Broadly speaking, my thesis will investigate children's music in the World War I era (1914-1918). The aim of my thesis is to answer, at least partially, the questions of how children experienced WWI musically, and how adults approached children in music media during the war years. My research will focus on war-related materials produced for children by adults and ways that children may possibly have responded to the war through music. After an introduction, chapter two first discusses constructions of children by adults found in children's song collections as well as other print materials, such as child-rearing manuals. Secondly, this chapter looks into the ways that children were exposed to war culture, via militaristic children's songs, war-themed fiction, and children's magazines. Chapter three investigates constructions of children and child-rearing in popular Tin Pan Alley songs, namely those of soldier boys and prayerful girls, as well as propagandistic depictions of pacifist and militarist mothers. Finally, chapter four looks into war contrafacta published in the monthly magazine of the Girl Scouts of the USA, The Rally, contextualizing these findings in propaganda posters that targeted children, as well as war work by both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Through these case studies, I hope to construct a picture of how children from infancy to early adulthood were constructed and depicted in popular culture, how they were approached by adults, and how children were used as part of the nation's narrative.

The aim of this study is to describe, explicate and make technical and musical suggestions regarding the solo piano compositions of Arnold van Wyk. A pianist himself, Arnold van Wyk, born on April 26th, 1916, was one of South Africa's foremost composers of the previous century. He composed many of his most important works for the piano. Although he composed during a time when some of the most radical musical innovations in composition for centuries were taking place, Van Wyk's compositional style references the Romantic and Impressionistic eras. The reason for this could be located in the reception circumstances of his works (conservative audiences) and in his biographical context: he developed an admiration for mostly Romantic art music in a society that was far removed from the thrust of avant-garde developments in Europe and the United States. Although he studied in London at the Royal Academy of Music (1938-1946) he never wanted to settle abroad and had a strong desire to return to his South African roots. This is part of the reason what makes his music unique- being born and raised in South Africa with little compositional training, but still being able to compose music that related to the Western music culture, praised by writer Howard Ferguson and pianist Dame Myra Hess while in London. Van Wyk performed all of his own piano music and he gave recitals till shortly before his death in 1983. His favorite repertoire was taken from the early Romantic period, especially Schubert. He also played a great deal of Mozart and Haydn. Van Wyk's approach to the piano was a coloristic one. He was technically never very secure or proficient, but set great store by the range of color he could attain at the piano. Still, his pieces do require the technique and musical understanding of the advanced student and could be an asset to any undergraduate or graduate music student's repertoire. Taking into consideration both matters of style (his neo-Romantic harmonic idiom, his preference for sonata form, his conservative approach to rhythm) and matters of his own performance preferences and limitation as a pianist, this study proposes to take a practical approach towards describing, explaining and suggesting appropriate musical and technical approaches to Van Wyk's piano music. The music that will be included in this study is Pastorale e capriccio, Nagmusiek [Night Music] (the largest solo piano work) and Four piano pieces.

This thesis presents, for the first time in a modern printed edition, the complete Mass in C (1884–1885) for choir, soloists, and orchestra by the American composer George Bristow (1825–1898). Bristow’s Mass previously existed only in manuscript form, with the exception of a single movement, the Kyrie, that had been typeset. Bristow was based in New York City, had a multifaceted career, and was prolific in a variety of musical genres. He fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in recent years, a few of his works have become available in modern editions. The tradition of musical settings of the sung ordinaries (texts that are always present and do not change) of the Roman Catholic mass began as a liturgical practice, but composers also began to extend the musical form in ways that made their masses more suited for a concert setting. Bristow’s Mass, with its large orchestra and lengthy settings of the Gloria and Credo, is more appropriate for concert use. The other movements, however, are short enough to make liturgical use feasible. The commentary that accompanies this edition investigates why Bristow and his music are relatively unknown today and why the Mass in C has been especially obscure. A biography of Bristow follows, highlighting aspects of his career that relate to his Mass, and emphasizing his late period (1879–1898). Finally, there is a discussion of Bristow’s musical style and his influences, with a specific look at style and influences in the Mass in C.

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Composer Donald Martin Jenni (1937 - 2006) produced numerous compositions in many genres such as instrumental works, orchestral works, vocal and choral works and opera. Despite his large body of work, there are few or no formal biographical materials of his life or published studies of his compositions. Due to a lack of such publications, Jenni's music has neither been widely performed nor recognized by professional musicians, teachers, students, and classical music devotees. The aim of this essay is to introduce readers to an account of the major life events of Jenni and provide an introduction to his compositions. An analytical survey of his Sonatine for Piano (1952) will help pianists and teachers to understand Jenni's compositional style as well as many of the twentieth-century musical traits and aesthetic. Moreover, the pedagogical approach to the Sonatine for Piano will guide teachers to introduce students the styles and techniques of the twentieth century repertoire through Jenni's music.

Jean Berger (1909-2002) fled the rise of Nazi power in his native Germany to become one of the U.S.A.'s most popular choral composers of the second half of the twentieth century. Berger's unpublished memoirs and collected correspondence with composers, authors and political luminaries paint a fascinating picture of his life which, steered by a series of fateful coincidences, forced Berger to reinvent himself repeatedly, mastering a series of professions and foreign languages as well as changing his religious orientation, country of residence (from Germany to France to Brazil to the U.S.), and even his name. This thesis reveals the Jewish background of this self-described "house composer" of the Lutheran Church, and examines the intellectual, cultural and aesthetic influences which led Berger to develop a new genre of choral music, the staged chorus. These influences include Berger's participation in the German Jugendbeweung, the social philosophies of his mentor in music history, Heinrich Besseler, and the inspiration provided to Berger by the works of composer Carl Orff.

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