Origin Unknown is a 15-minute, single-movement work for orchestra. The piece maintains an understated, meditative quality throughout, and adheres to the principle of perpetual variation of a very limited amount of material. The form of the work is process-oriented: the music unfolds slowly, according to a consistent, yet flexible, dialectic. Two basic materials—one that is tonally stable, and another that modulates—alternate throughout the piece and form a harmonic backdrop. A type of respiration occurs, as the lengths of the stable sections expand and contract, while the modulatory passages get progressively longer each time they recur. A surface layer of triplet melodies is superimposed onto this background structure, forming a subtle counterpoint. Percussive, bell-like sounds (glockenspiel, vibraphone, celesta, harp, and piano) articulate most of the pitches in the work. As these sounds decay, they often meld into a wind or string timbre which sustains the pitch after its percussive attack has faded. Eventually, these sustained sounds fade out, just as their percussive attack did, but at a slower rate with a long diminuendo. A regular rotation of the percussive timbres produces a kaleidescopic effect, while the wind and string choirs often alternate in an antiphonal fashion. As the alternating wind and string passages expand and contract in length, the orchestration of the piece effects a "respiration" in the timbral domain analogous to that built into the harmonic structure of the piece.

This study explores performance practices used in French choral music of the late Baroque era, using In convertendo (ca. 1713; rev. 1751), a grand motet by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), as the exemplar. As the foundation of the project, the author created a new edition of the motet (which is included in an appendix to the document) from primary source material. The document is divided into two major sections. History and Performance Practice. After a brief overview of Rameau's life and career, the first section summarizes the development of the grand motet genre from the early works of Eustache Du Caurroy (1549-1609) through the contributions of Rameau. The second section discusses the following topics: the various agrements and their usage; matters of meter, tempi, and dynamics; conventions of rhythmic alteration; issues of pitch and instrumentation; and the use of the historical French Latin pronunciation for this repertoire. The document concludes with a chapter describing the author's edition of In convertendo and detailing the editorial procedures employed in creating it.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Arizona, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-183).

Inaugural-Dissertation--Berlin. / "Notenbeilage": 57 p. at end. "Literaturverzeichnis zu Kapital 1": p. 60. "Quellenverzeichnis": p. 65-67. "Bibliographie der Tanzliteratur bis 1900": p. 78-107.

No description available.

Inaugural-Dissertation--Berlin. / "Notenbeilage": 57 p. at end. "Literaturverzeichnis zu Kapital 1": p. 60. "Quellenverzeichnis": p. 65-67. "Bibliographie der Tanzliteratur bis 1900": p. 78-107.

Thesis (M.M.)--Wisconsin. / Arrangement for band of nos. 1, 3 and 6 of the composers op. 27, originally for chorus and orchestra. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, San Diego, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 2, 2009). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-118).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-40).