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Whenever a new form or style of musical composition is introduced, of which our society has not been adequately conditioned, there arises an immediate desire to present some type of logical and artistic interpretation to this person's new form of expressing himself. Thereby, if a performer or teacher of music desires to understand composition and the interpretation given to a piece of music, he usually draws from his reservoir of information which has been built upon the style and tradition of the past. However, this cannot be achieved when studying the music of our contemporaries, or of such a man as Olivier Messiaen, for he goes much further than any other composer and brings to use an entirely new form or media of musical expression. Although the organ music of Messiaen is becoming more and more widely known in this day of organ and stereo enthusiasts, there exists only in very rare cases, a musical and a spiritual understanding of his music. From the performing point of view, the music in most cases is technically difficult, requiring a real virtuosity in the French tradition, such as explored by Marcel Dupre (playing and composing or Improvising simultaneously). Unfortunately nearly all of our concert organists today employ the big, showy pieces of Messiaen as spectacular technical showpieces, forgetting entirely their deeply spiritual nature, and in many cases, insecure-or inacurate rhythmic presentations of the works, produce a distortion of the composers intent.Therefore, it is now the problem of the student, the recitalist, and theorist to study Messiaen's philosophies, plus the many new techniques in his composition, so that a true, concise, and valuable interpretation might be rendered in performance. Because the need for study in this area was felt, the creative project was selected and to these ends was directed.

The lecture recital was given July 10, 1973. The Symphonie-Passion by Marcel Dupre was performed following a lecture on various factors that influenced the development of the organ symphony in France. In addition to the lecture recital, three other public recitals were performed, including solo compositions for the organ and three chamber works for organ and instruments. The first solo recital, including works of J. S. Bach, P. Hindemith, L. Sowerby, and L. Vierne, was performed on June 4, 1969. On April 17, 1970 the second solo recital was performed. Compositions by J. S. Bach, D. Buxtehude, M. Duprd, N. Dello Joio, S. Karg--Elert, and J. Langlais were included in the program. On January 25, 1971, a program of organ chamber works by N. Lockwood, D. Pinkham, and F. Martin, as well as solo works by F. Lizst, W. Latham, and Marcel Duprl, was performed. The four programs were recorded on magnetic tape and are filed with the written version of the lecture as a part of the dissertation.

This thesis on the Rise of the French Organ Symphony refers especially to the relevant works of Alexandre Guilmant and Charles-Marie Widor. It commences with a survey of the historical background, dealing with the development of French organ music from the 16th to 19th Century and the development of organ building in France from the 17th to 19th Century. It then proceeds to descriptions of the organs of St Clotilde, La Trinité and St Sulpice Churches in Paris, which are followed by biographical profiles of Cesar Franck, Alexandre Guilmant and Charles-Marie Widor, respectively. The major part of the thesis is devoted to a detailed analysis of the organ sonatas of Guilmant and the organ symphonies of Widor, which are discussed from the point of their cyclic outline and aspects of form and of style. The final chapter summarises the major findings of the analytical research and evaluates by comparative method, the merits and achievements of the two composers. In addition, Appendices are attached, providing specifications of various French organs and pictorial material relevant to the thesis. A separate cassette tape features characteristic sounds of Cavailie-Coll organs.

More than 200 compositions have been written for solo trombone and organ since the nineteenth century, including contributions from notable composers such as Franz Liszt, Gustav Holst, Gardner Read, Petr Eben, and Jan Koetsier. This repertoire represents a significant part of the solo literature for the trombone, but it is largely unknown to both trombonists and organists. The purpose of this document is to provide a historical perspective of this literature from the nineteenth century to the present, to compile a complete bibliography of compositions for trombone and organ, and to determine the current state of performance of this repertoire. This current state of performance has been determined through an internet survey, a study of recital programs printed in the ITA Journal, a study of recordings of this literature, and interviews and correspondence with well-known performers of these compositions. It is the intention of this author that this document will serve to make the repertoire for trombone and organ more accessible and more widely known to both trombonists and organists.

The lecture recital was given February 16, 1976. A discussion of the development of form in the German organ sonata from Mendelssohn to Rheinberger was presented. A performance of representative sonatas by Mendelssohn and Rheinberger was included with the lecture. Two solo recitals and one chamber recital were presented as public recitals in addition to the lecture recital. The first solo recital, on July 2, 1970, included works of Buxtehude, Roger-Ducasse, Bach, and Sowerby. The chamber recital, given with Betty Lambert, soprano, on July 31, 1973, consisted of works by Bach, Pepping, Pinkham, Reger, and Bornefeld. The second solo recital, on April 17, 1978, included works by Lubeck, Balbastre, Bach, Mathias, Karg-Elert, and Dupré. All four programs, recorded on magnetic tape, are filed, along with the written version of the lecture material, in the North Texas State University library.

The chorale Wie schðn leuchtet der Morgenstern was popular from its very outset in 1589. That it has retained its popularity down to the present day is evident by its continually appearing in hymnbooks and being used as a cantus in organ compositions as well as forming the basis for other media of musical composition. The treatment of organ compositions based on this single chorale not only exemplifies the curiously novel attraction that this tune has held for composers, but also supplies a common denominator by which the history of the organ chorale can be generally stated.

Four contrasting recitals were presented to fulfill the requirements for the degree Doctor of Musical Arts. The first recital contained music of miscellaneous composers. Two Preludes and Fugues by the North German Baroque composers Vincent Libeck and Dietrich Buxtehude were separated by Samuel Scheidt's Variations on the Netherlands folk song "Ach du feiner Reiter". The Brahms Chorale Prelude "0 wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen" and the Louis Vierne "Intermezzo" from the Third Symphony represented Romantic-style composition. The major work of the program was the Carl Nielsen Commotio, a large work in orchestral style. The second recital consisted completely of music by J. S. Bach. Four works of contrasting styles were presented: Concerto, Opus 3, No. 8, composed by Antonio Vivaldi and transcribed by Bach, Partita on Sie gegrisset, Jesu gtig, Sonata IV, and Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor. The third recital was the lecture recital: Registration of Orchestral Textures in Organ Music. This lecture was an attempt to deal with the contemporary problem in performance practice of registration of Romantic organ music. The trends in organ building in the twentieth century have ranged from a deeper exploration of the possibilities of the Romantic organ to the reevaluation of and rededication to principles of organ building popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Bibliography: leaves 94-99.