Thesis (M.M.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 1962. / Bibliography: leaves 252-257.

Thesis--Catholic University of America. / Includes bibliography.

This dissertation traces the development of the concept of the cadence in the history of music theory. It proposes a division of the history of cadential theorizing into three periods, and elucidates these periods with four studies of particularly significant doctrines of musical closure. The first of these periods is the pre-history of the cadence, which lasted from the dawn of medieval music theory through the fifteenth century. During this time theorists such as John of Affligem (ca. 1100), whose writings are the subject of the first study, developed an analogy between music and the classical doctrine of punctuation to begin to describe how pieces and their constituent parts can conclude. The second period begins at the turn of the sixteenth century, with the innovative theory expounded by the authors of the Cologne school, which forms the subject of the second study. These authors identified the phenomenon of musical closure as an independent concept worthy of theoretical investigation, and established the first robustly polyphonic cadential doctrine to account for it. For the following three centuries theorists frequently made new contributions to the theorizing of the cadence in their writings, as exemplified by the remarkable taxonomy of cadences in the work of Johann Wolfgang Caspar Printz (1641-1717), the subject of the third study. By the early nineteenth century, however, cadential theorizing had largely ossified. Instead, authors such as A. B. Marx (1795-1866), on whose writings the fourth study focuses, only drew upon the concept of the cadence as was necessary in their treatments of newly emerging theoretical concerns, especially musical form. In order to elucidate and corroborate this historical framework, the dissertation’s chapters undertake close readings of the doctrines of musical closure put forth by John of Affligem, the Cologne school, Printz, and Marx. The theoretical contributions contained in these sources are interpreted and contextualized in light of the non-musical discourses upon which they draw, and through interrogation of the relationship between the cadential ideas they espouse and contemporaneous musical practice. In doing so, the dissertation reveals discontinuities in the concepts and functions of cadential doctrines in historical music theories, and provides new possibilities for understanding and experiencing musical structure.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Universität Tübingen, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 329-346) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, 1996. / Includes vita and abstract. Accompanies: First symphony / by Jonathan J. Turner (1 score (107 p.) ; 28 cm.). Includes bibliographical references. Digitized version available online via the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music http://hdl.handle.net/1802/5752

This study of large-scale closure in Mozart's sonata-form first movements focusses on the structure and function of the closing section in these works, the section that brings the exposition and recapitulation sections to an end. Also taken into account are closural effects of the coda (when present) and the subordinate theme area. Because sonata form in the 18th-century involves a variety of differently-functioning sections such as themes and transitions, the analytical approach adopted centers on matters of form—the ways in which all the various channels of musical structure (primarily rhythm, melody, and harmony) interact to shape a particular piece—and in particular on the form of the closing section. The study is limited to one composer's use of one section in one formal type, thereby reaching highly specific conclusions about this facet of sonata form at a particular stage in music history. Since each section of sonata form has a distinct, unique structure and function, the study aims at identifying these in the closing section, and at contrasting them with the other sections of the form. If closure is primarily generated in the closing section, then there must be particular structures found mainly in that section that are responsible for closure. The majority of Mozart's closing sections are based on a model which can be simplified to aabbcc, where each letter symbolizes one group. The second, fourth, and sixth entries may be either exact repeats or variants of the first, third, and fifth entries respectively. The most common lengths in measures are (4 + 4) + (2 + 2) + (1+1). An example is the Sonata for Violin and Piano in B-flat Major, K. 454, mm. 50-65. Chapter 1 is primarily a survey of previous writing on the subject of closure. Chapter 2 presents a theory that accounts for structure at various levels of Mozart's sonata form. Chapters 3 through 6 contain discussion and analysis of different types of closing sections and movements. Chapter 7 includes a summary of the research undertaken. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

When talking about tonal music, we sometimes tend to take for granted the idea that the tonic should always be clearly established either at the beginning or the end. However, there are composers who sometimes deviate from the normal path by creating different types of riddles or tonal enigmas in their works. Some of these riddles can be solved later on as the piece progresses; yet others may need to bexplained with the help of some external references. This thesis examines three such examples, each of which poses its unique enigma. The second movement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 presents a dualism between Ab and F (paralleled by their dominants Eb and C); Brahms's Alto Rhapsody involves an enormous auxiliary cadence spanning 2/3 of the piece and a seemingly plagal cadence which turns out to be authentic with the V suppressed; and eventually, Grieg's setting of Dereinst, dereinst, Gedanke mein provides a paradoxical ending which may be understood as incorporating the composer's attitude towards the text.

Pianists often have trouble in determining where a phrase ends, or in other words, cadence identification. This is especially true of certain cadences that can be considered either as half cadences or authentic cadences. This analytically ambiguous cadential point can result in different performance decisions, so pianists should make informed decisions about what kind of cadence it is. This study aims to investigate such cadential ambiguity shown at points of phrase boundaries by focusing on Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, first movement. I offer both possibilities (a half cadence or an authentic cadence) at the phrase ending, suggesting a performance-related strategy based on each possibility. My objective is not to support only one cadential status, but to bring up the cadential problem from the analytical perspective and to demonstrate how cadence identification affects performance results. The dissertation is divided into two parts: analysis and performance, so it relies on a combined method of analytical terminologies and performance-related musical elements. In the analysis, the terminology of William Caplin is employed. The performance part refers to several method books written by prestigious piano pedagogues. After an introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 reviews some literature on cadences. Chapter 3 specifically analyzes the first movement of Chopin's second sonata by means of Caplin's terminologies. Chapter 4 provides a performance-related method and Chapter 5 deals with a practical performance strategy.

This study is concerned with the vertical combinations resulting from late sixteenth century cadential formulae and in passages immediately preceding these formulae. The investigation is limited to Masses dating from the last half of the sixteenth century and utilizes compositions from the following composers: Handl, Kerle, Lassus, Merulo, Monte, and Palestrina, Victoria. This study concludes that the progressions I-V-I and I-IV-I appear to be the only two root progressions receiving high enough percentages to be regarded as significant. These percentages are tempered by the fact that I-V-I and I-IV-I may be interpreted as repetitions of standardized cadential formulae found in the sixteenth century. The study also concludes that root motion by fifth accounts for no less than 67.35 per cent of the root movements analyzed during the investigation. The percentage differential between root movement by fifth and root movement by second (the interval receiving the next highest percentage) at no time drops below 40.41 per cent. The evidence indicates that root movement by fifth does account for the majority of the root motion analyzed in final cadential passages of Masses dating from the late sixteenth century. The percentage differential between root motion by second and root motion by third decreases as the chord progressions become longer. None of the differential percentages were judged to be high enough as to merit placing any significance of root motion by second over root motion by third.