Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in PDF format via the Internet.

Completed in early 2010, the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra is a major foray into composing a concertante work for the viola, an instrument without the rich history of concertos of the violin or ‘cello. In three movements, the Concerto employs a diversity of compositional techniques for the viola and explores the timbral possibilities for the orchestra. The work derives primarily from the series of initial gestures in the viola, and, in the span of over forty minutes, as many possible permutations on these ideas are explored throughout the solo instrument and orchestra. Following the score of the work is a theoretical analysis of the piece, including a condensed history of the viola concerto as a genre. Within this examination, issues concerning approaches to deconstructing a 21st-Century orchestral work are discussed alongside structural, melodic, motivic, and orchestrational analyses. / text

Arthur Bliss’s Sonata for Viola and Piano stands as a significant achievement in early twentieth-century chamber music for viola and is the result of a fruitful collaboration between composer and virtuoso performer. Multiple scholars recognize the sonata as one of Bliss’s finest works. Despite these accolades, the work has failed to attract sustained scholarly investigation. This document provides performers with the necessary tools for a thorough and contextualized presentation of the work. The main body of this study details the technical aspects of performing the sonata: viola technique, expressive challenges, and ensemble concerns. Preceding this, I cover the relevant biographical details from Bliss’s life, examine the roots of his chamber music writing for viola by analyzing two early works, and investigate the collaboration between Lionel Tertis and Bliss in creating this work.

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This study provides a resource for performers preparing Walton's Viola Concerto. It is intended to provide information regarding history, technical and musical obstacles, and common alterations to the viola part. The study begins with a historical overview of the work, including information about the composer and the composition. A review of the existing literature examines sources for parallel information and similar studies.The development of a methodology of study is based on the examination of nine excerpts from the Concerto. These excerpts represent technical and musical challenges found in the Concerto. Each example is accompanied by an excerpt from a study or etude that closely reflects the same technical musical challenges. These excerpts are provided as possible technical enhancement studies that, when practiced prior to or in conjunction with the study of the Concerto, provide the methodology of study with the means to actually address the technical demands of the Concerto.Included in the study are the opinions of professional violists, solicited for this study by means of a survey. The survey group is identified, and their opinions on the previously identified technical passages are presented. Compilations of survey responses, along with additional comments and suggestions, are provided in conjunction with the corresponding excerpts.The final portion of this study examines the alterations most frequently made to the viola part. These so-called "William Primrose alterations" are presented with the suggestions and recommendations of the survey respondents. Various aspects of performance practice are examined, and the study offers several conclusions on this subject.Survey participants agreed that performance of the Concerto is a task of considerable difficulty. Regardless of the performer or the performance venue, great technical, musical, and intellectual skill and energy is required. This study provides historical information that all performers should acquire, as well as a methodology of study. It includes performance and practice suggestions from several prominent violists. This methodology of study serves as a resource for violists who undertake to perform what is one of the most significant works in the viola repertoire. / School of Music

These four sonatas of William Flackton (1709-1798) are probably the earliest collection of sonata literature written for the viola. They exist with a few other string sonatas from the Baroque period in England. It is essential to establish their place in English baroque music and to develop a performance milieu or stylistic preference that leads up to and lasts through the time span of Flackton's sonatas. The final tool to establish an interpretive plan will be to present a general analysis of the four sonatas with special emphasis on the D major sonata (opus 2, no. 4).

The purpose of this lecture-recital document is to provide an overview of the musical form and stylized rhythms present in Gonzalo Castellanos-Yumar's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, his last symphonic composition to date. Castellanos-Yumar has repeatedly stated that he creates in his music a link between "the Venezuelan" and "the Universal" through traditional musical forms. The core of this document is my analysis of the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra through the composer's phenomenological approach to music, which successfully integrates a traditional musical form, such as the Concerto, with stylized Venezuelan folk rhythms in order to bring "the Venezuelan" into "the Universal". Also, it includes an overview of nationalism in Venezuelan music, an updated biography, a list of works of the composer, and an introduction to phenomenology, its application to music and its relation to the work of Gonzalo Castellanos-Yumar, specifically his viola concerto.

The purpose of the present document is to offer a critical study of the elements that played a defining role in the composition of Benjamín Gutiérrez concerto for viola. It offers an analysis of the structure of the piece and also a description of the technical elements required to perform the piece. In order to contextualize this task, the researcher examined the historical elements that changed the course of symphonic music tradition in Costa Rica, and also the governmental policies that played a role in the establishment and institution of Costa Rica's national symphony. It also provides a description of the economic turmoil that affected the country during the gestation of the concerto and the repercussions of this turmoil in regards to cultural advocacy. Finally, the document includes discussion regarding the structure and technique of the concerto. The intention is to offer guidance to both teachers and performers regarding the most significant technical elements encountered in the concerto.

This thesis examines evidence of the earliest viols in Italy. In light of recent changes in perspective on the origins of the Italian viola da gamba, a new approach to building historical models of the instrument is necessary. By using Castiglione's description of violas as a significant signpost, I have developed a clearer picture of the early viola da gamba's socio-musical context. Using this context, along with my experience as a luthier, I redefine the parameters by which we may interpret the corresponding iconography of the instrument. By relating the building techniques that appear in iconography to our modern knowledge of instrument-making, I expose the differences between building conceptions in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries and those that stem from later "surviving" instruments. Finally, by placing historical models within the musical framework of plausible repertoire, I reveal the ingredients for an updated sense of sound and performance practice.

