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Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 29 (1917): A Performance Guide based on Interpretations by György Sándor and Boris Berman

Description: One of the famous Russian composers and a pianist himself, Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) composed a vast quantity of piano music. His nine piano sonatas represent well how he projected his musical individuality and the principles that he addressed in his autobiography: classical line, modern trend, toccata line, lyrical line, and grotesque line. However, even though Prokofiev's piano sonatas are considered one of the important collections in the piano repertoire, not all of them have gained popu… more
Date: July 2023
Creator: Cho, Soyoung
Partner: UNT Libraries

Expansion of Pianism through a Reinterpretation of Bartók's Dance Suite for Solo Piano (1925)

Description: This project offers a comprehensive performance guide to Bartók's Dance Suite for solo piano based on a renewed interpretation of the piece. The Dance Suite (Táncszvit/Tanz Suite) is a unique work in Bartók's oeuvre, presented by the composer in two versions: one for orchestra (1923) and one for solo piano (1925). There has been little research done on this piece to enhance its popularity even though it may be a piece that illuminates one of Bartók's compositional philosophies: the unity of all… more
This item is restricted from view until June 1, 2028.
Date: May 2023
Creator: Lee, Jenny JungYeon
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Musique Concrète Instrumentale in Helmut Lachenmann's "Child's Play" (1980): A Pedagogical Study for Late Intermediate Students

Description: Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann is a German composer of contemporary music. In his 1980 work for piano, Child's Play, Lachenmann develops one of his own signature concepts, musique concrète instrumentale, in which he uses the "standard" (not prepared) piano in non-conventional and innovative ways to explore new sounds and techniques. This dissertation is a pedagogical study that provides a teaching guide for educators who would like to use Child's Play as an introduction to some of the sounds and t… more
Date: May 2023
Creator: Kong, Byung Sook
Partner: UNT Libraries
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On Wings of Song: Exploring the First-Generation Chinese Art Song Composer Ellinor Valesby (1894-1969)

Description: The dissertation presents a female German composer Ellinor Valesby, who composed Chinese art songs in Chinese with classical Chinese poetry. For political reasons, she used her pseudonym rather than her given name Irmgard Heinrich (1894-1969). As a western composer, also the wife of a Chinese poet and composer Ching-chu, who lived in China for 25 years, Valesby's songs present various interpretive challenges stemming from the combination of traditional Chinese poetry, folk music vernacular, and… more
Date: May 2023
Creator: Xu, Jing
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Lieder of Beethoven: A Stylistic Analysis

Description: Beethoven is generally acknowledged to be the most important composer of the 19th century. However, many critics and musicologists dismiss Beethoven's Lieder as being of less musical value and sophistication than his more instrumentally conceived late vocal writings. The true musical sophistication of Beethoven's Lieder can be discovered by a careful study of the harmonic structure and the relationship between the vocal and the piano part in Beethoven's Lieder. In discussing Beethoven's Lieder … more
Date: August 1987
Creator: Lin, Shen-An
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Pedagogical Guide to "Distant Voices" (1999) by Ping Gao (b. 1970)

Description: Ping Gao is a composer-pianist in China. The purpose of this research is to provide a pedagogical analysis of Ping Gao's solo piano suite Distant Voices (1999), with intent to introduce Chinese folk music and contemporary characteristics in the twentieth century to early advanced piano students. After an introduction, chapter 2 presents an overview of Ping Gao's biographical information and his compositional style. Chapter 3 provides resources and information of folk music tradition related to … more
Date: December 2022
Creator: Wang, Yiting
Partner: UNT Libraries

A Pedagogical Analysis of "Seven Chinese Folk Songs" by Wanghua Chu

Description: Wanghua Chu (b. 1941) is an outstanding Chinese composer and pianist, who has written extensively for piano. This dissertation offers a pedagogical analysis of Seven Chinese Folk Songs (1999), one of his most famous and well-regarded piano solo works. The present study has two broad and related aims: to introduce Wanghua Chu's Seven Chinese folk songs to a broader community of pianists outside of China; and to provide a pedagogical analysis so that pianists of a late-intermediate level and high… more
This item is restricted from view until January 1, 2025.
Date: December 2023
Creator: Chen, Zhaodong
Partner: UNT Libraries

