The intent of this study is twofold: first, to explore the dramatic and musical functions of chorus in baroque operas in Italy, France, and England; second, to identify choral excerpts from baroque operas suitable for present-day concert performance. Musical and dramatic functions of chorus in baroque opera are identified. Following a brief historical overview of the use of chorus in the development of Italian, French, and English baroque opera, representative choruses are selected for analysis and comparison. Examples are presented to demonstrate characteristic musical use of chorus in baroque opera; characteristic dramatic use of chorus in baroque opera; or, the suitability of a chorus for use as concert repertoire. Musical examples are drawn from a twenty-five year period in the late seventeenth century, 1667-1692, as represented in Italy by Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Sartorio, and Antonio Cesti; in France by Jean-Baptiste Lully; and in England by Henry Purcell. The results of this study indicate that there are numerous choruses appropriate for concert performance to be found in the English baroque opera repertoire, the semi-operas of Henry Purcell in particular; there are some suitable examples to be found in French baroque operas, although frequently choruses by Lully are harmonically simpler than those by Purcell; and, there are choruses available for extraction from early Italian operas such as those by Monteverdi, but very few to be found in late seventeenth century Italian operas. The document concludes with an appendix of selected baroque opera choruses considered appropriate for concert performance. The appendix includes only those choruses considered to be harmonically, melodically, and textually autonomous, and of sufficient length to be free-standing. Selections chosen for the appendix are drawn from a wider range of composers and a broader time span than those discussed in the body of the paper. Information contained in the appendix includes composer, opera title, date, act and scene, chorus title, voicing, source, and editorial remarks.

The Buxheim Organ Book, the largest fifteenth-century manuscript of keyboard tablature, has never before been examined as a whole in light of musica ficta issues, although it contains far more accidentals than any contemporaneous source in mensural notation. Although tablature has been used by various scholars to examine accidentals in sixteenth-century music, studies of fifteenth-century accidentals have focussed on theoretical evidence and small groups of pieces from mensural sources. The author uses the Buxheim Organ Book to extend the investigations of accidentals in tablature back into the fifteenth century, combining the large data set provided by this manuscript with a statistical approach modelled on that of Thomas Brothers's smaller-scale study of the chansons of Binchois. Specialised computer programs are introduced, which detect musical structures relevant to the analysis of Renaissance music such as different types of cadential voice leading. These programs function as extensions to David Huron's Humdrum Toolkit. With these tools, signing practises in the intabulations are statistically compared with all of the concordances of the models. Conclusions are suggested pertaining to issues of signature accidental transmission, partial signatures, mode, and musica ficta, which can be used as a contextual backdrop for the analysis of individual pieces. The evidence provided by the accidentals in Buxheim and its concordances draws a clear picture of how a group of fifteenth-century musicians added accidentals to polyphonic music. For the first time, this study provides us with principles and guidelines for musica ficta -decisions based on actual practice.

The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of scholarly research on the orchestral performance practice of conductor Raymond Leppard.This study presents, with supporting evidence, what an international conductor does today to incorporate the results of research into the interpretation of music. From this study, the writer has presented the influence scholarly research has had on orchestral performance practice, how one of today's conductor and orchestras deal with the issues raised and how they are carried into current performances, and to what degree do musicologists influence his performance. Orchestra conductors continue to learn from performance practice research and young conductors must be encouraged to gain knowledge from this field.Three scholarly musicians, Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940), Edmund H. Fellowes (1870-1951), and Thurston Dart (1921-1971), among many others, did much to revive authentic performances of earlier music. Their critical and historical writings are based on original sources and the concept of interpretation by studying composers' original manuscripts and editions in order to better present their musical style and heritage. This developed a strong movement towards the study of incorporating authentic music research into music performance.Maestro Leppard is known particularly for his interpretations of seventeenth and eighteenth century music. He prepared the revivals of Monteverdi and Cavalli's Italian operas. Maestro Leppard has had many experiences with European and American orchestras and has made many recordings. The contents of the interview focused on (1) orchestra size and seating, (2) the authenticity of music, (3) some basic performance practice elements such as tempo, rhythm, dynamics, articulation and phrasing, ornamentation, vibrato, and portamento, (4) string bowing, (5) editions, and (6) interpretation and personal observations. / School of Music

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Beethoven is widely considered to be one of the most influential composers of all time. His compositions denote a crucial turning point in the history of western music, and his influence can be discussed in numerous ways - musically, technically, theoretically and even philosophically. This treatise discusses one of the primary aspects of Beethoven's influence on later generations: the way that his symphonies contributed to the expansion of the genre and, consequently, to the development of the orchestra. Included is a detailed analysis of his nine symphonies, an overview of his personal life, and an exploration of the historical, social, and political time in which he lived. This thesis collects and examines relevant documents in order to inquire about and better understand the changes and innovations that transformed the standard orchestra of the eighteenth century, opening the doors to the symphonic music of the Romantic Era. / by Daniel Padua. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 200?. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

At the end of the sixteenth century, Simone Verovio printed a series of canzonetta anthologies in Rome. These collections were unique, in that they contained keyboard and lute intabulations alongside their vocal parts. The keyboard intabulations seem primarily intended as accompanimental parts. As such, they inform us about the use of keyboard instruments in ensembles of mixed voices and instruments. This thesis examines how the printing format of Verovio's keyboard intabulations arose from a larger context. In particular, it asks what were the skills and training of amateur keyboard players (often women), when or when not to transpose pieces with chiavette (or high clefs), and how instrumental embellishments relate to the canzonetta's text as well as musical texture. This examination contributes to a better understanding of Italian sixteenth-century performance practice, especially of the ways in which instruments were used along with voices in domestic music making.

