Between Two Worlds, with its implied dualities, alludes both to my Italian and Australian backgrounds and to my popular and art music experiences. The dissertation comprises of analyses of and critical commentary on a selection of compositions from instrumental through electroacoustic to musico-dramatic works. Further, Part I presents a précis of relevant background in order to locate the compositions within both Australian contemporary classical music and international settings, and Part I includes sections on analytical methodology and compositional technique. Compositions examined in Part II illustrate the salient features of compositional technique, specific influences and aesthetic concerns. Both instrumental works, Fra l’urlo e il tacere and Ridendo vado sul fiume, were written during the earlier period of the doctoral candidature. The discussion presents not only the seminal influences including the use of interval-class (ic) construction and music technologies but is also intended to guide the reader from solo and chamber instrumental writing through sound design and electronic soundscape composition towards the larger-scale, musico-dramatic works. Part III discusses the major contribution. It is concerned with three mixed-media musictheatre compositions that were created in the period 2000–08 and which explore crossdisciplinary relationships. Whilst maintaining a continuous development of style, the works are on a larger scale in all respects: involve national (The Last Child and Touch Wood) and international (Lontano Blu) production teams and a greater number of performers; are interdisciplinary, conceptually more complex and multilayered, and longer in duration; include extensive use of music technologies, multimedia and multichannel surround sound in performance; and use graphic/text/prose scores. By their very nature, these compositions involved significant collaborative endeavour not only with the key members of the creative teams, such as artistic directors, writers and set designers, but also the performers in general and musicians in particular. The collaborations included development of the conceptual structures of the works with the creative teams and ‘hands on’ interaction with the musicians in shaping the sound in real time through group-devised processes where appropriate.

The name “Berlin School” refers to the group of composers who worked in the orchestra of Frederick the Great in Berlin. The first musicians were engaged in 1732, and the group expanded rapidly to its full strength of about 42 after Frederick’s coronation in 1740. All of the most significant composers were engaged in the first 10 years. Most of these composers wrote music for the viola da gamba, an instrument which by 1740 was already becoming obsolete in most places. The gamba composers are C. P. E. Bach, F. Benda, C. H. Graun, J. G. Graun, J. G. Janitsch and C. Schaffrath. They were encouraged to write for the viola da gamba by the presence in the orchestra from 1741 of Ludwig Christian Hesse, one of the last great virtuosi of the viola da gamba. Hesse was taught by his father Ernst Christian Hesse, who studied the French style in Paris. Hesse junior brought the French style to Berlin, where the Berlin School composers produced a synthesis of French and Italian styles by applying French textural techniques, some of them specific to the viola da gamba, to Italian forms. This study shows how the unique situation which existed in Berlin produced the last major corpus of music written for the viola da gamba. This music was the result of close collaboration between Hesse and the Berlin School composers.

The name “Berlin School” refers to the group of composers who worked in the orchestra of Frederick the Great in Berlin. The first musicians were engaged in 1732, and the group expanded rapidly to its full strength of about 42 after Frederick’s coronation in 1740. All of the most significant composers were engaged in the first 10 years. Most of these composers wrote music for the viola da gamba, an instrument which by 1740 was already becoming obsolete in most places. The gamba composers are C. P. E. Bach, F. Benda, C. H. Graun, J. G. Graun, J. G. Janitsch and C. Schaffrath. They were encouraged to write for the viola da gamba by the presence in the orchestra from 1741 of Ludwig Christian Hesse, one of the last great virtuosi of the viola da gamba. Hesse was taught by his father Ernst Christian Hesse, who studied the French style in Paris. Hesse junior brought the French style to Berlin, where the Berlin School composers produced a synthesis of French and Italian styles by applying French textural techniques, some of them specific to the viola da gamba, to Italian forms. This study shows how the unique situation which existed in Berlin produced the last major corpus of music written for the viola da gamba. This music was the result of close collaboration between Hesse and the Berlin School composers.

