Arbetets fokus är på atonalitet och tonalitet och hur dessa tonspråk påverkar fyra individer med en musikutbildning känslomässigt. Frågeställningens bakgrund består av tre grundparametrar som belyser känslor, tonal och atonal musik samt hur olika tonspråk tolkas till visuell media. En audiovisuell artefakt har skapats bestående av två olika kompositioner; en atonal och en tonal komposition som sedan har synkroniserats med en egen producerad kortfilm. Undersökningen har sedan genomförts med ett test där fyra respondenter fick lyssna och titta på den audivisuella artefakten. Detta test följdes sedan upp med en semi-strukturerad intervju som behandlade de fyra respondenternas upplevda känslor och deras förhållande till känslospektrumet; ångest, spänning och oförmågan av att slappna av. Utifrån resultatet av undersökningen påvisades en skillnad i upplevda känslospektrum mellan den respondent som besatt en erfarenhet och en vana av atonal musik och de övriga respondenterna. Det intressanta i denna upptäckt handlar om möjligheten att det inte är utbildning i sig som är avgörande för hur olika individer tolkar olika tonspråk, utan att en väg för att uppskatta atonal musik är en kombination av erfarenhet, vana och utbildning, för att kunna skapa en förmåga att se bortom generella stereotyper för musik. I en framtida och mer omfattande undersökning skulle ett fokus kunna läggas på de centrala begreppen erfarenhet och vana inom målgruppen utbildade; för att undersöka närmare om dessa upptäckter stämmer eller om det är tillfälligheter för denna studies resultat. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p><p>There are other digital material (eg film, image or audio files) or models/artifacts that belongs to the thesis and need to be archived.</p>

La version intégrale de cette thèse est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l’Université de Montréal (http://www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU). / Le compositeur de musique instrumentale se retrouve inévitablement, dans l’acte d’écriture, confronté au problème de l’organisation des hauteurs, paramètre fondamental de la structure musicale dans la pratique occidentale. Poursuivant dans la voie tracée par de nombreux compositeurs et théoriciens du XXe siècle, les recherches exposées ici tentent de constituer un système harmonique pouvant être doté d’une structure syntaxique dans un cadre non tonal, en se fondant sur l’importance que possèdent les groupements (patterns) pour la perception musicale et pour l’établissement de relations hiérarchiques essentielles à l’organisation musicale. Le développement de ce système – basé sur la mise en relation de groupes d’accords visant à constituer des unités structurelles significatives – a été effectué dans le cadre d’une démarche de recherche-création via la composition de deux œuvres principales. La première, Tableaux d’une révolution, est une pièce en cinq mouvements pour grand orchestre symphonique, témoignage en musique d'événements historiques ayant marqué les pays d'Europe de l'est derrière le rideau de fer: Varsovie 1944, Budapest 1956, Prague 1968, Gdansk 1980 et Berlin 1989; la seconde, 24 Préludes d’après Chopin, est un exercice de réappropriation d'une œuvre phare de l'héritage pianistique. La description détaillée du système de relations d’accords et l’analyse approfondie des œuvres jointes en annexe sont précédées d’une discussion sur la relation entre le compositeur et son système de composition, relation abordée du point de vue sémiologique par l’emploi de la notion de tripartition avancée par Nattiez et Molino. / The composer of instrumental music inevitably finds himself, in the act of writing, faced with the problem of pitch organization, a key element of musical structure in the Western practice. Following in the footsteps of many composers and theorists of the twentieth century, the research presented here tries to elaborate a harmonic system which possesses a syntactic structure in a non tonal environment, based on the importance of patterns for music perception and for establishment of hierarchical relationships essential to musical organization. The development of this system - based on the linking of groups of chords in an attempt to constitute significant structural units - was carried out as part of a research-creation approach via the composition of two major works. The first, Pictures of a Revolution, is a work in five movements for symphonic orchestra, a musical testimony of historical events that marked the countries of Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain : Warsaw 1944, Budapest 1956, Prague 1968, Gdansk 1980 and Berlin 1989; and the second, 24 Preludes after Chopin, is an exercise in appropriation of a landmark work of the piano classical heritage. The detailed description of the chord relationship system and the in-depth analysis of annexed works are preceded by a discussion of the relationship between the composer and his composition system, relationship approached from the point of view of semiology through the concept of tripartition proposed by Nattiez and Molino.

No description available.

Franz Schreker (1878-1934) was a Jewish-Austrian composer of great success during the first decades of the twentieth century. Schreker’s reputation diminished after 1933 when Hitler came to power and, in 1938, his compositions were labeled Entartete Musik (“degenerate music”) by the Nazis in a public display in Düsseldorf. The Third Reich and post-war Germany saw Schreker as a decadent outcast, misunderstanding his unique style that combined elements of romanticism, expressionism, impressionism, symbolism, and atonality. This study of Schreker’s Lieder will pursue two goals. First, it will analyze the Mutterlieder (before 1898), the Fünf Gesänge (1909), and the first piece from Vom ewigen Leben (1923) stylistically. Schreker composed nearly four dozen Lieder, incorporating a wide range of styles and ideas. By studying and performing these songs written at various points in his career (including early songs, songs written after he met Schoenberg, and his last songs during the height of his fame), I hope to develop a clearer understanding of how Schreker synthesized the many cultural forces and artistic movements that seem to have influenced his compositional style. Second, this study will consider the sociopolitical circumstances that fueled the disintegration of his reputation. This disintegration occurred not just during the Third Reich, but also afterwards, notably in an often discussed essay by Theodor Adorno. Only in the last thirty years have scholarly voices critical of such rejections of Schreker emerged. My ultimate goal, then, is to join this reevaluation, studying and contextualizing this repertory to develop a new understanding of an oft-neglected chapter in the history of the German Lied.

This study aims to discern and assess Theodor Adorno’s theories on music as an ‘art’ and how it impacts both the political and social landscape of society; more broadly, the purposes of this paper is to identify, and determine the significance of, the relationship between music and politics – that is, whether or not, and how, music can emancipate society from capitalist enslavement. In juxtaposing Adorno’s theories, the opinions of Herbert Marcuse will be discussed as well. As both theorists are considered integral to the creation and development of critical theory of the Frankfurt School, it is only logical to examine their theories and ideologies in detail to determine the role of music as an ‘art’ in the overarching scheme of political scaffolding within which society resides. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)