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Note: / Karol Szymanowski's music has fascinated me for a long time. The first time I encountered his name was in Artur Rubinstein's autobiography, which recounts how they first met and narrates many anecdotes about their friendship. At the time, I was living in Brazil, and was unable to find any recordings of his music. Nonetheless, Rubinstein's ardent praise of him (“a master!”, “a great Polish composer!”, “a powerful, original personality”) made me very curious, and I did not abandon my desire to keep looking for his music. Then, when I moved to Montreal in order to start my undergraduate degree at McGill University, I was finally able to find many recordings of his works at the school's library.[...]

The song " Montreal ", by Ariane Moffatt, has achieved a great success in the Summer of 2006. This thesis scrutinizes the causes of this popularity. After a review of the diverse existing methods in popular music research, three modes of analysis are presented. First, the study shown here describes the song through a music-theoretical approach; it observes the rules governing the voice, the melody, the rhythm, the phrases, the bass, the tonality, the chords, and the instruments used, supported by a precise transcription of the song. Then, this paper studies the musical codes that are found in "Montreal". In this section, the musical message of the piece is analyzed, while taking in consideration the sociohistorical context of the Summer of 2006, the national history that preceded the release of this piece, and the lyrics of the song. Finally, this study investigates the issue of national identity in Quebec, the place of "Montreal" into the collective imagination of Quebeckers, and the popular music tradition of the province.

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In this paper the compositional issues and techniques employed in my D.Mus. Thesis Composition Noite dos Tambores Silenciosos (for symphony orchestra) are discussed. The piece, constituted of three linked parts, exhibits a counterpoint of three distinct kinds of music as the main vehicle of the musical discourse. / Two of these musics are connected with Maracatu de Baque Virado and Maracatu Rural, popular musical manifestations found in Pernambuco, a state in northeast Brazil. In a "defragmentation" process, reference materials from the Maracatus are abstractly fragmented and reconstructed according to a technique I call Zin-Zout, implementing in the music a continuous state of transformation, back and forth between micro and macro dimensions. The third kind of music, free of folk references, follows a transformational process built up according to a "palimpsest" technique. In this transformation the hierarchy of the musical parameters changes along with the units of the musical content. / These procedures involve not only pitch and rhythm, but also other parameters like timbre, density and register in a structural way, as building elements of the content and form of the work. / The defragmentation process establishes some predetermined compositional paths, but permits micro- and macro-level decisions based on intuitive considerations, especially in the manipulation of orchestration and micro rhythms. More systematic, the organization of pitch involves a limited serialism and a variety of modal treatment.

Sets and the Senses is a work for symphony orchestra that bears the interaction between science and art as its overriding theme. Formalizations of compositional parameters that relate to this interaction are established, in particular those relating to the contrast between systematic and intuitively composed music, in order to provide a vehicle for musical communication on the theme. A summary of scientific and artistic elements of the compositional process reveals in the work an ingrained hierarchy of science/art interactions. Specific strategies for manipulating the science/art parameters are described. Genetic algorithms as applied to computer-assisted composition are discussed. The formal design of the work is described in terms of the relationship between science and art, accompanied by descriptions of systematic and intuitive musical procedures used.

