This dissertation centers on virtuosity as a source of creative genesis, boundary-pushing, and musical debate. Focusing on the careers and works of pianists Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) and Glenn Gould (1932-1982), I examine the role of the virtuoso in twentieth-century music-making, and his encounter with Canadian national identity. Gould and Peterson were contemporaries, and despite their differences - Gould was a white classical musician from Toronto, and Peterson, an African Canadian jazz artist from Montréal - their career paths share points of connection. Using archival material from the Glenn Gould fonds and the Oscar Peterson fonds at Library and Archives Canada, I analyze the work of both figures as sources of musical creativity through musical performance and composition. The first part of this dissertation demonstrates how Gould's and Peterson's respective performances sparked furor through their contestation of musical boundaries. In the first chapter, my analysis of outtakes from Gould's 1955 recording session of the Goldberg Variations illuminates how his radical musical philosophies emerged from his early recording practices. In chapter two, I examine critiques of Peterson's performance aesthetic from an extensive collection of reviews, and argue that his style of virtuosic jazz allowed him to push back against musical expectations. In the third chapter, I examine the work of Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren whose experimental animation provided opportunities for partnerships with both musicians; with Peterson in 1949 and with Gould in 1969. The second part of my dissertation takes the reader outside the realm of performance and demonstrates how Gould and Peterson engaged with landscape through sound composition. The fourth chapter investigates the spatial and sonic interpretation of Canadian locales in Gould's Solitude Trilogy, a series of three experimental radio documentaries. In the final chapter, I unravel the biographical and musical influences in Peterson's multi-movement suite for jazz trio, Canadiana Suite. By studying these iconic virtuosos side-by-side, my dissertation illuminates the significance of the performer in Canada's cultural life in the second half of the twentieth-century and yields a new understanding of how Gould and Peterson exploded expectations in their respective musical communities. / Music

Among the techniques associated with the theory of musical transformations, network analysis stands out because of its broad applicability, demonstrated by the diverse examples presented in David Lewin’s seminal work Musical Form and Transformation and related articles by Lewin, Klumpenhouwer, Gollin, and others. While transformational theory can encompass a wide variety of analytical structures, objects, and transformations, two particular types of network postulated by Lewin are often featured: the product network and the network-of-networks. These structures both incorporate repetition, but in different ways. This document will propose one possible definition for product networks and networks-of-networks that is consistent with Lewin’s theories as presented in Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. This definition will clarify how each of these two network formats may be generated from the same sub-graphs, which in turn will clarify the advantages and disadvantages of each structure for musical analysis, specifically demonstrating how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation. The analyses of Chapters 3 and 4 examine works by contemporary Canadian composers that have not been the subject of any published analyses. Chapter 3 presents short examples from the works of contemporary Québécois composers, demonstrating the utility of these networks for depicting connections within brief passages that feature short, repeated motives. Chapter 4 presents an analysis of R. Murray Schafer’s Seventh String Quartet, demonstrating how these structures can be used to link small-scale events with longer prolongations and motivic development throughout a movement. Chapter 5 demonstrates through a wider repertoire how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation, touching on such factors as continuity, motivic return, and implied collections.

Among the techniques associated with the theory of musical transformations, network analysis stands out because of its broad applicability, demonstrated by the diverse examples presented in David Lewin’s seminal work Musical Form and Transformation and related articles by Lewin, Klumpenhouwer, Gollin, and others. While transformational theory can encompass a wide variety of analytical structures, objects, and transformations, two particular types of network postulated by Lewin are often featured: the product network and the network-of-networks. These structures both incorporate repetition, but in different ways. This document will propose one possible definition for product networks and networks-of-networks that is consistent with Lewin’s theories as presented in Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. This definition will clarify how each of these two network formats may be generated from the same sub-graphs, which in turn will clarify the advantages and disadvantages of each structure for musical analysis, specifically demonstrating how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation. The analyses of Chapters 3 and 4 examine works by contemporary Canadian composers that have not been the subject of any published analyses. Chapter 3 presents short examples from the works of contemporary Québécois composers, demonstrating the utility of these networks for depicting connections within brief passages that feature short, repeated motives. Chapter 4 presents an analysis of R. Murray Schafer’s Seventh String Quartet, demonstrating how these structures can be used to link small-scale events with longer prolongations and motivic development throughout a movement. Chapter 5 demonstrates through a wider repertoire how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation, touching on such factors as continuity, motivic return, and implied collections.

During a long and distinguished career, the Canadian composer Jean Coulthard (b. 1908) has become widely recognized for her many works for voice, keyboard, choir and chamber ensembles. Until recently, however, her large and diverse catalogue of works for orchestra has been overshadowed. The present study presents a critical assessment of her orchestral catalogue of music composed from the late 1930s until the present. In a biographical introduction, Coulthard's initial training with Vaughan Williams in London is discussed, as is her life-long identification with the early French modern figures Debussy and Ravel. As her career progressed, her earliest orchestral scores were championed by the Australian-born composer/conductor Arthur Benjamin (who resided in Coulthard's native Vancouver, Canada, during the formative years of her development as an orchestral composer). Further training brought her into contact with figures such as Copland, Milhaud, Bartok, and Schoenberg, as well as studies with Bernard Wagenaar in New York. Following her protracted apprenticeship, Coulthard began to teach at the University of British Columbia and to commit to the major genres of orchestral writing. In this later respect she was somewhat atypical of Canadian composers of her generation, and has been viewed by earlier scholars as an exponent of the "conservative tradition" in Canadian music of the 20th century. More recent perspectives stress the quality of her work, her regional significance, and the uniqueness of her achievement in a field of music not traditionally associated with women. Paralleling Coulthard's personal and artistic development, a consideration of Canadian orchestras and the emergence of a Canadian orchestral repertoire is presented. Coulthard's orchestral repertoire includes orchestral suites, small scale orchestra compositions, works for strings, works for soloist(s) and orchestra, concerti, and symphonies. A comprehensive overview of Coulthard's extant orchestral works is presented, with a number of particularly important compositions singled out for detailed analysis. As well major style elements, aspects of Coulthard's role in Canadian music and a brief assessment of her creative personality are included. / Graduate

