During Fritz Reiner’s forty-year conducting career in the United States, he championed Béla Bartók’s orchestral music, programming Bartók’s orchestral works on over sixty concerts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with other major American orchestras. These included performances in which the composer himself appeared as a soloist. Moreover, Reiner continued to conduct Bartók’s music following the composer’s death, and his efforts to promote Bartók’s works contributed to their significance to the American orchestral repertoire. The thesis explores connections between performance markings in Reiner’s personal copies of Bartók scores and the recordings he made of them, the ways in which Reiner’s live performances and recordings of Bartók’s music affected the American reception of Bartók’s works, and how Reiner’s collaboration with Bartók related to the revision of Bartók’s orchestral works in their published forms through case studies of Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 1, Concerto for Orchestra, and The Miraculous Mandarin. The first case study considers Bartók’s performances of his Piano Concerto no. 1 with Reiner during his first U.S. concert tour of 1927-1928. Following an overview of Bartók’s activities in America during that time, three first-edition scores of Piano Concerto no. 1 are analyzed in order to show the significance of handwritten additions, corrections, and conducting markings made by Fritz Reiner, a Universal Edition staff member, and Serge Koussevitzky in preparation for performances with Bartók in 1928. It not only provides a window into early performances of the work with the composer at the piano in the absence of a recording, but also offers insight into Bartók’s preferences for performance of the work, some of which are reflected in the first or second editions of the work, and some of which are only preserved in Reiner’s scores. The second case study examines a new source for Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra held at Northwestern University that bears extensive corrections by Bartók, as well as Reiner’s conducting markings. It discusses the circumstances surrounding Reiner’s acquisition of the score and its role in Reiner’s performances and recordings of Concerto for Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The third and final case study details Reiner’s preparation and performance of two concert versions (“Scenes” and “Suite”) of Bartók’s pantomime The Miraculous Mandarin using Reiner’s annotations to four versions of the score held at Northwestern, Bartók’s correspondence with his publisher, and program notes from Reiner’s 1927 world premiere of the “Scenes” to provide a better understanding of Reiner’s preparation and performances of both the “Scenes” and “Suite.” It further analyzes press coverage of his performances of the “Suite” to demonstrate that the press reaction to objectionable elements of the plot mellowed over time, and that critics consistently praised Reiner’s expert preparation and interpretation of the work. The thesis considers the publication and performance history of Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 1, Concerto for Orchestra, and the concert versions of The Miraculous Mandarin in terms of Reiner’s collaboration with Bartók, his role in the promotion of Bartók’s music in the U.S., and his reputation as an authoritative interpreter of it.

Charles-Valentin Alkan ( 1813-1888 ), French composer and pianist at early nineteenth century, devoted himself to write piano music only as Chopin during his entire life. As a child prodigy, his talent of performing piano was recognized when he was quite young, then, became as an outstanding pianist of his time. However, because of his unsociable personality and strange behavior, Alkan was soon forgotten by the public. His music was discovered in recent decades by scholars and pianists. They started to explore his works; consequently, he became famous again. There are three parts in this study. The first part aims on his mysterious life. The second part seeks to clarify the development of the concerto and the musical environment of Paris at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The last part should focus on music style and structure based on his earlier work Concerto da Camera, No. 10. Hopefully, through the research, the historical significant of Alkan can be defined more precisely.

