Search Results

open access

The Bass Trombone and Its Use in Selected Works of Smetana, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, and Dvorak

Description: The selected works by the composers studied in this thesis might well stand as illustrative of the normal development of the use of the bass trombone near the close of the nineteenth century. Although notable progress was made by the cited composers in increasing the bass trombone's usefulness in the orchestra, each composer also continued to use the bass trombone as it had been used in previous years, such as in doubling bass parts, harmonic backgrounds, and for strong rhythmic punctuations.
Date: August 1969
Creator: Kesting, Gary Walther
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Basset Horn: Its Development and Literature

Description: The purpose of this study is to trace the development of a practically extinct woodwind instrument, the basset horn, and its use by composers as both a solo and an orchestral instrument. The first chapter concerns the development of the basset horn from the earliest imperfect specimen to the modern-day instrument. The second chapter deals with the physical characteristics that are peculiar to the instrument. The third chapter discusses the literature and musical history of the basset horn. An a… more
Date: August 1968
Creator: Shanley, Richard A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Beethoven's Choral Fugal Technique

Description: It is the purpose of this thesis to offer some pertinent information in the form of a documentary symposium and analytical study in which historical and technical matters relative to Beethoven's fugal techniques in his choral compositions will be presented. References to specific musical examples in this composer's works will be illustrated by diagrammatic and verbal analyses, and correlated with the pagination of the scores of his complete works as published by Breitkopf and Hartel.
Date: January 1958
Creator: Doering, Harold Owen
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Blend in Choral Sound

Description: There is a need for a systematic collection of ideas concerning blend in choral sound. Many authorities discuss blend, but their concepts of the term are very divergent. These divergent concepts lead to emphasis of various factors which are important to the development or achievement of blend in choral sound. This emphasis in turn leads to various methods of achieving blend. Authorities ascribe several definitions to the term blend, as it relates to choral tone. These definitions should be stud… more
Date: January 1967
Creator: Wyatt, Larry Douglas, 1943-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A 'Bohemian' Premiere? Smetana's "The Bartered Bride" and National Identity in 1909 New York

Description: When Czech composer Bedřich Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride received its American premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in February 1909, New York music critics published positive reviews which displayed a great fascination with the many "Bohemian" aspects of the production. However, certain comments or language used by some critics indicate that American opinions of the Czech people were less than positive. After Czechs began immigrating to America en masse in 1848, already-established America… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Fehr, Laura
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Borrowing Culture: British Music Circulating Libraries and Domestic Musical Practice, 1853-1910

Description: In Victorian Britain, music circulating libraries libraries operated by music publishers Novello & Co. and Augener & Co. supported upper- and upper-middle-class patrons in their pursuit of cultural capital that would help them perform their socioeconomic status. Studying these libraries in the context of domestic music-making reveals the economic and social impact of these libraries in the lives of amateur musicians and in the music publishing industry. An analysis of the account books in the N… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Cooper, Amy Nicole
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini and the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Description: Born April 2, 1873, on the estate of Oneg in the province of Novgorod, Russia, Sergei Vassilyvitch Rachmaninoff was the fifth of the six children of Vassili and Lyoubov Boutakova Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff's aristocratic descent was traced to the Hospodars Dragosh, rulers of the realm of Molday from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. One of the daughters from this family had married a son of the Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow. The son's nephew was named Rachmanin, and from this source the … more
Date: June 1961
Creator: Teel, Carl Brown
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Brass Instruments as Used by Brahms in His Four Symphonies

Description: Instead of putting the emphasis on color in his orchestration, Brahms felt that the music was more important; not the orchestration. However, it would be a mistake to feel that he was deaf to orchestral color. When discussing color in regard to Brahms' orchestration it is necessary to realize that his use of color is much different than that of his contemporaries. This thesis discusses the four symphonies of Brahms and his usage of brass instruments within these symphonies, specifically the fre… more
Date: August 1964
Creator: Ritter, David G.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The British Museum Manuscript Additional 35087: A Transcription of the French, Italian, and Latin Compositions with Concordance and Commentary

Description: 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 … more
Date: August 1967
Creator: McMurtry, William M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Capella Eletronnica

Description: The intent of A capella Eletronnica is to explore the possibility of the human voice as the most versatile of musical instruments. The voice, capable of melodic, harmonic, percussive and rhythmic effects, is also employed for spoken text and conversational elements as musical sources. My aim was to enlarge this array of vocal techniques with the use of electronic processing and amplification.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Bonneau, Paul G. (Paul Gregory)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified?