Ce mémoire étudie un corpus de compositions musico-théâtrales ayant abouti à la création de l’oeuvre Naissances. Cet opéra contemporain pour ensemble, électroniques et conception d’éclairage a été nourri de nombreuses oeuvres ayant servi d’études préalables aux thématiques, techniques et concepts abordés dans Naissances. Les différentes pièces comportent une importante part d’interdisciplinarité par la théâtralité qui leur est intrinsèque. Chacune des compositions a mis en lumière des aspects de la composition musicale faisant appel au théâtre (et inversement), traçant les contours encore flous des paradigmes de la création sonore interdisciplinaire. S’inspirant des diverses figures de proue du théâtre moderne et contemporain, le présent mémoire questionne la filiation de mes compositions avec les pratiques actuelles, et les potentielles avenues rendues possibles par mon approche de la création musico-théâtrale. / This thesis studies a corpus of music-theatrical compositions that led to the creation of the work Naissances. This contemporary opera for ensemble, electronics and lighting design was nourished by numerous works that served as preliminary studies for the themes, techniques and concepts addressed in Naissances. The different pieces have an important interdisciplinary aspect due to the theatricality that is intrinsic to them. Each of the compositions has highlighted aspects of musical composition that call upon the theater (and vice versa), tracing the still blurred contours of the paradigms of interdisciplinary sound creation. Inspired by the various key figures of modern and contemporary theater, the present thesis questions the filiation of my compositions with current practices, and the potential avenues made possible by my approach to music-theatre creation.

[EN] The PhD thesis "INCIPIT: The search for a multidisciplinary language at the crossroads of Antiquity and Contemporaneity" focusses on the influence of the methodology of Historically Informed Performance practice on the creation of a Contemporary Music Theatre performance. The framework and creative basis for their connection is the Divina Commedia of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). In music theatre it is not only about music as one of the scenic elements; musical thinking structures the entire theatrical process. It is a genre-between-genre, where various art disciplines interact. Historically Informed Performance practice is a characteristic musical approach of the Early Music movement. It includes study of historical documents and objects in order to obtain a more profound understanding of the music and a performance practice which is based upon this comprehension. In our thesis, Historically Informed Performance practice has been connected with Contemporary Music Theatre through a mise-en-scene of Dante's Commedia, principally based upon its sonorous non-musical and musical references. Also references of movement, gesture, colour and light were taken into account for the mise-en-scene, but always in relation to the sonorous references. In this way, the mise-en-scene is a sonorous journey through Dante's Afterworld as he might have imagined it, but also a contemporary visual and dramatical journey. This research has been done through artistic practice: the creation and performance of a contemporary music theatre work called Incipit. It is based upon thorough knowledge of the Commedia and, through its methodology of Historically Informed Performance Practice, it has mostly made used of 14th century musical sources. An audio file was created as a sonorous element for Incipit, based on previously existing sounds and recording of songs and texts.The performance was recorded in video format. The research question was: How do the work methods taken from Historically Informed Performance practice contribute to the creation of a contemporary music theatre performance in a mise-en-scene of the Divina Commedia? For this practice-based research not only historical-musical knowledge was necessary but also literary knowledge of Dante's Commedia and its underlying meanings. Theoretical knowledge thus was an important basis for the practice. However, the practice itself also provided information for the theory. For the composition of three-voice "simple polyphony" according to the rules for polyphonic improvisation around 1300, theoretical knowledge was essential, but their practice led to historical-musical insights of its performance and its rules for intervallic and rhythmic matters. The practice provided a new perspective on Dante's narrative from a sonorous point of view. Finally, the practice combined two