Copyright (c) 2009 University of Nebraska - Lincoln All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent Recent documents in Student Research, Creative Activity, and Performance - School of Music en-us Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:08:10 PDT 3600 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/20 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/20 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:38:53 PDT Missa Prolationem is a setting of the traditional Latin Ordinary mass text that seeks to explore counterpoint in the context of metric problems. Though Ockeghem's specific contrapuntal techniques were not utilized, his Missa Prolationem served as the original inspiration for this setting of the mass. Each movement attempts to explore a specific problem created by the interaction of the counterpoint and meter. In the Kyrie, contrapuntal passages in multiple meters are both superimposed and juxtaposed. The Gloria includes a triple fugue in which each subject is in a different time signature. The Credo is a series of canons at descending intervals and includes double canons, metric canons, and inversion canons. The Sanctus explores the possibility of cross cutting divergent meters and moods. The Agnus Dei divides the ensemble into various groups and explores non-imitative counterpoint with each group functioning in its own time signature. In addition to its rigorous formal organization, the Missa Prolationem is a highly expressive work that makes use of the text painting and symbolism which have long been associated with the Western tradition in Mass settings. Included among the techniques utilized are aleatoric sections in the Gloria to express exuberance, a symbolic addition of voices and gradual motion toward unity in the Credo, and the withholding of a unified time signature until the last measures of the Agnus Dei to emphasize the request for peace in the text. The work was written with specific performers in mind. Accordingly, the forces include soloists, mixed chorus, string quartet, and organ. Kurt Knecht http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/19 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/19 Thu, 07 May 2009 15:12:41 PDT Even though Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960) straddles the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his Romantic compositional language remains unaffected by his twentieth century contemporaries. The present study will establish Dohnányi's Romantic heritage by examining his Six Concert Etudes, Op. 28 according to Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics. This study is relevant because these characteristics in conjunction with these etudes have yet to be examined. This demonstration of the Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics in conjunction with these etudes offers a new contribution to the body of scholarly writing.The document is divided into three chapters and a bibliography. Chapter 1 consists of four parts: a biography, a literature survey, an account of Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics, and historical context of the etudes. The literature survey is arranged by topic: piano solos, biographies, symphonies, and Dohnányi's music in general. An account of Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics is accomplished by summarizing the Romantic Style, identifying the traits that distinguish each parameter from preceding eras and linking Dohnányi with the Romantic Era. A brief summary of Romantic Period aesthetics precedes this account. The historical context of the etudes places Dohnányi within the trajectory of the piano literature.Chapter 2 is entitled "Dohnányi's Romantic language in the Six Concert Etudes, Op. 28," and examines these etudes according to Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics. The examination is ordered according to common traits and observations, citing occurrences in the etudes, but organized by the parameters of tonal and harmonic language, melody, formal design, rhythm, and texture. The examination concludes by summarizing connections among the etudes.Chapter 3 concludes the study with a summary of how Dohnányi's compositional language places him squarely in the trajectory of Romantic composers. This summary reinforces the establishment of Dohnányi's Romantic heritage by summarizing the Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics and examining the etudes according to these characteristics.Adviser: Mark K. Clinton Michael A. Yenny http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/18 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/18 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:06:07 PDT Axel Jørgensen is one of a few Danish composers who has contributed compositions to the solo trombone repertoire that gained an international and lasting reputation in the twentieth century. Jørgensen, like many Danish composers from the first part of the twentieth century, is often overlooked due to the imposing figure of Carl Nielsen. Jørgensen's compositions, while not overly patriotic, give the trombonist a sense of the Danish Nationalistic Romantic style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.Jørgensen was one of the first composers to write for the emerging slide trombone idiom in Denmark at the beginning of the twentieth century. His compositions for slide trombone are in large part due to the influence of his colleague and friend, trombonist Anton Hansen. Hansen played the largest role in the slide trombone's rise over the valve trombone in Denmark. The two primary compositions by Jørgensen for trombone are the Romance Op. 21 and the Suite Op. 22. Although Jørgensen wrote at least four other compositions for solo trombone, these are no longer published or performed today. Jørgensen's compositional style is consistent throughout his trombone works. The most defining trait is his use of sequence. In addition, the Romance and Suite share melodic material originating from Jørgensen's composition professor, Otto Malling.The first chapter of this document discusses the related research and purpose of this paper. In addition, the first chapter includes a discussion of the Danish Golden Age of Music and Danish solo trombone works prior to Jørgensen. Chapter two covers the biography of Axel Jørgensen. A biography of Anton Hansen is included in chapter three. Chapter four examines the melodic material and circumstances surrounding the composition of the Romance. The Suite is discussed similarly in chapter five. Chapter six looks at the melodic similarities between the Romance, the Suite, and Otto Malling's Piano Concerto Op. 43. The concluding chapter provides a summary. Andrew H. Converse http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/16 