Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Instrumental music (Schubert, Franz)'

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Os escritos estéticos dos autores do Frühromantik (Primeiro Romantismo), surgidos a partir das duas últimas décadas do século XVIII, constituíram a base do pensamento do Romantismo musical alemão. De vital importância dentro desta nova concepção estética foi o entendimento da música instrumental como a manifestação mais nobre das artes, algo que ia contra o preceito que vigorara até então, segundo o qual a música sem voz possuía pouco valor, por ser incapaz, apenas por meio de sons, de imitar o mundo físico e despertar sentimentos nos ouvintes. Paralelamente a esse processo, o piano - cujos primeiros modelos bem sucedidos surgiram entre 1698 e 1730 - ganhou maior repertório no último quarto do século XVIII e, ao mesmo tempo, passou a ser utilizado como substituto de formações instrumentais maiores, em reduções de sinfonias e óperas. Este trabalho trata da importância que os fenômenos de valorização da música instrumental, da formação da linguagem do piano e da utilização deste instrumento enquanto redutor da orquestra exerceram no aparecimento do Lied em princípios do século XIX, um gênero híbrido entre música e poesia e entre música vocal e música instrumental, que se contrapôs à tradição da canção estrófica setecentista. Mais especificamente, esta pesquisa investiga em qual medida a composição da parte do piano do ciclo de canções Winterreise (1827) de Franz Schubert foi realizada sobre a idéia de evocação de sonoridades de outros instrumentos, tomando por base similaridades de escrita entre determinadas passagens da obra de Schubert e aquelas retiradas de obras sinfônicas e de câmara, do próprio Schubert e de outros compositores que representaram grandes influências suas, especialmente Haydn, Mozart e Beethoven.
The aesthetic writings by Frühromantik (Early Romantic) authors, which appeared during the last decades of the eighteenth century, became the basis of German musical conception of Romanticism. Fundamentally important that new aesthetic idea was the undestanding of instrumental music as the noblest manifestation of arts, which was against the old precept that music without singing was worthless, as it was incapable of imitating the physical world and reviving the listener's sentiments. Simultaneously, the repertoire for piano - which early successful model appeared between 1698 and 1730 - was substantially increased during the last quarter of the eighteenth century and, at the same time, gradually started to be used as a substitute for larger instrumental groups, and reductions of symphonies and operas. The present work discusses how the phenomena of instrumental music valorization, piano idiom formation and its use as a substitute for an orchestra (piano reduction) influenced the advent of Lied at the beginning of the nineteenth century - a hybrid genre between music and poetry - and between vocal and instrumental music, in opposition to the eughteenth century strophic song tradition. More specifically, this research examines how much of the piano accompaniment of Fraz Schubert's song cycle Winterreise (1827) was based on the idea of the evocation of the sonorities of other instruments, using as evidence stylistic similarities between some of the passages from Schubert's works and those extracted from symphonic and chamber pieces - by both Schubert himself and other composers, notably his major influences: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Orientador: Marcos Fernandes Pupo Nogueira
Banca: Lia Vera Thomás
Banca: Sidney Molina
Resumo: Os escritos estéticos dos autores do Frühromantik (Primeiro Romantismo), surgidos a partir das duas últimas décadas do século XVIII, constituíram a base do pensamento do Romantismo musical alemão. De vital importância dentro desta nova concepção estética foi o entendimento da música instrumental como a manifestação mais nobre das artes, algo que ia contra o preceito que vigorara até então, segundo o qual a música sem voz possuía pouco valor, por ser incapaz, apenas por meio de sons, de imitar o mundo físico e despertar sentimentos nos ouvintes. Paralelamente a esse processo, o piano - cujos primeiros modelos bem sucedidos surgiram entre 1698 e 1730 - ganhou maior repertório no último quarto do século XVIII e, ao mesmo tempo, passou a ser utilizado como substituto de formações instrumentais maiores, em reduções de sinfonias e óperas. Este trabalho trata da importância que os fenômenos de valorização da música instrumental, da formação da linguagem do piano e da utilização deste instrumento enquanto redutor da orquestra exerceram no aparecimento do Lied em princípios do século XIX, um gênero híbrido entre música e poesia e entre música vocal e música instrumental, que se contrapôs à tradição da canção estrófica setecentista. Mais especificamente, esta pesquisa investiga em qual medida a composição da parte do piano do ciclo de canções Winterreise (1827) de Franz Schubert foi realizada sobre a idéia de evocação de sonoridades de outros instrumentos, tomando por base similaridades de escrita entre determinadas passagens da obra de Schubert e aquelas retiradas de obras sinfônicas e de câmara, do próprio Schubert e de outros compositores que representaram grandes influências suas, especialmente Haydn, Mozart e Beethoven.
Abstract: The aesthetic writings by Frühromantik (Early Romantic) authors, which appeared during the last decades of the eighteenth century, became the basis of German musical conception of Romanticism. Fundamentally important that new aesthetic idea was the undestanding of instrumental music as the noblest manifestation of arts, which was against the old precept that music without singing was worthless, as it was incapable of imitating the physical world and reviving the listener's sentiments. Simultaneously, the repertoire for piano - which early successful model appeared between 1698 and 1730 - was substantially increased during the last quarter of the eighteenth century and, at the same time, gradually started to be used as a substitute for larger instrumental groups, and reductions of symphonies and operas. The present work discusses how the phenomena of instrumental music valorization, piano idiom formation and its use as a substitute for an orchestra (piano reduction) influenced the advent of Lied at the beginning of the nineteenth century - a hybrid genre between music and poetry - and between vocal and instrumental music, in opposition to the eughteenth century strophic song tradition. More specifically, this research examines how much of the piano accompaniment of Fraz Schubert's song cycle Winterreise (1827) was based on the idea of the evocation of the sonorities of other instruments, using as evidence stylistic similarities between some of the passages from Schubert's works and those extracted from symphonic and chamber pieces - by both Schubert himself and other composers, notably his major influences: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Mestre

