No description available.

This recital seeks to explore the various ways in which Eastern-European composers have utilized traditional folk-music as inspiration for their works. The programing focuses on several techniques used as a means for synthesizing folk-songs and art-music, ranging from setting preexisting melodies to accompaniment, to manipulating the idiomatic musical and linguistic features of folk-music as the basis for one���s musical language. In addition, this recital reveals the wide range of styles and genres, including neoclassicism, expressionism, and polytonality, that can be derived from Eastern-European folk-songs. In this regard, the program itself highlights the relevance of folk-music as a viable source of inspiration for artistic expression. / Mary Pappert School of Music; / Music Performance / MM; / Recital;

No description available.

The story of Bluebear has been the center of many theatrical and musical works. From its mystery-shrouded origin, the legend and its principal characters have experienced numerous transformations. Charles Perrault’s tale, the first known published version of the story, served as a basis for all succeeding treatments of the theme, which have handled the various characters differently -- at times stressing Bluebeard, and at other times, the heroine. The theme of the Bluebeard legend has appeared in literature in delightful fairytales and in several dramas, both tragic and comic. Musically, the legend has been employed in numerous operas and as a ballet-burlesque. The treatments of the characters, the keys, and the doors have been as varied as their many settings, culminating in the intense symbolistic drama, Bluebeard’s Castle, by Bela Balazs. His one-act drama was suggested by the three-act tragedy, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, by the great Belgian symbolist, Maurice Maeterlinck. The symbolism in Balazs’ version is the salient force of the drama. It is this feature that Bartok exploits in his musical treatment for the text. To better understand Bartok’s works, it must be realized that it was his purpose to revitalize the already exhausted, over-refined music of Europe with a transfusion of new blood from the peasant music of Hungary. Characteristic traits of Hungarian folk music are present in his music -- ornamental arabesques, rapid passage work, trills, ostinatos, leaps into strange intervals, unsymmetrical construction, irregular bar formations, frequent changes in meter, and sudden juxtaposing of quick and slow motion. Bluebeard's Castle, a work of high importance in the development of Bartok's musical style, in the opinion of the present author, does reveal the accomplishment of that synthesis.

This project offers a comprehensive performance guide to Bartók's Dance Suite for solo piano based on a renewed interpretation of the piece. The Dance Suite (Táncszvit/Tanz Suite) is a unique work in Bartók's oeuvre, presented by the composer in two versions: one for orchestra (1923) and one for solo piano (1925). There has been little research done on this piece to enhance its popularity even though it may be a piece that illuminates one of Bartók's compositional philosophies: the unity of all cultures and folk song. Pianists must interpret this piece not only through the eyes of a soloist, but also as a musician who makes careful decisions—as if one were undertaking the making of a piano reduction of an orchestral score oneself. The methods presented intend to help pianists acquire and maintain a curious and flexible mind where freedom of interpretation is concerned, and hone inquisitive minds to overcome challenges when holding the reins of an orchestra across the eighty-eight keys of the piano towards limitless expansion and development of pianism and musicianship.

The majority of standard solo repertoire that violists perform was written in the twentieth century, but the pedagogical materials violists study are largely transcriptions of violin etudes, studies, and scales, which were all written in the nineteenth century or earlier. Music written in the twentieth century uses a language and techniques that are quite different from those found in older, tonal music. Because of this, violists are often unprepared for the challenges of their standard solo repertoire, and the pedagogical materials they study do not fulfill their purpose: to educate students in the skills necessary for successful musical performance. The first part of this document is historical, attempting to explain how the viola has arrived in the early twenty-first century without its own unique body of pedagogical materials suited its repertoire. The second part of this document is practical: it proposes a pedagogy for the viola that will help to better prepare students to play our standard repertoire. This part of the document uses an extensive number of musical examples from the standard twentieth-century repertoire to illustrate how the various etudes, studies, exercises, and scales presented can be used to help students in tackling the challenges of twentieth-century music more successfully.

