Johann Sebastian Bach used his own organ compositions when teaching his students. Seeking to understand and learn from Bach's organ pedagogy, many scholars have sought to establish a list of Bach's organ works according to difficulty. These arranged lists are briefly summarized in chapter two of the present thesis, and it is shown that none of them have sufficiently explained the rationale for deciding difficulty. Chapter three establishes and describes criteria according to which Bach's organ works can be analyzed. Chapter four demonstrates how these criteria are to be applied within a selected corpus of J.S. Bach's organ works, the Leipzig versions of the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes. The criteria and resulting arrangement according to difficulty answer a problem within Bach scholarship by providing an objective standard by which teachers and students can select level-appropriate works for purposes of learning and performance.

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La première moitié du XIXe siècle germanique voit le sacré se déplacer de façon massive et multiple vers la sphère profane. Le vocabulaire, les schémas et les idéaux religieux se refondent dans le prisme historique pour pénétrer philosophie, littérature, arts visuels et musique. Dans un climat esthétique, politique et social tendu vers la Bildung, l’édification morale mais aussi religieuse de la société, la représentation communautaire devient l’objet privilégié de l’art. En témoignent le ressourcement architectural gothique, les tableaux d’activisme nazaréen, ainsi que des modalités de représentation grandioses dans l’opéra et l’oratorio. L’insertion plus insolite du religieux dans la symphonie trouve ici un champ de contextualisation qui permet d’élucider les mutations contradictoires du genre en plein essor. Engagée depuis le classicisme dans une vocation spirituelle récusant l’intelligible, la symphonie ne s’en trouve pas moins investie de représentations religieuses se focalisant sur l’image communautaire. Dans l’attraction de l’œuvre beethovénien, Mendelssohn et Schumann, parallèlement à Spohr, font dans leurs symphonies une place décisive aux topoï connotant ou dénotant le religieux, à commencer par les cantiques et les styles anciens. Leurs corpus symphoniques respectifs apparaissent singulièrement homogènes, non moins qu’en correspondance. Par l’amplification des représentations spirituelles via la technique cyclique, ils s’appréhendent dès lors dans une vocation religieuse d’accomplissement, en probable résonance avec les conceptions historicistes d’immanence ou de transcendance. / The first half of the Germanic Nineteenth Century saw the shift of the religious expression in a massive and multiple way towards the profane sphere. Vocabulary, patterns and religious ideals are recast in the historical prism to enter philosophy, literature, visual arts and music. In a tense aesthetic, political and social climate to « Bildung », the moral and religious edification of society, the community representation becomes the privileged aim of art. Evidence of this is found in the Gothic architectural renewal, the activism of Nazarene paintings and grandiose representation arrangements in historical-religious opera and oratorio. The more unusual religious penetration into the symphony finds a significant field of contextualization that allows to elucidate the contradictory mutations of the booming genre. Committed since classicism to a spiritual vocation rejecting the intelligible, it is nonetheless true that the symphony is invested with religious representations focusing on community image. In the attraction of the work of Beethoven, symphonies by Mendelssohn and Schumann, along with those of Spohr, give emphasis to topoï connoting or indicating the religious, starting with hymns and old styles. Their respective symphonic corpus appear remarkably homogeneous, no less than in retrospect correspondence. By amplifying the spiritual representations via the cyclic technique, they are subsequently grasped in a religious vocation of accomplishment, likely in resonance with the historicist conceptions of immanence and transcendence.

The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is the discussion of background, including the development of keyboard music after 17th century in France, and famous composers with their styles of creation. Chapter Two focuses on César Franck¡¦s developmental track of music and his creation of masterpieces. Chapter Three depends on compositional style, dividing into two periods to discuss Franck¡¦s piano music. Chapter Four mainly introduces Franck¡¦s unique creative technique of piano music, featuring the traditional influence from polyphonic and contrapuntal music in Baroque era, cyclic form, phrasing structure and harmonic language. Chapter Five separately discusses formal structure and characteristic features in Prélude, Chorale et Fugue and Prélude, Aria et Final. Finally, we make a conclusion for the whole research. In 19th century, Franck was one of the most important piano composers in France. Prélude, Chorale et Fugue and Prélude, Aria et Final were his most important works, sufficiently presenting Franck¡¦s distinguished compositional style. They opened not only a new field for his composite of piano music, but also brought deep influence on many following composers.

The lecture recital was given on August 9, 1974. Chorale partitas by Sweelinck, Scheidt, B051hm, and Walther were performed following a lecture on the chorale partita in the Baroque period. The lecture included a discussion of the instruments that the partitas were written for and the functions for which they were written. The works of Sweelinck and Scheidt and their influence on later composers were discussed. A number of lesser-known composers and their works were mentioned. Also, there was a discussion of works by well-known composers such as Bohm, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, Walther, and Bach. In addition to the lecture recital, three other public recitals were performed, all of which consisted of solo compositions for the organ. The first solo recital, including works of Buxtehude, Bach, Walther, Pepping, ?ranck, Alain, and Durufle, was performed on July 18, 1971. On August 13, 1972 the second solo recital was performed. Compositions by Greene, Stanley, Searle, Willan, Dandrieu, Roger-Ducasse, and Langlais were included in the program. The third solo recital, which included works by Sweelinck, Bach, Guillou, and Reubke, was performed on June 5, 1974. The four programs were recorded on magnetic tape and are filed with the written version of the lecture material as a part of the dissertation.

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Ce mémoire de maîtrise analyse trois projets développés au courant de mes trois années de maîtrise à l’Université de Montréal en composition instrumentale et vocale, de même que certain outils utilisés pour assurer à chacune de mes créations une continuité et une unité. En plus de l’analyse de trois œuvres orchestrales et chorales, ce mémoire aborde en premier lieu les notions de caractère et son rôle dans un discours uniforme et continu. Il présente ensuite l’usage du motif à des fins d’unités dans chacune de mes œuvres. Il offre enfin des alternatives à la tonalité classique pour assurer un pôle tonal aux œuvres telles le pandiatonisme, les enchainements harmoniques par note commune, l’enrichissement d’enchainements tonaux par la coloration d’accords et la cohabitation de ces différents outils. / This master's thesis analyses three different works, composed during my studies in vocal and instrumental composition at Université de Montréal, and discusses a few of the techniques I have used to assure unity and continuity in my music. In addition to analyzing three orchestral and choral pieces, this thesis first addresses the notion of character, and its role in my music. It also discusses the way I use motives in my composition for purposes of unity. It then offers a few alternatives to classical tonality, which assure tonal attraction in my pieces, such as pandiatonicism, chords progressions by common notes, enrichment of tonal progressions by addition of color notes to chords, and the combined use of these different techniques.