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/16 Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:33:21 PST This is a history of the choral music program at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (founded 1869). Resources from the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Archives and Special Collections of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, scrapbooks and files from the University of Nebraska School of Music, and its precursor, the University School of Music, have been examined to create a narrative of choral music activity and a list of choral music repertoire. The early years are studied, before the choral ensembles were a formal part of the curriculum, when choral/orchestral performances were a result of collaboration with the city of Lincoln. Major choral conductors at the University and their unique contributions are profiled, with special attention to two pioneering women conductors from the early days of the program, Ermina Cochran Menzendorf and Carrie Belle Raymond. The University School of Music, a proprietary school where students received their individual music instruction, was a positive influence on the choral music program through the efforts of its visionary administrator, Willard Kimball. John Rosborough and his student choral ensemble brought national fame to the University and invaluable training in a cappella choral repertoire. Arthur Westbrook re-organized the School of Fine Arts, developing the choral program by assembling fine faculty, recruiting from the high schools, and accommodating the changes brought to campus by the Second World War. David Foltz and Earl Jenkins were the major choral conductors throughout the post-war expansion and well into the 1970s, who with their colleagues Dale Ganz, John Moran, Raymond Miller, and Carolee Curtright administered a choral program with a healthy range of performing opportunities. The formation and growth of ensembles, their make-up, their rehearsal and touring habits are examined. Lists of choral repertoire and a record of choral performances are included as an appendix. Brief biographical sketches of choral composers at the University, along with several representative compositions are included. Choral repertoire trends are examined, as is the way those trends mirrored national changes in choral music making. Rebecca C. Gruber http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/15 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/15 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:00:18 PDT PERFORMANCE PRACTICES IN FOUR PUCCINI ARIAS TEMPO CHOICES AND CHOOSERSJoshua O. Neumann, M.M. University of Nebraska, 2008 Advisor: Peter M. LeffertsOpera is notorious for having a wide spectrum of performance practices. Among the most notable opportunities for performer liberty is that granted by the heightened emotionalism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Italian operas. Giacomo Puccini is the most prominent Italian composer of the turn of the twentieth century. His operas are among the most popular and most often performed in the genre. Puccini's best-known operas (La Bohéme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Gianni Schicchi) have been hits with the public if not the critics since their premieres. Members of the public have a wealth of recordings of both excerpts (arias) and full-length renditions for private listening. Hearing Puccini's operas, it is impossible to miss their multitude of characteristic performance practices. Of particular interest is the interpretation of Puccini's scores in respect to tempo, since he had a notoriously fastidious sense of dramatic pacing. The most economical way to explore these interpretations is through recordings. However, not all recordings are created equal. Interpretations of pacing invariably differ between concert performances, studio recordings, and excerpted arias. In the following pages, I will examine the different kinds of materials used in recordings and the environments in which recordings have been made. I will then review current literature on how these differences affect recordings. Following a brief discussion of general Puccini performance practices, I will examine recordings of four arias with respect to tempo in light of the technology and circumstances of recording. Joshua O. Neumann http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/14 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/14 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:21:10 PDT Gustav Jenner was Johannes Brahms' only composition student, but his works have not received the same attention that Brahms' have. Jenner's output includes chamber music, piano compositions, choral works, and over 200 Lieder. He wrote two pieces for clarinet, the Sonata in G Major, op. 5 for clarinet and piano and the Trio in E-flat Major for clarinet, horn, and piano. Relatively little has been written about Jenner, especially in English, and this document begins by detailing Jenner's life and musical training, emphasizing his studies with Brahms, who was widely known as a demanding teacher. The first chapter continues with a discussion of the genesis of his clarinet works, including the influence of Richard Mühlfeld, to whom the Sonata was dedicated. Understanding Jenner's unique musical education and career is an important first step in interpreting his Sonata.While Jenner's Sonata retains some elements of Brahms' style, and many authors have commented on the similarities between Jenner's Sonata and Brahms' Sonatas, op. 120, the connections are not as prominent as one might expect. Of particular interest is Jenner's modification of traditional forms to suit his own compositional needs, which is explored in the second chapter. Also discussed is Jenner's harmonic language, which frequently includes both Classical fifth-related keys and Romantic third-related tonalities. The third chapter explores Jenner's melodies by examining their motivic construction and including references to similar melodies from Brahms' Sonatas. Jenner's use of developing variation in the first and fourth movements is also discussed, as well as its interpretive implications. Based on this analysis, suggestions for a meaningful interpretation of Jenner's Sonata are offered throughout the second and third chapters. Elizabeth R. Aleksander http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/13 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/13 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:31:09 PDT Tearless, Op. 9 Silver Rain, Op. 11 Desire, Op. 13 Heart On The Wall, Op. 14 Border Line, Op .24 Mortal Storm, Op. 29 Composer Robert Owens (b. 1925) is relatively unknown in the realm of American art