This dissertation focuses on the analysis of James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993) and Stabat Mater (2016). Building on the technical analysis, issues of practical application for those who wish to rehearse and perform these works are discussed. Presentation of musical examples, a review of literature, and personal interviews were conducted with MacMillan in preparation of this document. The first chapters provide an introduction to MacMillan, biographical events surrounding the two works, and historical context of each genre. The third chapter then engages with the four main aspects that define MacMillan’s compositional style: the incorporation of Scottish folk music, influence of his Catholic faith, passion to engage with social issues, and balance between conservative and modernist techniques. These four aspects will be examined historically, how they relate to one another, and their role in MacMillan’s music. The fourth and fifth chapters deal with the direct analysis of the Seven Last Words from the Cross and the Stabat Mater. The chapters are structured in a fashion similar to how MacMillan composed both works—starting with the text, developing the structure, crafting important and symbolic musical gestures, and outlining additional compositional techniques. The sixth chapter takes on the analysis of the music and applies it to practical applications one should consider when rehearsing and performing these works. Finally, the conclusion discusses the social relevance of the music and places both compositions in a broader culturally context.

Som kördirigent börjar man nästan alltid en repetition med att lära körsångarna att sjunga rätt noter, men sångtexten är minst lika viktig. Det kan berätta så mycket mer om styckets helhet än om kören måste börja repetera musiken direkt. Det märks tydligt om en kör har en vilja och förståelse för vad som sjungs oavsett ambitionsnivå. Vad är det då som behövs för att inte sångtexten ska uppfattas som meningslös? Syftet med detta konstnärliga examensarbete var att som kördirigent undersöka och analysera på vilka sätt hanteringen av sångtext påverkar den musikaliska gestaltningen i körsång. Studien utfördes genom intervjuer med fyra sakkunniga informanter och avslutades med två konstnärliga projekt. Resultatet från intervjuerna gav en likhet för både generella och specifika frågor, men alla informanter hade olika åsikter för vilken metod de ansåg var bäst för hur man arbetar med sångtext. Sammanfattningsvis finns det flera unika tillvägagångssätt att tolka en sångtext vilket gör att den musikaliska gestaltningen påverkas mest av den individuella kördirigentens förmåga att förmedla sångtext, både verbalt och icke-verbalt. Hanteringen av sångtext kan även påverkas av yttre faktorer, exempelvis tidsbrist. / <p>Den konstnärliga delen av mitt examensarbete var att leda och dirigera Radiokören och KMH Vokalensemble under två olika projekt. </p><p>Mitt projekt med Radiokören bestod av två repetitioner under två dagar. Första repetitionen skedde den 16/5-23 kl. 09.30-12.30 och den andra repetitionen 17/5-23 kl. 14.00-17.00. Båda repetitionerna ägde rum på studio 2, Sveriges Radio, Oxenstiernsgatan 20, Stockholm. </p><p>Repertoar: Un soir de neige - Francis Poulenc.</p><p>Mitt projekt med KMH vokalensemble bestod av repetitioner samt en avslutande examenskonsert den 25/5-23 kl. 12.30 i Kungasalen på Kungl. Musikhögskolan, Stockholm. I detta examensarbete hör även dokumentation i form av en ljudinspelning från min del av examenskonserten.</p><p>Repertoar: Deus in adjutorium - Benjamin Britten, Laudibus in Sanctis - William Byrd.</p><p>Medverkande: Radiokören, KMH Vokalensemble.</p>

The present thesis investigates the music and career of Jeffrey Lewis (born 1942). The thesis is broadly divided into three sections. First is an account of the composer’s life, told mainly through an overview of his works, but also through a sketch of his early years in South Wales, his studies in Cardiff, Darmstadt, Kraków and Paris, his academic career in Leeds and Bangor, and his subsequent early retirement from academia. There follows a more detailed study of six works from the period 1978 – 1985, during which certain features of Lewis’s musical language came to the fore, perhaps most notably a very individual and instantly recognisable use of modal language. After an Epilogue, the thesis concludes with an Appendix in the form of a Catalogue in which all Lewis’s known compositions are listed, together with details of performances, broadcasts and recordings. Lewis’s music often plays with our temporal expectations; the close interrelationship between texture, structure, harmony and melody, and its effect upon our perception of the passage of time, are explored in the main analyses. These are conducted partly by means of comparison with other works by Lewis or his contemporaries. Memoria is examined in relation to a similarly tranquil score, Naaotwá Lalá, by Giles Swayne. The following chapter discusses the extra-musical inspiration for Epitaph for Abelard and Heloise, whose relationship to Tableau is then explored in the next. The difficulties of creating a large-scale structure that unifies the work’s various harmonic elements are also investigated. The analysis of Carmen Paschale considers it in relation to Lewis’s other choral music, whilst the final analytical chapter compares and contrasts two three-movement works, the Piano Trio and the Fantasy for solo piano. Lewis’s melodic writing in the Piano Trio is discussed in relation to that of James MacMillan, and the origins of the first movement of Fantasy in Oliver Knussen’s Sonya’s Lullaby are explored. In the Epilogue, the possible reasons for Lewis’s current neglect are explored, various influences on Lewis’s musical thinking are laid out, and his achievements are assessed.