Samuel Zyman (b. 1956) is one of the leading Mexican composers of our time. He has composed more than 55 works in a variety of genres, including symphonies, concertos, orchestral pieces, film music, chamber music, and music for solo piano. This study includes an overview of Zyman's background as a musician and composer, with an emphasis on his solo piano works. It provides a discussion of Zyman's musical style and an analysis of his two most recent solo piano compositions, Two Motions in One Movement and Variations on an Original Theme. Zyman cites the music of Bartók and Prokofiev, along with Impressionism and jazz music, as important influences in his piano compositions. This study demonstrates that in his solo piano compositions Zyman has created a style that incorporates four diverse influences of 20th-century modern compositional practice -- the tonal language and percussive approach to the piano of Bartók, textural elements found in Prokofiev's piano works, elements of Impressionism, and certain rhythmic and harmonic elements of jazz music -- into a distinctly personal 21st-century voice. This synthesis of disparate elements into a compelling contemporary musical language makes Zyman a modern composer deserving of the attention of professional musicians and scholars. This study provides musicians insight into Zyman's compositional style, and brings the work of an important Mexican composer of our time to the attention of contemporary pianists and audiences.

A new analytical tool called “voice-leading class” is introduced that can quantify on an angular scale any transformation mapping one pitch dyad onto another. This method (based on a concept put forth by Dmitri Tymoczko) can be applied to two-voice, first-species counterpoint or to single-voice motivic transformations. The music of Béla Bartók is used to demonstrate the metric because of his frequent use of inversional symmetry, which is important if the full range of the metric’s values is to be tested. Voice-leading class (VLC) analysis applied to first-species counterpoint reveals highly structured VLC frequency histograms in certain works. It also reveals pairs of VLC values corresponding to motion in opposite directions along lines passing through the origin in pitch space. VLC analysis of motivic transformations, on the other hand, provides an efficient way of characterizing the phenomenon of chromatic compression and diatonic expansion. A hybrid methodology is demonstrated using Segall’s gravitational balance method that provides one way of analyzing textures with more than two voices. A second way is demonstrated using a passage from Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Finally, the third movement of the String Quartet #5 is analyzed. Families of geometrically related VLC values are identified, and two are found to be particularly salient because of their relationship to major and minor thirds, intervals which play an important role in the movement. VLC values in this movement are linked to contour, form, motivic structure, pitch-class sets and pitch centricity, and are thus demonstrated to be useful for understanding Bartók’s music and the music of other composers as well.

The thesis is a traditional piano quintet in the manner of Bartok, incorporating compositional techniques such as golden ratio and using folk materials. Special effects on strings are limited for easy conversion to wind instruments. The piece is about 15 minutes long.

The thesis discusses the following three works composed by Bartok between 1922 and 1938 : Sonata no. 2 for Violin and Piano, Rhapsody no. 1 for Violin and Piano and "Contrasts" for Violin, Clarinet and Piano. Details relating to Bartok's compositional style in the three chamber works are investigated, with particular reference to the role of the piano. The piano writing is not innovative, but the traditional boundaries are extended by means of the melodic idiom, harmonies and rhythms. The thesis considers traceable musical influences viz. folk music and the influence of other composers; form and the tonal-contrapuntal fabric, rhythm and meter, and performance considerations. The value of Bartok's own recordings is addressed with regard to a critical evaluation of Bartok's own interpretation, the importance of the precisely notated scores, the controversial Bartok tempi, the application of rubato and broken chord figurations and Bartok's views on pedalling, articulation and ornamentation. Examples of all the above-mentioned aspects are traced in the three works concerned, and the pianistic style and dynamics and the interaction between the piano and the other instruments are discussed. The three works are compared and Bartok's development as composer of chamber music is traced through this comparison. The existence of Bartok's own interpretation of the Sonata, Rhapsody and "Contrasts", is of particular value to the study and serves as a main point of reference regarding the performance aspect. Using these recordings as a basis, the thesis considers the works from a pianist's point of view and insights are offered into possible problematic areas in performance, in relation to the piano part as well as the ensemble. The knowledge acquired through the preceding analysis of the works assists in a better understanding of the works and ensures an ultimately more successful performance. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1990.