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Analysis of "The Seven Songs" From The Pilgrim's Progress By Ralph Vaughan Williams
The opera, The Pilgrim's Progress, was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1949. "The Seven Songs" are analyzed for performance, examining the elements of music and text of the songs, including melody, harmony, form, vocal line and accompaniment, with the intent of forming conclusions in regard to their usefulness as singular selections, or as a group, for performance.
Sonata 1972
A composition in three movements for piano, the duration of which is approximately seven minutes and thirty seconds. The tonal organization employs quickly changing tonal centers. Linear aspects are of more structural importance than vertical sonorities. Frequent changes of meter, syncopation, and ostinato figurations are utilized in each movement. Primarily, a two-voiced texture is employed to effect a transparent quality of sound. A detailed thematic and formal analysis of each movement is included in the "Discussion and Analysis".
A Realization and Edition of Three Sonatas by Corelli for Two Violins and Harpsichord
This thesis covers the history of Archangelo Corelli, and includes the creation of and three sonatas by Corelli.
Mulima
Mulima is a work intended to be used as the score for a ballet. The composition utilizes a large orchestra: 2-3-3-3, 4-3-3-1, 5 percussion, and full strings. The work is constructed in one large act which is comprised of three scenes and lasts approximately 45 to 50 minutes.
Nyiragongo
Nyiragongo is a composition for large orchestra. The title is taken from Mount Nyiragongo, an active volcano in the Virunga Mountains of east central Africa. The composition is in one movement and the performance time is approximately eight to nine minutes.
Makropterosuus
Makropterosuus, a single movement composition for full orchestra, is approximately sixteen minutes in duration. The work is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, percussion, and strings. The composition of Makropterosuus involved the development of specialized computational procedures for the generation of melodic and rhythmic data.
Sensible Sentiments : A Composition for Double Trio
The instrumentation is flute, B-flat clarinet, bassoon, violin, viola, and cello. The individual movements last four and one-half, four, and six minutes, respectively, with a total duration of fourteen and one-half minutes. The first movement is a theme and a series of nine sections that employ the variation principle. The second movement is characterized by its slow tempo and by its texture which is almost entirely homophonic. It is primarily concerned with gradual timbral changes created by special effects. The third movement, which is rapid in tempo, employs one main theme which provides four motives. This material is developed throughout the movement by frequent changes in meter, range, texture, and dynamics.
Reinhard Keiser and His Opera Fredegunda : a Study in the History of Early German Opera
The purpose of this investigation is to trace briefly the development of opera in Germany during and after the Thirty Year's War as a background for the understanding of the milieu in which Keiser's Pregunda was created, and to study in detail this work as a representative of contemporary North German opera.
Air for Band
Air for Band is an original composition by Lawrence Weiner.
The Cycle of Life Symphony
This symphony is a representation of the composer's philosophy of life, which includes a belief in a pre-existent life (Beginnings), a mortal life (Searchings and Wanderings), and a life after death (Return Home). Three out of four of the cyclic elements in the Symphony are symbolic. Theme one represents the influence for good which emanates from a living God; motive one represents the influence for evil, or the Devil; motive two represents the influence of Christ. All three of these influences were present in the pre-existence, they are present in earth life and in the life after death, where good will ultimately triumph over evil. Motive three is found in both first and third movements, but has no symbolic meaning.
Symphony No. I, "An American Symphony"
In Symphony No.I, the form of the first movement follows the broad outlines of the sonata. The second movement is in Rondo form, the first section of which has a definite ABA character, the second part has but a single theme extended in treatment, and the third section a recapitulation of the first. The final movement again uses the ABA form.
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 1 is a three-movement work for orchestra. The movements have the following tempo indications: (I) Allegro ma non troppo, (II) Lento, and (III) Allegro giocoso. The composition is scored for 3 flutes (3rd flute interchangeable with piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B-flat, bass clarinet in B-flat, 2 bassoons, contra-bassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in B-flat, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, percussion (timpani, snare drum, and triangle), and the usual complement of strings.
She Had No Peer: A Chamber Opera
The work is a chamber opera in five movements. The vocal forces include soprano, mezzo-soprano and baritone solos and a small mixed chorus. The instrumental forces include flute, oboe, alto and tenor saxophone, bassoon, cello and percussion. The opera is a character study of Eve and the Virgin Mary that compares and contrasts their evolving emotions. Recurring motives and texts are used to help the characters portray their emotions . The English texts were chosen from poetry ranging primarily from the 16th to the 20th century.