disciplines, Early Music and Contemporary Music Theatre, which are not commonly combined, and it provides us new theoretical insights of creative processes and musical-theatrical languages. / [ES] La tesis doctoral "INCIPIT: La búsqueda de un lenguaje multidisciplinario en el punto de encuentro entre la antigüedad y contemporaneidad" trata sobre la influencia de la metodología de la práctica de interpretación históricamente informada en la creación de una puesta en escena de Teatro Musical Contemporáneo. El marco y la base creativa para su combinación es la Divina Comedia de Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321). El teatro musical no se centra solamente en la música como uno de los elementos escénicos; el pensamiento musical estructura todo el proceso teatral. Es un género-entre-géneros donde interactúan varias disciplinas artísticas. La interpretación históricamente informada es una manera de abordar la música que caracterizan los intérpretes especializados en la Música Antigua. Incluye el estudio de documentos y objetos históricos con el fin de llegar a una comprensión más profunda de la música antigua y una práctica interpretativa que se basa en este entendimiento. En esta tesis, se ha relacionado la interpretación históricamente informada con el teatro musical contemporáneo a través de una puesta en escena de la Comedia de Dante basada principalmente en sus referencias sonoras, tanto musicales como no musicales. Además se tomaron en cuenta las referencias de movimiento, gesto, color y luz para la puesta en escena pero siempre en relación con las referencias sonoras. De esta forma, la puesta en escena se ha convertido en un viaje sonoro a través del Más Allá de Dante como él mismo podría haberlo imaginado, pero también siendo un viaje visualmente y dramáticamente de carácter contemporáneo. Esta investigación se ha realizado a través de la práctica artística: la creación e interpretación de una obra de teatro musical contemporáneo llamada Incipit. Se basa en un conocimiento profundo de la Comedia y, a través de la metodología de la práctica interpretativa históricamente informada, se ha hecho principalmente uso de fuentes musicales del siglo XIV. Un archivo de audio fue creado como elemento sonoro para Incipit, compuesto de sonidos previamente existentes y la grabación de cantos y textos. La actuación fue grabada en formato de vídeo. La pregunta de investigación fue: ¿Cómo contribuyen los métodos de trabajo tomados de la práctica interpretativa históricamente informada a la creación de una actuación de teatro musical contemporáneo en una puesta en escena de la Divina Comedia? Para esta investigación basada en la práctica, no sólo fue necesario el conocimiento histórico-musical, sino también el conocimiento literario de la Comedia de Dante y sus significados subyacentes. Por lo tanto el conocimiento teórico ha constituido una base importante para la práctica. Sin embargo, la práctica en sí también proporciona información para la teoría. En cuanto a la composición de "polifonía sencilla" a tres voces, de acuerdo con las reglas para la improvisación polifónica de principios del siglo XIV, ha sido esencial recurrir a un gran conocimiento teórico, pero su práctica interpretativa dio lugar a ideas histórico-musicales de su interpretación y sus normas acerca de cuestiones de intervalos y ritmos musicales. La práctica proporciona, desde un punto de vista sonoro, una nueva perspectiva de la narrativa de Dante. Por último, la interpretación junta dos disciplinas que no han sido combinadas frecuentemente: la Música Antigua y el Teatro Musical Contemporáneo, proporcionándonos nuevos conocimientos teóricos de los procesos creativos y los lenguajes musical-teatrales. / [CA] La tesi doctoral "INCIPIT: La recerca d'un llenguatge multidisciplinari en el punt de trobada entre l'antiguitat i contemporaneïtat" tracta sobre la influència de la metodologia de la pràctica d'interpretació històricament informada en la creació d'una posada en escena de Teatre Musical Contemporani. El marc i la base creativa per la seua combinació és la Divina Comèdia de Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). El teatre musical no se centra només en la música com un dels elements escènics; el pensament musical estructura tot el procés teatral. És un gènere-entre-gèneres on interactuen diverses disciplines artístiques. La interpretació històricament informada és una manera d'abordar la música que caracteritzen els intèrprets especialitzats en la Música Antiga. Inclou l'estudi de documents i objectes històrics per tal d'arribar a una comprensió més profunda de la música antiga i una pràctica interpretativa