With his thought-provoking and socially relevant music, American composer Jake Runestad has quickly become one of the most performed choral composers of the 21st century. Although music and social justice have been tied together for centuries, there is a new movement bringing social justice to American choral music in a noticeably increased manor, and Jake Runestad is a leading composer in this movement. In this paper, I provide a detailed analysis into the social justice themes employed by Runestad, interviews with him and several well-respected American choral directors programming and commissioning his music, as well as compositional devices employed within his compositions. The purpose of this study is to show Jake Runestad's place as an American choral composer by offering a historical overview of the social justice themes in American music and Western choral music separately. I will then narrow the scope to Jake Runestad, who since 2013 has been using his choral music to bring awareness to human inequalities within the United States today.

Franz Liszt's Faust Symphony has suffered neglect since its premiere in 1857. The analysis in this study aims to clarify some of the misunderstandings which have led to this neglect, particularly concerning Liszt's formal structure and character portrayal. In the Faust movement, the flat 6th scale degree (♭6) plays a prominent role in harmonic organization. Nineteenth-century composers sometimes used the distinct sonic color of chromatic-third progressions, as Liszt does here between C and E rather than diatonic movement by fifth to evoke a distant dream-world state. Liszt's conspicuous and form-defining use of ♭6 in the Faust movement suggests fantasy and mysterious elements ripe for programmatic interpretation. In this dissertation, I will attempt to clarify how Liszt portrayed the character of Faust by using the flat 6th scale degree as a crucial harmonic organizing principle in the Faust movement.

This study focuses on the central role which fugue d'ecole, as defined and taught by the post-revolutionary Conservatoire de Paris, played in re-establishing standards of excellence in organ composition and aiding the development of the French Symphonic Organ School. An examination of counterpoint and fugue treatises by Cherubini, Dubois, and Gedalge reveals the emergence of a specific school fugue form, intended for academic purposes only, as a means to instilling discipline and honing the technical skills required in all forms of musical composition.

The Czechoslovakian composer Jindrich Feld (b.1925) composed Introduzione, Toccata e Fuga per Flauto Solo, for the Italian flutist Roberto Frabbriciani. Feld's Introduzione is from his third style period. This work may be labeled as a synthesis of the experiments and experiences that have enabled him to create his own mature style of expression.

My paper defines and analyzes the use of Native American elements in classical piano repertoire that has been composed based on Native American tribal melodies, rhythms, and motifs. First, a historical background and survey of scholarly transcriptions of many tribal melodies, in chapter 1, explains the interest generated in American indigenous music by music scholars and composers. Chapter 2 defines and illustrates prominent Native American musical elements. Chapter 3 outlines the timing of seven factors that led to the beginning of a truly American concert idiom, music based on its own indigenous folk material. Chapter 4 analyzes examples of Native American inspired piano repertoire by the "Indianist" composers between 1890-1920 and other composers known primarily as "mainstream" composers. Chapter 5 proves that the interest in Native American elements as compositional material did not die out with the end of the "Indianist" movement around 1920, but has enjoyed a new creative activity in the area called "Classical Native" by current day Native American composers. The findings are that the creative interest and source of inspiration for the earlier "Indianist" compositions was thought to have waned in the face of so many other American musical interests after 1920, but the tradition has recently taken a new direction with the success of many new Native American composers who have an intrinsic commitment to see it succeed as a category of classical repertoire. Native American musical elements have been misunderstood for many years due to differences in systems of notation and cultural barriers. The ethnographers and Indianist composers, though criticized for creating a paradox, in reality are the ones who saved the original tribal melodies and created the perpetual interest in Native American music as a thematic resource for classical music repertoire, in particular piano repertoire.

Lowell Liebermann, born in New York City in 1961, is one of America's most distinguished living composers. In addition, he often conducts and performs as pianist in his own works. His musical language is unique and unmistakably rooted in the grand tradition of Western music; however, his style combines old and new, simple and complex, emotional and intellectual aspects. It combines tuneful, catchy melodies with a rich harmonic language, all framed by a strong formal design. This study begins with presenting primary information on this concerto excerpted from an interview with Lowell Liebermann. This interview served as a reference for subsequent sections, and a transcript of the interview is appended to the end of this study. In the third chapter, the musical language of the composer is discussed. Chapters four and five constitute the main body of this dissertation. The goal of these two chapters is to understand the basic three-pitch motive of the work, to demonstrate how it operates at various levels, and to see how the raw material corresponds at a larger structure level. It is the author's hope that this study will guide performers to better understand Liebermann's Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 12.

With the exception of the music of Aram Khachaturian, the output of Armenian composers has been largely overlooked. This small Middle-Eastern country with a population of almost four million and an intriguing history indeed has a rich musical heritage. From its roots in sacred music and folksong, Armenian music has evolved into a unique blend of national elements and Western art music. Although it remains largely undiscovered, there is an entire repertoire of works in this aesthetic. The Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano by Khachaturian has long been a standard in the clarinetist's repertoire. This project brings to light lesser-known works of other Armenian composers. After providing a brief history of Armenia and her music (Chapter 2), this document presents an annotated bibliography of works using the clarinet (Chapter 3). Because there are a significant number of Armenians living outside their homeland, composers considered for this bibliography include all those of Armenian descent: those born,schooled, and presently living in Armenia, as well as those born to one or both Armenian parents residing in other countries. The bibliography includes works for unaccompanied clarinet, clarinet and piano, clarinet and orchestra, and chamber music for up to seven players. Each annotation includes the composer's name, dates, title of the work and its movements, date of composition, instrumentation, publisher and date of publication (in the case of published works), source from which the score can be obtained (in the case of unpublished works and works that are no longer published), duration of the work, and any recordings that are commercially available. Specific information about each piece, such as its dedication, first performance, historical background, musical characteristics, and performance practice issues is provided when available.

No description available.

This dissertation is a study on the integration of Chinese traditional musical elements in Western-style compositions for the violin by contemporary Chinese composers. As background, the development of musical synthesis in Chinese New Music since the 1930s is reviewed, and essential aspects of the musical language and aesthetics of Chinese Traditional Music are surveyed. Through detailed analyses of three representative compositions by contemporary composers Ma Sicong (1912-1987), Chen Yi (b. 1953), and Bright Sheng (b.1955), their different approaches to the synthesis of Chinese traditional and Western musical styles are examined. Historical context is provided in biographical information about the three composers, including their educational background, musical influences, and compositional styles.

This problem has been limited to a study of the largest form among Grieg's piano compositions, the Piano Concert in A Minor. References are made to his smaller piano pieces, for the concerto has proved representative of his style of composition and, being one of his earlier works, it reflects a vigor and enthusiasm not present in his later work. Rhythm is discussed with relationship to the harmony and melody in the sections devoted to these two elements. The present study does not include consideration of the orchestral score and its relationship to the piano part.