Completed in early 2010, the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra is a major foray into composing a concertante work for the viola, an instrument without the rich history of concertos of the violin or ‘cello. In three movements, the Concerto employs a diversity of compositional techniques for the viola and explores the timbral possibilities for the orchestra. The work derives primarily from the series of initial gestures in the viola, and, in the span of over forty minutes, as many possible permutations on these ideas are explored throughout the solo instrument and orchestra. Following the score of the work is a theoretical analysis of the piece, including a condensed history of the viola concerto as a genre. Within this examination, issues concerning approaches to deconstructing a 21st-Century orchestral work are discussed alongside structural, melodic, motivic, and orchestrational analyses. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:52:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 3911167 bytes, checksum: c16331e624baa522e3f4f2912d83fec9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The purpose of this research was to study the Concerto no. 1 for Violin and Orchestra by Camargo Guarnieri. One of its main goals was the search for elements of the Brazilian musical nationalism present in this work. Thus, in order to achieve this first goal, an analysis was done based on the Ensaio sobre a música brasileira by Mário de Andrade. Where the author gives the guidelines on which nationalists composers should follow, in order to compose Brazilian music with national traits. Therefore, we could verify the presence of several elements of the nationalistic aesthetic employed by Guarnieri in this concerto. This study had as primary source the musical score of the concerto in digital format, provided by the Camargo Guarnieri Archive, which belongs to the Institute of Brazilian Studies, in São Paulo. It was also verified the content of the digital media entitled Camargo Guarnieri 3 Concertos for Violin and the Mission , which contains the first DVD recording of Guarnieri s works for violin and orchestra. During the research a biographical study was done, focusing on relevant facts of Guarnieri s life right before and after the composition of this concerto. Based on this information, we verified that the Concerto no.1 was the beginning of a very important period in his professional life. This research also takes into consideration the analysis of the compositional style employed by Guanieri in this concerto. We have observed the use of compositional elements inherited from the European tradition combined with elements from the Brazilian popular culture. We have also noticed the presence of musical instruments, scales, rhythms and melodic fragments that are characteristics of some popular melodies. These elements were carefully selected, which allowed us to show their use in several passages in which Guarnieri placed them. This study also focused on the observation of the formal structure and the thematic and motivic development employed by Guarnieri in all three movements of this concerto. This research culminated with a performance edition of the work for violin and piano based on the manuscripts. / Este trabalho objetivou o estudo do Concerto n.º 1 para Violino e Orquestra de Camargo Guarnieri, tendo como uma de suas principais metas a busca por elementos do nacionalismo musical brasileiro presentes nesta obra. Para alcançar este primeiro objetivo foi feita uma análise, com base no Ensaio sobre a música brasileira de Mário de Andrade, sobre as diretrizes que os compositores nacionalistas deveriam seguir para comporem música brasileira com características nacionais. Desta forma, pudemos constatar a presença de vários elementos da estética nacionalista usados por Guarnieri na composição da obra estudada. O estudo teve como fonte primária, o manuscrito do concerto em cópia digital cedida pelo Arquivo Camargo Guarnieri, Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, São Paulo. Foi também verificado o conteúdo existente na mídia digital Camargo Guarnieri 3 Concertos para Violino e a Missão , que representa a primeira gravação em DVD da obra de Guarnieri para violino e orquestra. Durante a pesquisa foi realizado um levantamento biográfico sobre alguns fatos ocorridos na vida de Guarnieri, referentes ao período anterior e posterior ao da composição deste concerto. Diante desses dados, verificou-se que o Concerto n.º 1 foi o início de uma fase de significativas conquistas na vida do compositor. Outro ponto de destaque desta pesquisa refere-se à análise do estilo composicional de Guarnieri neste concerto. Verificamos a presença de elementos composicionais herdados da música européia, em perfeita harmonia com os elementos de nossa cultura popular. Constatamos no concerto a utilização de instrumentos, escalas, ritmos e reminiscências melódicas que são características de certas melodias populares. Estes elementos foram cuidadosamente selecionados e foi possível demonstrar o seu uso nos vários trechos em que Guarnieri os inseriu. Este estudo também teve como foco, a observação da estrutura formal empregada por Guarnieri e o tratamento dado ao desenvolvimento temático e motívico nos três movimentos do concerto. A pesquisa teve o propósito de fazer uma edição da parte do concerto no formato para violino e piano a partir de seus manuscritos.

abstract: A new arrangement of the Concerto for Two Horns in E-flat Major, Hob. VIId/6, attributed by some to Franz Joseph Haydn, is presented here. The arrangement reduces the orchestral portion to ten wind instruments, specifically a double wind quintet, to facilitate performance of the work. A full score and a complete set of parts are included. In support of this new arrangement, a discussion of the early treatment of horns in pairs and the subsequent development of the double horn concerto in the eighteenth century provides historical context for the Concerto for Two Horns in E-flat major. A summary of the controversy concerning the identity of the composer of this concerto is followed by a description of the content and structure of each of its three movements. Some comments on the procedures of the arrangement complete the background information. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2011