song. Though a few of Owens' songs have been published in two anthologies of songs by African-American composers, the majority of the Langston Hughes songs by Robert Owens are undiscovered gems in the art song repertory. It is the author's hope that through the presentation of this research, singers and teachers are inspired to explore Owens' catalog of works and to find the essential commitment to poetry that is so necessary in the performance of all art songs. Trained as a concert pianist, Owens has spent his life creating innovative, intelligent and beautiful pieces of music which are widely heard in Europe, particularly in his current country of residence, Germany, though they were written for performance by American singers. In 1958, Owens was introduced to the writer Langston Hughes at Hughes' home in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. At that meeting, Hughes presented Owens with Fields of Wonder, a collection of his lyrical poetry, to set to music and "see what he could do with it." The results of Owens' diligence are 46 songs in six cycles to the poems of Langston Hughes. In this document, the author will demonstrate how Owens created a unique musical atmosphere through his use of intervallic relationships, accompaniment figures and harmonic development. Of special interest is Owens' compositional process that blossoms out of an understanding of the poem and its musical "environment," and how he translates that understanding into sound. The document includes a biography of Robert Owens, as told by the composer himself in interviews with the author. Currently, only brief biographical sketches are available in online and published sources. This information will be significant to any student or performer of Owens' songs, as the details of his life figure prominently in his compositional purpose and process. Advisor: Donna Harler-Smith Jamie Reimer http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/12 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/12 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:06:20 PDT The present project focuses on the two compositions for solo clarinet by Roberto Sierra: Cinco Bocetos and Ritmorroto. Many composers throughout history have often written music for a particular performer. Sierra is no exception. These two clarinet works involve collaboration with some of today's finest clarinet players in varying combinations of commissioning, premiering, and/or recording. Further insight into these works is provided by interviews with the composer and with the prominent clarinetists associated with these works. The first chapter of this document provides biographical information about Roberto Sierra, his compositional style, and his compositional output involving the clarinet. Chapter two contains an analysis of Cinco Bocetos in addition to comments from the composer and the clarinetist involved in the creative process. Consistent with the methodology applied in chapter two, the third chapter explores the second unaccompanied clarinet work, Ritmorroto. The concluding chapter summarizes the development of Sierra's compositional style within these selected pieces. It is hoped that this document will serve as a valuable resource for clarinetists who study, teach, and/or perform these works by Roberto Sierra. Furthermore, this study should facilitate a better understanding of the composer's compositional style for teachers and performers of the clarinet. Advisor: Diane Barger Alejandro L. Lozada http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/11 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/11 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:58:27 PDT The purpose of this document is to provide an introduction to the solo saxophone repertoire of American composer Elliot Del Borgo (b. 1938). By examining Del Borgo's relatively unexplored body of works for saxophone, this research aims to encourage further research and performance of this music. Since its invention in the 1840s, saxophonists have gone to great lengths to expand the instrument's repertoire. Most of these efforts have been focused in one of two areas: the transcription and adaptation of existing music and the commissioning of composers to write new works for the saxophone. A subset of this latter method can include the rediscovering, examining and celebrating of overlooked bodies of music for their instrument. It is in this subset where one finds American composer Elliot Del Borgo has contributed such a repertoire with six compositions for solo saxophone, including two sonatas, two unaccompanied pieces, a work for saxophone with strings and a piece for solo saxophone with band. The following topics are addressed, in order, to introduce the saxophonist to this repertoire and establish its compositional merit: Del Borgo's biographical background, his compositional influences, his approach to writing for the saxophone, the importance of his collaborations with saxophonist Dale Underwood and analyses of the composer's music for saxophone. The final chapter will provide conclusions drawn from this research, followed by appendices containing transcripts of telephone interviews with Elliot Del Borgo and saxophonist Dale Underwood. Under the Supervision of Professor Paul Haar Christopher Barrick http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/10 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/10 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:28:12 PDT Unaccompanied literature has been gaining a world-wide reputation and importance in the trumpet performance repertoire. This study examined how analysis of these pieces contributed not only to the knowledge of the performer, but to the performance itself. Three compositions were analyzed in this document: Variation Movements (1967) by Robert Henderson (b. 1948), Sonatina (1974) by Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926) and Calls and Echoes (unpublished) by Verne Reynolds (b. 1926). These composers used a variety of compositional devices that were discussed in detail and showed how knowledge of these techniques benefited the performer. Variation Movements was derived from a nine-note motive that was utilized throughout the piece. The Sonatina incorporated set classes and twelve-tone serialism. Calls and Echoes also utilized set classes as well as motivic development. The first chapter of this document provides a discussion of unaccompanied trumpet literature and previous scholarly research on the topic. The second chapter focuses on Robert Henderson's Variation Movements. The third chapter examines Hans Werner Henze's Sonatina and the fourth chapter studies Verne Reynolds' Calls and Echoes. The concluding chapter provides a summary. Advisor: Darryl White Brendan McGlynn