George Crumb (b.1929)'s Makrokosmos is recognized as one of the masterpieces of twentieth century piano writing. Inexplicably, volume four of Makrokosmos, Crumb's only four-hand piano piece, is rarely studied by Crumb scholars. According to Crumb's program notes, his Makrokosmos is meant to be a hybrid of piano and orchestral sound. Crumb devised a list of signs and abbreviated letters to explain his specific instructions to the performers. The pianists who plan to perform Makrokosmos need to study Crumb's notations carefully in order to faithfully realize the composer's intentions. This dissertation examines the composer's treatment of four hands at the piano. In addition, a performer's analysis and practical "translation" of these techniques is provided, in the hopes of rendering this amazing piece more accessible to pianists in search of new and wonderful repertoire for piano four hands. It is also hoped that future composers will be inspired by Crumb's innovations and imaginative ideas.

The main title of the doctoral thesis - ART/CRIME - CRIME/ART - point to a general investigation of these two phenomenons. This investigation makes up the background of the main theme of the thesis, which is an actual event of the mysterious death of the painter and shepherd K.. At work I spend time with alternative investigations of this death and the goal is an attempt to reconstruct the events and effort of discovering the answers what happened that night and whether or not a killer really existed or not.

George Crumb sought to expand the sounds and techniques of modern pianism in his solo and chamber works for piano. His greatest contribution to the piano repertoire is Makrokosmos I and II for amplified piano. Although the work is widely known; it is typically only performed by specialists in advanced modernist repertoire because of the unfamiliar and demanding techniques that it requires. It is possible, though, for more pianists to learn this work by first mastering the techniques through preparatory pieces. The thirteen such pieces discussed in this dissertation come from different decades of the twentieth century and are in various styles, but they can all be mastered by beginner and intermediate-level students. These include Samuel Adler's Bells and Harp; Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos Vol. IV, No. 102; Seymour Bernstein's "Phoenix," No. 9 from Birds II; John Cage's "Prelude for Meditation" from Prepared Piano Music Volume 2, 1940–47; Paul Cooper's Cycles, II; Henry Cowell's Aeolian Harp and his "Time Table" from Five Encores to Dynamic Motion; George Crumb's "Berceuse for the Infant Jesu," No. 2 from A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979; Marti Epstein's "Inside the Piano" from American Etudes; Ross Lee Finney's "Black Notes and White Notes" from 32 Piano Games; Alan Hovhaness's Midnight Bell; Lajos Papp's Forte-Piano; and Jean François Proulx's "Scale Practice" from A Pedagogical Guide to Extended Piano Techniques.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-08T17:06:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 122592-2.pdf: 48987386 bytes, checksum: 5f3ad2538ddb0faa44812fb933a42c67 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research is concerned with repetition as it articulates the musical statement in George Crumb´s Makrokosmos vol. I. Based on the most relevant readings about these issues it was necessary to take a path between philosophy and musical analysis in order create concepts/tools. This opens ways and broadens the knowledge, and offers parameters for the application of analytical tools in order to address the processes of difference and repetition on this Makrokosmos vol.I. One of the most important aspects to understand this process is the study of the concept of time, which in the present work is based on Gilles Deleuze and Iannis Xenakis. Both authors elaborate tripartite notions of time, and I propose correspondences among them, in order to elaborate what I call instantiations of time, by means of which the analysis of the process of repetition takes place. Furthermore, the issue of graphic representation is discussed, and it´s influence on the process of musical elaboration, which are strictly tied to the concept of time It is also relevant to say that I have used Deleuze s concepts of territory and ritornelo to delimit the bounds of repetitions, since they have the strength to satisfy the knowledge of all interactions in the present dissertation. Descriptive analysis is not the aim of this study - as to investigate the compositional logic is - thus, the second part is dedicated to analyze selected pieces of Makrokosmos vol.I and the point is to demonstrate how the process of difference and repetition works in such pieces, and not to describe what is inside the musical statement, although this task is always present. / A presente pesquisa versa sobre a repetição como princípio articulador do enunciado musical em Makrokosmos vol. I de George Crumb. Partindo das leituras mais fundamentais que dizem respeito à problemática da repetição, foi necessário percorrer os caminhos entre a filosofia e a análise musical no sentido de criar conceitos/ferramentas. Isso possibilita abrir caminhos, ampliar os conhecimentos e oferecer parâmetros para a utilização de instrumentos analíticos de modo a abordar os processos de diferença e repetição neste primeiro volume do ciclo Makrokosmos. Um dos aspectos importantes para compreender esse processo é o estudo do conceito de tempo, que nesse trabalho se fundamenta em Gilles Deleuze e em Iannis Xenakis. Ambos autores elaboraram noções tripartites de tempo, e procurei traçar pontos de correspondência entre elas, de modo a elaborar o que denomino instanciações do tempo e através das quais se dá a análise do processo de repetição. Além disso, também são abordadas questões acerca da representação gráfica e sua influência no processo de elaboração musical, que estão diretamente relacionados com a concepção de tempo. É também relevante destacar os conceitos deleuzianos de território e ritornelo. Esses, sobre os quais delimitei o âmbito das repetições, possuem a força e capacidade de satisfazer a compreensão de todas as instâncias de interação que se apresentam nesse estudo analítico. Como a análise descritiva não é o escopo dessa investigação, que é a de perscrutar a lógica composicional, na segunda parte dessa dissertação dedicada a análises de peças selecionadas de Makrokosmos Vol. I o objetivo é demonstrar pontualmente os processos de repetição, e não o de descrever o que há dentro do enunciado, embora essa tarefa esteja sempre presente.

Šmilauer, T. Cosmological themes in conteporary art. [Master thesis] Prague 2012. 83 pages Charles univerzity in Prague, Faculty of education, department of art education. This work examines the relationship between man and the cosmos, and deals with topics cosmos and cosmology in terms of philosophical and scientific, but also seeks connection with religion and mythology. The aim is to interpret and define the concepts of the cosmos and cosmology, and find these contents in visual culture and fine art. This thesis is also finding ways to use cosmological issues in educational practice. Keywords: cosmos, cosmology, nature, man, visual perception and imaging, microcosm, macrocosm, art