During this project I have studied piano music by Franz Schubert (1797-1828) to thereafter use a couple of his harmonic structures as a foundation for composing music for piano trio. To write music that encourages improvisation and interaction between the band members has been a central focus while the broad goal of the project has been to develop myself as a musician and person. The project started in the fall of 2017, a senior recital was performed in Lilla Salen at KMH the 28th of February and was followed by time for reflection which can be found documented in my paper.             Something I wanted to try with this project was to create according to a partially predetermined method. I wanted Schubert’s music to have an impact on my compositions and from there I decided to transcribe harmonic structures on four of his works to rework these into new compositions. I hoped that this method would bring a forward motion to the work and in retrospect I believe it did. Composing with a few guidelines contributed with a sense of comfort to the process and made me stay on track through passages of low inspiration.             Reflecting on my work I feel that it became a good closure to my studies at KMH. A hybrid process showcasing different musical expressions, skills and sides to my personality with a work method that felt exciting.

Examenskonsert

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 477-487). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Denna kandidatuppsats handlar om den österrikiske tonsättaren Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) och hans pianosonat i a-moll, D 845. Mer specifikt har sonaten i fråga analyserats, med syftet att göra en tolkning av den i synnerhet och Franz Schuberts konstnärskap i allmänhet, utifrån ett perspektiv där Schuberts roll och relation till musikhistorien och idéhistorien undersöks. För att få bättre förståelse för musiken har Schuberts liv, samt några av hans sånger och idéer som kan ha påverkat honom, studerats. Jag har även gjort en analys av verkets fyra satser, där jag tittat på sonatens genomgående teman och motiv. På så sätt har jag försökt tolka musikens underliggande mening. Förhoppningen är att kunna skapa inblick i Schuberts mänskliga erfarenhet och en medvetenhet om vad han vill säga med sin musik, samt att detta ska hjälpa mig i min förståelse och tolkning av musiken. Intentionen är också att det ska vara till hjälp för alla som önskar ta del av Schuberts musik mer på djupet eller låta sig inspireras av den. Resultatet av undersökningen har inneburit en djupare förståelse för Schuberts musik, och i synnerhet för just denna sonat.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) made fifty-six transcriptions of Schubert's songs over a period of eight years (1838-46) to introduce the name of the composer, who was little known both in and outside Vienna during his lifetime. Because Liszt intentionally preserved all the details of the original songs, these transcriptions present challenges for a pianist, such as how to produce a vocal line on the piano, as well as interpretive issues such as ornamentation, style, and conveying the meaning of the lyrics on the piano. The purpose of this study is to introduce pianists to study practices employed by singers, with the goal of interpreting the vocal aspects of Liszt's Schubert song transcriptions. The composer Robert Schumann once remarked that Liszt's transcriptions were perhaps the most difficult pieces written for the piano up to that time, and only an intelligent artist could satisfy Liszt's high level of virtuosity without destroying the identity of the original work. This could be considered a warning to pianists not to focus on the technical aspects only. The pedagogical guide presented in the study, based on singers' approaches to the actual songs, should help pianists to "see beyond the notes" and achieve a performance closer to the heart of the songs.

Most pianists and music scholars consider Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy his most virtuosic piano work. The piece was written in November 1822 when the composer was twenty-five. By that time, Schubert was known for his lieder and some four-hand piano works, which were written in a very lyrical style. In comparison to these works, the Fantasy was written with a demanding technique requiring a richer, orchestral sound. The technical demands of the Wanderer Fantasy at times cause pianists to injure their arms. Even if this does not happen, the instrument, nonetheless, can sound harsh. This type of thick texture may have prompted Robert Schumann's comments in his 1828 review of the Fantasy (M.J.E. Brown, Schubert, A Critical Biography [London: Macmillan & Co., 1958], 124.): Schubert would like, in this work, to condense the whole orchestra into two hands... This essay will address two main subjects: first, the Fantasy will be considered from an orchestral perspective with reference to Schubert's own symphonic writing; second, this essay will seek to assist the pianist in producing a better sound, as well as avoiding injury. It is this essay's thesis that Schubert, when composing the Wanderer Fantasy, was actually constructing an orchestral plan under the guise of a piano score. In order to analyze Schubert's orchestral writing, this essay will be divided into four chapters. Chapter one will offer the historical background of the Wanderer Fantasy, chapter two will discuss Schubert as a symphonist as well as the Unfinished Symphony, which was written only two weeks before the Fantasy. Chapter three, based on the parallel orchestral elements found in the Unfinished Symphony piano sketch, will discuss the relationship between the piano sketch of the Symphony and the Wanderer Fantasy. Following this comparative analysis, chapter three will also offer practical performance suggestions based on previously discussed orchestral elements for the pianist. Chapter four presents conclusions offered by the author. The conclusions reached in this essay are presented in the hope that they will assist the pianist to achieve a more meaningful performance when performing the Wanderer Fantasy.

