This study is an examination of Earl Hatch and Clair Musser's transcriptions for marimba of Chopin's Waltz, Opus 64 No. 1, Musser's arrangement of Chopin's Mazurka, Opus 17 No. 4, Hatch's setting of Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5, and Frank Mac Callum's treatment of Franck's "Chorale" from the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue. Additionally, the role of the transcription during the Romantic Period, the historical development of the marimba transcription, and performance considerations of the specific works presented are discussed.

Historisk informerte framføringer av klassisk musikk blir en mer og mer vanlig tilnærmingsmetode for moderne musikere. Denne oppgaven utforsker ulike aspekter av en slik innstuderingsprosess. Oppgaven beskriver hvordan kunnskap om romantisk tolkningstradisjon og spillestil kan berike og frigjøre musikeren, men problematiserer samtidig aspekter som tradisjon og stilmessig korrekthet. Som grunnlag for denne diskusjonen ligger Johannes Brahms sonate i Ess-dur for bratsj og klaver, samt tre forskjellige innspillinger gjort av fiolinisten Joseph Joachim i 1903. Ved hjelp av disse kildene viser jeg hvordan man kan tenkes at denne sonaten kunne blitt tolket i Brahms sin samtid, og diskuterer videre hvordan jeg vil tolke sonaten selv i lys av denne kunnskapen. Resultatet er en informert framføring av sonaten, hvor jeg har tatt i betraktning den romantiske spillestilen, men ikke på bekostning av min selvstendige tolkning av verket.

This study is an attempt to investigate part form structures in Brahms' Intermezzi, Opp. 116-119. Chapter One deals with the stylistic perspective in Brahms' piano writing in general as compared to his late works. Chapter Two concerns three aspects: 1) structural norms in part forms which are presented in many currently available textbooks on musical forms, 2) application of selected Brahms Intermezzi to above norms, and 3) the role of cadential types in part forms. Chapter Three analyzes structural aspects of all the Brahms Intermezzi in Opp. 116-119 and comments on pieces which appear problematic in terms of structural layout. Chapter Four, deals with the relationship between different thematic types and overall formal schemes.

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.

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Music theory has acquired a unique position in between many fields, most notably composition, historical and systematic musicology and music pedagogy. Motivated by the topic »music theory and interdisciplinarity«, this essay explores the fields spanned by today’s music theory in seven short chapters. The first chapter describes changes of the discipline in German-speaking countries since the 1960s and its development from a simple synonym of practical harmony and a propedeutic means for music analysis to a postmodern, rich and scholarly ambitous field that can hardly be reduced to a common denominator. In the second chapter the author, drawing on Fritjof Capra’s The Tao of Physics, argues that music theory should not limit itself to purely »technical« issues, but must also address emotional or expectational realms of musical meaning. The third chapter further explores this point by discussing the opposition between musical theory and practice, suggesting that music theory indeed has the potential to let these two poles stimulate one another. The same is true for the often debated divide between »artistic« and »scholarly« aspects of music theory, explored in the fourth chapter: They are not mutually exclusive, but rather always have influenced each other, as evidenced by eighteenth-century treatises. Exchange with related disciplines such as music psychology has increased since the 1960s, as chapter five summarizes, although the relationship between music theory and musicology sometimes remains problematic. In the sixth chapter, a short analytical approach to four examples from the standard repertoire (Schubert, Bach, Brahms, Mozart) attempt to demonstrate the potential of specifically music-theoretical viewpoints. The final section advocates the strengthening of a specific profile for music theory: The liberation from dogmatic thought and systematic rigour should not lead us to overstretch music-theoretical questions.

Although many volumes concerning the life and works of Johannes Brahms have been written, it has been found that the majority of these writings treat the material of the subject in a rather poetic and romanticized fashion. This is especially unfortunate in those volumes where the works of Brahms are analyzed with pragmatic implications, since Brahms himself eschewed the use of extramusical elements in his composition. This investigation, therefore, is an attempt to present a careful analysis of one of these compositions, the Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115, for clarinet and string quartet.

Die zentrale Fragestellung dieser Arbeit ist, welche Impulse der Konzertagent Hermann Wolff (1845-1902) dem Berliner Musikleben im Zeitraum zwischen der Gründung seiner Konzertdirektion 1880 und seinem Tod 1902 gab. Um diese Frage zu beantworten, werden seine Tätigkeit und sein Wirkungskreis untersucht und Umfang, Grad sowie die Natur seines Einflusses ausgewertet. Diese Arbeit weist nach, dass sich der Einfluss seiner Tätigkeit auf das Berliner Musikleben nicht nur in der Quantität der stattgefundenen Konzerte, sondern auch in ihrer künstlerischen Qualität und in ihrem Inhalt (Programmgestaltung, Aufführende, Konzertstätten, Programmhefterstellung usw.) zeigt. Sie legt auch dar, dass er zwischen den damaligen europäischen Musikmetropolen einen Personen- und Informationsaustausch vermittelte und dadurch bei der Entstehung eines Standards im Konzertleben eine wichtige Rolle spielte.

John Ireland is one of the most important British composers of the twentieth century. Many scholars believe the works of his early period were deeply influenced by Brahms. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, Ireland went on to develop a much more individual musical language, with influence from contemporary French composers. However, the young composer found himself confronted with the challenge of finding a new and personal style without turning wholly to impressionism or to chromaticism. In Ireland's Piano Sonata, Ireland adopted several of Brahms' compositional techniques. This piano sonata is an excellent example of one of Ireland's mature works that still demonstrates Brahms' influence.

Recognizing the challenges small groups have to program a major work, in 2010, Joachim Linckelmann created a chamber ensemble arrangement of Johannes Brahms's "Ein deutsches Requiem." In 1869, J.M. Reiter-Biedermann published Brahms's four-hand piano arrangement of "Ein deutsches Requiem." Brahms's arrangement serves as an excellent comparison to the chamber ensemble version by Linckelmann, since it can be assumed that Brahms chose to highlight and focus on the parts he deemed the most important. This study was a comparative analysis of the two arrangements and was completed in three stages. The first stage documented every significant change in Joachim Linckelmann's recent chamber arrangement. The second stage classified each change as either a reduction, reorganization, or elimination. The final stage of the analysis was to compare the choices made by Linckelmann to those made by Brahms. The results show that Linckelmann's choices for reduction, reorganization, and elimination closely align with those of Brahms. The only differences between the arrangements can be attributed to Linckelmann's focus on retaining the original orchestral timbre and Brahms's focus on providing the original vocal parts.