Mahler's Ninth Symphony, since its premier in 1912, has sparked much debate about its programmatic meaning. This thesis provides an in-depth analysis of the Adagio and an examination of the controversy of the farewell story. In the process of the analysis I have compared my findings to some of the important authors in Mahler's field such as Vera Micznik, Henry-Louis de La Grange, and Christopher Orlo Lewis. Some of the conclusions are that a closer investigation of the music is necessary and that the programmatic reading of the farewell story can be appropriate.

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.

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This thesis consists of the first movement and discussion of Symphony Number I, an original composition by Gerald Ray Haney.

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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.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This thesis explores the eighteenth-century aesthetic of the sublime in application to Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 Jupiter, K. 551. Using Immanuel Kant’s definition of the mathematical sublime and Johan Georg Sulzer’s idea of the sublime, I argue that Mozart achieves this aesthetic through the synthesis of stylistic opposites: the learned and the galant. The culmination of such is best articulated in the fugue found in the Coda of the fourth movement. In this segment, Mozart combines five galant motives into a learned fugue; this intricate combination of stylistic opposites creates an elevated effect, one in keeping with eighteenth-century philosophies of the sublime. Drawing from my own experiences, I further argue for the subjectivity of the sublime and discuss its occurrence both in composition and as emotion.