Among the techniques associated with the theory of musical transformations, network analysis stands out because of its broad applicability, demonstrated by the diverse examples presented in David Lewin’s seminal work Musical Form and Transformation and related articles by Lewin, Klumpenhouwer, Gollin, and others. While transformational theory can encompass a wide variety of analytical structures, objects, and transformations, two particular types of network postulated by Lewin are often featured: the product network and the network-of-networks. These structures both incorporate repetition, but in different ways. This document will propose one possible definition for product networks and networks-of-networks that is consistent with Lewin’s theories as presented in Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. This definition will clarify how each of these two network formats may be generated from the same sub-graphs, which in turn will clarify the advantages and disadvantages of each structure for musical analysis, specifically demonstrating how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation. The analyses of Chapters 3 and 4 examine works by contemporary Canadian composers that have not been the subject of any published analyses. Chapter 3 presents short examples from the works of contemporary Québécois composers, demonstrating the utility of these networks for depicting connections within brief passages that feature short, repeated motives. Chapter 4 presents an analysis of R. Murray Schafer’s Seventh String Quartet, demonstrating how these structures can be used to link small-scale events with longer prolongations and motivic development throughout a movement. Chapter 5 demonstrates through a wider repertoire how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation, touching on such factors as continuity, motivic return, and implied collections. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Although Willan is first and foremost a musician of the church, it is obvious that he has not cloistered himself in the organ and choir loft, as it were. As a composer he has written significantly in many fields, and as a teacher he has had a major influence in shaping the musical thought of a boundless number of Canadian musicians. As a musician of the church he has kept alive the great English traditions and made his own laudable and abundant contributions to church music practices. One of the first Canadian musicians of wide eminence, he has set an example worthy of the attention of younger Canadians who will contribute to the musical development of the nation.

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R. Murray Schafer (b. 1933, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) is a seminal voice in Canadian music, due not only to the often controversial, but widespread international reception of his extensive spectrum of works, but also, due to his distinct approach to composition. Schafer’s Patria cycle (1966- ) employs unorthodox performance locales and contexts, a confluence of art forms and sensory experiences, and demands active audience participation, defining Patria as one of the most ambitious stage works. In this dissertation I explore two essential frameworks that are seminal in the discussion of Patria; firstly Schafer’s compositional processes, broadly defined, that come into play in Patria, and secondly, the performative and theatrical aspects in Patria. Through four ethnographic case studies, I suggest that the use of alternative performance spaces, participatory performance, and ritual performance foster an artistic and social environment that has the potential, if participants choose to fully engage in the experience, to alter participants’ perception of the importance of the environment, community, spirituality, and artistic and sensorial experience in contemporary society. In Chapter 1 I provide a discussion of Schafer’s concepts of soundscape and the theatre of confluence and how they are applied in Patria, and outline my research methodology, including my fieldwork experiences from working onsite during Patria productions from 2003 through 2007. In Chapter 2 I examine and contextualize four aspects of performance that reoccur throughout Patria and are specifically detailed in my four case studies: alternative performance space, participatory experience, and ritual performance. My four case studies, Chapter 3 The Princes of the Stars, Chapter 4 Asterion, Chapter 5 The Enchanted Forest, and Chapter 6 And Wolf Shall Inherit the Moon, argue that my participatory approach to Patria comprehensively illustrates how site, work, environment, and community interact, forming a distinctive performance experience.

R. Murray Schafer (b. 1933, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) is a seminal voice in Canadian music, due not only to the often controversial, but widespread international reception of his extensive spectrum of works, but also, due to his distinct approach to composition. Schafer’s Patria cycle (1966- ) employs unorthodox performance locales and contexts, a confluence of art forms and sensory experiences, and demands active audience participation, defining Patria as one of the most ambitious stage works. In this dissertation I explore two essential frameworks that are seminal in the discussion of Patria; firstly Schafer’s compositional processes, broadly defined, that come into play in Patria, and secondly, the performative and theatrical aspects in Patria. Through four ethnographic case studies, I suggest that the use of alternative performance spaces, participatory performance, and ritual performance foster an artistic and social environment that has the potential, if participants choose to fully engage in the experience, to alter participants’ perception of the importance of the environment, community, spirituality, and artistic and sensorial experience in contemporary society. In Chapter 1 I provide a discussion of Schafer’s concepts of soundscape and the theatre of confluence and how they are applied in Patria, and outline my research methodology, including my fieldwork experiences from working onsite during Patria productions from 2003 through 2007. In Chapter 2 I examine and contextualize four aspects of performance that reoccur throughout Patria and are specifically detailed in my four case studies: alternative performance space, participatory experience, and ritual performance. My four case studies, Chapter 3 The Princes of the Stars, Chapter 4 Asterion, Chapter 5 The Enchanted Forest, and Chapter 6 And Wolf Shall Inherit the Moon, argue that my participatory approach to Patria comprehensively illustrates how site, work, environment, and community interact, forming a distinctive performance experience.