"Shanai Awaz": A Performance Guide and Piano Reduction of John Mayer's Oboe Concerto

Description: John Mayer (1929-2004) was a British Indian composer and violinist. Despite his contributions to bringing Indian music to the West and his large output of works, the majority of his compositions remain largely unknown. This document focuses on Mayer's only oboe concerto, Shanai Awaz, which translates to "Sound of the Shanai" in Hindi. It is representative of his fusion of Indian and Western techniques. The performance guide helps the oboist navigate the fusion elements of the piece. Because no … more
Date: July 2023
Creator: Merchant, Natasha K.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Scriabin's "Prometheus" (1910): Problems and Solutions in a Transcription for Solo Piano

Description: Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) composed primarily for his instrument, the piano. He did, however, compose five major works for orchestra and a piano concerto. Scriabin's last work for orchestra, Prometheus: Poem of Fire, Op. 60 (1910), exemplifies his mature compositional style. The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute a solo transcription of Prometheus to the piano's rich literature in that genre. Furthermore, the dissertation aims to identify and examine the problems encountered in t… more
Date: July 2023
Creator: Powell, Ted
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Improvisational Vocabulary of Pepper Adams: A Comparison of the Relationship of Selected Motives to Harmony in Four Improvised Solos

Description: Park "Pepper" Adams, III (1930-1986) is one of the most influential baritone saxophonists in the history of modern jazz. In addition to his time feel, his timbre, and other conceptual techniques, a great deal of Adams's improvisational style and vocabulary can be illustrated by his use of three motivic devices. These three motivic devices are: (1) his utilization of the sixth degree of the major scale as an important melodic pitch; (2) his use of a paraphrased portion of the melody of the popul… more
Date: August 2005
Creator: Lington, Aaron Joseph
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Schenkerian Analysis and Interpretation of Joseph Jongen's Eclectic "Vingt-quatre petits préludes dans tous les tons pour piano," Op. 116 (1940-1941)

Description: Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873-1953) was an eclectic composer who successfully maintained his own unique musical vocabulary—particularly in his piano compositions. Jongen composed very little between 1940-1941—the period in which he and his family fled to the countryside of Mazères, France, living as refugees for several months before returning to Sart-lez-Spa, Belgium, due to the outbreak of WWII. Reflective of this time in his life, Vingt-quatre petits préludes dans tous les tons pour p… more
Date: May 2023
Creator: Liu, Yi
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Bohuslav Martinů's Oboe Concerto, H. 353: A New Piano Reduction of the Orchestral Score

Description: Bohuslav Martinů's "Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra" is one of the most frequently played pieces in the oboe repertoire. For this reason, it is often played with the piano reduction instead of the orchestra in oboe recitals. However, the existing piano reductions include many errors and discrepancies from the orchestral score, misrepresent the orchestration, sometimes fail to make the oboe entries clear, and tend to be unplayable for pianists. Moreover, the scores were published after th… more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Jeoung, Ko Eun
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Composer/Performer Collaboration as Seen in the Solo Piano Part of Percy Grainger's Edition of the Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor Opus 16

Description: The purpose of this document is threefold. First, it demonstrates what Grieg contributes to the musical text compared with the original Peters edition, particularly, those additions that refer to expression, interpretation, and style. Second, this document focuses on presenting Grainger's changes that were approved by Grieg. Third, the document evaluates Grainger's own suggestions for pedaling, hand redistribution and fingering, addition of notes, tempo markings, and other performance guideline… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Lee, Sungyo
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Comparative Study of Polyphonic Techniques in Chang-Lei Zhu's Ballade for Solo Piano

Description: In Chinese contemporary piano music, large-scale piano compositions featuring innovative polyphonic musical languages are rarely found. Chang-Lei Zhu's Ballade for Solo Piano represents his development of contrapuntal techniques passed on from J. S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich in their polyphonic works for solo keyboard or piano. This study focuses on an analysis of Zhu's Ballade as an idiosyncratic composition that makes a significant contribution to the Chinese contemporary piano music reper… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Rong, Xing
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Comparative Analysis of the Musical Distortion in Kaikhosru Sorabji’s and Vladimir Horowitz’s Piano Paraphrases Based on Bizet’s Opera Carmen

