This thesis examines the history and origins of Beethoven's E minor Piano Sonata and examines the possibility of the programmatic conception of the work. Dedicated to Beethoven's friend Count Moritz Lichnowsky, the sonata may have been inspired by the Count's illicit affair with his future wife, the singer and actress Josefa Stummer. Providing a thorough Schenkerian analysis of both movements, the inner harmonic structure of the composition is revealed and explained. The author also investigates and details the unpublished original analyses of the composition by Heinrich Schenker, Erika Elias, and Hans Weisse. Both English and German language sources are incorporated into a comprehensive examination of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, op. 90.

Various approaches to rhythmic analysis have been produced by recent research. Many of these are most suitable for tonal musical compositions; when other methods of tonal organization are present, these theories are less useful. This study uses accent based criteria in order to establish a set of analytical procedures which are applicable to a wide range of musical compositions. Four accent types (contour, agogic, dynamic, and motivic) are identified in two string quartet movements. These are Beethoven's Op. 18, No. 1, movement four, and Bartok's String Quartet No. 4, movement five. The study finds great differences in accent placement between the two works. In both works accents affect phrase grouping and meter. Accent patterns and composite accent profiles, which represent all the accent types in a particular passage, are compiled for important themes. Large fluctuations in accent use are evident between the formal sections of each work.

The primary purpose of this thesis will be to examine the orchestration of the trombone section in the Viennese symphonies of the early Romantic period. In order to fully understand the function of the trombone section in these syphonies, a review of the trombones usage in previous centuries is in order.

Aaron Copland was born of Russian-Jewish parents on November 14, 1900. Harris Kaplan, his father, had acquired the American equivalent of his name when an immigration official at the British port of entry wrote it on his papers, and from then on the family name was "Copland." Sarah Mittenthal and Harris Copland met at a family social gathering in New York and were married in 1885. They lived in the upper stories of his department store in Brooklyn which remained the family home until 1924 and was where Aaron, the youngest of five, was born.

The purpose of this paper is to give a historical and stylistic analysis of the Sonata, Op.31, No.2 in D minor of Beethoven. The historical background of Beethoven, the time period the sonata was written, and the influence that the piano of the time had on the sonata is first discussed. The author then discusses the general aspects of Beethoven's style followed by a detailed analysis of the sonata.

This dissertation aims to explore the functions and meanings of four frequently used dynamic accent markings (fp, rf, sf and sfp) in Beethoven’s early chamber music with the fortepiano, with the consideration of acoustic qualities and playing capabilities of instruments intended for the studied works. The sources of reference here include the three Op.1 piano trios, two Op.5 cello sonatas, and three Op.12 violin sonatas, using a modern critical edition in conjunction with the first editions published during Beethoven's lifetime. The study consists of two parts. The first part surveys historical aspects including: 1) the development of relevant instruments, namely the bow and the fortepiano, and 2) existing accentuation conventions, especially those found in selected works of Haydn and Mozart, and appropriate treatises from Beethoven's time. The second part of the study entails the examination of consistency and frequency of dynamic accent markings in general, and that of individual accent markings using specific musical examples. The process of this investigation shows that these signs have distinct meanings, and consequently, require different treatments for their respective executions in performance. It also implies that the acoustic qualities of the ensembles with instruments from Beethoven's time are the most important factor contributing to variations found in his use of the accent markings among the different genres. Such acoustic qualities include the quieter volume and faster decay of the fortepiano, as well as the larger sonority from the cello especially in the lower register, when compared with instruments made for today's concert halls. These insights not only illuminate the possible ways to realize each marking, but also clarify accent markings which could seem inconsistent to modern performers, in terms of acoustic balance, especially in combinations that include the cello.