Alfred Cortot and Franz Schubert are two names that are rarely mentioned in the same context. Although Cortot was a renowned pianist and pedagogue of the first half of the twentieth century, his work on Schubert has remained obscure. This can be explained by the fact that his recordings of, and writings on, Schubert’s works comprise only a small sample of his affinity with this repertoire, in comparison to his affiliation to the work of other composers, such as Chopin. This degree of obscurity is also increased by the fact that, to a certain extent, Schubert’s works for piano remained neglected until early in the twentieth century, in contrast to his great reputation as a composer of Lieder. However, the study of Cortot’s recordings and commentary editions of Schubert’s piano music reveals that Cortot can potentially be a relevant source for the performance of this repertoire. Due to his educational background and the roots of his performance style, he can be a link to performance traditions of the late nineteenth century, which comprise important sources for the performance of Schubert’s work, especially given the notable lack of primary evidence specific to this music. Cortot’s editions discuss issues, which are still current regarding the performance of Schubert’s works, and provide answers, which are comparable with modern and updated approaches. On the other hand, Cortot’s editions and recordings of Schubert’s music cover a range of time within the twentieth century (1920-1960) that encompassed some of the greatest changes in performance styles that have ever been documented in writing and in sound. His work therefore also becomes a valuable source for the study of this evolution and the way it might have been realized and influenced by leading artists of the twentieth century. This thesis aims to present Cortot’s work as an inspiring source for the interpretation of Schubert’s music today, and as an important testimony to the history of performance practice.

The importance that Franz Schuberts music has on any classical musician is almost indisputable. His output stretches over all the important genres of his time and while he never wrote solo pieces specifically for the viola, one work has gained an essential status in the viola repertoire. That work being the sonata for arpeggione and piano, D. 821. Volumes have been written on Schubert, his style, early 19th century Vienna, romanticism, classicism and the formal development of the sonata form as well as the rise of the bourgeoise music scene. Perhaps less is written on the viola and especially the arpeggione. My aim in this paper is to answer the question,” why arpeggione?”. Why does this work hold such a high status in our repertoire? I shall approach this question by both presenting the sonata in question by drawing its background and generally the style and background of Schubert and early romantic Vienna, and also by introducing two alternative early romantic sonatas, both by esteemed composers and written originally for viola. Lastly, I shall dissect the mostly arrangement-related challenges of the arpeggione sonata and discuss different reasons for it having attained such an important role in spite of its problematic suitability for the viola.

This investigation sought to compare the transcription techniques of two pianist-composers, Godowsky and Liszt, using three Schubert lieder as examples. The lieder were "Das Wandern" from Die Schöne Müllerin, "Gute Nacht" from Winterreise, and "Liebesbotschaft" from Schwanengesang. They were compared using four criteria: tonality, counterpoint, timbral effects, and harmony. Liszt, following a practice common in the nineteenth century, was primarily concerned with bringing new music into the home of the domestic pianist. The piano transcription was the most widely used and successful medium for accomplishing this. Liszt also frequently transcribed pieces of a particular composer in order to promulgate them by featuring them in his recitals. The Schubert lieder fall into this category. Liszt did not drastically alter the original in these compositions. Indeed, in the cases of "Liebesbotschaft" and "Das Wandern," very little alteration beyond the incorporation of the melody into the piano accompaniment, occurs.Godowsky, in contrast, viewed the transcription as a vehicle for composing a new piece. He intended to improve upon the original by adding his own inspiration to it. Godowsky was particularly ingenious in adding counterpoint, often chromatic, to the original. Examples of Godowsky's use of counterpoint can be found in "Das Wandern" and "Gute Nacht." While Liszt strove to remain faithful to Schubert's intentions, Godowsky exercised his ingenuity at will, being only loosely concerned with the texture and atmosphere of the lieder. "Gute Nacht" and "Liebesbotschaft" are two examples that show how far afield Godowsky could stray from the original by the addition of chromatic voicing and counterpoint. Godowsky*s compositions can be viewed as perhaps the final statement on the possibilities of piano writing in the traditional sense. As such these works deserve to be investigated and performed.

The Haydn Trumpet Concerto and the Hummel Trumpet Concerto are two of the most important concertos in the solo trumpet repertoire and the cadenza reflects the performer's personality and technical abilities. There have been numerous recordings of the two concertos and they are consistently used in performance and as a pedagogical tool. This document contains both published cadenzas and transcriptions of recorded cadenzas from the first and last movements of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and the Hummel Trumpet Concerto.This study begins with an investigation of the concepts and historical information related to the keyed trumpet and classical cadenzas. It includes a discussion of the historical significance of the keyed trumpet, brief biographies of Anton Weidinger, Joseph Haydn and Johann Hummel, and a study of the stylistic traits of cadenzas of other brass instruments from the classical period.Following the introductory five chapters, chapter six contains the compilation of transcribed and published cadenzas. The cadenzas are cross-referenced in a table located at the beginning of the chapter. Each cadenza includes information about the recording and/or publisher from whom the cadenza is available. The cadenzas were transcribed from recordings, transposed for Trumpet in E-flat and entered into Finale 98.This study is meant to be a reference tool that performers and instructors can employ for the study and performance of various cadenzas. The writer hopes that this collection will provide inspiration and will serve as a guide for those who wish to compose a personal cadenza that highlights their own strengths and preferences.
School of Music

Le début du dix-neuvième siècle constitue pour la musique allemande une transition entre deux âges successifs de la conscience harmonique, l’âge de la quinte - ou le classicisme - et celui de la tierce - ou le romantisme. L'œuvre de Franz Schubert représente la première tentative en vue de structurer la forme musicale au moyen de l'utilisation de progressions de tierces a tous les niveaux de celle-ci, sauvegardant toutefois le rapport fondamental de quinte essentiel à la sonate. L'émergence de nouveaux modèles structurels est ainsi mise en évidence, en même temps que se trouve proposée une typologie des développement à partir de leur structure tonale. Présentant une analyse exhaustive de l'œuvre instrumental schubertien à travers sa dimension harmonique, la thèse pose les jalons d'une étude de son nécessaire complément, la dimension architecturale de la forme
The first decades of the nineteenth century saw a period of transition between two successive periods of harmonic consciousness in german music, the age of the fifth - or classicism - and that of the third - or romanticism. Schubert's output represents the first attempt at organizing musical form through the use of third-progressions at all structural levels, while preserving the fundamental fifthrelationship which is essential to the sonata. This thesis both brings to the fore the emergence of new formal models and proposes a classification of development sections according to their tonal structure. It also provides an exhaustive analysis of the harmonic dimension of schubert's instrumental works, laying the foundations for a further study of its necessary complement, the architectural dimension of form

