Notre thèse présente et analyse la vie et l’œuvre de Ceri Richards (1903-1971), artiste peintre britannique d’origine galloise, dont l’art est profondément influencé par la musique. Mélomane et pianiste amateur, Richards développe son art de façon très indépendante et marque l’art britannique par une originalité commentée et appréciée des critiques d’art londoniens de son temps, « ce qui le [classe] comme l’un des plus grands parmi les peintres britanniques du milieu du XXe siècle » (Bénézit). C’est après la Seconde Guerre mondiale que les références musicales apparaissent avec plus d’importance dans son travail artistique dont la série des Cathédrales englouties (v. 1957-1967), inspirée du prélude éponyme de Claude Debussy, est unanimement reconnue.La première partie de la thèse est une biographie revue et augmentée de Ceri Richards en suivant le fil conducteur de la musique. Elle s’appuie sur des sources, notamment épistolaires, jamais dévoilées jusqu’à présent et des articles sur l’artiste non encore exploités.La troisième partie est un catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre de Ceri Richards en rapport avec la musique. Notre classement, aussi exhaustif que possible à ce jour, établit huit grandes thématiques : le piano et les pianistes, Claude Debussy, Ludwig van Beethoven, les décors et les costumes d’opéras, la musique dans la poésie, les illustrations réalisées pour une Histoire de la musique écrite par Benjamin Britten et Imogen Holst, les illustrations d’ouvrages non musicaux et enfin d’autres thématiques musicales diverses. Ce travail de recensement et de catalogage, le premier jamais réalisé, souligne l’étendue et la diversité de l’inspiration musicale de Ceri Richards. / My thesis dissertation presents and analyses the life and work of Ceri Richards (1903-1971), a British painter originally from Wales. His art is profoundly influenced by music. As a music lover and pianist, Richards was particularly appreciated by London critics of his time who “placed him as one of the highest ranking, mid-20th-century British Painter” (E. Bénézit, Dictionary of Artists, Paris, Gründ, 2006). After the Second World War, the musical references are much more visible and important in his painting. His Cathédrale engloutie series, which was inspired by the eponymous Prelude by Debussy, is unanimously praised.The first part of my thesis is a biography of Ceri Richards, based on the importance of the music in his life. It relies on sources, letters unknown until now and articles about the artist never before explored.The second part investigates two corpus: the first one inspired by Debussy’s Cathédrale engloutie and the second by Beethoven in a comparative analysis.The third part is a catalogue raisonné of the work in relation with music. The organisation is in eight thematics: piano and pianists, Claude Debussy, Ludwig van Beethoven, opera stage decor and costumes, music in the poetry, illustrations realised for The Story of Music written by Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst, illustrations for books which are not musical and other diverse musical themes. This catalogue raisonné is the first one and shows the extent and diversity of Ceri Richards’s musical inspiration.

Playing‐related pain is a common and serious problem among pianists. Information on cause and prevention is extremely limited due to a lack of scientific research. The purpose of this study was to (1) review and describe risk factors for piano‐related pain among college students and piano teachers that were reported in my previous two research studies, (2) justify the use of an ergonomically modified keyboard as a potential solution for reducing playing‐related pain, and (3) test and evaluate the effectiveness of an ergonomically modified keyboard for alleviating pianists' pain. Both study populations reported high prevalence rates for playing‐related pain: 86 % for college students (n = 35), 91 % for piano teachers (n = 47). For both populations, statistical analyses confirmed that pianists with small physical size (hand size) were more prone to pain. This finding helped rationalize the use of an ergonomically modified keyboard (the key width is 1/16 narrower than the standard) for small‐handed pianists as an ergonomic intervention. To test the effectiveness of an ergonomically modified keyboard, 35 college students played identical music on both the reduced-sized keyboard and the standard keyboard. Observations of video‐recorded performances revealed that small-handed pianists can avoid extreme stretching of their hands when playing on the modified keyboard. Statistical analysis of questionnaire data confirmed that the modified keyboard helped small‐handed pianists to play with less pain and tension. These results warrant the serious consideration of adopting ergonomic principals into the world of piano.

In this paper, I explore the early musical language of McCoy Tyner. Today, Tyner is recognized mostly for his use of quartal harmony and pentatonic scales despite having made recordings in his early career that reflect a more mainstream approach. In an effort to expand how Tyner is represented, I argue that Tyner's early style was characterized by a graceful balance of tradition and innovation, a masterful blend of bebop syntax with pentatonic melodies and quartal harmonies. The recordings that I analyze and discuss are: "Effendi," "Cousin Mary," and "Newport Romp." I transcribed and analyzed selected portions of these recordings in order to better understand his early musical language as a soloist from 1962 to 1963. A portion of this paper is focused on the early reception of Tyner, which acknowledged him as an accomplished mainstream player with a firm grasp of the jazz tradition. Ultimately, my analysis shows that Tyner's early style was a balance of tradition and innovation, incorporating bebop syntax, pentatonic melodies, and quartal harmonies.

