abstract: This project details specific placement and usage of the Clara motive in Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe. The analysis categorizes the motive according to its different shapes and relationships to the poetry in Dichterliebe. Four main permutations of the motive are discussed in great detail: the original motive, inverted motive, retrograde motive, and retrograde inverted motive. Schumann (1810–1856) composed more than 160 vocal works in 1840, commonly referred to as his Liederjahr. At the time, Schumann and Clara Wieck (1819–1896) were planning to marry, despite the objections of her father Friedrich Wieck (1785–1873). Robert was inspired to write Dichterliebe because of the happiness-and anxiety-surrounding his love for Clara, and the difficulties leading to their impending marriage. Schumann used the Clara motive (C-Bb-A-G#-A), which incorporates the letters of her name, throughout the song cycle in special moments as a tool of musical expression that alludes to his future wife. Eric Sams (1926–2004), a specialist of German Lieder, has made significant contributions to the research of the Clara motive in Schumann’s music (through his book The Songs of Robert Schumann). However, research into specific locations and transformations of the Clara motive within the Dichterliebe are still insufficient. A further awareness of the Clara motive’s inner working is intended to help performers interpret this song cycle. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2019

This essay offers an English translation of Elementos de Musica e Methodo de Tocar Piano Forte (Elements of Music and Method of Playing the Piano-Forte), op. 19, by the Portuguese composer-pianist João Domingos Bomtempo (1775-1842). His method, the first of its kind written by a Portuguese national, was published in 1816 by Clementi & Co. in London. Bomtempo later rewrote his book, expanding its scope, but the second version survives only as an unfinished manuscript. My translation presents both versions of this instructional work in a single text, distinguishing the contents according to the two sources, with the aim of providing a comprehensive view of Bomtempo’s piano pedagogy. This is the first English translation of Bomtempo’s method. A short biography and critical notes regarding philological and musicological matters clarify ambiguities and contextualize this work within its historical period.

Jody Nagel completed his first piano concerto in 2005. I will discuss technical challenges within the piece and practice techniques to overcome these challenges so that one can perform the work successfully. I cover fingering, pedaling, texture, character, and harmonic issues. I also give performance advice to make the orchestral reduction more pianistic while still honoring the orchestra’s influence within the work.

This thesis explores the eleven solo piano nocturnes by living American composer Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), to serve as a performer's guide. Characteristics of previous nocturnes provide historical context for Liebermann's pieces, illustrating similarities to the style developed by John Field, Frédéric Chopin, and Gabriel Fauré. Other musical influences on Liebermann, such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Ferruccio Busoni, demonstrate his relationship to the Western art music tradition and placement within the canon. Four distinct facets of Liebermann's musical style are presented: his reliance on traditional formal practices, motivic coherence, his particular harmonic vocabulary, and his use of texture. Liebermann's works use consonant triads, third relations, and smooth voice leading; because of these features, Neo-Riemannian models are suggested as a potential lens through which to view and analyze these pieces. In particular, hexatonic systems and their depiction of the musically "uncanny" relate to how Liebermann's music can have a sort of "defamiliarizing" and destabilizing effect on the listener. The salient musical features of motivic coherence, harmonic relationships, and formal innovations within tradition are presented for each nocturne alongside descriptions of musical character, to capture the essence and spirit contained within the works. The pieces verge on the fantastic and the rhapsodic, demonstrating Liebermann's imaginative approach to tradition. By utilizing a harmonic language that both synthesizes gestures of the past with a rich history of suggestive emotional content, and that innovates with a more modern and dissonant sensibility, Lowell Liebermann has achieved a distinctive musical vocabulary that captures the poetic and dark essence of nocturnes.

No description available.

The purpose of this essay is to provide a guide to the published solo piano works of Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). Sibelius wrote more than 150 compositions for piano; yet, these are little known and are rarely performed. Through this project, Sibelius’s solo piano literature, currently unknown to many pianists and piano teachers, will become more accessible. The first chapter will provide biographical information about Sibelius, the second chapter will deal with the compositional style and historical background of his piano works, and the third chapter will be the guide to his published works for solo piano. The guide of each piece will include a brief stylistic overview, available publications, the length, the key, and leveling suggestions based on Maurice Hinson’s grading system from Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. This essay serves the purpose of encouraging the study, practice, and performance of the solo piano works by Sibelius. Although his piano compositions follow the tradition of 19th-century Romanticism especially that of Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms, the influence of Finnish folk traditions makes his music distinctive from other Romantic composers. This guide will provide pianists and piano teachers access to important information regarding each of his pieces.

