hornist, many horn players today do not recognize his name. While Eger was a renowned horn soloist in the middle of the twentieth century, he all but disappeared as a hornist, refocused his career, and reemerged as a conductor, social activist, and author. This dissertation seeks to be the long-overdue comprehensive documentation of Eger's career as the first American horn soloist and his contributions to the world of horn playing. First, a biography of Eger is presented, focusing especially on his education and career as an orchestral player, soloist, and recording artist, including its intersections with the lives of many prominent musicians and personalities of the …

Etudes and method books played had an important role in teaching technique and musicality for all musicians. Euphonium players have been using pedagogical materials originally written for other brass instruments such as trumpet, cornet, and trombone. Those materials have been very effective in helping euphoniumists learn skills to play idiomatic nineteenth and early twentieth century repertoire. In recent years, many solo pieces for euphonium demanding advanced techniques have been composed. The difficulty of these solo works for euphonium has increased dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century. Traditional etudes and method books do not cover all the necessary techniques to play this modern repertoire. In the last two decades, many collections of etudes have been written specifically for euphonium, and several of them are technically challenging and aimed at advanced euphoniumists. This trend can be seen in the United States, France and England. In this paper, traditional standard pedagogical materials currently used by euphoniumists will be evaluated. Recent publications of pedagogical materials written exclusively for euphonium after 1990 will be introduced, and effective uses of old and new pedagogical materials for current euphonium players will be presented. An annotated list of the latest etudes composed exclusively for euphonium …

As several Italian baroque violoncello transcriptions have entered the standard performance repertory for both high school and collegiate tubists, and as numerous texts, articles, and baroque performance instruction courses have illuminated a new realm of performance possibilities, no published document has provided specific, thorough, and sample approaches to performance on the tuba of a given piece (or pieces) through a detailed application of materials found in any singular source or combination of sources. Many of the existing articles and texts that approach the subject focus largely on ornamentation, while limiting the discussion and application of the following topics: tempo, spirit, affect, notation, rhythm, dynamics, and articulation. This document examines such topics and provides detailed explanations and suggestions of historically-informed characteristics applicable to two movements each from the R. Winston Morris transcription of Antonio Vivaldi's Sonata No. 3 in A Minor and the Donald C. Little/Richard B. Nelson transcription of Benedetto Marcello's Sonata No. V in C Major.

This document examines the technical execution of extended techniques incorporated in the musical structure of Solus, and explores the benefits of introducing the work into the curriculum of a college level trumpet studio. Compositional style, form, technical accessibility, and pedagogical benefits are investigated in each of the four movements. An interview with the composer forms the foundation for the history of the composition as well as the genesis of some of the extended techniques and programmatic ideas.

A Russian composer of French descent, Georgy L'vovich Catoire (also often spelled "Katuar") (1861-1926) is one of the most neglected composers of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Catoire composed a number of piano pieces, most of which are chamber and solo works. These pieces are rarely studied or performed in the West. This study makes an attempt to fill this void. It thoroughly investigates Catoire's life, as well as looks into his genealogy, since his family was influential in commercial, political and cultural life of Russia for more than a hundred years. It also discusses his works for piano, with particular emphasis on Poem, Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 20. This sonata exemplifies the composer's mature style, characterized by the refinement of the harmonic and rhythmical ideas, while demonstrating melodious ingenuity and clear structural form. To date, there is no known study on this subject of such scope both in Russian and in English languages.

John Harbison's status as a significant contemporary American composer is confirmed by his numerous appointments, honorary degrees, and awards. He is the recipient of nearly every major composition award, with works performed by major orchestras and in important opera houses spanning the world. This paper examines in detail Harbison's most acclaimed choral work, the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flight into Egypt. This study of the score is a "conductor's analysis," offering a musical guide for the conductor who seeks to perform this work. To provide a context for the discussion, Chapter 1 offers a brief biographical sketch of Harbison's life and career. Chapter 2 provides the analysis of the work and includes a history from commission to premier, a discussion of Harbison's selection of text, and an examination of the pitch organization which informs the piece. In Chapter 3, I present important rehearsal and performance implications to consider when undertaking a performance of the work. Interviews with two well-regarded conductors who have performed The Flight into Egypt, David Hoose and Patrick Gardner, and the composer himself, provide valuable insight into this discourse.

Hummel's Concerto for Trumpet (Concerto a Tromba principale) is overtly operatic and is stylistically reminiscent of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Using the methodology of Leonard Ratner and Wye J. Allanbrook, it is possible to explore gesture and rhetoric in Hummel's Concerto for Trumpet and Mozart's Don Giovanni, and achieve a deeper understanding of the stylistic similarities shared between the two works. In the third movement, dance is the most significant link to Don Giovanni. In the second movement, Hummel alternates between the emotions of Donna Anna and Don Ottavio as they appear in act 1, scene 13. The first movement makes extensive use of contrasting topics identified with buffa and seria characters to advance the musical narrative. Comparing Hummel's concerto and Mozart's opera is a hermeneutical approach that illuminates several performance practice implications. Knowing the expressive similarities and rhetorical strategies common to both works clarifies several issues, such as tempo, ornamentation, and above all, expression. Though Mozart's Don Giovanni and Hummel's Concerto for Trumpet are unequal in significance, it would be valuable to any interpretation of Hummel's concerto if the performer and audience acknowledge that the work is rhetorically and stylistically similar to Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Flutists have reported musculoskeletal pain from practicing and performing their instrument. This study was a statistical approach to investigate potential causal risk factors for flute related pain among high school and college students. The study focused on the relationship between flute related pain and musical background or anthropometric measurements including size, strength and flexibility. Subjects included thirty high school and college-aged flutists who were assessed using a questionnaire, bi-lateral anthropometric measurements of the upper-extremities, upper-extremity performance tests for range of motion, isometric strength and rotation speed, and instrument specific questions. Four questions regarding pain associated with flute playing were treated as dependent variables and used for correlation and regression analyses with other independent variables. A six-factor regression model was created and each model was statistically significant. Results of this study show that strength, flexibility, pain spots, and exposure are risk factors for flute related pain. Both left and right pinch strength and right isometric pronation strength were significantly correlated to flutists experiencing pain while playing. Knowledge of these factors in relationship to pain is needed in flute pedagogy to help teachers and performers understand why flutists report pain during and after playing. Additional studies are warranted for replication of this …