The noted Bach scholar Christoph Wolff and two other researchers made one of the more noteworthy musicological finds of the late twentieth century in 1984, when they first rediscovered and then published MS LM 4708 of the John Herrick Music Library of Yale University. This MS, which was published under the title The Neumeister Collection, contains 82 organ chorales, many previously unknown, by members of the Bach circle. Of those 82 chorales, five pieces appear without attribution and six works have been published that were previously attributed to other composers. Wolff's edition, which lists composers for all 82 chorales, relies largely upon stylistic analysis when assigning attributions for pieces with multiple attributions. This document introduces a new analytic tool that can be used to generate information relevant to questions of authorship in the Neumeister chorales; this important tool is a computer program called MATLAB. MATLAB can compile and tabulate information about the melodic, intervallic, and contrapuntal content of musical compositions by analyzing XML computer files produced by standard music software programs such as Finale or Sibelius. This data then can be used to generate graphs that can be compared between compositions. Such analysis sheds new light upon the musical choices of composers represented in The Neumeister Collection and makes possible more informed judgments about pieces with multiple attributions.

No description available.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of North Texas, 2006. / System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Accompanied by 4 recitals, recorded Nov. 15, 1999, July 16, 2001, Apr. 29, 2005, and Nov. 17, 2005. Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-37).

Numerous scholars have studied the Clavierübung III, but their studies mainly focused on the relationship between the chorale text and Bach♠s response in music. Analysis without explaining J.S. Bachs word painting in other chorale preludes can be found easily, but most analyses treat rhetoric, especially those dealing with Clavierübung III. There have been numerous studies linking Bach's organ works to Lutheran doctrine. However, to give a better understanding of the work's structure and its implications for performance, a contrapuntal analysis is indispensable. This study deals with an analysis focused on canonic and fugal techniques in selected large chorales, and it will provide a better understanding of Clavierbung III. For purposes of comparison with typical fugal techniques, the C minor fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier I, BWV 847, is taken as a model. This work reveals typical eighteenth-century, late Baroque fugal structure with a well-defined subject. The episode modulates through the keys of Eb major-G minor and C minor. Below is an outline of the present paper. Chapter I discusses the purpose of this study. Chapter II covers the earlier research on Clavierübung III and includes a discussion of the general background of the Clavierübung III. Chapter III provides a contrapuntal analysis of the three chorale preludes. A translation of the text will be included in each analysis.Chapter IV, the conclusion, will summarize and confirm the findings from the present study of the analysis.

This document examines the performance practices of the chorales in Johann Sebastian Bach's (1685-1750) Passio secundum Johannem, BWV 245. While many modern-day scholars and performers believe that the congregation sang the Passion chorales and therefore perform them in an accordingly straightforward and homogenous manner, my involvement with this work has led me to consider other possibilities of performance. I am convinced by the evidence in the Ordnungen und Gesetze der Schola Thomana (Regulations and Legislations of the Thomas School), the evidence presented by three renowned Bach scholars, and the evidence of Bach’s music, that the congregation would not have sung the chorales of the Passion. Having scrutinized the musical language and text that Bach deliberately and thoughtfully laid out, I see the possibility for a more dramatic and contextualized approach to these chorales, something the congregation would not and could not have achieved. Because there is almost no published scholarship regarding the performance practice of Passion chorales, there is a need for a study of this nature. My goal is to provide conductors and performers with a historically-informed option to present Bach's chorales in a manner that reflects the drama of the Passion story. I will demonstrate that conductors should consider factors such as harmonic language, textual interpretation, and placement within the broader Passion narrative when making interpretive performance decisions for each of the twelve chorales.

Heinrich Scheidemann and Jacob Praetorius (ii), young organ students from Hamburg, traveled to Amsterdam around the turn of the seventeenth century in order to study with the Dutch organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. While there, they learned not only the basics of counterpoint and voice-leading, but also how to create new kinds of musical texture, which were derived from improvisational practice. Scheidemann and Praetorius took those musical textures back to Hamburg, where they used them in increasingly long and complex chorale fantasias. This study traces those musical textures from their appearance in Sweelinck's chorale variations, through Praetorius and Scheidemann's chorale fantasias, and finally in the virtuosic showpiece, An Wasserflüssen Babylon, by Scheidemann's student, Johann Adam Reincken. In that piece, Reincken uses Sweelinck's musical textures, as well as his own teacher's expansion of the Dutch keyboard style to produce a work that reflects the text of the chorale on which it is based. And, like a sermon, the musical textures in An Wasserflüssen Babylon give rise to a nuanced narrative that works to take both the performer and listener on an aural journey.

Chorale settings for marimba can be used in conjunction with traditional pedagogical exercises to improve mallet placement precision by increasing a marimbist's kinesthetic awareness and knowledge of interval spacing and the marimba keyboard layout. These improvements will lead to greater note accuracy and consistency of tone. Chorales are an excellent tool for improving marimba performance because of their combination of repetitive vertical movement and slow horizontal movement, which gives the marimbist time to isolate and improve specific areas of technique, including mallet placement. Mallet placement precision on marimba includes striking the correct bars for note accuracy and striking a precise chosen location on each bar for tone consistency. This document includes a guide for improving mallet placement through the focused practice of chorale excerpts from seven original compositions for marimba. Appendix A of this document lists chorales recommended for use as practicing material to improve marimba technique. This document is intended to assist intermediate and advanced marimbists in gaining a greater kinesthetic knowledge of interval spacing and the marimba keyboard layout through the practice of four-mallet chorales. The purpose of refining these areas of technique is to develop consistency in accurate, autonomic mallet placement, freeing the marimbist to focus on other elements of performance, including musical interpretation and expression.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1986. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Robert Pace. Dissertation Committee: Harold F. Abeles. Bibliography: leaves 312-314.

Inaug.--Diss.--Marburg. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 280-300.

Thesis (D. Mus. Arts)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-110).