The life and works of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) have been well documented. However, a comprehensive study concerning any of his nine works for piano and orchestra has not been undertaken. Among this prolific output, the Mômoprecóce, fantasie pour piano et orchestra, stands as a faithful representation of the composer's skillful orchestration, descriptive piano writing through the observation of a childhood universe, and his multi-faceted approach to nationalism. The fantasy is a through-composed arrangement of a previous solo piano suite by Villa-Lobos entitled, Carnaval das crianças brasileiras (Brazilian Children's Carnival, 1919). This research aims to investigate the historic, stylistic, and interpretative aspects of Mômoprecóce, while discussing the composer's unique usage of the piano through his innovative compositional techniques and comparison of the fantasy with his original solo piano suite. Current literature in English, Portuguese and French is thoroughly examined, discussed, evaluated, and cited. In addition I provide a formal analysis, an interpretative guide, and a sociological perspective into Brazilian carnival, as specifically applied to the performance of Mômoprecóce.

The twentieth century saw the spread of Western art music across the world as Western ideology and values acquired increasing dominance in the global order. How did this process occur in China, what complexities does it display and what are its distinctive features? This thesis aims to provide a detailed and coherent understanding of the Westernisation of Chinese music in the 20th century, focusing on the ever-changing relationship between music and social ideology and the rise and evolution of national identity as expressed in music. This thesis views these issues through three crucial stages: the early period of the 20th century which witnessed the transition of Chinese society from an empire to a republic and included China's early modernisation; the era from the 1930s to 1940s comprising the Japanese intrusion and the rising of the Communist power; and the decades of economic and social reform from 1978 onwards. The thesis intertwines the concrete analysis of particular pieces of music with social context and demonstrates previously overlooked relationships between these stages. It also seeks to illustrate in the context of the appropriation of Western art music how certain concepts acquired new meanings in their translation from the European to the Chinese context, for example modernity, Marxism, colonialism, nationalism, tradition, liberalism, and so on.

Dieter Schnebel's String Trio from 2007-2009 is a spatial sound composition that features unique visual components within a traditional string trio setting. This research provides performers and audiences a more thorough understanding of the String Trio and its evocative aesthetic qualities, by identifying and organizing the ways in which the visual and musical material interact. To provide context for String Trio, a brief overview of Schnebel's compositional style and influence on avant-garde musical trends of the latter half of the twentieth century is provided in chapter 2. Special consideration is given to his instrumental chamber music and works for string instruments. In chapter 3, the prior musical analysis and aesthetic context provides a basis for the many conceptual implications resulting from the incorporation of theatricality into a typically non-theatrical genre. The performers' roles within the ensemble and the ways in which they relate to one another as well as their audience, are illuminated and ultimately contribute to a deeper, enhanced experience of the piece. Expectations and traditional notions concerning formal, classical music etiquette are also explored through Schnebel's complex directional changes in orientation and unconventional utilization of the performance space.

This thesis examines organ reform in England between 1901 and 1965, an arena of practical music-making and intellectual and ideological debates in which a number of related practices surrounding the English organ – notably its scholarship, aesthetics of design, liturgical functions, native and foreign repertoires, including J. S. Bach’s organ music – played a central role in transforming the sound, design, and appearance of the instrument. Whilst influential musicians asserted that the English organ of the first half of the twentieth century was a great work of art, and survived in what could be termed ‘splendid isolation’ from Continental models, others contended that it lacked a logical relationship with more than a home-grown repertory. However, supporters of the English organ claimed that technological and tonal improvements made it the most perfect medium for Bach performance. It was a renewed interest in historical organs and repertory that exposed the limitations of cultural centrism, pointing to the English organ’s weakness as a point of departure for understanding its European repertory. This insistence paved the way for an enthusiastic reception of other organs, which, through their construction and new tonal qualities, won the favour of musicians who had found the English organ too limited and focused on a particular culture. The thesis allows historical actors to populate the discourse, revealing the diverse practices out of which a quest for reform emerged. As such the organ provides a fascinating and preliminary rehearsal case for what in the 1970s and 80s would be termed the early music revival.

This examination of my own works (presented largely in chronological order) and of related music by others, broadly concerns itself with appropriation and allusion on the part of twentieth and twenty-first century composers. It considers how the deliberate synthesis of existing works affects the responding composers' own output. To this end, whether surveying my own music or others', I do so within a four-pronged framework: 1. The philosophical premise and aesthetic of pieces which somehow appropriate existing composition (as claimed overtly by the composer, or inferred from available research). 2. The compositional procedure and techniques employed in the process of composing works which allude to or synthesise other pieces. 3. The product resulting from the interaction of the above two factors (naturally the latter is more concrete). 4. Critics' and scholars' responses: the basic phenomenology of the allusive element, synthesis, or stylistic appropriation, and the ethical problems surrounding any appropriation. My analyses address one or more of these connected points. They raise a number of significant questions. Is synthesis and re-composition (the latter taken to be more specifically referential) affective or effective? That is to say, is it aesthetically prescriptive? Can composers manage to quarantine 'Les objets trouvés' from their individual practice? Of interest are composers with individual credibility as innovators, whose craft is its own defence against criticism on dogmatic grounds. I consider what is to be gained, in terms of technique, and in terms of developing an aesthetic, from the process of specifically engaging with other pieces, and explore the effects of differing methods of synthesis as compared across compositional practices.

The purpose of this thesis is to trace the history of the trumpet in chamber music through the first half of the 20th century. It aims to discuss the technical advances in the instrument and demonstrate the importance of the trumpet in this medium. Chamber music is defined, in this thesis, as all serious instrumental music for two or more instruments played with one instrument to a part. The selections have been chosen on the basis of recognized merit of the composer, the variety of instrumentation, and the availability of music.

The aim of this thesis is to explore life, works and pedagogical benefits of the Russian composer Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky. I would also like to focus on children's piano instructive literature by D. Kabalevsky because it is very appreciative recitative methodological material widely used at elementary schools of art. The thesis also includes a methodological analysis of instructive compositions, formal analysis of piano sonatas and concertos aesthetic analysis.

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1 Abstract This Master's thesis presents the first look into the music of Scottish-Czech composer Geraldine Mucha (1917-2012) which has never been subject to academic study before. I characterize her compositional style and musical language, as well as their development over time, by analyzing four orchestral compositions written between the 1940s and 1980s - Overture to Tempest, Piano Concerto, Suite from the ballet Macbeth and John Webster Songs. In the thesis, I am also introducing the - in Czech musicological context entirely unknown - discourse on the issue of musical analysis of pieces written by women composers and I critically explore its different strands of thought. When possible, I examine the selected pieces by using Ellie M. Hisama's theoretical model which claims that in women's music, evidence may be found that provides information about their specific female experience in the patriarchal world.

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