Thesis (M.M.)--University of North Texas, 2004. / For soprano, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, violin, double bass, and percussion. Duration: 14:00. Includes commentary by composer. Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-35).

Songs of Praise is a setting of four passages from the Psalms for soprano and chamber orchestra. The text is taken from Psalms 96, 114, 55, and 116 of the New American Standard Version, with each psalm scored as a separate movement. The duration of the work is approximately seventeen and one-half minutes. The instrumentation includes soprano, oboe, strings, and a percussion section of four players incorporating fourteen different instruments. The musical language employed is largely tonal, consisting generally of shifting tonal emphases achieved by exploiting the pitch relationships of traditional tonality. The movements are contrasting in character, according to the text, but generally of the same style. The vocal line predominates throughout spanning two octaves and a minor third from an A below middle C to a high C above the treble clef.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 349-366). Also available on microfiche.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--Conservatory of Music and Dance. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2008. / A three movement work for orchestra and bass-baritone soloist using texts from three Shakespeare plays: Hamlet, Titus Andronicus and King Lear. "A dissertation in music composition." Advisor: James Mobberley. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Aug. 07, 2009. Online version of the print edition.

No description available.

In the nineteenth century considerable ambiguities arose regarding sacred and secular categories in music. Although such ambiguities have often been discussed in relation to the mass, this study uses the genre of the lied - in particular, Dvořák's Biblical Songs - as a means of examining the interaction between these categories. The problems inherent in the idea of 'sacred lieder' are discussed, including case studies of Schubert's 'Die Allmacht' and Wolf's 'Nun wandre, Maria' from the Spanisches Liederbuch. The Biblical Songs are located within Dvořák's biography, to show the great extent to which they were a reflection of his personal situation. In-depth analysis of the music and texts of the songs, both individually and as a cycle, reveals that they are representative of a point of interaction between secular lieder for concert performance, and devotional lieder for a domestic context. A comparison with Brahms and his Four Serious Songs reveals two very different responses to biblical texts: whereas Brahm's solution places emphasis on secular love, Dvořák's songs show a progression from doubt and confusion about God through to faith and rejoicing. Furthermore, whereas the Four Serious Songs demonstrate a highly individualistic solution to the pessimism expressed earlier in the cycle, Dvořák's use of folk idioms at key locations in the Biblical Songs places emphasis on communality and tradition. However, the cycle also reveals a more complex expression of faith than is often assumed of Dvořák.

No description available.

This creative project is a setting of the book of Ecclesiastes from the Bible. The New English Translation has been used. A certain amount of editing of the complete Ecclesiastes has taken place and only three basic ideas are presented in the text: One, the emptiness of all endeavor; two, that death awaits us all; and three, some advice to a young man.The first song is built on a pedal point D and it is held by the double bass. This signifies emptiness. Above this pedal point there are various motives which are more fully developed in the second song. The third song uses a tone cluster pedal point in the string section which fades away to the ever present pedal point D held by the double bass, signifying the return of the opening words of the text: "Emptiness, emptiness, says the Speaker, all is empty." / School of Music

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne, 2000. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-280).

This paper examines the relationship between text and music in Prayers of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication - a four-movement composition, fourteen minutes in length, for soprano, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, violin, double bass, and percussion. The text of the composition is taken from the Psalms and The Book of Common Prayer. The names and themes of the movements follow an ancient pattern for prayer identified by the acronym, A.C.T.S. Compositional considerations are contrasted to those of Igor Stravinsky and Steve Reich, with special emphasis on the use of musical structures, motives, and text-painting to highlight the meaning of religious texts.