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) created the accompanied art song as we know it. His achievement as a composer of Lieder stands at the very core of his labors as a creator. Franz Liszt (1811-1886) in addition to being a composer of genius, was also the greatest virtuoso pianist of the nineteenth century. He had a particular affinity for Schubert's music, which led him to transcribe as many as 54 of the Lieder for piano solo. These transcriptions are faithful recreations of Schubert's musical thought, yet the pianistic layout is completely Lisztian. Franz Schubert was hardly a public figure during his lifetime, and he gave just one public concert of his works, on March 26, 1828 in Vienna. According to Hans Gal: "In 1828 there were the beginnings of an improvement in his circumstances. His songs were becoming more widely known, German publishers were beginning to show an interest in his music, and Schubert was induced by his friends to give a public recital of his works. It was his first and last... Schubert's supporters could easily fill a hall, and the undertaking was both artistically and financially a great success."

Den här uppsatsen beskriver arbetet med utvalda delar av Schuberts sångcykel Winterreise och vilka tolkningsmöjligheter jag som kvinnlig sångare har när jag framför ett verk med manlig huvudperson. I diskussionen redogörs tre möjliga tolkningar, där den slutliga tolkningen blir att se flickan i sångerna och huvudpersonen som en och samma person. De sju utvalda sångerna kommer efter min analys att spelas in.

1. Gute Nacht. 2. Gefrorne Tränen. 3. Erstarrung. 4. Auf dem flusse. 5. Frühlingstraum. 6. Die Nebenssonen. 7. Der Leiermann. Pianist Matilda Lindholm

Schubert's treatment of the medial caesura differs on many levels from that of the Classical tradition. He problematizes many of its norms, introducing complications to the course of his sonata movements. Much research has been devoted to Schubert's approach to sonata form, his large-scale formal deformations as well as his innovative harmonic language. However, few of these writings have discussed the importance of the medial caesura to his sonata forms. Through the lens of Sonata Theory, this dissertation examines Schubert's handling of the MC, demonstrating how the complications derived from his unorthodox practice modify the structural and rhetorical layout of his pieces. I investigate Schubert's approach to three stages surrounding the MC articulation, TR and the energy-gaining process, the MC point of articulation, and the S-theme, discussing specific formal and rhetorical complications that arise from each of them. In chapter 1, I reconsider Schubert's MC practice from a dialogical perspective, demonstrating how some non-normative procedures (in Classical terms) became the norm within his own style. In chapter 2, I examine the impact of two common Schubertian procedures on the function, perception, and meaning of the MC: tonally over-determined TRs and the early arrival of the secondary key within TR. Finally, in chapter 3, I demonstrate how Schubert broadened the available cadential arrangements within MC pairs in declined-MC situations, exploring the expressive potential of normative/non-normative dual oppositions. The conclusion shows that 1) Schubert's stylistic preferences radically expand many of the default procedures posited by Sonata Theory, inviting refinements of the theory; and 2) that the Schubertian MC may incorporate two structural roles beyond its most fundamental function as a formal articulator: clarification of the function of a formally ambiguous passage, which is often connected to cases of tonal over-determination or the early arrival of the secondary key; and introduction of tonal and formal complications into the work's trajectory, invoking some kind of "correction" or compensation.

Thesis (MMus) - Stellenbosch University , 1986.
INLEIDING: By die instudeer van 'n aantal Schubert-liedere het die skryfster onder die indruk gekom van nie alleen die skoonheid van die poëtiese en musikale inhoud nie, maar veral ook die pedagogiese waarde daarvan. 'n Behoefte om die potensiaal van die Schubert-liedere as onderrigmateriaal te ondersoek, het ontstaan.

”The singer is always working through a text that in some way or another inspired the vocal line and its texture,” wrote American pianist, pedagogue, and author Thomas Grubb. But exactly how does a text inspire a composer to create this synergy between words and music? During the course of my studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, I gradually began to deepen my knowledge and awareness of Henry Purcell and Franz Schubert. I was at once astounded by their ability to seemlessly amalgamate the chosen texts to their music, and decided that this connection required greater research. The purpose of this study was thus to gain a deeper understanding of how Purcell and Schubert approached the relationship between text and music by studying the two pieces Music for a while and Erlkönig. I also wished to discover any similarities and differences between the composers’ approaches to word painting, in addition to discerning the role of the accompaniment to further illustrate the narrative. I began by reading literature about the two composers as well as John Dryden and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the poets whose texts were set to music. Once a greater understanding of them had been attained, I proceeded to analyze the texts and music for a greater comprehension of Purcell’s and Schubert’s methods. For early inspiration, I listened to numerous versions of the pieces by different musicians on YouTube. Both Purcell and Schubert used various tools in their compositional arsenals to accomplish their effortless combination of text and music. Amongst others, Purcell employed tonal ambiguity, unexpected harmonies, and repetition, while Schubert made use of vivid imagery, inventive treatment of chromaticism, and unmistakable rhythmic motifs. The analysis demonstrated that, while both composers painted lively and dramatic pictures in their compositions, their methods were strikingly different. The role of the accompaniment in Music for a while leaves much to the individual taste and ability of the instrumentalist(s) performing to assist the singer in setting the scene. In contrast, Schubert instructs the pianist in Erlkönig explicitly how they are to play, while additionally the piano personifies the fifth character in the story, the horse. Indeed, the role of the singer in the two pieces is equally at variance with the other. With Purcell, the singer portrays a priest, while the singer in Erlkönig personifies four different voices, each with their own melody, character, and tessitura. I hope this study will inspire others to delve deeper into the material with which they work to offer a more profound understanding to themselves and, ultimately, the listener.