Display
Display is a four-movement work for twenty-two instrumentalists, five singers, and a prepared tape. As the title implies, the composition is, in fact, a studied display, of numerous compositional and performance procedures, techniques, and effects. The performers must be of virtuoso caliber, and in some cases will need to know special techniques to produce some of the required effects.
Movement for Orchestra
The form of the movement is as follows: Slow introduction; forceful theme "A"; lyrical theme "B"; bridge between second theme and development section; development of theme "B"; another bridge developed from a fragment introduced immediately preceding the bridge which is used for a climax before theme "C" is introduced and developed. with the end of the development of theme "C", the development section ends, and thus begins the recapitulation of themes "B" and "A" in that order with little variation in either from that of the exposition. Theme "C", since it played such an integral part in the development section, is not brought back in the recapitulation.
An Ode to the Four Rulers
This composition is a single-movement chamber work and has a total duration of approximately fourteen and one-half minutes. The instrumentation of the piece includes two Eb alto saxophones, two Bb tenor saxophones, two Bb trumpets, tenor trombone, bass trombone, four narrators, piano, double bass, trap set, triangle and chimes. The entire work is organized durationally through the use of eight simultaneous, independent click tracks. This information provides the tempos and is sent to the performers via headphones.
Sonata for Woodwind Choir
The overall style of this sonata begins with music similar to pre-World War I French music in the first movement and become progressively more modern with each movement. The classical forms of composition are used for each movement. There is a different combination of instruments throughout every movement of the sonata to offer orchestral variation.
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra consists of three movements. The whole work follows a general character of Fast -- Slow -- Fast; but within each movement are sections with contrasting tempi. The performance time approximately eighteen minutes.
A Transcription for Band of the Second Movement of Cesar Franck's Symphony in D Minor : From the Orchestral Score
The problem of this study was to make a transcription of the second movement of Franck's Symphony in D Minor for a college symphonic band. A thorough discussion of problems of instrumentation and analysis, a brief history of the composer's life and works, and an evaluation of the contribution of the project is included in this document.
The Keyboard Ricercare in the Baroque Era: Volume 2
This study seeks to examine the history of the ricercare, specifically in the baroque era. In this work, all types of keyboard compositions that utilize imitative counterpoint have been examined. Late baroque fugues have been examined to determine which characteristics of the earlier ricercare remained in general use and which specific compositions contain elements causing them to resemble strongly the parent form. This volume is a musical supplement to the thesis.
Constellations: For Wind Ensemble and Computer Music
Constellations is a single movement work that explores the color between acoustic instruments and computer generated sounds. It is scored for four flutes (two doubling on piccolos), two oboes, two bassoons, eight B-flat clarinets, two bass B-flat clarinets; two alto saxophones, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone; four trumpets in B-flat, four horns in F; three trombones, bass trombone; two tubas;piano; six percussionists; and contrabass. The duration of the work is nine minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Mapping of stellar constellations provide the primary material for all pitch and harmonic progressions throughout the work. Software synthesis and digital sampling techniques coalesce to produce the computer music on tape.
String Septet
A thesis about the String Septet. The author explains that it deals with problems concerned in the reconciliation of contemporary aesthetics with extensions of romantic harmony, classical and pre-classical form, classical figuration and ornamentation, and contrapuntal organization.
Arda
Arda is an instrumental chamber work scored for cello, percussion, and multiple keyboards with a total duration of approximately thirteen minutes. The work is structured in an arch form whose divisions are based on instrumental and textual groupings. The pitch organization utilizes prominent intervals, improvised passages on certain passages on certain pitches, and the double harmonic mode, which is derived from an Indian raga. Various instrumental techniques are also used throughout the work to alter timbres as well as to create more interesting vertical sonorities.
Antithesis: Composition for Chamber Orchestra
Antithesis is a composition, approximately nine minutes long, for chamber orchestra (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 2 horns, 1 percussionist, prepared electronic tape and strings). Although not formally divided into movements, there are four major sections, analagous to the classical symphony. The primary thrust of the work is to juxtapose opposing timbres, rhythms, and modes of sound generation (instrumental versus electronic) in ways that lead one to another without formal harmonic or melodic logic.
