This study utilized a combination of intrinsic and instrumental case studies to describe the experience of four dying persons and their significant relations, as they engaged in music therapy sessions designed with the goal of facilitating relationship completion. The four primary participants were inpatients of the Baycrest palliative care program who were diagnosed with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of less than six months. Two spouses who were involved in music therapy sessions were co-participants. I developed four case studies to represent each of the rich and detailed stories. Through the use of narrative research methods I was able to describe, interpret, and understand the complexity held within the multiple data sources that informed each case study. Data sources included: music created, utilized, recorded, and/or discussed in music therapy sessions; discussions during music therapy sessions; the researcher’s field notes; formal notes placed in the participant’s medical charts; the formal written assessment; transcriptions of audio-taped music therapy sessions; interviews; interview transcriptions; artistic pieces crafted by myself that emerged from the experiences of the participants as reflected in their interviews, and weekly participation in sessions which were verified by the participants; and other artistic material. The rich knowledge that emerged from the individual case studies informed a cross-case analysis where global themes were identified from a thematic analysis of participants’ experiences; and process motifs arising from the progression of participant engagement in music therapy are described. Global themes included: love; loss; gratitude; growth/transformation; courage/strength; and goodbye. The five process motifs that emerged were: (1) music therapy helps and was valued as a means of sharing the participants’ perceptions of their situation. (2) music therapy provides a safe place to become aware of, explore, and express feelings. (3) music enhances communication. (4) music therapy techniques provide creative avenues for self-expression. (5) music therapy provided a vehicle for revisiting and reminiscing. The thesis concludes with a summary of the knowledge revealed and a discussion of implications for music therapists and health care professionals, as well as a presentation of final thoughts and reflections on my role as researcher in this study.

British singer/songwriter Elvis Costello once said, “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture – it’s a really stupid thing to want to do” (in Brackett, 1995, p. 157). In this thesis I talk not only about music but I also talk about talk about music, perhaps an even stupider thing to want to do. But I do so because recent critical discourses in musicology and music education suggest talk about music is an inherent part of music, such that if we talk about music at all we must additionally talk about talk about music. But in talking about talk about music we are called upon to talk about talk. Consequently this thesis divides into five parts. In Part I I talk about talk with a discussion of performativity. I outline three different conceptions of the performative, showing how ethics inheres in language, with talk about talk necessarily being talk about ethics to some extent. In Part II I talk about talk about music, showing how musicology has attempted to respond to this ethical dimension of talk with a “new” musicology. In Part III I write in a number of different genres, exploring the discursive norms governing genres of writing about music and musicians and how they impact what we take music to be. Thus I write in philosophical, ethnographic, genealogical, narratological, autobiographical and literary forms, concluding that literary writing on music and musicians acts as a meta-discourse on music, bringing multiple different discourses into dialogue within a single unified text. In Part IV I explore the implications of literary writing about music and musicians for the practice of music education with critical readings of four novels, concluding with the recommendation that a “Non-foundational approaches to music education” course be offered as part of music teacher education programs, in addition to the more traditional “Foundational approaches to music education” course. In Part V I provide two annotated bibliographies for teachers interested in teaching such a course and for those who simply wish to further their understanding of music and music education through critical engagement with literary texts about music and musicians.

In April 1994 the citizens of South Africa found themselves in the unique position of contemplating a new national culture; one that would for the first time embrace all South Africans, regardless of race, colour or religion. Official segregation, which began in 1948, ended with the first democratic election held in1994. Cross-cultural awareness in South Africa emerged in the 1980s. Within this temporal context, this investigation will trace parallel developments in the South African classical music genre and will relate these developments to the concurrent socio-political environment. Looking specifically at music written for the flute, the selected works were composed for the flute as a solo instrument, or in combination with up to four other instruments by a cross-section of South African composers who either live in South Africa or who have South African roots. The works included in this study were composed roughly ten years before and after 1994; the purpose being to document the changes that were taking place in South African Art Music leading up to the first democratic election and during the exciting times that followed. The main component of this research is the analysis of the works of nine South African composers, examining cross-cultural content in the musical form: Michael Blake (Honey-Gathering Song, Leaf Carrying Song), Robert Fokkens (Inyoka Etshanini, Cycling to Langa), Hendrik Hofmeyr (Marimba), Hans Huyssen (The Cattle have gone Astray), Bongani Ndodana-Breen (Visions I and II), Isak Roux (Sketches, Four African Scenes), Martin Scherzinger (Whistle of the Circle Movement), Becky Steltzner (Hambani Kakuhle Kwela) and Kevin Volans (Walking Song). Biographical information and compositional philosophies are also included for each composer. In addition, publisher and recording details are provided where they exist. The works contained in this document are organized by cross-cultural borrowing technique: overt cross-cultural borrowing, borrowing guided by African music-making principles, African paraphrasing, and inspirational landscape painting. A brief history of Art Music in South Africa is provided, as is an overview of African musics and instruments. The analysis of each work considers African musical influences and their incorporation, while performance suggestions will also elucidate unique African aspects of the music.