Description: This study focuses on a comparative analysis of two piano paraphrases, Pastiche on Habanera from ‘Carmen’ by Kaikhosru Sorabji and Variations on a Theme from Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ by Vladimir Horowitz. These compositions idiomatically distort the original material in a manner that was not explored up to the moment of their respective conception. They expose each composer’s free compositional approach, reflecting musical freedom rooted in the originality of their musical thinking. The aesthetic uniqu… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Kim, Mi-Jin
Partner: UNT Libraries

Symmetrical Features of Nikolai Medtner's Language: The Grzovaya Sonata, Opus 53 No. 2

Description: Nikolai Medtner's works evidence an intense interest in symmetrical designs. This concern is manifest at all levels, from the large scale proportions of his numerous ingenious sonata forms to the symmetrically constructed themes and motives. Medtner's works include several instances of palindromic themes and periods. Some palindromic contours are achieved through immediate inversion, creating expansive, symmetrical waves. One of Medtner's thumbprints, symmetrical contrary voice-le… more
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Date: December 1999
Creator: Pitts, James L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Analysis of Pitch Organization in Villa-lobos's Rudepoêma

Description: Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) stands central to the music history of the Brazilian twentieth century. His music represents a synthesis of the European art influences he absorbed and his quest to find a true Brazilian identity, which was not rooted in the deliberate imitation of Brazilian folk elements, but rather in the natural assimilation of them in his compositional style. His early compositions embody strong post-romantic, impressionistic tendencies, especially in regard to their harmonies… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Kruger, Esthea
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
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Date: August 2002
Creator: Lington, Victoria DiMaggio
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
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Date: May 2000
Creator: Bogle, James Michael
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Art of Borrowing: Quotations and Allusions in Western Music

Description: Music travels across the past in the form of composers borrowing from each other. Such musical borrowings and quotations involve not only the use of melodic materials but also musical structures, texts, symbolism and other types of inspiration. The pre-existing musical idea being used is linked to a specific memory of a particular composer and time. The artistic allusions of composers connect the present and the past. Music also travels across the present and into the future. The outcome of con… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Lee, Myung-Ji
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Functional Orchestral Collaboration Skills for Wind Band Pianists: A Study Guide

Description: As opportunities to perform as a soloist diminish, more pianists consider chamber and orchestral playing as an alternative solution. By so doing, ample performance opportunities are introduced. Although most university music programs offer ensemble courses for pianists and have begun to offer degrees with an emphasis in accompaniment, their curriculum lacks instructions specifically designed to train and prepare pianists for playing in large ensembles, especially wind bands. This dissertation a… more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Kim, Grace Jisoo
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Legacy of Theodore Leschetizky as Seen through His Pedagogical Repertoire and Teaching Style

Description: Theodore Leschetizky's singular pianistic legacy survives to this day because of his revolutionary pedagogical methods and his compositions for the piano repertory. The amalgamation of these two aspects formed his distinctive contributions to the fields of piano and piano pedagogy and left an indelible mark on the history of the instrument. His students lead an impressive list of the greatest artists of the previous century, each influencing the evolution of pianism with their own remarkable … more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Serrin, Bret
Partner: UNT Libraries
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"Between the Staves" - Adaptations of Debussy's Six épigraphes antiques and Creative Tasks of the Performer

Description: The Six épigraphes antiques represent a cross-section of Debussy's creative output that traces the composer's germ-seed from his original setting of the work in 1901 as incidental music to accompany the recitation of several poems, to the four-hand piano version of 1914, and its consequent reduction for solo piano. What can be gleaned by the methods of derivation from his original sketches to the final, mature works is an understanding of Debussy's use of musical metaphor and his connection to … more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Astilla, Christopher
Partner: UNT Libraries

A Performance Guide to Tles Kazhgaliev's Piano Concerto No. 2, Exploring Its Synthesis of Kazakh Folklore and Western Music

Description: The purpose of this research is to explore the synthesis of folk and Western traditions in Kazhgaliev's Piano Concerto No. 2 and also to examine the uncommon performance practices associated with the genre. The dissertation gives a brief historical background of Kazakhstan, its folk music, and the significance of the country's piano performance practice. It mainly discusses Kazhgaliev's concerto, which is influenced by folk music. I hope that the dissertation will assist in the promotion and co… more
Date: August 2022
Creator: Karsakpayeva, Altynay
Partner: UNT Libraries
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