Thesis--Columbia University. / Includes bibliographical references.

This essay came about as a result of the desire to study and collect the guitar music of Franco Margola. Franco Margola composed over 450 works for guitar, most of which are unpublished and virtually all of which are unknown to most guitarists. This essay focuses on Margola's chamber works with guitar, which include some of his best compositions. The study contains historical background information, an ample biography, as well as an overview of the currently published works for solo guitar. The main portion of the essay consists of an outline and an annotated catalog of all of Margola's chamber works with guitar, including the unedited works. The purpose of this project is to promote Margola's guitar music by providing current information on its quality, availability, condition, length, and difficulty level.

abstract: This paper and its accompanying recital examine three solo vocal works by Italian composer Alfredo Casella (1883-1947): "Larmes" from Cinq Mélodies (Op. 2); "Mort, ta servante est à ma porte" from L'adieu à la vie: Quatre lyriques funèbres extraites du "Gitanjali" de Rabindranath Tagore (Op. 26); and "Amante sono, vaghiccia, di voi" from Tre canzoni trecentesche (Op. 36). Each of these songs is discussed as representative of Casella's three compositional periods. A fourth song, "Ecce odor filii mei" from Tre canti sacri per baritono et organo (Op. 66), is also examined, as an end-of-life composition. Some of the more important solo vocal works composed in each period are mentioned to show where the four selected songs fit into Casella's compositional output and to suggest music for further study or repertoire. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2014

The songs of Puccini provide another approach to understanding the composer's musical development. The objective of the study is twofold; first to provide a discussion of the musical style of Puccini's songs; and second, to show how Puccini utilized and integrated the preexistent material into the operas. The songs are grouped and characterized in three stylistic periods. In each period, Puccini was concerned with different issues in text setting. They anticipated or corresponded to the musical style of his operas, and this is evident by his use of the earlier songs in the later operas. Three examples of such cases are examined. The details involved in the transformation of self-borrowing are illustrated in terms of recomposition, expansion of the vocal line and orchestration. Each case illustrates the textual and/or musical consideration by Puccini of the original source for the new dramatic context of the opera. The borrowed material, often incorporated with new themes and expressive orchestration, blooms as an effective dramatic piece of music in his operas. In addition to the lecture recital, based on the dissertation and given on June 23, 1997, three other public recitals were performed. The first, on February 27, 1989, included works of Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, and Strauss. The second program, an operatic performance of The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky, was given on April 20, 1991. The third recital was performed on February 20, 1995, and included works by Handel, Mozart, Stravinsky, Schubert, Poulenc, and Turina.

La thèse, divisée en trois parties, constitue une introduction à l’univers musical de Giacomo Manzoni (Milan, 1932). La première partie aborde huit dimensions de l’œuvre du compositeur dans une perspective analytique (matériau, temps, dynamique, timbre, forme, figures sonores, espace et texte). Dans la deuxième partie, où figure une étude de Per Massimiliano Robespierre (1974) et de Doktor Faustus (1988), sont présentés les principaux axes de sa poétique : l’engagement et l’innovation. La dernière partie conceptualise la notion de matiérisme en tant que fondement de sa praxis compositionnelle. À ce propos, Atomtod (1964), sa troisième œuvre pour le théâtre musical, a été analysée. Des documents inédits, dont des esquisses de ses œuvres et une correspondance avec Luigi Nono, ont été commentés tout au long de la thèse. Les annexes incluent un catalogue chronologique et thématique des œuvres du compositeur, une édition critique bilingue des textes mis en musique, la traduction de son dernier livre (Parole per musica) et une discographie. / This thesis, which consists of three parts, represents an introduction to Giacomo Manzoni’s (Milan, 1932) musical ideas. First part deals with eight dimensions of his work from an analytical point of view (material, time, dynamics, timbre, form, sound shapes, space and text). In the second part, which contains an analysis of Per Massimiliano Robespierre (1974) and Doktor Faustus (1988), two main axes of his poetics were examined: commitment and innovation. Last part conceptualizes the notion of materialism in his poetics, as it constitutes the basis of his musical praxis. To this end, Atomtod (1964), his third work for the stage, was analysed. Unpublished documents, like sketches of his works and a correspondence with Luigi Nono, were commented throughout the thesis. Appendices include a chronological and thematic catalogue of his works, a bilingual critical edition of the texts which he set to music, a French translation of his last book (Parole per musica) and a discography.

Opera fantasias have been denigrated as insufficiently intellectual or serious, as derivative, as merely popular or sentimental. However, many of the perceived flaws were, if not hallmarks, at least accepted realities of Italian opera composing. Like opera itself, the opera fantasia is a popular art form, stylistically predictable yet formally flexible, based heavily on past operatic tradition and prefabricated materials. I approach opera fantasias, instrumental works that use themes from a single opera as the body of their virtuosic and flamboyant material, both historically and theoretically, concentrating on compositions written for and by woodwind-instrument performers in Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century. Important overlapping strands in my theoretical framework include the concept of virtuosity and its gradual demonization, the strong gendered overtones of individual woodwind instruments and of virtuosity, the distinct Italian context of these fantasias, the presentation and alteration of opera narratives in opera fantasias, and the technical and social development of woodwind instruments. I have uncovered a large body of compositions and composers, many of whom have not been written about in English, through archival research in Milan, Naples, Parma, Bologna, and Palermo. This reveals trends in operas used for fantasias, temporally, spatially, and between instruments, as well as further trends in the use of specific melodies. I use contemporary reviews of performances and compositions to attest to the popularity of the opera fantasia throughout the second half of the nineteenth century in Italy, including oboist Antonio Pasculli as a case study. This often overlooked genre is intimately tied to the central canon and deeply connected to its social and musical contexts. Approaching the opera fantasia as a coherent and meaningful group of works clarifies a genre that has been consciously stifled and cultural resonances that still impact music reception and performance today.