In Caught Between Jazz and Pop, I challenge the prevalent marginalization and malignment of smooth jazz in the standard jazz narrative. Furthermore, I question the assumption that smooth jazz is an unfortunate and unwelcomed evolutionary outcome of the jazz-fusion era. Instead, I argue that smooth jazz is a long-lived musical style that merits multi-disciplinary analyses of its origins, critical dialogues, performance practice, and reception. Chapter 1 begins with an examination of current misconceptions about the origins of smooth jazz. In many jazz histories, the origins of smooth jazz are defined as a product of the jazz-fusion era. I suggest that smooth jazz is a distinct jazz style that is not a direct outgrowth of any mainstream jazz style, but a hybrid of various popular and jazz styles. Chapters 2 through 4 contain eight case studies examining the performers of crossover jazz and smooth jazz. These performers have conceived and maintained distinct communicative connections between themselves and their audiences. In the following chapter, the unfair treatment of popular jazz styles is examined. Many early and influential jazz critics sought to elevate jazz to the status of art music by discrediting popular jazz styles. These critics used specific criteria and emphasized notions of anti-commerciality to support their theoretical positions. In Chapter 6, the studio recordings and live performances of smooth jazz are discussed. Critics frequently complain that most smooth jazz recordings feature glossy packaging and pristine studio editing, resulting in a too-perfect product. Although this aesthetic is the result of a unique series of interactions, recordings do not represent the complete musical nature of smooth jazz. Live performances contain important, but typically neglected aspects of smooth jazz. Live performances enable performers to extend solos, interact, and communicate directly to the audience. While recordings are a useful source for musical analysis, smooth jazz, like other styles of jazz, is an improvisatory music that utilizes multiple sites of production and cannot be accurately judged on recordings alone.

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This study aims to provide a critique of Baroque performance practice, with specific reference to the organ Preludes and Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach. Drawing from the extensive body of literature pertaining to Bach’s keyboard music, a number of relevant issues are explored in so far as these may provide understanding of the manner in which the organ Preludes and Fugues should be performed today. These include: • The notion of Bach’s ‘generic’ keyboard works. Were the generic keyboard works as a whole intended to be performed on more than one keyboard instrument? The instrumental designations given by Bach in these works are a valuable source of information in answering this question. • The type of organ that was known to J.S. Bach and typical registration used in the Baroque, called the plenum. • Identification of the grey area that persists in the interpretation of Bach’s organ works with regard to registration, tempo, rhythm, articulation, phrasing, fingering and ornamentation. This study also engages with the current authenticity debate in musical performance as seen from the modernist and postmodernist points of view. The modernist ideal of authenticity is to “re-create” or “reconstruct” performances of Bach’s music with as much accuracy as the evidence of historical musicologists can provide. For the postmodernist, however, authenticity lies in embracing the human element of contingency in musical performance, along with a thorough grounding of such performance in historical evidence. In aligning itself with the postmodernist point of view, this study ultimately argues that we cannot learn everything there is to know about Baroque performance practice from books. Instead, in addition to historical evidence, we draw much of our understanding in this regard from our innate or tacit levels of knowing. In this regard the scholar of Bach’s organ works can draw valuable lessons from the levels of tacit knowledge of leading organ pedagogues and performers on the subject of Baroque performance practice.

This paper is an examination of the battle chansons of Clement Janequin for references to Renaissance trumpet music. The following issues are addressed: dating the early use of the clarino register; the history and evolution of the courtly trumpet ensemble; and the transition from the shorter trumpet of the Middle Ages to the longer instrument of the middle Renaissance and Baroque eras. Because the earliest Janequin battle chanson predates all known written trumpet sources by over fifty years, musical evidence gleaned from these battle chansons can help to establish the existence and character of trumpet performance practices in the first third of the sixteenth century. The first chapter summarizes all of the known primary sources of information on Renaissance trumpet performance, and identifies important issues worthy of further investigation. The second chapter examines trumpet music and trumpet style in the Renaissance, including trumpet ensemble performance, military trumpet calls, and the imitation of trumpet style in purely vocal music, and contains eight musical examples. The third chapter discusses the battle chansons of Janequin and their influence on other sixteenth-century works. Chapter £our analyzes the battle works of Janequin for allusions to trumpet music and includes eleven musical examples. The fifth and concluding chapter places the musical allusions into the context of trumpet history. The musical references pointed out in these chansons provide the first musical evidence that trumpeters in the early sixteenth century were performing in the clarino register. Clear references to unequal articulation, military calls, characteristic: trumpet rhythms, and to the music of the courtly trumpet ensemble are demonstrated. The chansons also provide evidence of the simultaneous use of trumpets in at least two different keys, probably for two different styles of playing.