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Alexander Johnson's Ni' Concerto (1994) - Concerto no. 1 for Piano and Orchestra: a Discussion of Influences from Africa, Eastern and Western Europe

Description: In the new generation of artists emerging in South Africa, Alexander Johnson is considered the most prolific young composer of his day. In a recent review in the Pretoria News, Johnson has been praised by eminent critic Paul Boekkooi as a composer who has “an ear for the exotic and knows exactly how to bring it off....” He continued by noting that his music is “mentally engrossing, pleasurable to the senses and seems refreshingly free from dogmatic formulas." Johnson writes for musicians and th… more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Malan, Petronel
Partner: UNT Libraries

An analysis of the Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by Peter Maxwell Davies, identifying the use of historical forms, and the implications for performance.

Description: The Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by Peter Maxwell Davies is one of his earliest works, and a notoriously difficult work to perform. While using serialism and other twentieth-century compositional techniques, this work also uses older historical forms, including sonata-allegro and sonata-rondo forms. An analysis of the work is presented, identifying the older historical forms, and considerations for performers when making decisions on how to perform the work are provided.
Date: August 2006
Creator: Adduci, Kathryn James
Partner: UNT Libraries

Beyond Nothingness: A Broader Nihilism in Cinema Paradiso by Stephen Goss

Description: Stephen Goss composed Cinema Paradiso, a six-movement suite for solo guitar, as an homage to films and film directors. Goss cites nihilism as a theme in Dogville, the film that inspires the fourth movement, "Mandalay," but I assert that all the films and many musical devices throughout the piece can be read through the lens of nihilism. The first movement, "Paris, Texas," depicts the stark landscape of the opening scene of the 1984 Wim Wenders film of the same name. "Modern Times" chronicles Ch… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Kyzer, Dan
Partner: UNT Libraries

Chen Yi and Her Choral Music: A Study of the Composer's Ideal of Fusing Chinese Music and Modern Western Choral Traditions

Description: Chen Yi's music is well accepted and recognized nationally and internationally through an increasing number of commissions and performances. Major symphony orchestras, choruses, institutions and companies request her compositions on many occasions in order to increase understanding and exploration of Chinese influences on western classical idioms. This study provides the first detailed discussion of her compositional mastery and her fusion of Chinese music with the language of western choral tr… more
Date: December 2006
Creator: Yeung, Hin-Kei
Partner: UNT Libraries

Construction Applications, Practices, and Techniques of Natural Trumpets: A Comparative Analysis of Baroque and Modern Era Natural Trumpet Construction Methods

Description: This work discusses in detail the history of, and processes associated with the construction of baroque era trumpets then and now. The work addresses metallurgy, tools, construction methods, and playing characteristics of instruments built with old techniques and modern techniques.
Date: December 2006
Creator: Wells, Lawrence E.
Partner: UNT Libraries

A Critical Study of Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Transcription of Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde

Description: Toward the end of his life, from 1908 to 1909, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) composed Das Lied von der Erde (The song of the earth). This piece is a cycle of six song movements based on seven poems selected from Die chinesische Flötem - Nachdichtungen chinesischer Lyrik (The Chinese flute - free adaptation of Chinese lyric poetry) by Hans Bethge. The Chinese verse was written by Li-Po (numbers 1, 3, 4 and 5), Tchang-Tsi (number 2), and Mong-Kao-Jen and Wang-Wei (combined in number 6). Subsequent… more
Date: August 2006
Creator: Sun, Ai-Kuang
Partner: UNT Libraries

East Meets West: Nationalistic Elements in Selected Piano Solo Works of Chen Yi

Description: Since the founding of "New China" in 1949, the musical culture has undergone numerous periods of identity crisis, particularly during the ten-year "Cultural Revolution," due to the fact that music had always been used to serve the needs of political propaganda. Even the development of a "National Style" encouraged by the central government was a political "brainchild" under the socialist ideology. Nevertheless, professional musicians struggled to create a new path in musical composition while w… more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Li, Songwen
Partner: UNT Libraries

Ensemble Singing in the Bel Canto Salon Repertory: A Pedagogical Reconsideration

Description: Vocal duets have had a long history in the Western classical music tradition. Their use as a teaching resource can be traced back to the Renaissance, where duets were used for the development of singing, performance, and musicianship. In the late 19th and all of the 20th centuries, this pathway of vocal pedagogy has markedly declined. This study proposes a reintroduction of this methodology of teaching, asserting that it provides the collegiate vocal student with maximum opportunity for growth … more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Brown, Shaun (Shaun Joseph)
Partner: UNT Libraries

Extemporizing Reawakened: Saxophonist Branford Marsalis's Approach to the Cadenza for Concertino da Camera for Alto Saxophone and Eleven Instruments by Jacques Ibert

