<p>John Dryden (1631&ndash;1700) and George Frederic Handel (1685&ndash;1759) produced literary and musical works that have long been regarded as icons of English culture. Their respective arts merged in the late 1730s when Handel took up two of Dryden's most famous poems, "Alexander's Feast" (1736) and "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" (1739) and re-set them to music. This dissertation probes the genesis of Dryden's poems through a survey of the religious and political climate of the seventeenth century. I juxtapose Dryden's possible poetic intents in writing the poems with Handel's response to those intents. After offering an interpretive reading of the poems and the music I consider the evolution and significance of the myth of St. Cecilia as musical patroness in early modern England as well as her influence on both men. I also consider Handel's use of fugue in each work, a compositional tact which allowed him to circumscribe the works as quasi-religious. I argue that Handel understood Dryden's literary stature and used his semi-sacred poems to explore the divide of sacred and secular entertainment in England. </p><p> My study indicates that Handel approached "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" with a greater degree of compositional caution and diffidence than seen in his setting of "Alexander's Feast," thereby possibly honoring Dryden's wish that music should remain a "sensible" art with textual clarity of primary concern. In <i>Alexander's Feast</i>, however, Handel treats the dramatic personae with a sort of inventive wit and pathos that seems lacking in <i>A Song for St. Cecilia's Day</i>. In tracing the evolution and reception of these poems from Dryden's pen to Handel's settings of them, I note how Dryden's words reflect the anxieties of his age regarding the rise of music as an independent entity. Handel's response to this anxiety and the way in which his work was embraced by the English public indicate a major shift in eighteenth-century thought regarding the status of music. <i> Alexander's Feast</i> and <i>A Song for St. Cecilia's Day</i> embody Handel's early creative exploits as he sought, artistically and commercially, to broach the divide of musical entertainment deemed sacred and secular. </p>

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of History, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 11, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3277. Adviser: John H. Hanson.

<p>This project report discusses the development of the transverse flute in the eighteenth century with reference to J. S. Bach's <i>Partita in A Minor</i> for unaccompanied flute. Though still relatively new, the transverse flute of this period rapidly developed to become the new standard over the recorder due to the new opportunities it provided to composers. The works of Bach serve as a prime example for showing the instrument's increasing popularity, and his motivations for creating the <i>Partita in A Minor </i> reveal the influences of many composers and performers of the transverse flute, such as Pierre Buffardin and Johann Joachim Quantz, on the instrument's developing idiom throughout the century. </p>

<p> This project report examines four solo-songs by Jean Sibelius and offers an analysis of the style of his Finnish nationalism. The paper presents two types of nationalism, and delves into the type of nationalism to which Sibelius's solo-songs belong. A brief history of Finland and the Finnish nationalist movement is discussed, in addition to the importance of the Kalevala to the Finnish nationalist movement. Musical descriptions of the poetry and songs "Demanten pa marssn&ouml;n," "Flickan kom ifr&aring;m sin &auml;lsklings mote," "Var det en dr&ouml;m?" and "Svarta rosor" are presented, and an acceptable performance practice for Sibelius's solo-songs is considered. </p>

<p> The vocal jazz ensemble singing movement that began at Mt. Hood Community College (Gresham, Oregon) in 1967 reached the public schools of the Boise Valley, in Southwestern Idaho sometime in the early 1970&rsquo;s. The first generation of vocal jazz educators in the region were Jerry Vevig , Vern Swain, Moyle Brown and Lonnie Cline. In an effort to learn the new style, these four directors participated in the burgeoning vocal jazz scene occurring in the Western region of the United States. By the mid 1970&rsquo;s, vocal jazz ensemble education had become so prevalent in the Boise Valley region that the Jr. High School directors of the Boise Public School District were programming vocal jazz music and participating in many of the same vocal jazz events as their high school colleagues. These Junior High school directors included Bruce Walker, Catherine Gilck, Rich Lapp, Sue Hough, Paul Olson and Rob Newburn. The 1980&rsquo;s saw the second generation of prominent vocal jazz singing ensemble directors begin their tenures in the Boise Valley when Glenn Grant, Quinn, Van Paepeghem, Linda Schmidt, Ted Totorica, and Barb Oldenburg, continued the tradition of vocal jazz style singing and event participation that their predecessors had initiated throughout the remainder of the era investigated (inception&ndash;1990). In the study, each subjects experiences and education in vocal jazz ensemble singing is documented and specific techniques they employed when working with their vocal jazz ensembles are revealed. The literature used by each vocal jazz educator from the Boise valley (1970&ndash;1990) is also exposed, collated, and presented in the document for reference and use by future choral music educators.</p><p>

This study presents a detailed history of the clarinet from its ancient origins to 1820. It is divided into three parts: 1) origins, 2) the baroque clarinet, and 3) the classical clarinet. In the first part the ancestor of the modern instrument is traces to the memet of Ancient Egypt (2700 B.C.), and evidence is reviewed for the existence of a wind instrument having a single reed during the sixteenth century. Three chapters are then devoted to the Mock Trumpet and the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century chalumeau. The baroque clarinet is discussed in the second part. This part consists of four chapters concerning design and construction, playing techniques, music, and use by amateurs and professionals. The last part is devoted to the classical clarinet. It consists of three chapters concerning design and construction, playing techniques, and music.

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