Description: One of the greatest mysteries in the history of music is the castrato singers of the Baroque era. Castration has existed for many thousands of years, but for the first time in history, it was used for artistic purposes. Who were these men who seemingly gave up their masculinity for the sake of music? By examining the time period and circumstances in which these musicians lived, an answer may be found. Exploring the economic, social, and political structure of the 17th and 18th centuries may r… more
Date: August 2006
Creator: Sowle, Jennifer
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Celestial Dreams

Description: Celestial Dreams is a three-movement work for chamber ensemble. This piece employs algorithmic processes (coded in BASIC and Pascal) that generate poetic text and convert it to musical pitches. The three movements contain coherent structures that allow for the complete integration of all ensemble members into the texture and for the flexibility to have one ensemble member emerge as the musical foreground. The chamber ensemble includes strings, tape, slides, and a narrator, who recites the poeti… more
Date: August 1987
Creator: Knudson, Gary
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Chaconne and Passacaglia in Twentieth Century Organ Music

Description: In order to trace the origin of the chaconne and passacaglia, the much larger classification of basso ostinato, of which the chaconne and passacaglia are two later examples, must be considered. According to one authority, Lili Propper, the earliest beginnings of the basso ostinato can be traced back to the Middle Ages through the use of organ points exemplified in organum purum. A later and more developed use of the basso ostinato can be discovered in the recurring basses of the Montpellier Co… more
Date: January 1966
Creator: Tiller, Barney
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Chamber Music for Children

Description: This study is a progressive series of string quartets for children ages six to eight. A picture and a story for the child accompany each of the twenty lessons. The stories are written about animals, birds, and incidents that exist in the child's world. They are designed to arouse associations between familiar subjects or incidents and unfamiliar problems at hand. The second section of this work is entitled "Instructions to the Teacher." A child's interest is sacrificed when he is burdened with … more
Date: August 1948
Creator: Cornelius, Marjory Lunt
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Change, Longing, and Frustration in Djent-Style Progressive Metal

Description: The progressive metal style "djent" emerged in the mid-to-late 2000s with bands that modeled their use of extended range instruments and complex rhythmic cycles after that of Swedish metal band Meshuggah. The addition of a new vocabulary of melody and harmony by bands such as Periphery, Tesseract, and Animals as Leaders has come to define djent in a new way and provided fruitful ground for voice-leading and metrical analysis. In this dissertation, I approach analysis in two steps. The first ste… more
Date: May 2021
Creator: Sallings, Patrick Nolan, 1982-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Chansonnier Biblioteca Casanatense 2856: its History, Purpose, and Music

Description: The chansonnier held by the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, designated Codex 2856 (0. V. 208), is a handsome volume containing 123 polyphonic compositions in the style of the Franco-Flemish School, circa 1450 to 1400. Although no text beyond the incipit is found in the manuscript, the value of the source is enhanced by the names of the composers of 106 of the compositions. Volume one focuses on the manuscript, giving a physical description of the manuscript, recounting the history of the manusc… more
Date: August 1970
Creator: Wolff, Arthur S.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Characterstücke of Johannes Brahms

Description: With the advent of the Ballades, Intermezzi, Cappriccios and Rhapsodies of Johannes Brahms the musical world was to witness the apex of a development of a particular style of pianoforte composition which began in the nineteenth century with the publication in 1803 of a group of seven pieces called Bagatelles, opus 33 by Ludwig van Beethoven. This style thus originated was the Caracterstücke.
Date: August 1955
Creator: Guerry, Jack, 1931-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Charles Ives and a Stylistic Analysis of his Three Piano Sonatas

Description: This thesis has been written with several goals in mind. The first purpose has been to inform the reader about the life of Charles Ives and the influences he experienced that gave him the impetus to experiment and write music of a nature thirty years ahead of its time, while the rest of the world was basking in the waning light of Romanticism. The second purpose has been to describe in a short space general characteristics that may be found throughout the entire musical output of Ives. The thir… more
Date: 1955
Creator: Harer, Carolyn Bertha
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Chicago Renaissance Women: Black Feminism in the Careers and Songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds

Description: In this thesis, I explore the careers and songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds—two African American female composers who were part of the Chicago Renaissance. Price and Bonds were members of extensive, often informal, networks of Black women that fostered creativity and forged paths to success for Black female musicians during this era. Building on the work of Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins, I contend that these efforts reflect Black feminist principles of Black women workin… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Durrant, Elizabeth
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Chopin's Mazurka: A Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of J.S. Bach, F. Busoni, D. Scarlatti, W.A. Mozart, L.V. Beethoven, F. Schubert, F. Chopin, M. Ravel and K. Szymanowski

Description: This dissertation consists of four programs: one lecture- recital, two recitals for piano solo, and one (the Schubert program) in combination with other instruments. The repertoire of the complete series of concerts was chosen with the intention of demonstrating the ability of the performer to project music of various types and composed in different periods.
Date: August 1969
Creator: Drath, Jan
Partner: UNT Libraries
Back to Top of Screen