Le but de ce travail est d'étudier l'art d'interpréter de plusieurs générations de pianistes dont la formation remonte au XIXe siècle, mais dont l'activité s'est étendue jusqu'à la 1re moitié du XXe siècle. L'essor de l'interprétation qui marqua cette époque a prodigué des artistes qui - à la suite de leurs grands maîtres (Chopin, Liszt, A. Rubinstein) - ont déjà laissé un nombre considérable d'enregistrements permettant de saisir à travers leur jeu une image authentique de l’œuvre romantique. En nous référant à l'idée que l'essor du pianisme à la charnière des XIXe - XXe siècles provient de l'expansion remarquable de l'art d'interpréter au XIXe siècle, nous avançons l'hypothèse selon laquelle c'est précisément dans les positions esthétiques et dans la vision du monde propre à cette époque qu'il faut chercher les sources d'un tel essor. Parmi les caractéristiques importantes de la manière d'interpréter des pianistes de la 2e moitié du XIXe siècle, entrent d'abord en jeu la faculté de penser imagée, la liberté et une manière d'improviser en modifiant les textes des œuvres exécutées. Ces données se combinent d'ailleurs avec d'autres, comme l'intellectualisme. Les analyses de certaines particularités de style, des manières de jouer, typiques du XIXe siècle (comme le rubato, le « pointillisme etc.), nous révèlent ainsi ce que fut la réelle pensée polyphonique du Romantisme. Il ne s'agit pas de la seule écriture polyphonique, mais d'un principe polyphonique au sens plus large, s'exprimant à travers le style d'interpréter qui, à son tour, définit la perception spatio-temporelle spécifique de ces quelques décennies. / The aim of this work is to study the performing art of several generations of pianists who were trained in the 19th Century but who extended their artistic activity throught the 1st half of the 20th Century. The rise of the art of interpretation which marked this period gave the artistes who - following their great masters - have left a considerable number of records where their plaiyng conjures up an image of the romantic composition that may be more authentic, though it is quite different from that of today.Based on the idea that the rise of the pianism at the turn of the 20th Century comes largely from the remarkable expansion of the 19th Century performing arts, we hypothesize that it is precisely in the aesthetic positions and the vision of the world inherent in the Romantic era that we should look for the sources of such a rise. Chief among the important features of the style of interpretation of the pianists of the 2nd half of the 19th Century, was their creative thinking, but also the surprising freedom they enjoyed to improvise and modify compositions. Other features include the intellectualism of their approach to the performed composition. Analyses of certain peculiarities of style, of the ways of playing typical of the 19th Century (such as rubato, the « pointillism » etc.) reveal the real polyphonic thougth of the Romantic era. This is not only the polyphonic writing itself, but a polyphonic principle in a broader sense, manifesting itself through the style of interpretation which, in turn, defines the specific spatio-temporal perception of these several decades.

Enrique Granados, Frank Marshall, and Alicia de Larrocha are the chief exponents of a school of piano playing characterized by special attention to details of pedalling, voicing, and refined piano sonority. Granados and Marshall dedicated the major part of their efforts in the field to the pedagogy of these principles. Their work led to the establishment of the Granados Academy in Barcelona, a keyboard conservatory which operates today under the name of the Frank Marshall Academy. Both Granados and Marshall have left published method books detailing their pedagogy of pedalling and tone production. Granados' book, Metodo Teorico Practico para el Uso de los Pedales del Piano (Theoretical and Practical Method for the Use of the Piano Pedals) is presently out of print and available in a photostatic version from the publisher. Marshall's works, Estudio Practico sobre los Pedales del Piano (Practical Study of the Piano Pedals) and La Sonoridad del Piano (Piano Sonority) continue to be used at the Marshall Academy and are available from Spanish publishing houses. This study brings information contained in these three method books to the forefront and demonstrates its relevance to the performance of the music of Granados, specifically the Escenas Romanticas. Alicia de Larrocha, Marshall's best known pupil, currently holds the directorship of the Marshall Academy, and as such, is perhaps the best living authority on this entire line of pianistic and pedagogical thought. An interview conducted with Madame de Larrocha in April of 1983 adds detail and provides valuable perspective about the present use and relevance of these materials and concepts.