The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze Concerto No.3 "Ave Maria" by Alemdar Karamanov (1934-2007) and to elucidate the work through historical background and the composer's ideas. This concerto is presented as a significant gesture of dramatic emotion, religious belief, romantic spirit and universal feeling. The subtitle "Ave Maria" relates to a set up already present within the music program. An analysis of interval relationships will help performers better realize Karamanov's music language. In view of the complicated nature of this piece, an analytical study is considered necessary. The study centers principally on analysis, with an emphasis on the developments of form, tonality and motives to help performers better understand the work, and how to best approach this concerto.

Wladimir Vogel's (1896-1984) interest in twelve-tone composition began to develop in 1936 after hearing a series of lectures by Willi Reich, a music critic and supporter of the new music of the Second Viennese School. The transition for Vogel from a large-scale orchestral “classical” style, influenced by his study with Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin in the early 1920s, to a new technique involving dodecaphony is apparent in his instrumental writing, the third and fourth movements of the Konzert für Violine und Orchester (1937), as well as in his vocal writing, the Madrigaux for mixed a cappella choir (1938/39). Vogel's twelve-tone works exhibit tertian structures which are particularly emphasized by triads located as consecutive pitches within the rows. Emphasis on tertian structures are not limited to small-scale segmentation of the rows but can also be seen in the structural and tonal organization of complete movements and works. A primary example is the Konzert für Violoncello und Orchester (Cello Concerto) (1955) in which, on a smaller scale, the presentation of the row emphasizes both diminished and minor triads, and at the macro level, the structural triadic relationships unify passages within individual movements as well as the concerto as a whole. Since the work is composed using the twelve-tone method, consideration is given to the structure of the serial components. In addition, the concerto is analyzed in terms of its cognitive features-those elements that are demonstrably related to traditional practice- such as tertian melodic/harmonic outlines reinforced by rhythmic features that are common to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practice. The compositional features evident from the serial structure of the work are addressed in conjunction with references to traditional practice made evident through the serial technique. The findings in the analysis of the Cello Concerto support the argument that the inclusion of consonant sonorities and tertian structures in Vogel's works results in a certain degree of tonal coherence while the large-scale compositional framework is dodecaphonic.

The Concierto Romántico for Piano and Orchestra is one of Manuel M. Ponce's outstanding compositional accomplishments from his Romantic period, reflecting both the state of Mexican music at the turn of the 20th century, and his early nationalist tendencies. However, it remains the only concerto in Ponce's output in need of a more comprehensive analysis. This treatise focuses on a global investigative that examines descriptive and analytic references to the work, as well as a comparison and clarification of the existing score sources. An analytical and stylistic musical study using conventional theoretical techniques leads to a musicological interpretation of the work's extra-musical meaning, based on close assessments of Ponce's compositional practice and social principles.

Although David Maslanka is not a percussionist, his writing for marimba shows a solid appreciation of the idiomatic possibilities developed by recent innovations for the instrument. The marimba is included in at least eighteen of his major compositions, and in most of those it is featured prominently. Both Arcadia II: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble and Concerto for Marimba and Band display the techniques and influences that have become characteristic of his compositional style. However, they express radically different approaches to composition due primarily to Maslanka's growth as a composer. Maslanka's traditional musical training, the clear influence of diverse composers, and his sensitivity to extra-musical influences such as geographic location have resulted in a very distinct musical style. His exemplary attention to detail and sound timbres give his works an individualized stamp. The evolution of motivic gestures is the most distinctive characteristic of Maslanka's compositional process. Maslanka freely incorporates forms and structural principles of the baroque and classical periods, but these principles are not applied in a strict sense. These factors combine to produce two works that are both unique and significant in the literature for marimba. They exhibit a sensitivity to sound timbres while maintaining a mature approach to melody, harmony, and rhythm acknowledging the traditions of earlier eras. This study examines compositional techniques, aspects of formal structure, tonality, melodic content, and marimba technique found in David Maslanka's Arcadia II: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble (1982), and Concerto for Marimba and Band (1990). Transcripts of personal interviews provide valuable insights into Maslanka's approach to composition and other issues pertinent to the study of his compositions for marimba. Biographical information and an overview of his works that include marimba will serve as background material.