que es basa en aquest endement. En aquesta tesi, s'ha relacionat la interpretació històricament informada amb el teatre musical contemporani a través d'una posada en escena de la Comèdia de Dante basada principalment en les seues referències sonores, tant musicals com no musicals. A més es van prendre en compte les referències de moviment, gest, color i llum per a la posada en escena però sempre en relació amb les referències sonores. D'aquesta manera, la posada en escena s'ha convertit en un viatge sonor a través del Més Enllà de Dante com ell mateix podria haver-ho imaginat, però també sent un viatge visualment i dramàticament de caràcter contemporani. Aquesta investigació s'ha realitzat a través de la pràctica artística: la creació i interpretació d'una obra de teatre musical contemporani anomenada Incipit. Es basa en un coneixement profund de la Comèdia i, a través de la metodologia de la pràctica interpretativa històricament informada, s'ha fet principalment ús de fonts musicals del segle XIV. Un arxiu d'àudio va ser creat com a element sonor per a Incipit, compost de sons prèviament existents i de la gravació de cants i textos. L'actuació va ser gravada en format de vídeo. La pregunta d'investigació va ser: Com contribueixen els mètodes de treball presos de la pràctica interpretativa històricament informada a la creació d'una actuació de teatre musical contemporani en una posada en escena de la Divina Comèdia? Per a aquesta investigació basada en la pràctica, no només va ser necessari el coneixement històric-musical, sinó també el coneixement literari de la Comèdia de Dante i els seus significats subjacents. Per tant el coneixement teòric ha constituït una base important per a la pràctica. No obstant això, la pràctica en si també proporciona informació per a la teoria. Pel que fa a la composició de "polifonia senzilla" a tres veus, d'acord amb les regles per a la improvisació polifònica de principis del segle XIV, ha sigut essencial recórrer a un gran coneixement teòric, però la seua pràctica interpretativa va donar lloc a idees historicomusicals de la seua interpretació i les seues normes sobre qüestions d'intervals i ritmes musicals. La pràctica proporciona, des d'un punt de vista sonor, una nova perspectiva de la narrativa de Dante. Finalment, la interpretació junta dues disciplines que no han estat combinades freqüentment: la Música Antiga i el Teatre Musical Contemporani, proporcionant-nos nous coneixements teòrics dels processos creatius i els llenguatges musical-teatrals. / Sprenkeling, L. (2016). INCIPIT: The search for a multidisciplinary language at the crossroads of Antiquity and Contemporaneity [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/62682

Existing accounts of the music profession argue that between 1750 and 1850 musicians acquired a new identity as professional ‘artists’ and experienced a concomitant rise in their social and cultural status. In the absence of sustained investigation, it has often been implied that these changes affected male and female musicians in similar ways. As this thesis contends, this was by no means the case. Arguments in support of female musical professionalism, artistry, and their function in public life were made in this period. Based on the gender-specific nature of the female voice, they were an important defence of women’s public engagement that has been overlooked by gender historians, something which this thesis sets out to correct. However, the public role and professionalism of female musicians were in opposition to the prevailing valorisation of female domesticity and privacy. Furthermore, the notion of women as creative artists was highly unstable in an era which tended to label artistry, ‘genius’ and creativity as male attributes. For these reasons, the idea of female musicians as professional artists was always in tension with contemporary conceptions of gender, making women’s experience of the ‘rise of the artist’ much more contested and uncertain compared to that of men. Those advocating the female singer as professional artist were a minority in the British musical world. Their views co-existed alongside very different and much more prevalent approaches to the female singer which had little to do with the idea of the professional artist. Through examining debates about female singers in printed sources, particularly newspapers and periodicals, alongside case studies based on the surviving documents of specific singers, this thesis builds a picture of increasing diversity in the experiences and representations of female musicians in this period and underlines the controlling influence of gender in shaping responses to them.

