The mid 1890s witnessed the start of a new era in British music criticism heralded by George Bernard Shaw. A preliminary study of the nineteenth-century critical context provides some reasons for its emergence. The new temper was defined by two critics: John F. Runciman. the self-appointed leader of the New critics. and the Rationalist Ernest Newman. Henry Hadow's Studies in Modern Music set a new standard and added impetus to discussion of critical theory. Several other critics associated with Oxford, including Parry, Tovey, Walker and Colles, formed a body of opinion that shared common values and continued a tradition stemming from Victorian writers such as Grove and Stainer. Discussions of critical theory, especially those of Newman and M. D. Calvocoressi. are given prominence. Two new trends emerged after the First World War. The first, a reaction against the German repertoire, focused on Stravinsky and the composers associated with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Foremost among those who championed the aesthetic of 'objective empiricism' were Edwin Evans and Leigh Henry. A second and more conservative tendency carne predominantly from two composer-critics associated with Philip Heseltine's journal of the 1920s. The Sackbut: Cecil Gray and K. S. Sorabji. Constant Lamben continued along broadly similar lines to Gray during the 1930s, notably in his Music Ho!. and is included as a member of the Sackbut coterie. Contrast between the criticism of Eric Blom and that of the poet W. J. Turner demonstrates the range of independent thought characteristic of the new era. Consideration of individual endeavour rather than collective trends of critical thought provides the method of documentation. The thesis attempts to elucidate the diversity of critical views without refuting a critic or entering into a polemical discourse. while in no way shirking the responsibility of arriving at an assessment of his position and achievement. Certain recurrent issues. including those surrounding Romanticism. nationalism and the rise of modernism. reflect the primary concerns of the period. A table showing music critics of leading British newspapers and a selected chronological list of one hundred books of music criticism published in Britain between 1890 and 1950 are contained in the appendices.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University / Under the heading of "The Development of Music Criticism in New England", it was first necessary to find the earliest extant records of commentary on musical performances; these consisted of diaries such as those of Judge Samuel Sewall (1705-1721), and Dr. William Bentley (1797-1805). A slight historical sketch has been included, but only that which was pertinent in establishing the background against which musical tastes and the attendant commentary developed. The majority of the leading newspapers were consulted and typical, illustrative excerpts from each paper have been included, showing the basic trends in criticism from the first notices of concerts to the relatively modern era of 1880. Material was also furnished by leading authors who covered various periods in the development of American music; Elson, Howard, Ritter, Johnson, and Sonneck. [TRUNCATED]

<p>Until recently, musicology has overlooked the role of the body in musical understanding, preferring to think of music as a matter of the mind. However, musicologists such as David Lidov, Robert Walser, Susan McClary, and Suzanne Cusick have discussed the mind/body split which exists in musicology at great length and have suggested several solutions to the problem. And Peter Kivy, however, has invoked the body by suggesting that the shape of the musical line is the same as the shape of a human body when expressing an emotion. I was intrigued by Kivy's ideas and started searching for a general theory of understanding which involved the role of the body. This search led me to the theories of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Lakoff and Johnson suggest that the body is the essence of human understanding. They propose that we understand our world through metaphorical projections of our physical relationship to it. After an indepth look at music and emotions as separate entities, it will be shown that music is not a metaphor for emotions, in the traditional sense, but that both music and emotions are understood through the same recurring physical body-patterns. Using the theories of Lakoff and Johnson as a model, an analysis of the music of the fIlm Glory will be undertaken. This analysis is designed to demonstrate how music can be expressive of several emotions including sadness, happiness, love, and pride.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Participation in the singing of sacred music is significant within the Roman Catholic liturgy, as it is in rituals of other religious groups and cultures. Liturgical practice places sacred song at the forefront of the Eucharistic Celebration, which in turn is itself at the centre of all communal celebrations within the Catholic Church. In studying this phenomenon, however, it is not enough to look only at the texts and the songs; rather, this study examines song within the context of the role of singing within the community.</p> <p>In observing and commenting on three communities in which I am active as music minister, I am able to compare and contrast the role, function and power of participatory sacred song in similar yet differing situations. I also engage in a theoretical discussion which will shed light on the many issues in the function and role of music within communal worship. I draw on a combination of theoretical writings on performance (such as the work of Charlotte Frisbie, Richard Schechner and Jeff Todd Titon), Bakhtinian theories of language and the discourse surrounding organizational theory and power (as proposed by Göran Ahrne). This provides a fruitful theoretical framework, from which further discussion regarding specific case studies can result, thus rendering a possible final application of the theoretical thought this frameworkn has provided me with the tools to be better able to discuss the issues of sacred song in its performative context.