The musical trilogy Oresteia (1894, revised 1900), written by Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915) after the eponymous drama by Aeschylus, is a unique work, one of the masterpieces of Russian opera, which continues to stand alone in the Russian operatic repertoire of the nineteenth century, and even the entire Russian operatic output. No other composer in Russia completed an opera of this kind based on a Greek drama, and in Europe, only Berlioz's Les Troyens could be compared to Oresteia in scope. At a time when Russian composers based their operas predominantly on Russian sources-literary, folk, or historical-Taneyev's choice of an antique tragedy immediately placed him outside the 'nationalist' genre explored by his colleagues. Oresteia is an opera very rarely performed, and this thesis sheds light on the possible reasons why it did not becomes more successful on the stage. These include the classical subject, lack of local colour in the music, absence of love element, and unsympathetic first revival. But while in 1895 Oresteia was criticised for not bowing to nationalist demands, in 1917 such an approach was considered to be one of the opera's strongest points. This thesis is based on examination of primary and secondary sources such as letters, diaries, manuscripts, the score, and the 1976 recording of Oresteia by the Belorussian State Theatre of Opera and Ballet. A number of archival materials relating to Taneyev's opera are here published for the first time, such as the correspondence between Taneyev and his librettist Aleksey Venkstern, which has been neglected for over a century. The study of these materials addresses several issues pertaining to the opera's composition, production, stage history and reception that have not been investigated before, such as Taneyev's interest in Wagner, and Taneyev's collaboration with the Russian Imperial Theatres. Taneyev's diaries show that, although he has often been viewed as a staunch anti-Wagnerian, his interest in that composer was extensive and serious, as demonstrated by the presence of Wagnerian influences in Oresteia. The link between Taneyev and Wagner contributes to a greater understanding of Wagner's reception in nineteenth-century Russia. Finally, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of the workings of Russian Imperial Theatres and their treatment of Russian composers. It also offers new insights into the critical reception of operas that did not fit into the desirable and popular 'nationalistic' category. The history of the reception of Oresteia reveals the changing tastes of both public and critics from the end of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth centuries.

Provincial English Anglican and nonconformist church music, commonly known as psalmody, underwent profound changes during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In 1700 the music in most parish churches was limited to a few unaccompanied metrical psalm tunes, sung slowly and unrhythmically by an apathetic congregation. Attempts at reform led to the introduction of organs and choirs of charity children in towns, and to the growth of a florid, distinctive style of vernacular music in less affluent rural areas. This was often composed and taught by itinerant singing masters and was Performed by a mixed group of singers and instrumentalists. It continued to flourish in country parishes until it was gradually ousted by the Oxford Movement in the mid nineteenth century. Similar developments occurred later in nonconformity with more congregational participation. This thesis discusses the available musical and literary sources and places psalmody in its historical and musical context,before tracing developments within the Anglican and nonconformist traditions. The organisation, size and vocal range of choirs is considered but the main focus is on the use of voices and instruments. The problems of the correct allocation of parts is investigated in some detail, because this has important: performance implications and was further complicated when instruments began to be introduced in the later 1700s. The scoring of large-scale instrumental pieces is also analysed. Finally, the didactic introductions of psalmody tune books are examined since,until the mid eighteenth century,they provided essential performance instructions on tempi, dynamics,ornamentation and voice production. The main purpose, of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of psalmody during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, in order to inform modern performance and to provide evidence that will stimulate further research. A music anthology and two CDs containing music recordings and a database are included.

There is a clear and abundant evidence to suggest that Vasílis Tsitsánis (1915-1984) was a well known songwriter, bouzouki virtuoso, lyricist and singer both in Greece and abroad. The evaluation of his work reveals that he remains a key figure in the history of Greek popular music. Vasílis Tsitsánis as musician and composer was an innovator, his musical roots in rembétiko being transformed through his creative effort is said to have led to the development and establishment of the modern laikó style. An analysis of Vasílis Tsitsánis's commercial recordings does indeed reveal aspects of his unique contribution as both performer and composer. However, the analysis also reveals the development of a style that was to have a major impact on the history of Greek popular music. Situating Tsitsánis's work in the context of broader social and political developments in Greece, this thesis is the first in-depth analysis of Tsitsánis's musical style with a focus on songs found on his commercial recordings, from 1936 to 1983. Research on the recording career of Vasílis Tsitsánis not only reveals information regarding his own music, which is in itself important alone given the contribution he is said to have made by rembétiko scholars, it also sheds light on more general issues regarding the Greek popular style that have been previously neglected.