Indigenous Australian women who perform contemporary music are acutely aware that Aboriginalist discourse has created unrealistic expectations and public perceptions of Indigenous Australian performance. The theory of Aboriginalism is critiqued and interrogated in this thesis in relation to Indigenous Australian women, performance, and race. This thesis addresses the complex and contradictory ways that Aboriginalist discourse fixes non-Indigenous expectations of Indigenous Australian performance, gender, and race by exploring how the performers themselves work within and against these Aboriginalist constructions through their music. One of the immediate effects of Aboriginalism is that it silences Indigenous Australians. In academic discourse and popular media, the voices of Indigenous women who perform contemporary music are rarely heard and often overlooked or ignored. This thesis aims to redress and understand this gender imbalance by focusing on Indigenous women and their contemporary music and illustrate how Indigenous Australian women performers are enacting new types of agency to negotiate their way through, around, and over one-dimensional Aboriginalist constructions of themselves to self-define more positive and diverse identities as Indigenous Australian women. This thesis is divided into four parts. Part One (Chapters One, Two, and Three) provides necessary background to the study. Chapter One introduces the topic and poses research questions in relation to Aboriginalism, Indigenous women, and contemporary performance. Chapter Two examines a number of themes which emerge in the existing literature relating to Indigenous Australian musicians performing contemporary music. Chapter Three locates Indigenous Australian women in this academic discourse and explores some possible reasons for the increasing number of contemporary music recordings by Indigenous Australian women since the 1990s. Part Two (Chapters Four, Five, and Six) positions this study theoretically and methodologically. Chapter Four outlines the theoretical framework that informs this project while Chapter Five discusses the methodological issues and challenges I faced throughout the research process. Chapter Six introduces the Indigenous women performers who took part in this study. This chapter uses the literary convention of a “playlet” by weaving together comments of Indigenous Australian women performers from one-on-one interviews I conducted, media excerpts about the performers, as well as my own questions and comments into a conversation which tells a story about the performers’ backgrounds, experiences, albums, and achievements. Part Three (Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine) comprises the analysis chapters and examines Aboriginalism in relation to race, gender, and performance. Each of these chapters utilise theoretical discussions of Aboriginalism, excerpts from interviews with Indigenous women performers, song texts, and media representations to examine how Indigenous women perform within and against Aboriginalism. Chapter Seven focuses on how Indigenous women performers resist Aboriginalist constructs of race through performance while Chapter Eight turns the gaze to gender and Aboriginalism to explore how the performers challenge Aboriginalist representations of Indigenous women by attempting bring Indigenous women’s experiences, history, and topics to the foreground through song. Chapter Nine examines the way in which Indigenous women performers steer their way through Aboriginalism in music performance by blurring musical boundaries and drawing on a diverse range of musical styles. Finally, Part Four (Chapter Ten) discusses the possibilities of moving beyond Aboriginalism and reflects on my own contribution to discourse concerning Indigenous women performers.

La tesis presenta dos partes. La primera sitúa el estudio en sus coordenadas histórico-artísticas. Además, expone los principios teóricos que rigen el posterior análisis textual (Musicología, Semiótica, Retórica, Poética y Literatura Comparada) y sus implicaciones con la Música. La segunda parte constituye el objeto de estudio principal de la tesis: el análisis de los textos de cuatro comedias de Calderón de la Barca insertas en el marco de la Fiesta Teatral barroca: Celos aun del aire matan, La púrpura de la rosa, El laurel de Apolo y El golfo de las sirenas. Centrando nuestra atención en las virtualidades musicales de la escritura calderoniana, defendemos la intencionalidad musical de estas obras ya desde la misma concepción de la historia. Junto a este objetivo fundamental, analizamos otros elementos de la dramaturgia de Calderón: argumentos, temas, tópicos y motivos, estructura dramática, diálogos, personajes, espacio, tiempo y los variados elementos musicales que aparecen. / This Thesis contains two different parts: The first one places the research in its historical-artistic background. Besides, it states the theoretical principles which guide the textual analysis that follows (Musicology, Semiotics, Rhetoric, Poetics and Comparative Literature) and their relation to music.The second part consists of the main purpose of the Thesis research: the text analysis of four plays by Calderón de la Barca belonging to the musical court plays of Baroque Period: Celos aun del aire matan, La púrpura de la rosa, El laurel de Apolo and El golfo de las sirenas. Focusing on the potentalities of the Calderon´s writing, we support the musical intention of these works from the very conception of the plot. Together with this essential aim, we analyze other items of Calderon´s drama: plots, topics, commonplaces and motifs, dramatic structure, dialogues, characters, space, time and all the different musical elements which appear

This thesis investigates the way "healing" may be seen to be represented and enacted by three recent New Zealand music theatre productions: Once Were Warriors, the Musical-Drama; The Whale Rider, On Stage; and Footprints/Tapuwae, a bicultural opera. This thesis addresses the ways each of these music theatre productions can be seen to dramatise ideologically informed notions of Maori cultural health through the encounter of Maori performance practices with American and European music theatre forms. Because the original colonial encounter between Maori and Pakeha was a wounding process, it may be possible that in order to construct a theatrical meeting between the "colonised" Maori and the "colonial" non-Maori, "healing" is an essential element by which to foster an idea of the post-colonial, bicultural togetherness of the nation. In all three productions, Maori song and dance forms are incorporated into a distinctive form of western music theatre: the American musical; the international spectacle; Wagnerian opera. Wagner's attempts to regenerate German culture through his music dramas can be compared to Maori renaissance idea(l)s of cultural "healing" through a "return" to Maori myths, traditions and song and dance.