Music of Winds, 1976
The composition is in two movements played continuously, and requires approximately eleven minutes for performance. The two movements offer different treatment of similar thematic material. Unifying devices are used in each movement. Instrumentation includes the following: piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two Bb clarinets, F English horn, Bb bass clarinet, two bassoons, two Eb alto saxophones, Bb tenor saxophone, Eb baritone saxophone, two bb trumpets, three F French horns, two trombones, euphonium, tuba, and three percussion.
Uto
The composition is in seven major sections with a coda at the end. The work requires approximately fifteen minutes for performance. The discussion and analysis includes a description of the play and an explanation of the treatment of the elements of music. The work requires the following instrumentation: two flutes, two piccolos, two alto flutes, two oboes, two English horns, one bassoon, one contra-bassoon, one French horn, one trumpet, one flugelhorn, one melodion, one piano, one vibraphone, one xylophone, three timpani, mixed percussion, one solo soprano, two solo tenors, one solo bass, a choir of three women and two men, violin, and cello.
Nightdreams
Nightdreams, a single-movement work for orchestra, is approximately nine and one-half minutes in duration. The concept for Nightdreams evolves from sketching three types of sounds as photographs: melodically oriented sounds, sound-mass texture, and vertical sonorities. A twelve-note set is used to construct the pitch content of the melodically oriented sounds. This set includes the intervals of a m2, M2, m6, and T. Sound-mass textures are constructed from the same intervals that are contained in the twelve-note set plus the addition of a m3 and a P5. Vertical sonorities use the linear aspect of the twelve-note set mapped onto a set of twelve different rhythms which alternate between non-retrogradable and retrogradable. Although the piece is contained in a single move-ment, there are twelve sections, each with its own characteristics.
Three Units
Three Units is a symphony in three movements: fast-slow-fast. The general shape or large form of each unit is noticeably different from its counterparts, although all three exhibit a common feature: an evolutionary process in which one or more musical genres form the basis for the entire movement.
The Development of an Original Composition
the problem was to take a group of poems from a work entitled The Dark Land, by Kathleen Tankersley Young, and set them to music in such a manner as to produce a unified, artistic, whole, A string quartet was chosen as an accompanying group because of a desire to produce a work comparable in scope and seriousness of content to a piece of chamber music.
The Crystalline Sense
"The Crystalline Sense" is a composition in one movement for chamber orchestra with the following instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb (doubling bass clarinet in Bb), bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in Bb, trombone, percussion and strings. The composition is approximately nine minutes in length. The goals of the work are (1) to employ intra-sectional practices, (2) to derive all rhythmic ideas from the main themes, (3) to combine certain elements of chromatic, whole tone, and certain triadic structures into a valid compositional technique effective in both vertical and horizontal situations, (4) and to produce a piece of music of moderate difficulty which fully exposes each instrument technically and lyrically.
Sinfonietta
"SINFONIETTA" is constructed on a free usage of the traditional Sonata-form. It has an introduction; an Exposition, with two principal themes; a Development, in which both principal themes are used; and a Recapitulation, in which both principal themes are combined.
Symphony #1
This symphony was composed for the purpose of communicating with a contemporary audience and not to please some unknown colleague or future generation. Therefore, experimentation with novel media or systems was rejected in favor of a more conventional approach.
A Transcription and Translation of Musica Dalla Parodie d'Alceste by Carlos d'Ordoñez
Parody may be defined as a humorous or sarcastic imitation of a serious piece of literature. It appears, following this interpretation, that Carlos Ordoñez composed his marionette opera, Musica Dalla Parodie d'Alceste as a parody on Gluck's Alceste. A microfilm of the original manuscript of Ordoñez was procured from the National Szecheny Library in Budapest, the possessor of the only copy of the work.
Intermedia Piece
This work, Intermedia Piece, is a statement of the idea that there are common musical drives present in musicians which cannot be completely suppressed by intellectual achievement or training. the drives presented are those of basic rhythm and direct reaction to rhythm by movement. Aural and visual elements are used to make the statement. All scored events are necessary for successful performance. It is therefore a true intermedia work.
Voice Crying in the Wilderness
This score was prepared using a new computer software program called the "Professional Composer". Voice Crying in the Wilderness is an original score by Nat Irvin and Bob Ray Sanders.