Although the British twentieth-century composer William Walton enJoys a continuing presence in the international canon, the body of scholarship that seriously engages with his life and work is small. The post-war music, which includes the Cello Concerto (1956), Second Symphony (1961), Variations on a Theme of Hindemith (1963), Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten (1969), and the film score for Battle of Britain (1969), has been particularly underrepresented in critical and analytical writing. In this thesis, I give detailed analyses of these scores, alongside an investigation of the contemporary critical climate and reception history of these works. I argue that the series of significant lifestyle changes that Walton underwent in the years immediately following the Second World War - including exchanging the busy musical life of London and a series of affairs with high-profile figures for the 'dolce far niente' of an isolated Italian island and a stable marriage - are suggestive of a broad shift in the composer's social and cultural values with consequent changes in musical attitudes and compositional tendencies. Walton's later music is differentiated from the pre-war works by the presence of octatonic, twelve-note, hexatonic and other non-diatonic harmonic constructions in the foreground, and a change from teleological to network-based or rotational background structures. My analyses adopt a deliberately eclectic range of analytical strategies, combining aspects of set-class approaches alongside tools from the tonal tradition. This methodological pluralism reflects my argument that the vitality of these scores derives from a tension between modernist and traditional tendencies. I argue that Walton appropriates a wide range of influences, including to some extent that of the European avant garde, in contradistinction to the assertion prominent in contemporary reception literature that his music had stagnated into a single outmoded and rarefied style. I conclude that although Walton's post-war music was indeed conservative in comparison to that of several of his younger contemporaries, his music engages, through opposition and assimilation, with many of the most characteristic trends of twentieth-century concert music. Nevertheless, I argue that the temptation to label Walton as a 'modernist' should be avoided; his works should be judged on their own terms and not according to the regressive--progressive axis prominent in much of the contemporary reception literature. These scores may not have been progressive, but they have a distinctive sound-world and an invigorating vitality that makes them exceptionally engaging both as works of art and objects of study.

After the Restoration, English musical life underwent a considerable change. Although a great deal of early seventeenth-century music, such as fantasia suites, remained in circulation both inside and outside the court, a new instrumental genre from Italy gained immense popularity. The Italian trio sonata eventually came to occupy a prominent position in English musical life and, when at the turn of the century the prints of Corelli's music arrived, it almost swept away any kind of English instrumental music. However, when and how the sonata was introduced into England is still not fully understood. The main aim of this dissertation is to understand how the sonata was introduced and received in England and to understand its influence on English sonata composers during the latter part of the seventeenth century. Thus, this dissertation first considers the background to the introduction of trio sonatas and the seventeenthcentury English music collections containing them in an attempt to assess their currency and dissemination in English musical circles. The remainder of this dissertation primarily deals with English trio sonatas written either abroad or in England. Musical examples are given to illustrate their musical style and to demonstrate how they are influenced by the Italian sonata. Physical evidence of manuscripts is cited to offer a chronology of English trio sonatas. The last part of the study focuses on Corelli's music and his influence on English music, which continued throughout the eighteenth century, in order to understand the importance of its contribution to music-making in England.

The twentieth-century harpsichord has an unusual history: coming out of oblivion at the end of the nineteenth century, it was given a new lease of life, but at the same time acquired a mistaken identity. This thesis examines, from the perspective of the harpsichordist, the two types of harpsichord prominent in the musical mainstream in the twentieth century, and specific pieces written for both between 1960 and 1990. The two types of instrument under discussion are (1) the modern pedal harpsichord modelled after the instrument tailor-made for Wanda Lartdowska and (2) the historical instrument which emerged and proliferated in the latter part of the twentieth century. In particular it focuses on the two different types of music composed for the two instruments, starting with Maurice Ohana's Carillons pour les heures du jour et de la nuit (1960), written for the modern pedal harpsichord, through Gyorgy Ligeti's Continuum (1968), also written for the pedal instrument, to two ensemble pieces including the historical harpsichord: Chiel Meijering's n'Dame scheert haar benen (1981) for harpsichord and guitar, Ton Bruynes Schrootsonate (1990) for harpsichord and soundtracks, and Iannis Xenakis's Khoar, for the modern pedal instrument. Finally, it examines Elliott Carter's Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras (1961), the most elaborate harpsichord work to date. The detailed analyses encompass a flexible but consistent methodology, drawing on the experience of the performer to elucidate the different ways different composers have related to the different characteristics of the two types of harpsichord. The thesis concludes by summarising the development of harpsichord repertoire from 1960, making inferences from the foregoing discussion, and commenting on the possibility of continuing development of harpsichord repertoire in the twentieth-first century.