xiii, 188 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Beethoven's last five string quartets have engaged the imagination and curiosity of performers, listeners, and critics at a level that has rarely been touched in the world of chamber music, or beyond. Throughout the late quartets' history, musicians have scrutinized the works in search of a logic that might demystify their stylistic and structural peculiarities. This present study continues this pursuit as it examines analytically (through Schenkerian techniques) the harmonic, contrapuntal, and motivic procedures in Beethoven's last complete composition, the String Quartet in F major, op. 135. Most of the published analytical commentaries on the F major quartet approach the work more or less exclusively from a motivic standpoint. Arnold Schoenberg (1941), Rudolf Reti (1951), Deryck Cooke (1963), and Christopher Reynolds (1988) have all praised op. 135 for its highly unified motivic structure; what their studies show--at least in a general sense--is that there is undoubtedly a motivic strategy that ties much of op. 135 together. But what are we to do when the details of one motivic reading opposes another? Or what if a particular reading contradicts the way we understand a passage aurally (which happens often when the proposed reading is incongruous with the music's harmonic-contrapuntal structure)? What criteria should we use to evaluate a motivic analysis? Clearly, we need a set of principles and standards that will help answer these questions and advance us beyond mere intuition. The position taken in this study echoes John Rothgeb's argument that "proposed thematic relationships must bear scrutiny in the light of the Schenkerian theory of structural strata," and that incompatible readings should be "dismissed as spurious" (1983, 42). In the pages that follow, Schenkerian approach is adopted to help assess existing motivic readings of op. 135 within the requisite contexts of harmony and voice leading. The method is also used to help generate a rational, hearable analysis that reveals motivic relationships that reside at deeper, hidden levels of structure. / Adviser: Jack Boss

Orientadores: Eduardo Antonio Conde Garcia Junior, Mauricy Matos Martin / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T14:54:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Shigeta_Ayumi_M.pdf: 1413010 bytes, checksum: 17ec7f031c9fa9ac2b3f8399fc2ab4a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Esta dissertação trata de questões referentes à interpretação pianística contemporânea e à importância de sua aproximação com a história. Para tanto, primeiramente, elaborou-se um breve estudo de duas concepções interpretativas opostas, mostrando os prós e os contras de cada uma delas, a saber, a da execução histórica ou historicamente autêntica, representada pelo movimento da Música Antiga, e a da abordagem atemporal ou anti-histórica da interpretação, dita também "pós-moderna", tributária do estruturalismo. A seguir, combinaram-se as duas, resultando na perspectiva de interpretação aqui defendida, à qual se denomina "historicamente informada". Igualmente procede-se a uma análise focada na execução da última obra para piano de Beethoven, as Bagatelas op.126, mostrando como um músico prático pode valer-se da história para aperfeiçoar sua interpretação. A metodologia de análise baseou-se nos livros Beethoven on Beethoven: playing his piano music his way de William S. Newman e Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music de Sandra P. Rosenblum / Abstract: This dissertation is about questions concerning to the contemporary piano interpretation and the importance of its approximation to history. So, firstly, a brief study on two opposite interpretative conceptions was prepared showing the pros and cons of each one of them, namely the historical or historically authentic performance, represented by the Ancient Music movement, and the atemporal or antihistorical approach of performance, also called "post-modern", tributary of structuralism. Next, both of them were combined resulting in the performance prospect here defended, so named "historically informed". Then, an analysis focused on the last Beethoven piano pieces, the six Bagatelles op.126, was carried out, showing how a practical musician can make use of history in order to improve his performance. The analytic methodology is based on the books Beethoven on Beethoven: playing his piano music his way by William S. Newman and Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music by Sandra P. Rosenblum / Mestrado / Mestre em Música

Heinrich Koch completed his treatise in 1793, a pioneering work regarding the musical phrase as well as a sonata form description (lacking that term). Composition of Opus 18 began in 1798, a momentous project for several reasons in Beethoven's early career. Here, the theories expressed in Koch's Versuch are taken as an analytic springboard into a thorough analysis of the first movement of the quartet published no. 3, which was the first composed; additionally, nos. 1 and 6 are explored to a lesser degree. This study in phrase-analysis demonstrates significance in the fundamental ideas of Koch as applied to a masterwork of the turn of the 19th century.

This thesis presents a brief history of the sonata form until the time of Beethoven. It also discusses Beethoven's use of the sonata form, and how it applies to his op. 111 piano sonata.