The purpose of this study is to research the music of Geonyong Lee (이건용), one of the most recognized active Korean composers, while determining Lee's intent to compose with influences from both Western and traditional Korean music. This paper analyses Lee's violin works Rhapsody for Piano and Violin and Heoten Garak, and explains the cultural and historical significance surrounding both works in terms of traditional Korean music. Lee asserts that his primary influence Rhapsody for Piano and Violin was Nongac (농악), a traditional form of Korean farming music. Similarly, Heoten Garak displays a distinct influence of traditional Korean music genres, Heoten Garak and Pansori. By analyzing Geonyong Lee's compositional style and approach to the violin, one learns how his musical philosophies combine Western and traditional Korean music practices into a unique compositional approach. The study concludes by summarizing not only Western and traditional Korean style as evident in his music, but also the conceptual approach by which the composer attempts to bring a unique combination of these influences to his audience.

Thesis (MMus (Music))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This study represents a contribution to the subject-didactical review of three prominent compositions for the violin by three prominent South African composers, namely the Sonata on African Motives by Stefans Grové (1985), Luamerava by Hendrik Hofmeyr (2000) and the Concerto for violin and orchestra by Allan Stephenson (2007). The three composers are discussed with reference to biographical detail and broad compositional style, while the works are reviewed according to musicological aspects as well as violin specific didactical aspects. To avoid too much repetition, a chapter concerning technical issues and practice methods pertaining to all three works was added. In the Sonata on African Motives, Stefans Grové merges his “old” compositional style, in this work loosely represented by a lack of tonality and metre, as well as complicated use of rhythm, with his “new” African voice (1984-). The African voice, represented by a melody he overheard a black roadworker sing, ties the work together. The sonata consists of five movements, with the first and fourth movements, and the third and fifth movements linked through content. This work presents challenging ensemble playing, rhythmic detail, diverse timbre changes in the violin part, as well as pitch difficulty due to unusual intervals without tonal context. Hendrik Hofmeyr‟s Luamerava was commissioned by SAMRO for the overseas scholarship. The title refers to the last of the mythical Children of the Lost Star who lived in the Cariba gorge on the banks of the Zambezi river (according to Mutwa‟s description of the oral culture of the people of that region). The piece, like the Grové, is thus linked to Africa. The work was composed for solo violin, Hofmeyr makes the most of the lyrical and sonorous qualities of the instrument. Compared to the other two works studied, Luamerava presents the most advanced technical challenges, with extensive doublestopping being the main challenge. Allan Stephenson‟s Concerto differs significantly from the other two works studied in the sense that it is instantly appealing to the general music lover, mainly because of his use of easy flowing melodies. The concerto has, as is tradition, three movements. Although the work contains ample technical challenges, it is obvious that it was composed by a string player – both the extensive running passages and double stopping are quite possible to play once good fingerings have been found. In the discussion of these works, attempts at solving specific technical problems are made.

Johann Paul von Westhoff's (1656-1705) solo violin works, consisting of Suite pour le violon sans basse continue published in 1683 and Six Suites for Violin Solo in 1696, feature extensive use of multiple stops, which represents a German polyphonic style of the seventeenth-century instrumental music. However, the Six Suites had escaped the public's attention for nearly three hundred years until its rediscovery by the musicologist Peter Várnai in the late twentieth century. This project will focus on polyphonic writing featured in the solo violin works by von Westhoff. In order to fully understand the stylistic traits of this less well-known collection, a brief summary of the composer, Johann Paul Westhoff, and an overview of the historical background of his time will be included in this document. I will analyze these works, including a comparison between the works of Westhoff and those of other composers during his time, to prove that Westhoff's solo works establish multiple stops as a central factor of German violin playing of the time, and, thus, to promote Westhoff's works as a complement to the extant repertoire of unaccompanied violin music written in the Baroque era before Johann Sebastian Bach's solo violin works and Georg Philipp Telemann's twelve fantasias for violin solo. Furthermore, this project will help one to better understand the use and function of multiple stops in the German violin repertoire in the seventeenth century.

Like numerous other Baroque pieces, the Ciaccona attributed to Tomaso Antonio Vitali (1663-1745) was transformed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The German violinist and composer Ferdinand David (1810-1873) was the first to edit and publish the piece. The composition became popular after being included in the second volume of his Die Hohe Schule des Violinspiels [The Advanced Method of Violin Playing] (c.1867). Since then, Vitali Ciaccona became an essential work in the violin repertoire and is often heard in concert halls. However, what many audiences hear in concerts is essentially an arrangement of the Ciaccona. Acknowledging the "double life" of the piece as both Baroque and Romantic, this dissertation examines the advantages and disadvantages of playing the Ciaccona attributed to Vitali on both the Baroque and modern violins.

Paul Schoenfeld (b. 1947) is considered one of the major American composers of the present day to have incorporated many different styles in his music. Although Schoenfeld primarily uses a combination of folk, popular music, klezmer, and jazz in most of his compositions, he has also incorporated other distinctive musical styles in his works, such as neo-Baroque, particularly in his Partita for Violin and Piano (2002). The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the eclectic combination of neo-Baroque and klezmer elements found in Schoenfeld's Partita. This research provides a detailed comparative analysis of his work with Johann Sebastian Bach's Clavier-Übung I, BWV 825–830, and 6 Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato, BWV 1001–1006, primarily to see how Schoenfeld made use of Baroque forms, imitative passages, rhythms, and other stylistic features, then fused them with klezmer elements. Klezmer is a genre of music stemming from the Eastern European Jewish tradition; its distinctive characteristics are modal scales and Hasidic vocal ornaments. Knowing the mixture of Baroque and klezmer stylistic influences should help performers to interpret the piece.