Volumes one and two of Annees de Pelerinage contain travel impressions. The pieces in volume three serve as a means of expressing a religious pilgrimage. The religiousmeaning is implied by the titles and by letters Liszt wrote concerning specific pieces. For the pieces to have programmatic significance, the music must support the verbal clues. This dissertation maintains that selected pieces in Annees de Pelerinage III are programmatic and that Liszt provided musical clues that have not been discovered or, if noticed, have not been analyzed in detail. Also, the dissertation explores similarities between selected pieces of Annees de Pelerinage III and other programmatic or texted works by Liszt sharing the same subject. The findings reinforce the premise that Liszt deliberately intended to express certain extra-musical ideas within the music itself. The paper briefly analyzes the musical reasons for labeling Annees de Pelerinaae III a cycle. Different sources call these pieces cyclic, citing the shared common religious theme as the reason. This dissertation discusses musical reasons that reinforce the idea of a cycle. Chapter II discusses Liszt's views on program music. Chapter III identifies common themes in Liszt's programmatic works and discusses the symbolic significance of thematic transformation. Chapter IV suggests an approach to analyzing program music. Chapter V discusses Liszt's musical narrative and his use of common rhetorical devices. Chapter VI analyzes extra-musical associations in selected pieces from the Annees de Pelerinaae—Troisieme Annee. Five pieces have been selected for analysis—Anaelus1. Aux Cypres de la Villa d'Este I and II, Marche funebre. and Sursum corda.

Master of Music
Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance
Reginald L. Pittman
The songs presented in this report are works I performed in my Master’s Recital on March 30, 2014. This report will take an in-depth analysis at the selected composers’ life and styles of writing and the works they created. The scores studied in this report include: “Thus saith the Lord: But who may abide” from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, “Soave sia il vento” from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Cosí fan Tutte, “Liebesbotschaft,” “Ihr Bild,” and “Das Fischermädchen” from Franz Schubert’s Schwanengesang, Vincenzo Bellini’s “Vaga luna che inargenti,” Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Poveretto,” Gaetano Donizetti’s “Che vuoi di più,” Reynaldo Hahn’s “Á Chloris,” “Si mes vers avaient des ailes,” and “L’Heure Exquise” from Chanson grises, and “Ships of Arcady,” “Beloved,” “A Blackbird Singing,” and “Nocturne” from Michael Head’s Over the Rim of the Moon.

Master of Music
Department of Music
Patricia Thompson
This report contains biographical, historical, and analytical commentary on the following composers and their pieces for soprano voice: Henry Purcell and The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation; Franz Schubert and Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, Op. 62, D. 877; Jacques Offenbach and Les oiseaux dans la charmille, from Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Libby Larsen and Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII; Charles Gounod and Ah! Je veux vivre, from Roméo et Juliette. These selections, unified by the theme of tragedy in various forms of love, were presented in a graduate recital in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy degree.

The Romantic period gave rise to the genre of the song cycle – a collection of songs grouped by poetic theme or narrative arc - through which composers align their musical inspiration with the works of poets and delve into the human experience. Profound themes, such as death and transformation, appear often in song cycle works as the genre provides a vehicle within which they are carefully examined and expanded upon. The form of the song cycle gives performers an opportunity to explore a long narrative, a particular set of emotions, a philosophical perspective, or a defining set of circumstances in more depth than is possible in individual songs. The question of how a performer approaches this absorbing process, lives and grows within the musical and poetic world each cycle offers, and prepares to perform the resulting interpretation is not often documented, and is the focus of this research. I have chosen three case study programs of Romantic song cycles through which to examine my process as a singer preparing and performing works that focus on the themes of death and transformation – Schubert’s Winterreise; Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death; Butterworth’s Bredon Hill and A Shropshire Lad and Vaughan-Williams’ Songs of Travel. I draw on a number of methodologies to do justice to the dynamic and evolving nature of the art of performance.
Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
Queensland Conservatorium
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Treatise (D.M.A.) Florida State University, 2007.
Advisor: Michael Buchler, Florida State University, College of Music. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed 2007). Document formatted into pages; contains 133 pages. Includes biographical sketch. Includes bibliographical references.

Master of Music
Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance
Major Professor Not Listed
This report is extended program notes that focus on romantic selections from four composers, prepared for a graduate vocal recital, completed in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Master of Music degree. The recital was held April 25, 2017 at seven-thirty in the evening at Kirmser Hall on the campus of Kansas State University. The selections for this recital were chosen for their portrayal of the theme romance. The four composers selected for this report are Fernando Obradors, Franz Schubert, Ricky Ian Gordon and Alessandro Scarlatti. Each chapter will include biographical information on each composer, a textual analysis, as well as stylistic and technical considerations one must consider for the songs researched in this document. Romance is a topic that has often inspired composers and writers. This paper focuses on “romance” as a topic, which has been the focus of music for centuries. In vocal literature, a theme of romance can create an immediate connection to the listener as it is a topic that all genders can relate to.