A presente dissertação é resultado de uma pesquisa que tem como objetivo investigar em que o uso de jogos musicais inspirados na aprendizagem do violeiro da tradição oral poderia contribuir para o processo de ensino e aprendizagem coletivos da viola caipira a partir da perspectiva pré-figurativa. Como instrumento musical atrelado à cultura popular de tradição rural firmada na oralidade, a viola caipira, ao ser inserida no âmbito do ensino formalizado, passa a adquirir novas identidades. Nessa conjuntura, a mediação entre o universo tradicional do violeiro e os espaços de educação configura-se, segundo Dias (2012), como o principal desafio da escolarização desse instrumento. A pesquisa apoia-se nos preceitos pedagógico-musicais de H-J Koellreutter descritos por Brito (2011, 2015), a fim de vislumbrar alternativas que apontem para estratégias singulares de ensino da viola caipira a partir de uma didática pré-figurativa que esteja comprometida com a dinâmica da oralidade. Para tanto, primeiramente aborda-se a viola caipira a partir de sua história e desenvolvimento no Brasil, bem como suas relações com o universo da tradição oral. Adiante, apresentam-se algumas experiências de aprendizagem do violeiro inserido no contexto da tradição oral, a partir do enfoque ambiental (paisagem sonora), devocional e lúdico. Em seguida, pontuam-se os antecedentes que levaram ao seu processo de escolarização nos anos 1980 e reflete-se sobre desafios presentes na atuação do professor de viola. Por fim, realizou-se uma pesquisa de campo por meio de oficinas de ensino coletivo de viola caipira no SESC Vila Mariana e na Fábrica de Cultura da Brasilândia, ambos na cidade de São Paulo, em que foram investigadas (por meio de observação, interpretação e análise das experiências didáticas vivenciadas) as contribuições que os jogos musicais baseados na didática do pré-figurativo podem oferecer nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem coletivos da viola caipira a partir da inspiração nas rodas de viola presentes na prática do violeiro da tradição oral. Verificou-se que a alusão ao universo da tradição permitiu que os jogos musicais criados fossem divididos em três formas de ação: experimentações, imitações e repetições, sendo que cada um desses procedimentos se relacionou a práticas improvisatórias da didática pré-figurativa. As análises mostraram que essa abordagem iniciou o desenvolvimento da percepção sistática nos aprendizes, relacionando três aspectos observados também nas experiências de aprendizagem do violeiro: autonomia, diversidade e integração. Conclui-se ainda que essa abordagem possibilitou a tomada de consciência do \"profesquisador\" (professor/pesquisador) em relação ao entendimento do pré-figurativo para além do âmbito didático- possibilitando também reconfigurações metodológicas durante sua atuação. As ideias de música e de educação dos aprendizes tornaram-se elementos fundamentais para direcionar os conteúdos a serem abordados pelo profesquisador durante a realização das oficinas. Essa iniciativa lúdica para o ensino da viola tornou-se uma alternativa para a experiência em questão, pois conseguiu integrar participantes variados em práticas musicais que caminham juntos com a apreensão técnica e teórica, vislumbrando uma abordagem inclusiva, reflexiva e aberta que se apoia na oralidade em pleno contexto da crescente escolarização da viola caipira. / This dissertation is the result of research that aims to investigate the use of inspired musical games in learning the viola player of the oral tradition could contribute to the teaching process and collective learning of the \"viola caipira\", from the pre-figurative perspective. As a musical instrument linked to the popular culture of rural tradition grounded in orality, the \"viola caipira\" to be included in the formal education takes on new identities. In this context, the mediation between the traditional world of the \"violeiro\" and education spaces, set up according to Dias (2012) as the main challenge of schooling that instrument. The research builds on the pedagogical and musical precepts of H-J Koellreutter described by Brito (2011, 2015) in order to envision alternatives that point to unique strategies teaching the viola, from a didactic pre-figurative that is committed with the dynamics of orality. Therefore, first we discuss the viola from its history and development in Brazil, as well as its relations with the world of oral tradition. Forward, we present some \"violeiros\"\'s learning experiences set in the context of the oral tradition, from the environmental focus (soundscape), devotional and playful. Then score is the background that led to his schooling in the years 1980 and process reflected on challenges present in the professor of viola performance. Finally, we carried out through field research collective educational workshops viola at SESC Vila Mariana and the Fábrica de Cultura of Brasilândia in the city of São Paulo, which were investigated (by observation, interpretation and analysis the experienced student experiments) the contributions that music games based on teaching pre-figurative can offer in collective processes of teaching and learning the viola , from inspiration on \"rodas de viola\" present in the practice of the \"viola caipira\" player of the oral tradition. It was found that the allusion to the world of tradition allowed the created musical games were divided into three forms of action: experimentations, imitations and repetitions, and each of these procedures was related to improvisations practices of teaching pre-figurative. The analysis showed that this approach started the development of systatic perception in apprentices, relating three aspects also observed in the \"viola\" player of learning experiences: autonomy, diversity and integration. It also concludes that this approach enabled the awareness of \"profesquisador\" (teacher/researcher) in relation to the understanding of pre-figurative beyond the educational context: also allowing methodological reconfigurations during his performance. The music of ideas and education of apprentices have become key elements to direct the content to be addressed by the \"profesquisador\" during the workshops. This playful initiative for teaching the \"viola\" has become an alternative to the experience in question, it could integrate different participants in musical practices that go with the technical and theoretical apprehension, glimpsing an inclusive, reflective and open approach, which is based on orality in full context of the growing schooling of viola.