Description: Whether provided by a composer, written out by a performer or completely improvised, the cadenza became a vehicle for performers' creativity, lyricism and technical prowess in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The debate about whether to notate or improvise cadenzas, a question as old as the cadenza itself, continues today. Saxophonists have not been involved in this debate, since the instrument is a product of the mid-nineteenth century and was in its infancy just as the practice of imp… more
Date: December 2006
Creator: James, Matthew T.
Partner: UNT Libraries

Gunther Schuller and John Swallow: Collaboration, Composition, and Performance Practice in Eine Kleine Posaunenmusik, with Three Recitals of Selected Works by Berio, Bogle, Gregson, Pryor, Suderburg and Others

Description: Gunther Schuller is credited with coining the term Third Stream, meaning compositions where twentieth-century art music forms exist simultaneously with jazz. Furthermore, Schuller specifically states in the liner notes to the debut recording of Eine Kleine Posaunenmusik "The work is not a Third Stream piece." Yet the concerto alludes to jazz through a multitude of slide glissandi and plunger mute effects, Solotone mute passages, specific references to the jazz trombone styles of Tommy Dorsey an… more
Date: May 2000
Creator: Bogle, James Michael
Partner: UNT Libraries

An Investigation of Multiple Articulation as Applied to Saxophone Literature and Its Performance: An Historical and Pedagogical Approach

Description: Multiple articulation is a technique that is becoming commonplace in the saxophone literature. This study provides a detailed explanation of how produce the technique. Its application to saxophone literature is explored with musical examples and commentary by the author. A compilation of pedagogical viewpoints regarding multiple articulation from educators spanning the last century is provided.
Date: May 2019
Creator: Reséndez, Joey (José Luís)
Partner: UNT Libraries

John La Montaine's "Songs of the Rose of Sharon" and "Fragments from the Song of Songs": A Socio-Historical Analysis and Performer's Guide

Description: The purpose of this research is to examine John La Montaine's only two song cycles for soprano and orchestra, Songs of the Rose of Sharon, opus 6 (1947) and Fragments from the Song of Songs, opus 29 (1959). In this investigation-the first ever specific to these works-I examine the works and cultural context in which they were created. I then evaluate the reasonable possibility that La Montaine used his public platform as a composer and performer to subtly celebrate taboo themes of feminism, sex… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Dapcic, Samantha
Partner: UNT Libraries

The Long Chorale Preludes of J. S. Bach (1685-1750): Study of Accompaniments together with Three Recitals of Selected Works by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), J. S. Bach, Louis Vierne (1870-1937), and Others

Description: Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale preludes are varied and artistic not only in the treatment of chorale melodies, but also in the accompaniments of those chorale melodies. This study examines the accompaniments of Bach's long chorale preludes, focusing on identifying the various types and the characteristics that make them unique. This study investigates the two broad categories of accompaniments depending on whether the motives are chorale-derived or independent of the chorale. While the chora… more
Date: May 2006
Creator: Lim, Aesook
Partner: UNT Libraries

Luigi Boccherini's Cello Concerto in B-Flat Major, G.482: Creating a Performance Edition through a Critical Study of the 'Original' Version and Friedrich Grützmacher's Edition

Description: The Cello Concerto in B-flat major, G.482, by Italian composer Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805), is the composer's most beloved work for the instrument, as well as one of the most performed pieces in the Classical concerto repertoire. Historically, cellists performing this work have used an edition prepared by German cellist Friedrich Grützmacher (1832-1903). However, an 'original' version that was discovered in 1949 is significantly different from that of Grützmacher. A comparison of both editions… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Cho, Hyun Mi
Partner: UNT Libraries

Michael Daugherty's Red Cape Tango: A Comparative Study of the Original Version for Symphony Orchestra and its Transcription for Wind Orchestra, with Four Recitals of Selected Works by Beethoven, Dvorák, Verdi, Bartók and Daugherty

Description: Michael Daugherty has created his niche in the music world by composing works inspired by icons of American popular culture. Red Cape Tango is the final movement of his Metropolis Symphony, a work inspired by the life and times of the comic book character Superman. This movement in particular deals with the death of the superhero through the use of musical elements, most notably the Latin Sequence of the Mass for the Dead, Dies irae. Daugherty's ingenuity in blending profoundly dark subject… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Ortega, Arturo
Partner: UNT Libraries

The Nightingale in Poetry and Music

Description: This thesis surveys a variety of songs and arias for high soprano which feature the nightingale; examines the musical elements that symbolize, refer to, or imitate the nightingale; and compares these musical elements with transcriptions of the nightingale's song. The first chapter reviews the symbolic development of the nightingale and its role in poetry and literature. The interior chapters address a selection of musical compositions that feature the nightingale and its song. The final chapter… more
Date: May 2003
Creator: Blizzard, Amy
Partner: UNT Libraries