1817 is the beginning of a period in Schubert's life, called his "years of crisis," when he was forming and asserting his personal and musical autonomy. His songs from this time concentrate on mythology and on the poetry of his friend Johann Mayrhofer. Thirteen mythological Mayrhofer-songs sing through the "I" of a mythological character and address a god for aid. This dissertation analyzes seven of these songs: Freiwilliges Versinken, Memnon, Philoktet, Der zürnenden Diana, Atys, Antigone und Oedip, and Der entsühnte Orest. Both Mayrhofer's poems and Schubert's songs present difficulties. Mayrhofer's language and treatment of myth occlude his poetry's meaning. Schubert's settings also obscure what they might communicate to readers or listeners through experimental formal, harmonic, and text-setting strategies. To discover the order and meaning behind the abstruse surfaces of the poems, music, and songs, I turn to four analytical perspectives immanent in Mayrhofer's poems. Though mythological on the surface, Mayrhofer's poems tell a Gnostic narrative of man's desire to unite with god. The poems are also masochistic: Mayrhofer's mythological heroes are all in pain, static, and devoted to a goddess. These two simultaneous subtexts exemplify the ambiguity of Mayrhofer's poetry, that it both keeps its meaning indistinct and means many things at once. Mayrhofer's use of mythology and Gnosticism direct us to Carl Jung's use of the same in his psychoanalytic researches into the self. Gnosticism, masochism, ambiguity, and the Jungian self are elements of Schubert's songs just as they are elements of Mayrhofer's poems. Each of the dissertation's four main chapters focuses on one of these concepts. In analysis, I give the greatest attention to the music, that is, how the music is Gnostic, masochistic, ambiguous, and psychologically self-expressive. The musical analyses are largely motivic, but also involve musical form, harmony, meter, genre, and vocal style. I understand song as a multiplicity, as an interaction of individual voices. Since each of the four analytical perspectives---as distinct as they are---says something about the relationship between the self and the other, they are means to assess the relationships resulting in song, and how meaning and understanding emerge from the interaction of multiple voices.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2009.
Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on August 10, 2009). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Comparative Literature. Includes bibliographical references.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise propose des outils d’analyse permettant de souligner la cohérence harmonique du langage de Franz Schubert, en particulier dans les œuvres tardives de sa production. L’analyse d’un corpus incluant principalement sa musique de chambre, ses sonates pour piano et une sélection de lieder, nous a permis d’observer des constantes dans le discours harmonique du compositeur. Confrontée à la fois à la richesse de l’écriture tonale de Schubert et aux limites d’un mémoire de maîtrise, nous avons été amenée à concentrer notre étude sur deux traits caractéristiques de son style harmonique, soit le majeur-mineur et sa pratique modulatoire. D’une part, la typologie des emplois du majeur-mineur développée dans ce travail permet de préciser la nature des différents phénomènes s’y rapportant, tout en soulignant l’importance structurelle qu’ils occupent au sein de la forme. Ainsi, nous avons identifié trois types d’emploi de l’interchangeabilité des modes majeur et mineur : l’ornementation à l’intérieur d’un accord (coloration), l’emprunt d’accords au mode opposé à l’intérieur d’une unité structurelle harmonique (mode mixte), et le changement de modes entre deux unités structurelles harmoniques successives (opposition de modes). D’autre part, les mécanismes modulatoires expliqués dans ce mémoire, soit l’emploi du majeur-mineur lors de l’accord pivot, l’altération de la fonction VII ainsi que l’utilisation de dominantes contrariées, entraînent un accroissement de la tension tonale en reliant des zones très éloignées entre elles et agissent comme marqueurs formels dans les œuvres du compositeur. Les mécanismes présentés dans ce mémoire permettent ainsi de préciser la logique harmonique qui sous-tend les œuvres de Schubert, en mettant en valeur l’interaction entre la microstructure et la macrostructure.
This master’s thesis provides analysis tools to highlight the internal consistency of Schubert’s harmonic language, especially in his late works. The analysis of a corpus including mainly his chamber music, his piano sonatas, and a selection of lieder, reveals some constants in the composer’s harmonic organization. Confronted with both the richness of Schubert’s tonal writing and the limits of a master’s thesis, I have chosen two characteristic features of his harmonic style for study : his use of major-minor harmonies and his modulatory practice. First, the typology of the major-minor usages developed in this thesis allows for the specification of the nature of different phenomena related to them, while emphasizing their structural importance in the form. Thus, three types of application of the interchangeability of major and minor modes are identified: ornamentation within a chord (colouration), borrowing of chords from the opposite mode inside a harmonic structural unit (modal mixture), and modal shift between two successive harmonic structural units (mode opposition). Furthermore, the modulatory mechanisms explained in this thesis including the use of major-minor at pivot chords, chromatically altered VII chords, as well as the use of what Serge Gut identifies as « dominantes contrariées » cause an increase in tonal tension by linking remote tonalities and act as formal markers in the works of Schubert. The mechanisms presented in this thesis advance our understanding of the harmonic logic that underlies Schubert’s works by drawing attention to the interaction between microstructure and macrostructure.