</p> <p>By applying these theories to the Church's liturgical documents and practical observations on function, fresh insights can be developed about the function of song. By observing and commenting on what should occur according to the liturgical documents, on what does occur in these three case-studies, the theoretical applications provide a fruitful area for in-depth exploration of the role of participatory sacred song.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The music criticism that Richard Wagner wrote in 1840 and 1841 represents the composer's most active involvement with music journalism. While attempting to establish himself as a composer of operas for the Parisian stage, he addressed issues of direct consequence to own artistic development and created lively portraits of a milieu that he ultimately judged to be incompatible with his ideals. He left Paris in poverty and failure, but the articles that he contributed to four different periodicals attest to the importance of his Parisian experiences as both a composer and an author. Wagner addressed issues of musical consequence with a variety of means, writing colorful narratives for the readers of La Gazette musicale in Paris, descriptions of cultural events for the fashion-conscious readers of Europa in Stuttgart, serious musical essays for the <em>Neue Zeitschrift für Musik</em> in Leipzig, and <em>feuilletons</em> for the Dresden <em>Abendzeitung</em>.</p> <p>For much of the success of his varied literary efforts, Wagner was indebted to influential predecessors, primarily E. T. A. Hoffmann and Heinrich Heine. By adopting the stylistic features of the German novella, Wagner permanently embraced Hoffmann's musical aesthetics. In a similar emulation of Heine's critical writing, Wagner rejected Heine's musical attitudes, although he found Heine's methods useful.</p> <p>A systematic analysis of Wagner's Parisian criticism evaluates the longevity and importance of these influences and the worth of Wagner's writing for his development as a composer and musical author. Despite Wagner's attempts to emphasize or discount influences in the editing of his collected writings, examination of the Parisian writings reveals that the experiences of the 1840s significantly affected his musical aesthetics.</p> <p>In addition to being indispensable to an evaluation of Wagner's developing opinions of Italian operatic style, the role of virtuosity in performance, and the meaning of emotion in music, the Parisian writings also provide insight into the issues, personalities, and institutions that were of consequence to the critical press of the cultural capital of the 1830s and 1840s. Wagner's youthful critical writing provides a penetrating analysis of its author and its time.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>One of the main goals of this study is to develop analytical strategies that can meaningfully represent the contributions of women in hip-hop music. In the last five years, a number of music scholars have begun to explore ways of analyzing and theorizing rap's music, but, by and large, the music of women rappers has received little critical attention in the musical academy. Furthermore, musicological studies of rap music have generally avoided examining dance, gesture, and other visual aspects of performance, privileging instead the lyrics and especially the technological aspects of rap (i.e. sampling technology, layering of musical and rhythmic tracks). As a result, those (male) artists who have explicitly political agendas and exploit complex technology tend to receive the most critical attention.</p> <p>By specifically considering the music of women rappers, this study attempts to challenge discourses that treat hip-hop culture and rap music as disempowering to women and as an exclusively male cultural activity. In addition to analyses of musical tracks and lyrics, this study also locates complexities in additional aspects of performance, particularly complexities produced through the use of vocal timbres and physical imagery. Thus dance, language, gesture, clothing, music, and voice are considered with respects to the ways that women construct and negotiate feminine identities, and challenge disempowering gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic stereotypes.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Only very recently have scholars embarked on tapping the potentially rich wellspring of Jewish heritage music called klezmer. Since its revitalization starting in the 1970s, klezmer has effectively leaped from obscurity to institutionalization in a transformation of remarkable speed. Its vast appeal now testifies to the significance it bears in a myriad of cultural and social spheres-anything from religion and literature to consumerism and tourism. However, because klezmer remains a relatively new area of study, only the major centers of musical activity have enjoyed the privilege of serious observation and theorization.</p> <p>This thesis attempts to examine klezmer at a more intimate level, in some of the localities that have been, as yet, unexplored, but which maintain a vital position in the continuity and life of the music and its culture. An overview of klezmer, its revival, its contemporary context, and some of its key theoretical issues is followed by an investigation into the heart of its educational establishments-known colloquially as klezmer camps. These institutions allow for a practical application of the concept of the "hyper-real" proposed by French theorist Jean Baudrillard, since their foundations and structures, which often strive to simulate an older tradition, create instead a new kind of culture with an elusive underpinning. This idea is carried further in the ensuing exploration of klezmer culture in the city of Montreal, Quebec. Through individual interviews and the direct observation of the scene and its participants, recurring conceptions of rootedness and gender in klezmer are probed from theoretical standpoints, revealing highly complex relationships between klezmer enthusiasts and their city, background, language, and even each other. As result, klezmer culture is positioned as the product of influence by various local phenomena as well as by more broad, mythical, and even global developments.