An Overview and Performance Guide to Manuel Ponce's Sonata III for Solo Guitar

Description: Composed in 1927 and dedicated to Segovia, Ponce's Sonata III, one of the staples of the classical guitar repertoire, is the focus of this paper. To put this piece into proper perspective among Ponce's other works, biographical information leading up to the composition of the piece is presented first. Each of the three movements is then analyzed with regard to formal construction as well as harmonic and melodic language. Analysis is an important precursor to actually playing the piece, as So… more
Date: August 2006
Creator: Smith, Jay
Partner: UNT Libraries

Overview of America's Professional Choirs: Considerations for Establishing, Maintaining and Succeeding in the Creation of a Professional or Community Choir in the United States

Description: This document chronicles the history, development, process, and impact of three of the United States' first and most successful professional choirs. Representing the impact of these three choirs demonstrates a need for current professional or community choirs today. Four conductors of current professional and community choirs were interviewed and discussed elements for establishing, maintaining and succeeding in creating of a professional or community choir in the United States today. This docu… more
Date: December 2006
Creator: Oppenheim, Joshua J.
Partner: UNT Libraries

A Pedagogical Guide to the Piccolo Trumpet

Description: The modern piccolo trumpet is required by professional trumpet players for the performance of solo repertoire, chamber music, orchestra, and wind band. Students in universities around the world study the piccolo trumpet in preparation for professional careers, but relatively few pedagogical tools exist to specifically focus on the nuanced techniques of the instrument such as articulation, range, and sound production. The purpose of this project is to create a pedagogical guide that can serve as… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Goldman, Casey
Partner: UNT Libraries

Pedagogical style and influence of Nadia Boulanger on music for wind symphony, an analysis of three works by her students: Copland, Bassett, and Grantham.

Description: An examination of the influences on twentieth-century wind music would be incomplete without the consideration of composer, organist, pianist, conductor, teacher, and critic Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). Students from the United States began studying with Boulanger between World War I and World War II, and continued to travel to study with her for over fifty years. The respect awarded this legendary French woman was gained as a result of her effectiveness as a teacher, her influence on the devel… more
Date: May 2004
Creator: McCallum, Wendy M.
Partner: UNT Libraries

A Performance Edition of the Vespers Settings in Sacri E Festivi Concenti, Opera Nona by Giovanni Legrenzi

Description: Giovanni Legrenzi was a prolific composer of vocal music and maestro di cappella at the Basilica di San Marco but his vocal works are not often studied as a part of the Venetian lineage with composers such as Willaert, de Rore, Zarlino, Monteverdi, Cavalli, and Vivaldi. Despite his being a prolific composer who had significant influence on the work of other musicians in the traditional canon, references to Legrenzi in standard music publications (Grout, Taruskin, Grove Music Online, etc.) are a… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Sullivan, Ryan W.
Partner: UNT Libraries

A Performer's Guide to John Musto's Penelope: A Cycle of Seven Songs for Soprano and Piano

Description: Award-winning composer John Musto stands at the forefront of modern American art-song composition. Many of his songs, such as "Litany" from Shadow of the Blues, have already achieved a place in the standard contemporary repertory for singers. His compositional technique weaves influences of jazz, blues, ragtime, and popular music with classical technique to make music that is decidedly modern but accessible and well liked both by critics and audiences. Unfortunately, though he is still activ… more
Date: December 2005
Creator: Kanakis, Karen
Partner: UNT Libraries

Peter Lieberson's First Piano Concerto: A Buddhist-inspired poetic vision realized through twelve-tone language, other contemporary compositional techniques, together with three recitals of works by Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Albéniz, Grieg, Ginastera and Paderecki

Description: The main objective of this document is to explore the life and spiritual convictions of composer Peter Lieberson, and the creation of his Piano Concerto. Lieberson is a sought after composer who has won many awards and commissions. His works have been premiered and performed by some of the best musical artists of the late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century, such as Peter Serkin, Emmanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and Pierre Boulez. This study is divided into six chapters. After the Introduction, a… more
Date: August 2002
Creator: Méndez-Flanigan, Maria Gisela
Partner: UNT Libraries

The Piano as an Orchestra: The Accompanist and the Twentieth-Century Orchestral Reduction

Description: The musical developments of the 20th century have expanded the role of the accompanist. As the compositional output of our time increases, and the opportunity to perform as soloist with an orchestra diminishes, piano reductions of an orchestral score are becoming the most frequent vehicle for concerto performances of twentieth and twenty-first century instrumental literature. While the current state of research provides solid support to many accompanists, it is in the area of instrumental accom… more
Date: August 2002
Creator: Lington, Victoria DiMaggio
Partner: UNT Libraries
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