Singable translations have a long history as a tool to broaden the reach of foreign language music to new audiences. Current translation theory prioritizes the transfer of poetic meaning and structure. I argue that the phonetic sounds of a poem serve a musical function which is, in many cases, intimately bound to a composer’s setting of that poem. I propose that the phonetic properties of a poem are important expressive devices that should be given equal consideration to semantic content. I develop a theory called Expressive Phonetic Mapping to effectively describe and translate phonetic features of musical significance. I apply this theory to selections from Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, analyzing existing translations by Harold Heiberg and Jeremy Sams. Supplementing my arguments with formal analysis, I show how modifications to the type and placement of speech sounds at critical moments can enhance the expressiveness and coherence of these translations, often with minimal change to or loss of semantic information. My thesis culminates in an original singable translation of Hugo Wolf’s “Fussreise,” where I combine Expressive Phonetic Mapping with another method of translation: Peter Low’s “Pentathlon Principle.” I aim to extend existing theories by integrating phonetics into their approaches. That is, considering how the quality of translations can be improved by giving attention to the vocal sounds used, and how those sounds relate to the composer’s underlying music.
Graduate

Ce mémoire est une étude de cas sur Le voyage d’hiver (2013) de Keith Kouna. Réalisée par René Lussier, cette œuvre de musique enregistrée est une transposition musicolittéraire d’après Winterreise (1828) de Franz Schubert. Malgré la réécriture d’un texte en français et les transformations musicales notables qui caractérisent Le voyage d’hiver, les fondements mélodiques et harmoniques qu’il reproduit génèrent un effet de reconnaissance qui ne cesse de renvoyer Kouna vers Schubert. Plutôt que de les tenir pour inséparables l’un de l’autre, cette étude propose une réflexion sur la distance qui les sépare. On se demandera si Le voyage d’hiver peut constituer une œuvre avec le caractère propre de ce qui la rendrait autonome et originale. Considérant que la réécriture textuelle dont il procède s’enracine dans l’écoute musicale, la recherche pose d’abord que le Voyage d’hiver s’établit comme la trace d’une écoute de Winterreise. À partir du rapport entre texte et musique qui s’y déploie, il s’agit ensuite de suivre cette écoute à travers les médiations de la musique enregistrée en studio qui en ont constitué l’inscription. L’établissement de ce tracé permettra d’évaluer l’ampleur des transformations qui donnent lieu au Voyage d’hiver afin de mettre en perspective la distance qui le sépare et le distingue de l’œuvre de Schubert.
This master’s thesis is a case study of Keith Kouna’s music recording Le voyage d’hiver (2013). Produced by René Lussier, this album is a literary and musical transposition based on Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (1828). Although the text was rewritten in French and the music underwent significant transformations, the melodic and harmonic foundations of Le voyage d’hiver create a recognition effect that constantly hearken Kouna’s work back to Schubert. Instead of viewing both works as inseparable, this study will examine the distance that separates them. One may ask if Le voyage d’hiver possesses the distinctive traits to be considered an original, free-standing musical work. Given that the rewriting of the text is rooted in music listening, this research posits that Le voyage d’hiver takes form as the result of listening to Schubert’s Winterreise. Based on the relationship that unfolds between the text and music, the research is then a matter of following this listening through the mediations of the resulting music that was created and recorded in the studio. Establishing this path will make it possible to assess the extent of the transformations that led to Le voyage d’hiver in order to put into perspective the distance that separates and distinguishes it from Schubert’s work.