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Women in the field of music have always occupied a tenuous position between Madonna and whore. I Despite music being cast as feminine, women who were performers, composers, or have occupied musical positions of power have with few exceptions been marginalized from scholarly discourse. Clara Schumann was perhaps the first and most acknowledged exception, heralded as one of the foremost virtuosi of her time. Her unusual education and her treatment by journalistic critics facilitated this acceptance.</p> <p>From her early training to her mature career as a concert pianist, Clara Schumann's management by her father is not indicative of a normal upbringing for a girl of the mid-1800's. Friedrich Wieck's specialized piano method empowered Clara with the same skills that male music students received. This transgressive sidelining of her gender, as encouraged by her father, was the first stage in the subversion of societal conventions and expectations of gender evident in her life.</p> <p>In examining concert reviews from the 1850's, we find a continuation of the negotiation of Clara's gendered identity, especially in light of theoretical insight by Judith Butler into the performativity of gender. Reviews by notable writers Eduard Hanslick and Franz Liszt offer different sides of the same gender coin. Clara was identified male either by her masculine playing or as a survivor of a potentially destructive, masculinized educational tyranny.</p> <p>Focusing on Clara's letters and diaries, critical accounts of her performances, and a variety of secondary sources, this thesis will examine female virtuosity, using Franz Liszt and Jenny Lind as examples to support an alternative approach to virtuosity for women. In doing so, this study will clarify the effect of gender upon virtuosity in the nineteenth century as well as contribute new insights into Clara's attitude toward virtuosity.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Open works represent a significant deviation from traditional methods of musical composition and presentation. This thesis examines their evolution, explores their defining characteristics, presents methods by which they may be analyzed, and reflects upon their impact on musical aesthetics and criticism.</p> <p>The open work's development in the twentieth-century is documented in Chapter One, with particular emphasis placed on extra-musical, artistic, and cultural events which influenced its emergence. Chapter Two is devoted to defining the open work in terms of form and content. In doing so, it is shown that there are two types of open work.</p> <p>Chapter Three presents an analysis of two open works: Earle Brown's <em>Available Forms I </em>and John Cage's <em>Variations III</em>. Chapter Four positions the open work in terms of its philosophical perspective, demonstrating that while openness represents a re-alignment of the traditional musical process, it does not deprive the listener of critical or evaluative resources.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>With its almost exclusive focus on the economics of the music industry, the early-21st century debate over digital music piracy has obscured other vital areas of study in the relationship between popular music and the Internet. This thesis addresses some of these neglected areas, specifically issues of agency, representation, discipline, and authority; it examines each of these in relationship to the formation and maintenance different online music communities. I argue that contemporary online trends related to music promotion, consumption, and criticism are, in fact, part of a much larger socio-cultural re-envisioning of the relationships between artists and audiences, artists and the music industry, and among audience members themselves. The relationship between music and the Internet is not only subversive on the level of economics.</p> <p>I examine these issues in three key areas. Independent women's music commnunities challenge patriarchal authority in the music industry as they use online discussion forums and web sites to advance their own careers. The tension that exists between the traditional for-profit music industry and the developing ethic of sharing in the filesharing community creates the conditions whereby we can imagine alternative ways that music can circulate in culture. "Citizen media," such as blogs and "open source" encyclopaedias, allows for those who otherwise had no avenue for presenting their thoughts and ideas to engage in public discourse. Traditional understandings of authority and expertise are subject to revision as new ways of assessing authority develop for online sources. This is also evident in the struggles of "old-media" groups in reconciling their established publishing and editorial practices with emergent online practices.</p> <p>This thesis foregrounds the work of individuals by drawing extensively from interviews, personal blogs, and online discussion forums. In this way, the monolithic "grand narratives" of the Internet, such as the filesharing "battle" or the democratic potential of online discourse, are shown to be the product of many individual subjectivities, each of whom contribute to authoring the online environment.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)