Chopin’s Third Piano Sonata, Op. 58, is the largest solo work of his late period. Chopin’s successful combination of the Classical and the Romantic aesthetic, which is explored in Chapter 1, results in an effective balancing of structural integrity and emotional fulfillment. Every movement of Op. 58 possesses qualities of movements in a traditional sonata cycle; however, the tendency to blend structural elements, the expansion of thematic material, and the postponement of climaxes contribute to Chopin’s distinctive treatment of the sonata genre. The issue of late style in Chopin’s output has recently garnered considerable attention. Most writers focus on particular compositional techniques such as the blending of musical genres and the increasing importance of counterpoint and chromaticism. New expressive elements include manifestations of a dandified aesthetic as well as emotional lassitude. These discussions are primarily related to works in Chopin’s original genres, neglecting somewhat the Third Piano Sonata, Op. 58. The second chapter of this dissertation examines the elements of Chopin’s late style present in Op. 58, emphasizing the sonata’s first three movements. These aspects of late style include blurring of genres, complex use of chromaticism, intricacy of counterpoint, textural and thematic variety, dandified impertinence, emotional lassitude and polyvalence. The employment of late stylistic features within the sonata model results in formal ambiguities, which are particularly manifest in the first movement. Chapter 3 reconsiders the movement’s thematic boundaries and especially evaluates the juncture between development and recapitulation. In Chapter 4, the last movement’s indebtedness to Chopin’s balladic model is examined. The gradual intensification of the primary theme together with the presence of a characterizing theme and dancelike episode suggest a merging of Chopin’s balladic practice with rondo form to create an end-directed hybrid structure. This study not only encourages further research into the implications of Chopin’s late style for his larger forms but also increases the variety of interpretative choices available to performers through awareness of Chopin’s stylistic features. The final chapter suggests how insights into musical structure, style, and genre might inform performances of this sonata and how these possibilities relate to a selection of recorded performances.

The present thesis comprises a musical score and a set of specifications for a programmer to employ in the creation of a computer patch required to run the electronics. Scored for symphony orchestra and solo cello, the work also incorporates a computer operator and sound engineer who function as performers, following detailed instructions to store, activate, shape, spatialize, and regulate electronic material. The computer patch manifests two main components: the recording and playback of live sound (with the solo cello acting as the input source) and a virtual instrument feedback module. Electronic superimpositions of solo cello samples, ranging in density between a single layer and many simultaneous layers, intertwine with the live instrumentalist, forming timbrally distinct polyrhythmic contrapuntal lines. The feedback component allows for an interaction between the soloist and electronics, in which the computer operator manipulates faders connected to a series of feedback sub-patches, each employing a range of diverse delay parameters. The musical language of the work, which evolves from a series of expanding and contracting pitch clusters, continually transmutes, shifting back and forth from atonality, tonality, and polytonality. Formally, the work both opposes and espouses traditional paradigms; and it is this dichotomy, the tension created between old and new, which ultimately unifies the structure. Finally, the expansion of the role of the soloist, which entails not only the integration of multiple superimposed electronic layers but of the immersive diffusion of sound in multidimensional space, broadens the concerto form.