Orientadora: Yara Borges Caznók / Banca: Lutero Rodrigues da Silva / Banca: César Henrique Rocha Franco / Resumo: Tendo como objeto de estudo os 50 Ponteios para piano de Camargo Guarnieri, este trabalho se concentra na análise de suas estruturações melódicas e harmônicas, almejando compreender aspectos estruturais da poética do compositor neste ciclo de peças. Apresenta-se, inicialmente, um diálogo entre as transformações sofridas pela escritura melódico-harmônica de Guarnieri durante o período de composição desta coleção e uma contextualização histórico-estilística, na qual são focalizadas, principalmente, suas buscas por um nacionalismo influenciado por Mário de Andrade e suas experiências com diferentes idiomas harmônicos. Propõe-se, ainda como texto preparatório para as análises, uma classificação textural dos 50 Ponteios e, ainda, a verificação de algumas constâncias formais dentro desta coleção.Nos capítulos seguintes, esta dissertação se direciona para a verificação das escolhas dos materiais presentes na construção das melodias e harmonias e se estende sobre observação dos procedimentos composicionais característicos de Guarnieri - sua poética. A partir desta investigação analítica, constatamos, nos Ponteios e em outras obras do compositor, a recorrência de um motivo melódico o qual denominamos Motivo Guarnieri. Na dimensão harmônica, chamou-nos a atenção a reincidência de uma determinada estrutura harmônica simétrica, utilizada com função Dominante nos momentos cadenciais, além do cuidado, por parte do compositor, em usar estruturas simétricas nos contextos escalares, harmôni... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The aim of this work is to study the 50 Piano Ponteios of Camargo Guarnieri, focusing on the analysis of their melodic and harmonic structures, seeking to understand the structural aspects of the composer's poetics in this cycle of pieces. We initially examine the transformations incurred by Guarnieri's melodic-harmonic writing in the period that this collection was composed, and a produce a historical-stylistic contextualization. This contextualization focuses on the Brazilan nationalism which was influenced by Brazilian philosopher and critic Mário de Andrade, and Guarnieri's experiences with different harmonic languages. In preparation for the analysis, a textural classification of the 50 Ponteios is performed, as well as a verification of some formal consistencies within this collection. The dissertation is also directed to the examination of the choices of the materials present in the construction of the melodies and harmonies, and extends to the observation of the compositional procedures characteristic of Guarnieri - in other words, his poetics. From this analytical investigation we can observe, in the Ponteios and in other works by this composer, the recurrence of a melodic motif which we call The Guarnieri Motive. In terms of harmony, we are struck by the recurrence of a specific symmetrical harmonic structure, used as dominant function in cadential moments. We may also verify the care the composer took to use symmetrical structures in scalar, harmonic and formal con... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Nahim Marun Filho / Banca: Eduardo Seincman / Banca: Luiz Brito Passos Amato / Abstract: This research aims at the presentation of a stylistic overview of the João Domingos Bomtempo's piano sonatas, aiming the musical interpretation. In the first chapter, is presented a brief biography of this composer, focusing on his musical trajectory, his works and the composers with whom he had contact. The following chapter is dedicated to formal analyzes of his sonatas, contemplating especially the first movements, in which works by CAPLIN (1998), HEPOKOSKI & DARCY (2006) and ROSEN (1988) were the main references. In the third chapter, the texture elements of his sonatas are investigated, from the association with the specialized literature in interpretive practices, especially those that deal with the musical style of the composers of the London Pianoforte School, with whom Bomtempo had contact. Finally, the last chapter associates the content of previous chapters in order to make an interpretative proposal for Bomtempo's Sonata opus 15 n.1. In this research, it is possible to see a way in which formal and textural aspects of a musical work can be emphasized in a musical performance in order to enrich the musicality, providing interpretive possibilities. / Resumo: Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo a apresentação de um panorama estilístico das sonatas para piano de João Domingos Bomtempo, com vistas à interpretação musical. No primeiro capítulo, apresenta-se uma breve biografia deste compositor, com foco em sua trajetória musical, em suas obras e nos compositores com os quais teve contato. O capítulo seguinte é dedicado a análises formais de suas sonatas, contemplando especialmente os primeiros movimentos, em que obras de CAPLIN (1998), HEPOKOSKI & DARCY (2006) e ROSEN (1988) foram as principais referências. No terceiro capítulo, investiga-se os elementos texturais de suas sonatas a partir da associação com a literatura especializada em práticas interpretativas, especialmente àquelas que abordam o estilo musical dos compositores da Escola de Londres, com os quais Bomtempo teve contato. Por fim, o último capítulo relaciona o conteúdo de capítulos anteriores a fim de realizar uma proposta interpretativa para a Sonata opus 15 n.1 de Bomtempo. Nesta pesquisa, é possível ver a maneira como aspectos formais e texturais de uma obra musical podem ser enfatizados em uma performance a fim de enriquecer a musicalidade, fornecendo possibilidades interpretativas. / Mestre

The videogame now occupies a unique territory in contemporary culture that offers a new perspective on conceptions of high and low art. While the fear that the majority of videogames 'pacify' their audience in an Adornian "culture industry" is not without justification, its reductionism can be countered by a recognition of the diversity and aesthetic potential of the medium. This has been proposed by sociologist, Graeme Kirkpatrick, although without close attention to the role of music. Videogame music often operates in similar ways to music in other mixed-media scenarios, such as film, or opera. In the same way that film music cannot be completely divorced from film, videogame music is contingent on and a crucial part of the videogame aesthetic. However, the interactive nature of the medium - its différance - has naturally led to the development of nonlinear musical systems that tailor music in real time to the game's dynamically changing dramatic action. Musical non-linearity points beyond both music and videogames (and their respective discourses) toward broader issues pertinent to contemporary musicology and critical thinking, not least to matters concerning high modernism (traditionally conceived of as resistant to mass culture). Such issues include Barthes's "death of the author", the significance of order/disorder as a formal spectrum, and postmodern conceptions and experiences of temporality. I argue that in this sense the videogame medium - and its music - warrants attention as a unique but not sui generis aesthetic experience. Precedent can be found for many of the formal ideas employed in such systems in certain aspects of avant-garde art, and especially in the aleatoric music prevalent in the 1950s and 60s. This thesis explores this paradox by considering videogames as both high and low, and, more significantly, I argue that the aesthetics of videogame music draw attention to the centrality of "play" in all cultural objects.