Samba has been prominently featured in Brazilian films since the middle of the twentieth century, both as (in the form of diegetic music) an object of filmic narration, i.e. part of the portrayal of Brazilian life and culture, and as non-diegetic music, a means of importing and creating meanings about the world portrayed in a film. The way Brazilian films present and use samba not only builds upon the history of the music and the cultural and social meanings it has acquired and developed throughout that history; it also perpetuates, contextualises, develops, and sometimes criticises those meanings. This dissertation analyses how the use of samba in the soundtracks of selected Brazilian and foreign films from 1940 to 2011 can - intentionally or unintentionally - influence the way the films depict, contextualise, interpret and evaluate social, cultural and political features of contemporary Brazil, such as religion, class and national identity. The identification of the social, cultural and political features of Brazil is mainly based on the three samba genres proposed by Claudia Matos (1982) in her book Acertei no Milhar. the samba lirico-amoroso, the samba apologetico-nacionalista and the samba malandro. The soundtrack analyses of the six films The Three Caballeros (1944), Rio Zona Norte (1957), Orfeu Negro (1959), Cidade de Deus (2002), Tropa de Elite (2007) and Tropa de Elite: 0 Inimigo Agora E Outro (2010) explore how these samba genres are exposed. Selected scenes of other movies such as Saludos Amigos (1943), Carandiru (2003) and Rio (2011), as well as the theatrical movie trailer of Wall-E (2008), are also analysed to support the findings of the dissertation. The semiotic interpretations of the instances of samba in these films aim to illuminate their subtexts and wider cultural and social meanings, whether intentional or unintentional. Keywords: Afro-Brazilians, batuque, Brazil, Brazilian films, Brazilian hip-hop, Brazilian history, Brazilian syncopation, bossa nova, Carmem Miranda, carnava/, cinema novo, chanchadas, cultural cannibalism, ethnomusicology, favela, film scoring, funk carioca, Getulio Vargas, Good Neighbor policy, interpretative communities, intertextuality, jeitinho brasileiro, ma/andros, minor cinema, military dictatorship, music quotes, national identity, otarios, popular music, pre-existing music, racial democracy, retomada, samba, sambistas, seman a de arte moderna, semiotics, soundtracks, tia ciata, tropicalia, whitening ideal.

Frescobaldi's instrumental canzonas have remained largely ignored or misjudged. Where modern editors have transcribed from one of the three editions in which they originally appeared in 1628 (two editions) and 1634 they have for the most part either ignored the substantial differences that exist in the three texts, or muddled them. The present study includes a comparative edition which gives precedence to the text of the 1634 publication but also includes, either in full or in summary, the differing readings of the two earlier prints. In the introductory study the instrumental canzonas are placed in three contexts: that of contemporary instrumental music, that of Frescobaldi's keyboard music with particular reference to the variation technique of the keyboard canzonas, and that of the stylistic change evident in the keyboard music published in the years immediately preceding and following the three editions of the instrumental canzonas. The study of aspects of the instrumental canzonas themselves endeavours to survey the whole corpus with particular reference to compositional techniques, revisions, texture and ensemble, and their relationship to the keyboard canzonas.

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The sonata for violin and basso continuo was one of the most popular instrumental genres in early eighteenth-century Europe, as is clearly evident from the numerous works by Italian, German and French composers of the period, whose contributions are widely known and documented. Violin sonatas by British-born composers of the period, on the other hand, have largely been neglected by scholars and performers and no systematic examination of this repertoire has thus far been conducted. The present thesis attempts to contextualise this rich and fascinating repertoire and view it holistically. It aims to contribute substantially to knowledge about the British violin sonata during the period and enhance our understanding of its function, content, dissemination and performance. Fifteen collections of sonatas for violin and continuo written by British-born composers in the first half of the eighteenth century have been selected for detailed analysis. These works have been examined from two different perspectives: as social phenomena and as aesthetic objects. Following relevant introductory materials contextualising the research, the first part of this thesis presents biographical accounts of the selected composers, their careers and musical environment, and the circumstances surrounding the publication and distribution of their sonatas. In Part II the sonatas under scrutiny are analysed in terms of their external designs and internal forms, tonal scope, and harmonic and melodic vocabulary, as well as their technical demands. Technical discussion focuses on issues such as range requirements, position-work and shifting, fingering, bowing, articulation, embellishment, dynamics, and chordal playing.

Since Astor Piazzolla’s death in 1992, his 6 Tango-Etudes pour flûte seule (1987) have quickly entered the flute oeuvre to become standard Western ‘classical’ concert repertoire, despite their association with tango as the core of their musical style. Though Piazzolla’s music has much musical appeal abroad, performative differences exist between ‘foreign’ and Argentinean musical interpretations of the tango – and by extension to the performance of this score – due to various misappropriations of both the notation and the cultural background, which have often been used to suggest an ‘authentic’ reading. As a way to bridge the gap between the two styles, the current tango performance literature largely focuses on didactic, imitative approaches to the genre, with only limited discussion of how various essential cultural references might pragmatically influence an interpretation of Piazzolla’s published repertoire. This thesis addresses ways in which the ‘authentic’ has been constructed in the tango genre in a variety of contexts both in Argentina and abroad, and how this understanding can suggest a new reading of the score of Piazzolla’s 6 Etudes. Current discussions from the field of (ethno)musicology as well as other disciplines within the social sciences are incorporated. The quantitative approaches used draw upon a wide range of performance analyses for understanding Piazzolla’s own performances, and those from tango and western players. The author’s field work in Buenos Aires and experience as a conservatoire-trained flautist is combined with various qualitative discourse analyses. Initial concepts of what constitutes a pure cultural setting of Piazzolla’s scores are challenged, and then expanded from current viewpoints to include various vital cultural practices inseparable from the notation. New approaches to the interpretational processes that are currently found to exist among western flautists when performing this work are pragmatically demonstrated so as to encourage fresh renditions of not only the 6 Etudes, but also Piazzolla’s other compositions from the same period.

This thesis is the result of practice-based research concerning the analysis and performance of solo recorder repertoire composed during the 1990s. Its purpose is to demonstrate that recorder music can support critical scrutiny, and that knowledge gained from analysis can develop a deeper understanding of the rational and empirical aspects of both structure and content, leading to compelling performances governed by, and reflecting, informed choices. This work includes a catalogue of solo pieces for the recorder composed during the 1990s, totalling 326 items, from which five have been selected for detailed analysis and performance. They are by: Peter Crossley-Holland; Calliope Tsoupaki; Donald Bousted; Gerhard Braun, and Maki Ishii. These pieces have been contextualised with reference to some of the important aesthetic concepts prevalent in the 1990s, particularly those regarding conservative and progressive ideas. Three methods of analysis have been used for the repertoire in focus: structural, paradigmatic, and parametric, leading to an understanding of the compositional process at both macro and micro levels. The repertoire demands a vast range of instrumental techniques, many rediscovered from historical treatises as much as from avant-garde style experimentation, including microtones, percussive, and vocalized sounds, providing a serious challenge to both the performer and the instrument. Each is discussed within the context of the selected pieces. The effects of globalisation at the end of the twentieth century are evidenced in the selected composers' use of ideas from many cultures, including historical references to early Western music, as well as to those of Japan and Indonesia. Specific references are made to Derrida and 'différance', and the influence of the Japanese aesthetic and structural principles of 'wabi sabi' and 'jo ha kyū'.