La version intégrale de cette thèse est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l’Université de Montréal (www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU).
Cause principale du malaise moderne, l’aliénation désigne l’état de l’être humain qui est pris entre ce qu’il est et ce qu’il devrait être. Ma thèse démontre que la représentation de cette déficience ontologique dans l’art vocal connaît des modalités subjective et objective. Séduit par une oeuvre de la première modalité, l’auditeur en subit l’ensorcellement et sympathise avec le protagoniste aliéné. Se heurtant à la seconde modalité, le spectateur se trouve aux prises avec une oeuvre qui vise à empêcher tout effet d’identification émotif avec le personnage principal. Tout en prenant position par rapport aux traditions herméneutique et critique, je cherche à approfondir la question de l’aliénation dans la musique de la modernité germanique (comprise dans les limites des XIXe et XXe siècles), et ce, sous ses différentes formes. Le Winterreise de Franz Schubert (et Wilhelm Müller) et le ballet chanté, Die sieben Todsünden, de Kurt Weill (et Bertolt Brecht) exemplifient les différentes modalités de l’aliénation, subjective et objective, respectivement. Ma thèse aborde le concept d’aliénation à partir de différentes perpectives : le premier chapitre en retrace le développement dans l’histoire des idées (philosophie, théologie, esthétique, sciences sociales, psychanalyse); les chapitres 2, 3 et 5 étudient l’expression de ses différentes modalités en examinant la genèse et la réception du Winterreise et de Die sieben Todsünden; les chapitres 4 et 6 offrent des analyses approfondies de chaque oeuvre en rapport avec ces modalités. Dans le Winterreise, la présence du double (le joueur de vielle), la narration à la première personne et l’anonymat du narrateur, par ailleurs expressif, se conjuguent au caractère « phénoménologique » de la musique, au sens d’une mimesis de l’espace intérieur, afin d’attirer la sympathie du spectateur. Plusieurs éléments musicaux contribuent à cette impression : figures rhétoriques (tropes de distance, figures de marche, Seufzerfigur, etc.), usage significatif des modes majeur et mineur, subversion sémantique différents genres (valse, Volkslied, opéra, etc.), qualité subjective des ambivalences métriques et formelles, aspect médiatisé des sons qu’entend ou que s’imagine le voyageur, etc. L’effet d’aliénation (Verfremdungseffekt) provoqué par Die sieben Todsünden oeuvre dans un tout autre sens : il amène l’auditeur à adopter une attitude critique face à l’aliénation de la protagoniste « Anna ». Le ton narratif, la perversion des lieux communs (textuels et musicaux), l’aridité de la mélodie, l’ironie stylistique (usage sarcastique du style barbershop, du Choral protestant, du shimmy, du moto perpetuo, de la valse, etc.) et la tonalité élargie participent au ton narquois de l’oeuvre, incitant délibérément à une prise de distance critique.
Alienation, the principal source of the modern malaise, denotes the state of a human being who is caught between what he is and what he ought to be. My dissertation will demonstrate that the depiction of this ontological deficiency in vocal music exists under different modalities, subjective and objective. Beguiled by a work dealing with the topic of alienation within the subjective mode, the listener is made vulnerable to its charm and sympathizes with its alienated protagonist. Colliding with a work of the objective type, the spectator discovers that he is confronted by a piece that seeks to prevent any emotional identification with the characters. Starting from, but not limited to, the perspective of traditional hermeneutics and criticism, my research aims at a deeper understanding of alienation in music during the modern Germanic period (within the limits of the 19th and 20th centuries). Franz Schubert’s (and Wilhelm Müller’s) Winterreise and Kurt Weill’s (and Bertolt Brecht’s) ballet-chanté Die sieben Todsünden exemplify the different modalities of alienation, subjective and objective respectively. I approach the concept of alienation from various angles : the first chapter retraces its development within a history of ideas (philosophy, theology, aesthetics, social sciences, psychoanalysis); chapters 2, 3, and 5 begin to study its subjective and objective articulations by investigating the genesis and reception of Winterreise and Die sieben Todsünden; analytical chapters 4 and 6 offer and an in-depth investigation into these works in relation to their particular modality of alienation. In Winterreise, many elements combine to confer a phenomenological quality to the music (understood as the mimesis of an interior, subjective space) in the hopes that it will stir the audience’s sympathy : note the presence of a double (the hurdy-gurdy player), first-person narration by an anonymous, yet expressive, speaker, and so on. Many musical features support the effect : different topoi (tropes of distance, marching and sighing figures, etc.), the symbolic use of major and minor modes, the subversion of meanings attributed to different genres (waltz, Volkslied, opera, etc.), the subjective quality of metrical and formal dissonances, and the mediated aspect of sounds that the wanderer hears or imagines. The alienation-effect (Verfremdungseffekt) caused by Die sieben Todsünden is altogether contrastive. It encourages its listener to take a critical attitude toward the alienation of Anna, the protagonist. The narrative tone, the distortion of commonplaces (literary and musical), the arid melodies, the ironic style (sarcastic use of barbershop music, Protestant chorals, the shimmy, moto perpetuo, the waltz, etc.), and tonal ambiguity contribute to the sardonic tone of a work that urges critical distance.
Als weitgehend anerkannte Quelle des modernen Unbehagens beschreibt die Entfremdung den Zustand menschlichen Daseins in der Schwebe zwischen dem, was er ist, und dem, was er sein sollte. Meine Dissertation zeigt auf, dass die gesangliche Darstellung eines solchen Zustands ontologischer Defizienz sowohl eine subjektive als auch eine objektive Modalität haben kann. Sobald der Zuschauer der ersten, nämlich der subjektiven, Modalität begegnet, wird er durch das Werk verzaubert und sympathisiert mit dem entfremdeten Protagonisten. Sieht er sich wiederum mit der objektiven Modalität konfrontiert, ist es das Werk selbst, welches jeglichen Effekt einer gefühlsmäßigen Identifizierung mit der Hauptfigur verhindert. Bezug nehmend auf die hermeneutischen und kritischen Traditionen strebe ich nach einer Vertiefung des Entfremdungsbegriffs in der Musik der germanischen Moderne (innerhalb Grenzen des 19. und des 20. Jahrhunderts) in ihren verschiedenen Formen. Franz Schuberts (und Wilhelm Müllers„Winterreise“ sowie das gesungene Ballet „Die sieben Todsünden“ von Kurt Weill (und Bertolt Brecht) veranschaulichen jeweils die subjektive und die objecktive Modalität der Entfremdung. Die vorliegende Dissertation beleuchtet das Konzept der Entfremdung von verschiedenen Seiten: Das erste Kapitel vergegenwärtigt die Entwicklung der Ideengeschichte (Philosophie, Theologie, Ästhetik, Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Psychoanalyse); die Kapitel 2, 3 und 5 befassen sich mit dem Ausdruck ihrer verschiedenen Modalitäten in der Entstehung sowie der Rezeption der Winterreise und der Sieben Todsünden; die Kapitel 4 und 6 bieten vertiefende Analysen jedes einzelnen Werkes im Zusammenhang mit diesen Modalitäten. In der „Winterreise“ vereinigen sich die Präsenz des Doppelgängers (der Leiermann), die Ich Erzählung und die Anonymität des ansonsten sehr ausdrucksvollen Erzählers mit dem „phänomenologischen“ Charakter der Musik, im Sinne einer Mimesis des inneren Raums, um die Sympathie des Zuschauers anzusprechen. Mehrere musikalische Elemente tragen zu diesem Eindruck bei: Rhetorische Figuren (z.B. Distanz- und Wandermotive, Seufzerfiguren usw.), der signifikante Gebrauch von Dur und Moll, die semantische Subversion der verschiedenen Genres (Walzer, Volkslied, Oper, usw.), die subjektive Beschaffenheit metrischer und formaler Ambivalenzen, der mediatisierte Aspekt der Töne, die der Reisende hört oder sich vorstellt, usw. Der Verfremdungseffekt, der durch „Die sieben Todsünden“ hervorgerufen wird, ist ein gänzlich anderer: Er drängt den Zuhörer dazu, eine kritische Stellung in Hinblick auf die Entfremdung der Protagonistin „Anna“ zu beziehen. Der narrative Ton, die Pervertierung der textuellen und musikalischen Gemeinplätze, die stilistische Ironie (der sarkastische Gebrauch des barbershop-Stils, des protestantischen Chors, des shimmy, des moto perpetuo, des Walzers, usw.) und die allgemeine tonale sowie stilistische Zweideutigkeit tragen zum spöttischen Ton des Werks bei und führen so zur gewünschten kritischen Distanz.