Most pianists and music scholars consider Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy his most virtuosic piano work. The piece was written in November 1822 when the composer was twenty-five. By that time, Schubert was known for his lieder and some four-hand piano works, which were written in a very lyrical style. In comparison to these works, the Fantasy was written with a demanding technique requiring a richer, orchestral sound. The technical demands of the Wanderer Fantasy at times cause pianists to injure their arms. Even if this does not happen, the instrument, nonetheless, can sound harsh. This type of thick texture may have prompted Robert Schumann's comments in his 1828 review of the Fantasy (M.J.E. Brown, Schubert, A Critical Biography [London: Macmillan & Co., 1958], 124.): Schubert would like, in this work, to condense the whole orchestra into two hands... This essay will address two main subjects: first, the Fantasy will be considered from an orchestral perspective with reference to Schubert's own symphonic writing; second, this essay will seek to assist the pianist in producing a better sound, as well as avoiding injury. It is this essay's thesis that Schubert, when composing the Wanderer Fantasy, was actually constructing an orchestral plan under the guise of a piano score. In order to analyze Schubert's orchestral writing, this essay will be divided into four chapters. Chapter one will offer the historical background of the Wanderer Fantasy, chapter two will discuss Schubert as a symphonist as well as the Unfinished Symphony, which was written only two weeks before the Fantasy. Chapter three, based on the parallel orchestral elements found in the Unfinished Symphony piano sketch, will discuss the relationship between the piano sketch of the Symphony and the Wanderer Fantasy. Following this comparative analysis, chapter three will also offer practical performance suggestions based on previously discussed orchestral elements for the pianist. Chapter four presents conclusions offered by the author. The conclusions reached in this essay are presented in the hope that they will assist the pianist to achieve a more meaningful performance when performing the Wanderer Fantasy.

Music for Flute and Piano is a determinate composition for these two instruments. The technique used consists of serial saturations of pitch and rhythm as a starting point; however, the end result departed from strict adherence to serial procedure toward an intuitive variation of an 'A' and 'B' theme. A Script for Violinist incorporates determinacy and indeterminacy into a score; it is an exploration of violin idioms made 'in the moment,' capturing the many possibilities of bowing, fingering, and timing that become individualized by the performer.

In 1923, American composer and pianist, Henry Cowell (1897-1965) gave his first highly successful concert tour of Europe, playing his own unique compositions. This thesis details this tour and discusses its impact. Considering the enormous impact of Cowell’s tour, it has only been discussed briefly. Cowell performed in many European cities, especially in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London, achieving positive reviews and some notoriety. I discuss how and why he created such an impact, not only during the tour but also immediately following it, in relation to musical life in Europe and the differences between his piano music and the piano music that was being heard at the time. On his tour, Cowell showcased many new piano techniques he had invented, some of which he had discussed in his treatise New Musical Resources (1919). His clusters, string-piano technique and to some degree, his experiments with time and metre, were very new and influenced later generations of composers. His music created such passionate responses from the Europeans that when he returned to America, attitudes towards him and his music had changed for the better. In Europe, Cowell was also impressed by the various societies and publications devoted to new music and as a result he founded, in America, the New Music Society and the publication New Musical Quarterly. These promoted mostly American composers devoted to avant-garde developments in music, providing the foundation for the development of American music.

The Federal education system has 12 nationally accredited and portable qualifications issued by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) which cover three sectors; Higher Education, Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Schools. A mandatory minimum bachelor qualification together with education units, state registration and ongoing professional development is imposed for all classroom music teachers. In direct contrast, however, Australian studio piano teachers and school instrumental teachers may or may not have formal qualifications, registration with professional associations, or ongoing professional development. All teachers must be registered with State registration boards for Working With Children (WWC) but no monitoring controls exist for studio teachers. Qualifications are available from public examination boards, private enterprises and state Music Teacher Associations (MTAs) but these are not recognised within the national system and consequently have no status or portability, although they are used and recommended within the industry and higher education institutions as course prerequisites. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether a National Accreditation System (NAS) for Australian studio piano teachers could be a viable system, adding unprecedented professionalism to the field and drawing upon the existing systems of government, private industry and educational institutions. In the thesis, current systems of accreditation, education and training available for classroom music teachers, school instrumental music teachers and other recognised professions such as lawyers, engineers, accountants, health professionals and sports coaches were reviewed as a comparative basis upon which to assess similar contexts for studio piano teachers. Results are combined with a survey of Australian piano teachers' perceptions, from which the study ascertained the extent to which studio piano teachers' needs were being catered for and met in available systems of accreditation and training.