Dramatic, in the sense of “highly intense,” is a quality we often associate with the music of Beethoven, but no theory has attempted to define drama in any systematic manner. This study therefore explores the idea by constructing a theory that distinguishes between dramatic and non-dramatic passages. At the core of the theory is the notion that drama is the result of several types of tension occurring simultaneously. Dramatic passages have a “High” tension level, whereas non-dramatic ones have a “Low” level. Individual tension types are divided into two categories: rhetorical and syntactical. Rhetorical tension types include such features as a loud dynamic, a fast rhythm, and a thick texture, which need no musical context to be expressed. By contrast, syntactical tension types include such features as chromaticism, metric irregularity, and phrase expansion, which always require a comparison of events to be expressed. Only tension types from the same category may combine to form drama. Because this study examines the relationships between drama and sonata form, the analysis of form is a key issue that receives a separate chapter and additional thought throughout. The methodology combines aspects of William E. Caplin’s theory of formal functions and James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Sonata Theory, and is applied to all of Beethoven’s first-movement sonata forms, a total of eighty-seven movements. Each formal unit is analyzed as one of six dramatic “archetypes” that describe a basic outline of High and/or Low tension levels. These archetypes constitute the dramatic structure of the piece. Percentage frequencies of the archetypes were calculated for each formal unit in the movements as a whole, and as grouped by the categories of key, mode, genre, and style period. The greatest distinctions in dramatic structure occur among the three style periods of early, middle, and late, the early works showing a sectional approach with contrasting tension between phrases and the middle to late works gradually becoming more continuous, maintaining the same tension levels between units. A concluding analysis of Beethoven’s String Trio, op. 3, demonstrates the theory’s ability to enrich the interpretation of an individual work.

The intriguing parallels between musical and literary forms have long been a focus of musicological inquiry, particularly in recent debates concerning music’s narrative properties. However, parallels between musical and historical forms and processes remain under-examined. Indeed, while historically-based operas continue to be prominent in the repertoire, there has been little if any attempt to interrogate how the unique structural, temporal, and narrative dimensions of the operatic form might render a representation of the past that is unique in comparison to those in other modes. This dissertation takes up this issue, and probes it on musical and aesthetic levels, asking the following questions: Given recent inquiries into history’s creative nature in historiography, what kind of historical account does opera represent? What elements of historical experience, knowledge, or memory are accessed in these works? How do music’s temporal, dramatic, and narrative dimensions interact with what we presume to be the objective realm of history? And most importantly: Can these works be seriously considered historiographical in any sense? In this dissertation, I investigate these questions with a focus on Canadian historically-based opera specifically. Applying a hermeneutical approach that connects current threads in musicology, narrative theory, theory of the sublime, film theory, and philosophy of history, I define and theorize the powerful discourse that music contributes to Canadian historiography in six of Canada’s most prominent historically-based operas: Harry Somers and Mavor Moore’s Louis Riel (1967); Harry Somers and James Reaney’s Serinette (1991); John Estacio and John Murrell’s Filumena (2005) and Frobisher (2007); and Istvan Anhalt’s Winthrop (1986) and La Tourangelle (1975). The conclusions of this study are, however, not limited to this repertoire. Rather they are applicable to the canon of historically-based works as a whole, and speak directly to some of the most critical and current aesthetic issues in musicology and historiography. As an art form that reopens the space between past and present by reaffirming history’s subjective and temporal nature, and by exploring the ephemerality it shares with living memory, opera validates itself as a truly distinct historiographical mode.

In April 1994 the citizens of South Africa found themselves in the unique position of contemplating a new national culture; one that would for the first time embrace all South Africans, regardless of race, colour or religion. Official segregation, which began in 1948, ended with the first democratic election held in1994. Cross-cultural awareness in South Africa emerged in the 1980s. Within this temporal context, this investigation will trace parallel developments in the South African classical music genre and will relate these developments to the concurrent socio-political environment. Looking specifically at music written for the flute, the selected works were composed for the flute as a solo instrument, or in combination with up to four other instruments by a cross-section of South African composers who either live in South Africa or who have South African roots. The works included in this study were composed roughly ten years before and after 1994; the purpose being to document the changes that were taking place in South African Art Music leading up to the first democratic election and during the exciting times that followed. The main component of this research is the analysis of the works of nine South African composers, examining cross-cultural content in the musical form: Michael Blake (Honey-Gathering Song, Leaf Carrying Song), Robert Fokkens (Inyoka Etshanini, Cycling to Langa), Hendrik Hofmeyr (Marimba), Hans Huyssen (The Cattle have gone Astray), Bongani Ndodana-Breen (Visions I and II), Isak Roux (Sketches, Four African Scenes), Martin Scherzinger (Whistle of the Circle Movement), Becky Steltzner (Hambani Kakuhle Kwela) and Kevin Volans (Walking Song). Biographical information and compositional philosophies are also included for each composer. In addition, publisher and recording details are provided where they exist. The works contained in this document are organized by cross-cultural borrowing technique: overt cross-cultural borrowing, borrowing guided by African music-making principles, African paraphrasing, and inspirational landscape painting. A brief history of Art Music in South Africa is provided, as is an overview of African musics and instruments. The analysis of each work considers African musical influences and their incorporation, while performance suggestions will also elucidate unique African aspects of the music.

