At the beginning of the twentieth century, the recognition of the contralto voice type had reached its apex in England. Throughout the remainder of the century, the number and popularity of recorded contraltos has decreased alongside the rise of the mezzo-soprano voice type. Due to the contralto’s decline and the lack of repertoire composed specifically for the voice, the definition of “contralto” remains somewhat ambiguous. The large contralto repertoire of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams displays a unique sensitivity to the contralto, particularly with regards to vocal range, flexibility, tessitura, and sustainability. These works thus suggest a new perspective for the voice type. The scope of Vaughan Williams’s oeuvre examined includes each of his operatic roles for contralto and choral works featuring the contralto. Also examined will be the compositional techniques implemented within these pieces which demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the contralto voice. A workable definition of the voice type for the pedagogue and performer is included.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of Rochester, 1946. / Typewritten. Bibliography: l. 112. Digitized version available online via the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music http://hdl.handle.net/1802/4946

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Köln, 1983. / Includes bibliographies and index.

Thesis--Columbia University. / Includes bibliography.

No description available.

Detta examensarbete behandlar min instudering av sångcykeln The House of Life, med dikt av Dante Gabriel Rossetti och musik av Ralph Vaughan Williams, med hjälp av en specifik övningsmetod; ett så kallat randomised practice schedule. Den teoretiska bakgrunden innefattar kortfattade biografier om textförfattaren, tonsättaren och den valda metoden. Metodkapitlet behandlar mitt tillvägagångssätt vid instudering. I de nästföljande resultat- och diskussionskapitlen presenteras tolkningar av text och musik, samt reflektioner över instuderingsmetoden och –processen. Den valda instuderingsmetoden har överlag varit effektiv, och samtidigt krävande på ett mentalt plan. Vid tillämpning av metoden gjordes vissa avvikelser ifrån den ursprungliga planen, vilka tas upp i resultatkapitlet. Genom metoden har en stark anknytning skapats till det textliga materialet, som sedan kunnat stödja och underlätta tolkningsprocessen och även den musikaliska inlärningen. / <p>Styckena som framfördes vid presentationen var: <em>Lovesight, </em><em>Silent Noon,</em> <em>Love's Minstrels </em>ur sångcykeln <em>The House of Life </em>av Ralph Vaughan Williams. Dessa framfördes av Jakob Wall (sång) och Anders Kilström (piano).</p>

While some composers at the beginning of the twentieth century drifted away from tonal hierarchical structures, Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams sought ways of integrating tonal ideas with new materials. By analyzing the music of Holst and Vaughan Williams using a technique expressly designed for the analysis of tonal musical structure—Schenkerian Analysis—this study looks at ways in which the composers combined old and new techniques and what that means with regards to our understanding of their music. To do this, the current study focuses on the sacred choral repertory because it can form a stylistic bridge between nineteenth-century tonality and the composers’ more experimental works. This repertory also provides an opportunity for interpreting text-music connections that help us understand the music at a deeper level. In order to establish groundwork for the analytical methodology, I begin the study with background information on the composers and previous research done on their music, after which I summarize their most pertinent stylistic features (including their use of diatonic modes and other pitch collections, their harmonic, melodic, and contrapuntal techniques, and their formal structures). I then discuss how an analyst can determine prolongational structure in Holst’s and Vaughan Williams’s music by establishing the tonic or pitch-class center, establishing the context for harmonic and melodic stability, and following predictable formal patterns. Finally, I apply the analytical methodology in detail to Vaughan Williams’s Benedicite and Holst’s The Hymn of Jesus, two substantial single-movement choral works that represent both the conservative (Benedicite) and experimental (The Hymn of Jesus) sides of the composers’ style. I also compare the analyses with the texts and show how the composers portrayed religious ideas, even at deeper levels of the prolongational structure. The modified Schenkerian analytical techniques used in these analyses show that even though Holst and Vaughan Williams used a number of twentieth-century compositional techniques, their prolongational structures still follow expected patterns and closely resemble traditional structures.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-111).

No description available.

The harmony of Vaughan Williams defies classification in terms of traditional harmony alone, making use as it does at times, of structures of superposed fourths, so-called "added-note" chords, and random sonorities, as will appear. Therefore, the chords will be placed into two principal categories of usage, traditional and non-traditional.