O presente trabalho constitui-se numa pequena colaboração para o estabelecimento de um panorama dos Concertos para Violão e Orquestra. Desde suas primeiras obras no século XIX até a primeira metade do século XX. Buscamos identificar nessa exposição, personagens, fatos e eventos de fundamental relevância para o desenvolvimento do gênero e uma análise do Concerto para Violão e Pequena Orquestra de Heitor Villa-Lobos. / This work is a small collaboration to establish a panorama of Guitar Concertos since the initial works of the 19th century until the works of the first half of the 20th century. In this exposition, we focused on identifying characters, facts and events of fundamental relevance to the development of the genre. Especially, we developed a detailed analysis of the Concerto para Violão e Pequena Orquestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Concerto for Solo Percussion and Concert Band was commissioned by Staff Sergeant Rone Sparrow, a percussionist with the West Point Military Academy Band. Funding for the project was provided by the Barlow Foundation. The piece was premiered April 13, 2005 in the Eisenhower Hall Theater at West Point, New York. Rone Sparrow performed with the USMA band, and Colonel Thomas Rotondi Jr., Commander/Conductor, conducted the piece. The concerto consists of three movements, and each movement features a different instrument: the first features marimba, the second, vibraphone, and the third movement features the drum kit together with a rhythm section (piano, bass, and drums). In addition to the piece, the dissertation paper discusses important technical detail related to the piece, including: harmony, form, rhythm, programmatic ideas as they relate to motivic strands, and the process of generating and discarding material. The paper also focuses on a number of factors that were influential to the piece, such as postmodern philosophy.

abstract: The purpose of this research is to create a new piano reduction of Carl Nielsen’s Flute Concerto. Danish composer Carl Nielsen was born in 1865 and died in 1931. His compositional focus on orchestral writing made him renowned for his symphonies and concerti for flute and clarinet. Today his concerti are often performed by both professional musicians and students. The first published piano reduction of the Flute Concerto was issued in 1952 by the composer’s son-in law, Emil Telmányi, who was a Hungarian violinist and conductor. This reduction was published by Samfundet til Udgivelse af Dansk Musik. In 2003, as part of The Carl Nielsen Edition, Edition Wilhelm Hansen published a new revised edition of the concerto. The piano reduction of this edition was written by Danish pianist Per Salo, and is the most frequently used by pianists today. This edition contains much information pertaining to the orchestration, but this often causes the piano part to become challenging or unplayable in many passages. For collaborative pianists, playing concerti requires both the ability to imitate the orchestral sound, and to understand and show the main ideas of each passage. However, as this concerto is often performed in universities by flutists and pianists of different skill levels, creating a simplified version of the piano reduction will support many pianists by helping them to learn this music in a more approachable and easily performable context. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2019

In the new generation of artists emerging in South Africa, Alexander Johnson is considered the most prolific young composer of his day. In a recent review in the Pretoria News, Johnson has been praised by eminent critic Paul Boekkooi as a composer who has “an ear for the exotic and knows exactly how to bring it off....” He continued by noting that his music is “mentally engrossing, pleasurable to the senses and seems refreshingly free from dogmatic formulas." Johnson writes for musicians and the general public to equal satisfaction. His accessible compositions and catching use of melodic materials have made his writings very popular both in South Africa and abroad. During his residency in Belgrade in 1993-94, Johnson met Croatian pianist Dorian Leljak. Impressed with Johnson's compositional ideas and output, Leljak commissioned a work from Johnson for piano and orchestra. The result was the Niš Concerto, which Johnson completed in April 1994. The world premiere took place on June 23, 1994 with the Niš Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Anatoli Nowiestski with Dorian Leljak as soloist. The Niš Concerto received its South African premiere in 1995 during a simultaneous celebration for “Europe Day” and the new democracy of the Republic of South Africa. The Delegation of the European Commission of South Africa sponsored the celebration, which took place in the Aula Auditorium on the campus of the University of Pretoria. The performers included the Artium Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dutch-born Prof. Henk Temmingh and Johnson himself as piano soloist.

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is an important figure in the compositional world, having written a diverse body of works for which she has received many accolades, including the coveted Pulitzer Prize. The second chapter examines this American composer, the commission of the American Concerto, and events leading to the piano reduction of the concerto. The America Concerto is a modern work that incorporates synthetic scales, unusual notation, and the organization of melodic material through motives. The third chapter includes an analysis that identifies the form and tonal centers as well as the primary motives used in the concerto. The fourth chapter includes pedagogy considerations for performance. Issues relating to tessitura, articulation, flexibility, endurance factors, fingerings, and technical features of the piano reduction accompaniment are evaluated. Detailed suggestions are provided to aid in preparing the piece for performance, including a study of stylistic concerns. The American Concerto is quite diverse stylistically as Zwilich explores the symphonic and jazz genres. The dual nature of the trumpet is examined as the piece combines classical and jazz styles in a virtuosic setting.