Chopin’s Third Piano Sonata, Op. 58, is the largest solo work of his late period. Chopin’s successful combination of the Classical and the Romantic aesthetic, which is explored in Chapter 1, results in an effective balancing of structural integrity and emotional fulfillment. Every movement of Op. 58 possesses qualities of movements in a traditional sonata cycle; however, the tendency to blend structural elements, the expansion of thematic material, and the postponement of climaxes contribute to Chopin’s distinctive treatment of the sonata genre. The issue of late style in Chopin’s output has recently garnered considerable attention. Most writers focus on particular compositional techniques such as the blending of musical genres and the increasing importance of counterpoint and chromaticism. New expressive elements include manifestations of a dandified aesthetic as well as emotional lassitude. These discussions are primarily related to works in Chopin’s original genres, neglecting somewhat the Third Piano Sonata, Op. 58. The second chapter of this dissertation examines the elements of Chopin’s late style present in Op. 58, emphasizing the sonata’s first three movements. These aspects of late style include blurring of genres, complex use of chromaticism, intricacy of counterpoint, textural and thematic variety, dandified impertinence, emotional lassitude and polyvalence. The employment of late stylistic features within the sonata model results in formal ambiguities, which are particularly manifest in the first movement. Chapter 3 reconsiders the movement’s thematic boundaries and especially evaluates the juncture between development and recapitulation. In Chapter 4, the last movement’s indebtedness to Chopin’s balladic model is examined. The gradual intensification of the primary theme together with the presence of a characterizing theme and dancelike episode suggest a merging of Chopin’s balladic practice with rondo form to create an end-directed hybrid structure. This study not only encourages further research into the implications of Chopin’s late style for his larger forms but also increases the variety of interpretative choices available to performers through awareness of Chopin’s stylistic features. The final chapter suggests how insights into musical structure, style, and genre might inform performances of this sonata and how these possibilities relate to a selection of recorded performances.

This study utilized a combination of intrinsic and instrumental case studies to describe the experience of four dying persons and their significant relations, as they engaged in music therapy sessions designed with the goal of facilitating relationship completion. The four primary participants were inpatients of the Baycrest palliative care program who were diagnosed with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of less than six months. Two spouses who were involved in music therapy sessions were co-participants. I developed four case studies to represent each of the rich and detailed stories. Through the use of narrative research methods I was able to describe, interpret, and understand the complexity held within the multiple data sources that informed each case study. Data sources included: music created, utilized, recorded, and/or discussed in music therapy sessions; discussions during music therapy sessions; the researcher’s field notes; formal notes placed in the participant’s medical charts; the formal written assessment; transcriptions of audio-taped music therapy sessions; interviews; interview transcriptions; artistic pieces crafted by myself that emerged from the experiences of the participants as reflected in their interviews, and weekly participation in sessions which were verified by the participants; and other artistic material. The rich knowledge that emerged from the individual case studies informed a cross-case analysis where global themes were identified from a thematic analysis of participants’ experiences; and process motifs arising from the progression of participant engagement in music therapy are described. Global themes included: love; loss; gratitude; growth/transformation; courage/strength; and goodbye. The five process motifs that emerged were: (1) music therapy helps and was valued as a means of sharing the participants’ perceptions of their situation. (2) music therapy provides a safe place to become aware of, explore, and express feelings. (3) music enhances communication. (4) music therapy techniques provide creative avenues for self-expression. (5) music therapy provided a vehicle for revisiting and reminiscing. The thesis concludes with a summary of the knowledge revealed and a discussion of implications for music therapists and health care professionals, as well as a presentation of final thoughts and reflections on my role as researcher in this study.