The Sacrilege of Alan Kent : A Monodrama in Nine Scenes for Baritone Soloist, Orchestra and Tape
The Sacrilege of Alan Kent is a monodrama in nine scenes for baritone soloist, orchestra, and tape. This composition may be presented as a dramatic or concert work. From the standpoint of a dramatic form, it may be considered an opera for one performer in nine brief scenes or vignettes. As a concert work, it resembles a song cycle.
Music for Orchestra and Electronic Tape
"Music for Orchestra and Electronic Tape" is an attempt to combine the instruments of the symphony orchestra with electronic sounds which were pre-recorded on tape. The composition is divided into three sections, comprising a large ABA' form with an introduction and a coda. An electronic event occurs between each section.
John the Baptist
John the Baptist is a passion focusing on the sufferings of John in six movements for contralto, tenor, baritone, and bass soloists; chorus of mixed voices; boys' choir; and orchestra.
Movements for Trumpet, Percussion and String Orchestra
This composition, a three-movement work requiring a performance time of approximately thirteen minutes, is scored for Bb trumpet, percussion and string orchestra. A two-piano arrangement of the string orchestra section of the score is included in the work.
PhiAC--987 : A Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble
PhiAC--987 : A Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble is a two movement work approximately nineteen minutes in length, scored for a soloist of virtuosic ability and a large wind ensemble of thirty-five instrumentalists.
Alto Requiem
Alto Requiem is a requiem mass for contralto, chorus, and organ. Several unifying elements have been used throughout the composition. Most of the homophonic texture is limited to quartal and secundal structures. The melodic material is also predominantly quartal and secundal. Key relationships between and within movements are limited to related major and minor modes, modes a major or minor second apart, and modes a fourth apart. Further unity is achieved by emplying motives from the chants of the Roman Missa pro defunctis. These chants are used in the vocal lines as well as in the organ accompaniment.
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a three-movement composition by Dan Beaty.
Mass
This thesis is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. It is scored for a soprano soloist, a four-part chorus (SATB), percussion requiring one player (orchestral bells, vibraphone, and chimes), piano, and pipe organ. The text is taken from the traditional Latin and its English translation, the Greek (in the case of "Kyrie eleison") and verse taken from scripture--John 1:1, John 1:5, and Revelation 1:17-18--as translated in the Revised Standard Version Bible. These verses are woven into the musical fabric of the Kyrie and the Gloria and are frequently overlayed with the text of the Mass itself. The text is treated freely with some cyclic treatment of textual and thematic material.
A Graphic System for Studying Concert Band Music
This study traces the development of the baton conductor from his earliest origin up to and including the present day. From his initial role, that of a time beater and teacher, he has progressed to that of an interpreter and creator of music.
The Mystic Trumpeter
The Mystic Trumpeter is intended to reflect and comment on the meaning of the poem of the same name featured in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Formally the individual movements are approximately simple territory ternary in form; however, cyclical treatment of the opening motive is the main structural concept of the work, and its appearance throughout the composition is controlled entirely by the recurring connotations of the poetry.
Sonata for Mixed Quartet
This quartet is comprised of two wind instruments, flute and clarinet, and two stringed instruments, violin and violoncello. This unusual combination affords a wide variety of colors in both melody and chord-voicing that are impossible with an "unmixed" quartet.
Welcome, All Wonders in One Sight
The structure of the present work is clearly described in the foregoing definition. Consisting of fourteen movements of varying length, it is primarily a vocal work for soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, mixed chorus and an orchestra of moderate size.
First String Quartet
This is a quartet in three movements: allegro ben marcato (free form); adagio appasionato (passacaglia); and presto (scherzo). These three movements comprise an arch-form, the first and third being similar stylistically and thematically, the second forming the "pillar".
Blessed are the Meek
Blessed are the Meek is an original composition by John Loring Emery for cello choir and features a narrative story.
Three Movements for Orchestra
Three Movements for Orchestra is an electric work which utilizes many compositional devices such as isorhythm, serialism, cantus firmus, Klangfarbenmelodie, thematic transformation and development, mixed meters, and counterpoint. The contrapuntal emphasis can be easily seen in the first and third movements' resemblance to the passacaglia and fugue, respectively. The second movement combines elements of the outer movements and functions as a rather large interlude or transition between them. The total duration is approximately fifteen minutes.
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