Concertino for Flute, Timpani, and String Orchestra is a three movement piece that blends Western European forms with Korean idioms. The following essay addresses pitch materials, melodic structure, rhythm, form, instrumentation, vertical structures, and developmental procedures used in the work.

French composer Fernande Decruck (1896-1954) composed over forty works for the saxophone, but her music fell into obscurity soon after her death. In recent years, the Sonate en ut# pour saxophone alto (ou alto) et orchestre (1943) has been rediscovered, performed, and recorded by prominent concert saxophonists. This document takes a historical approach by examining Decruck's biography, as well as a theoretical approach to provide a deeper understanding and appreciation of her work through analysis. The first four chapters of this document provide biographical background on Decruck, her career, professional associations, and her husband, Maurice Decruck, saxophonist and music publisher. Additionally, an examination of her saxophone output includes a brief discussion of her compositional development. Fernande Decruck dedicated her sonata to French saxophone virtuoso Marcel Mule, but a version for solo viola also exists. From the discrepancies between the versions, one might infer that portions of the work were composed originally for the viola. There are also two versions of the accompaniment: one for full orchestra and the other for piano. Analysis comprises the bulk of this study. The work is composed in a traditional four-movement setting: a sonata-form opening movement, a slow second movement, a movement entitled "Fileuse" (spinning song), substituting for the traditional scherzo, and a rondo-like finale. The work incorporates trends of Impressionism through its harmonic vocabulary, chordal planing, and pentatonic scales. It also demonstrates a sophisticated application of polytonal techniques in several passages. In addition to analysis of each movement, common interpretive practices are discussed, based upon available commercial recorded performances, and performance suggestions are given. There are several notation errors within the parts, as well as some significant differences between the two accompaniments. These errata and discrepancies between the solo parts are listed and discussed.

La Primavera: Concertino for English Horn and Chamber Orchestra is a work in a traditional chamber orchestra instrumentation: single woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon), two French horns, trumpet, timpani and strings. A through-composed work of 14 minutes in duration, the Concertino is conceptually based on the idea that spring is not the first of the seasons, but rather the last. As a result, all of its motivic materials are organically linked to one another, and function as paired forces that struggle for supremacy. The introduction of the third motive functions as a motivic synthesis, since it contains intrinsic elements of previous motives. There are several important compositions based on the topic of the seasons among them we find: Vivaldi's Concerto Grosso Le Quatro Staggione, Haydn's oratorio The Seasons, and Piazzola's chamber work Las Estaciones. While researching this topic, the conceptual dilemma of spring as the last season was considered. This became a turning point in the compositional process strong enough to consider the spring as a singular topic of interest. The analysis of this work through Derrida's Deconstruction theory first came to me while reading Rose Rosengerd Subotnick's Deconstructive Variations: Music and Reason in Western Society. The Linguistic approach, was inspired in part by Leonard Bernstein's lecture “The Unanswered Question,” and Jean J. Nattiez's Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music.

This paper investigates the usage of traditional compositional techniques on Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra by William Lovelock. (1899-1986) Like many other twentieth-century composers for trumpet Lovelock wrote in a romantic style using traditional forms. As a composer, Lovelock is largely under-appreciated. This paper explains Lovelock's compositional techniques and provides performers with a guide to help prepare the piece for performance.

The dissertation consists of four recitals: one chamber music recital compiled from two years' series of chamber music performances in residence, two solo recitals, and one lecture recital. The repertoire of these programs was chosen with the intention of demonstrating the capability of the performer to deal with problems arising in works of varying types and of different historical periods. The lecture recital, The Fifth and Sixth Clarinet Concertos by Johann Melchior Molter, begins with perhaps the first performance of the Concerto No. 4 in D Major, Mus. Hs. 337, for clarinet in D with orchestral accompaniment reduced for piano. Bibliographical, historical and technical information is marshaled to justify the solo designation of Badische Landesbibliothek concerto manuscripts 334 and 328 to D clarinet rather than clarino. An investigation into the formal and stylistic aspects shows these two questionable works to be comparable to the composer's other four clarinet concertos. The analysis is followed by a short discussion of the problems involved in the transcription and performance of the works. The lecture concludes with the first performance of the Concerto No. 6 in D Major, Mus. Hs. 328, for clarinet in D with orchestral accompaniment reduced for piano.

This thesis presents an historical and technical analysis of the Mozart horn concerti.