The flute consort was popular for music-making in civilian society from about the second quarter of the sixteenth century, especially in Germany and France where the main sources of music and instruction books were published between about 1520 and 1560. Prior to the development of the consort, the flute was primarily played by Swiss and German soldiers, in a duo with a large drum. Their presence on the battlefield and playing for court entertainments can be documented from around 1470, and it would appear that their presence at court provided the impetus for civilian players to take up the flute and transform it to an instrument for soft chamber music. An introductory chapter deals with the instrument itself, describing its design features, surviving instruments, a short background history of the flute in the years leading up to the fifteenth century, and the names by which the so-called ‘Renaissance flute’ was known. Chapter 2 examines the contexts and activities of the Swiss and German military flautists, their movement into the courts of Europe, and the subsequent development of the flute consort, through a study of Swiss chronicles, court and city documents and payment records, pictures and musical sources. Chapter 3 follows the rise and development of flute consort playing in Germany and France ca. 1520 -1560; I have focused on this period in these two countries, because the main sources of consort music and instruction books were published there. Relevant activities of Swiss flutes and flute consorts in other European centres supplement the discussion. Chapter 4 is devoted to an analysis of historic playing techniques. Important original source materials have been studied and interpreted, including some seventeenth-century treatises which indicate the survival of sixteenth-century playing techniques. Instruction books, along with evidence from surviving instruments, music and other written documents have made it possible to create a comprehensive method for playing the Renaissance flute.

This thesis examines the notion of 'music-theatre as music' in its relation to myth. It is provided as an indispensable tool of critical commentary for the accompanying performances (that are included in the submission in DVD documentation) and as an in-depth analysis of the issues that relate to the concepts at hand. In the context of this project, the term 'music-theatre as music' is understood as a music-theatre that derives musical strategies of organisation in the composition of 'all theatrical means' (Lehmann 2006: 91) from music-centric conceptual models. Initially based on the connection that Levi-Strauss draws between myth and music, the research explores alternative ways that the affinity between the two domains can be used in the creation of 'music-theatre as music' performances. In the first performance Clastocysm (2007), the project examines practically the idea of structuring and performing mythical fragments based on the notion of the 'continuum' (which is presented as an alternative to Levi-Strauss' 'binary'). In the second performance Metax; ALogon (2008), the idea of binaries in the musico-theatrical investigation of this relationship (between myth and music) is problematized through the conceptualisation of music as that which creates 'a diagonal [ ... ] between the harmonic vertical and the melodic horizon' (Deleuze and Guattari 2007: 327). This is an idea which is based on Deleuze and Guattari's notion of music as a 'becoming'. Accordingly, through the creation of a rhizomatic performance and the analysis thereof, the research project investigates how we can re-conceptualise the relationship between myth and music through the notion of the 'becoming' in the making of a 'music-theatre as music' performance which is inspired from a mythical text.

The British provinces enjoyed a vibrant musical culture in the eighteenth century. Music was a pleasurable leisure and communal activity pursued by many from across the social spectrum. The ‘urban renaissance’ (Peter Borsay) and ‘commercialisation of leisure’ (J. H. Plumb) meant recreational activities became readily available to the middle and professional classes in provincial towns and cities. One of the principal ways in which people experienced music was through domestic music-making. Its growing popularity went in hand with the vast quantity of music composed and published with amateurs in mind. By the second half of the eighteenth century, professional music-making was increasingly brought to provincial public venues such as assembly rooms, parish churches and theatres. This project explores this thriving context through the investigation of the musical interests, activities and networks of members of the provincial population in eighteenthcentury Yorkshire. Through the examination of a range of newly identified primary sources, including contemporary diaries, personal correspondence, account books and autograph music manuscripts, a wealth of information is uncovered which enriches our understanding of social and musical life in the British provinces. Among the individuals examined include the amateur musicians Edward Finch (1663-1738), a clergyman at York Minster, and John Courtney (1734-1806), a gentleman who resided in Beverley. Edward Miller (1735-1807), a professional musician who worked in Doncaster, is presented as an example of how a provincial occupational musician was able to pursue a successful career. It will be demonstrated how listening to, composing and performing music was an important element of their individual identities, and, more widely, how music shaped contemporary provincial society and culture in the region.

This study examines sets of original English performing material for concerted music – for instruments and voices together – during the period c.1660 to 1800. Sets of original performing materials have been neglected as sources despite the advantages they offer over full scores in some respects, and as a resource in both historical and performance practice studies despite the wealth of information they offer on a diverse range of subjects. These include creative practices in the early musical ode; ensemble size and composition and patterns of instrument use in late seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century concerted music; seventeenth- and eighteenth century copying practices and data on copyists; and ensemble-leading practice. Parts can also include notated examples of ‘free’ ornamentation such as cadenzas and data such as names of performers. A series of case studies examines the performing sets of the Oxford Music School of 1660 to c.1713, under the successive professorships of Edward Lowe and Richard Goodson senior; the surviving performing parts linked to G. F. Handel, and other eighteenth-century performing sets for his music; the parts for the court odes of William Boyce; and the performing sets for Boyce’s other works. Changes in both the physical appearance of the sets and the copying processes that produced them, and in the performance practice they reveal, such as ensemble size and patterns of woodwind use, are tracked throughout the period.