Indigenous Australian women who perform contemporary music are acutely aware that Aboriginalist discourse has created unrealistic expectations and public perceptions of Indigenous Australian performance. The theory of Aboriginalism is critiqued and interrogated in this thesis in relation to Indigenous Australian women, performance, and race. This thesis addresses the complex and contradictory ways that Aboriginalist discourse fixes non-Indigenous expectations of Indigenous Australian performance, gender, and race by exploring how the performers themselves work within and against these Aboriginalist constructions through their music. One of the immediate effects of Aboriginalism is that it silences Indigenous Australians. In academic discourse and popular media, the voices of Indigenous women who perform contemporary music are rarely heard and often overlooked or ignored. This thesis aims to redress and understand this gender imbalance by focusing on Indigenous women and their contemporary music and illustrate how Indigenous Australian women performers are enacting new types of agency to negotiate their way through, around, and over one-dimensional Aboriginalist constructions of themselves to self-define more positive and diverse identities as Indigenous Australian women. This thesis is divided into four parts. Part One (Chapters One, Two, and Three) provides necessary background to the study. Chapter One introduces the topic and poses research questions in relation to Aboriginalism, Indigenous women, and contemporary performance. Chapter Two examines a number of themes which emerge in the existing literature relating to Indigenous Australian musicians performing contemporary music. Chapter Three locates Indigenous Australian women in this academic discourse and explores some possible reasons for the increasing number of contemporary music recordings by Indigenous Australian women since the 1990s. Part Two (Chapters Four, Five, and Six) positions this study theoretically and methodologically. Chapter Four outlines the theoretical framework that informs this project while Chapter Five discusses the methodological issues and challenges I faced throughout the research process. Chapter Six introduces the Indigenous women performers who took part in this study. This chapter uses the literary convention of a “playlet” by weaving together comments of Indigenous Australian women performers from one-on-one interviews I conducted, media excerpts about the performers, as well as my own questions and comments into a conversation which tells a story about the performers’ backgrounds, experiences, albums, and achievements. Part Three (Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine) comprises the analysis chapters and examines Aboriginalism in relation to race, gender, and performance. Each of these chapters utilise theoretical discussions of Aboriginalism, excerpts from interviews with Indigenous women performers, song texts, and media representations to examine how Indigenous women perform within and against Aboriginalism. Chapter Seven focuses on how Indigenous women performers resist Aboriginalist constructs of race through performance while Chapter Eight turns the gaze to gender and Aboriginalism to explore how the performers challenge Aboriginalist representations of Indigenous women by attempting bring Indigenous women’s experiences, history, and topics to the foreground through song. Chapter Nine examines the way in which Indigenous women performers steer their way through Aboriginalism in music performance by blurring musical boundaries and drawing on a diverse range of musical styles. Finally, Part Four (Chapter Ten) discusses the possibilities of moving beyond Aboriginalism and reflects on my own contribution to discourse concerning Indigenous women performers.