Lecture: Igor Stravinsky's stylistic shift: A comparative analysis of the 1911 and 1947 versions of Petrushka -- Petrushka (1947) / Igor Stravinsky / text

The twentieth century has seen a tremendous growth in the use of the trombone and percussion instruments in chamber music. Stravinsky, in his L'Histoire du Soldat (1917) and Milhaud, in his La Creation du Monde (1927), helped lay the foundation. Two other works, Ionization (1931) by Edgar Varèse and Toccata (1942) by Carlos Chávez are the first of numerous works for percussion ensemble which have since been composed. So many developments of percussion instruments and their music are being made that many consider the twentieth century to be the "Age of Percussion". The trombone family (alto, tenor and bass) has experienced growth in literature and technical advancements but not quite to the degree of the percussion instruments. The development of the trombone choir by Emory Remington at the Eastman School of Music has led to its increased popularity in recent decades. The multiple trombone jazz groups of J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding in the 1950's and Urbie Green in the early 1960's have aided in the development of music written for the trombone. It has only been in the last two decades that music of the genre to be discussed here has been explored. Some of the earliest works that fit this category are Porter D. Henry's Suite for Trombone and Percussion and Vinko Globokar's Vibone for trombone and vibraphone, both of which date from 1963. Since that time, more than 90 works have been composed for one or more trombones and percussion instruments or for small mixed ensembles in which these instruments play a major role. The International Trombone Association and the Percussive Arts Society have done a great deal to advance both the literature and development for the trombone and for percussion. The following document will analyze performance problems involved in a number of representative works from the literature. It will also provide a listing of compositions for trombone and percussion alone or in a chamber music setting of up to five performers.

This document explores some music of the Baroque era. Specifically, it is concerned with eighteenth century musical articulation, ornamentation, and the type of flute in use at that time, which we now call the baroque flute. The term articulation refers to the entire subject of how a note is begun, the type of articulation syllable used, and how notes are grouped together. In the Baroque period melodies were embellished with certain standard ornaments. The proper performance of these ornaments was the subject of much discussion and writing. At the end of this document the reader will find a selected bibliography which includes some of these writings. There are many types of ornaments. This study will be concerned with some of them: the trill, mordent, appoggiatura, grupetto, messa di voce, and flattement. Vibrato at that time was considered to be an ornament, and will be included as such.

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In order to understand the aesthetics of any musical form, one must first of all make the effort to appreciate the culture which produced it. For this reason, this paper contains a lengthy, although necessarily cursory, outline of the historical development of the Estonian nation. This historical perspective will hopefully acquaint the reader with the cultural background of the Estonians: one of the oldest, yet unfortunately one of the most unknown civilizations of North-Eastern Europe. Although there exist a few renditions of the history and music of this country devoid of propaganda, there is very little in the English language dealing with the historical development, and next to nothing on the music. The most authoritative texts are therefore written in the Estonian language, and for this reason the following paper is based totally on my translation of these sources.

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The name of Arthur Honegger is immediately recognized as that of the most distinguished twentieth century Swiss composer. Another Swiss composer, however, whose depth of creative musical thought is consistently being acclaimed in ever-widening circles of influence is that of Frank Martin. Part of the reason for Martin's delayed recognition can be attributed to the slow evolution of what can be termed his mature style. Among choral musicians Frank Martin's music is unexplored for several other reasons. First, except for Mass for double chorus written in 1926, his works are of such a large compass that they require the forces of soloists, large choruses, frequently double choruses, and an orchestra of no small means. This automatically relegates the performances of his works to a symphony orchestra and chorus or to the combined efforts of musical organizations on a college campus. A second reason for Martin's low profile in the choral world is the relative inaccessibility of scores. Attempts to familiarize oneself with the choral works of Martin and thus to ascertain their musical worth is met with continual delays in the request for examination copies, the necessity of returning them soon once they finally do arrive or of paying a substantial monthly rental for examination privileges. Such time-consuming activities and expenses definitely serve as a deterrent to research. The choral director is also led to conclude that if the obtaining of examination copies requires such an effort and time-lapse, the decision to schedule a performance would carry with it the unpredictability of obtaining multiple scores. It is unfortunate that the business procedures within the American company that is distributing the scores for the European-based publishing company create such barriers to the promulgation of Martin's choral music. A third factor contributing to Martin's relative obscurity in the United States is the realization by choral directors, even before they begin their hopeless flirtation with the publishing and distributing companies, that the works are in French. The performance of large-scale works in a foreign language by a relatively unknown composer and the necessity of imported scores creates a risk and expense that leads to the shelving of works of genuine musical worth. A final reason for the indifference to Martin's choral works could be the review given various area-premiere performances, causing conductors attempting to keep abreast with the inundation of new works to dismiss any tendency to examine them. Requiem (1972) represents a period of eight years since Pilaté (1964) and one of thirteen years since the last major oratorio, Le Mystère de la Nativité (1959). Regardless of the fact that it became Martin's last choral work, it deserves an extended analysis because of its proximity to the culmination of the career of a significant twentieth century Swiss composer. This document represents an attempt to fulfill the need for a careful consideration of the compositional traits revealed in Requiem as well as an examination of the earlier major choral works. It will also examine the feasibility of presenting the French works in English by demonstrating that choruses, recitatives and arioso solos do translate well within the rhythmic framework of each phrase. Whenever a translation is used within the document, it can be compared with the original version that is in the Appendices. The bibliography of the document will include entries of the scant literature in which Martin's works are discussed. Except for one dissertation in which selected works are analyzed (Tupper, 1960), no significant scholarly attempt has been made to analyze Martin's choral works, and Tupper's paper concentrated on the instrumental compositions except for Le vin herbe which is an early secular choral work. Most of the literature is of a superficial nature and represents the music critics' reviews of premiere performances. Since this is a document rather than a dissertation, it does not fulfill the need either for a major consideration of Martin's choral music, but it does begin to scratch the surface of his stylistic traits and perhaps open up vistas for some later in -depth study of this composer.

The main purpose of this study is to assemble in one source as much of the historical data pertinent to the D Major Cello Concerto of Joseph Haydn as is possible in such a work. Many articles have been written over the years concerning this concerto. The major concern of these articles has been whether or not Haydn actually composed the D Major Cello Concerto. All of the known arguments will be approached and discussed and some conclusions will be drawn. It is interesting to note that all such arguments were published before the whereabouts of the autograph manuscript was widely known. The present author was able to obtain a microfilm copy of the autograph from the Austrian National Library in Vienna to whom he is deeply indebted. This microfilm has proven itself invaluable in this study. Many references to the autograph will be made throughout this work, especially in Chapters Three and Four, dealing with the Gevaert changes and the current editions of the concerto. This leads to a second purpose of this paper. That purpose is to determine which of the current editions of the D Major Cello Concerto follows the manuscript most accurately. There have been many published editions of this concerto and presently there are more than eight to choose from. The decision of which edition to use when studying this piece is largely a matter of personal taste, but one should take into consideration whether or not the edition used is authentic. At this time there is an appalling lack of critical editions in the cello repertiore, with only the Bach Suites and the Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas available in such editions. Critical editions do not always contain the most effective bowing and fingering indications, but a well-schooled player can reach his own conclusions concerning correct notes, dynamics, phrases and articulations. Authentic scores eliminate the questionable indications of ill-informed and misguided editions; the serious music student will try to determine what the composer really wanted. It is the real concern of this author that in the forthcoming years there will be more critical editions of the cello repertoire made available to both students and teachers. Just a note concerning translations. Translations on page 10 and 14 are by Josef Marx. All others, unless otherwise noted in the footnotes, are mine.