This dissertation explores the creative process in large-scale jazz ensemble works that are programmatic in depicting geographical locations. This is achieved through analyses of Gil Evans's Sketches of Spain, Chuck Owen's River Runs: A Concerto for Jazz Guitar, Saxophone, & Orchestra, and Aaron Hedenstrom's Sketches of Minnesota. Each work is examined using five analytical categories: orchestration, large-scale form, harmonic/melodic development, programmatic framework, and use of featured soloists. The analyses draw from musical scores, interviews, biographies, recordings, and articles to reveal more about each composer's artistic intentions. This study contributes to the broader knowledge of large-ensemble jazz works and programmatic jazz works. This research meets the need for more critical analyses of important jazz ensemble works relevant to composers, arrangers, and scholars.

Since the 18th century, composers have utilized the symphony to communicate thoughts and ideas through the vehicle of a large ensemble composed of a variety of instrumental colors. Though the structure of the symphony has understandably been subject to the varied interpretations of composers over the past 300 years, several characteristics of the traditional symphony do seem to have stood the test of time. In this document, the recent developments of the American symphony for wind band is discussed, focusing on the ways in which recent works both adhere to and divert from the traditional understanding of the classical symphonic form and highlighting the resurgence of the form by wind band composers. For the purposes of this study, David Dzubay's Symphony No. 2: Through a Glass Darkly, James Stephenson's Symphony No. 2: Voices, Donald Grantham's Symphony No. 2: After Hafiz, and Kevin Walczyk's Symphony No. 4: Unforsaken are used to demonstrate how each composer writes in their own unique style using contemporary techniques, while still appearing to maintain traditional aspects of the symphonic form, whether consciously or subconsciously. For each of the four works, a structural analysis is conducted using a rubric of standard symphonic norms. Additionally, interviews were conducted with each composer, providing insight on their compositional process, the commissioning process, and their thoughts on the symphonic form for wind band. The responses each composer gave during their interviews is incorporated into the analysis of each work, allowing the composer's own voice to supplement the findings.

Mario Lavista (b. 1943) is a dominant figure in Mexican classical music. In the second half of the twentieth century, he promoted the use of contemporary techniques, leading to a series of collaborations with expert instrumentalists to explore extended techniques. Marsias for Oboe and Crystal Glasses is one of those pieces. Due to the nature of contemporary techniques, different oboes and reed styles produce different effects with the same fingerings. This document analyzes the contemporary fingerings in the two published editions of the work in consideration of the long-scrape reed style and oboes commonly used in the United States. The contemporary techniques were played on twelve professional oboe models as a way to collect data on how the printed fingerings work. The data is the foundation for the performance guide, which details every contemporary technique in the work. The performance guide also provides comprehensive information about the crystal glass logistics. The document also presents an electronic accompaniment created with Max/MSP in the event that the crystal glasses or crystal glass players are unavailable.

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This paper presents a detailed comparative analysis of four important settings of Ophelia's song texts from Shakespeare's Hamlet composed by Brahms, Strauss, Chausson, and Pasatieri. Each of the first three represents a different facet of song composition during the period 1873-1919. The "Five Songs of Ophelia" by Brahms recall the simplicity of Volkslied. Strauss's "Drei Lieder der Ophelia" assume a more complex and formal demeanor, while Chausson's setting, "Chanson d'Ophelie," demonstrates French preoccupation with setting the natural speech rhythms of language. Pasatieri's "Ophelia's Lament," from 1975, uses operatic gestures within the context of piano-accompanied song. An interview with Pasatieri which defines this song as monodrama is transcribed in the appendix.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 S335 / Master of Music / Music, Theatre, and Dance

Although Louis Moreau Gottschalk's works are not generally recognized as being exceptionally significant in the development of musical style, they do serve as a link between the music of Frederic Chopin and that of Charles Ives. Certain stylistic characteristics of Chopin are seen in many of Gottschalk's works, especially those which incorporate "Scherzo" and "Mazurka" passages. Simultaneously, Gottschalk's concept of using popular tunes as prominent melodies and themes was later expanded by Charles Ives. Gottschalk's works include some of America's first experimentations with form through utilization and expansion of the basic form of ABA Coda. Through his use of varied ABA form with repeated and parallel passages, Gottschalk developed his particular style of phrasing, texture, and rhythm, all of which figure prominently in his works. Four pieces are examined with these concepts as the basis for analysis.

When Alberto Ginastera's oeuvre is viewed as a whole, an essential continuity between compositional ideas often appears in different works. This is especially apparent in the three piano sonatas, where each sonata represents an evolution and a condensation of ideas occurring in the previous one. The evolution of ideas throughout the three sonatas takes place through two primary processes. The first is a shift in cultural focus from reliance on Ibero-American material in the first sonata (1952) to Amerindian in the second (1981), to a synthesis of the two cultural elements in the third (1982). The second means of evolution from sonata to sonata is through a process of symmetrization. Along with constructions using symmetrical scales, material in each of the three sonatas is subjected to various symmetrical procedures which correspond musically to basic geometric symmetry types or operations (bilateral, rotational, and translatory, for instance). The decreasing number of movements evidences a negative dilatation of material, moving from four movements in the first sonata to three in the second, to one in the third. In each case, corresponding material from the previous sonata is integrated into the following sonata. Both independently and as a group the three piano sonatas exhibit "invariance under a transformation."