published_or_final_version / abstract / Music / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Humanities / Master / Master of Philosophy

This document presents the most salient features of Jolivet's mature musical style as exemplified in two of his major solo works for trumpet. The two works which serve as the musical focus of the document are one of his latest works, Arioso Barocco (1968) for trumpet and organ, and a work situated near the center of his compositional output, the Second Concerto (1954) for trumpet and a thirteen-member chamber ensemble. Following an exposition of Jolivet's life and musical development, we begin by examining five technical principles of harmony, texture, melody, and rhythm, which Jolivet set forth in a 1946 article. His aesthetic principles as stated in this and other articles by the composer are also examined. The most important of these aesthetic principles holds that music is by nature incantatory or has an incantatory mission--that is, it has the power to connect man with the cosmos, eternity, or that which is greater than man himself. At the heart of this incantatory aesthetic ideal is Jolivet's belief in the primacy of expressive melody, free of the harmonic restraints of traditional tonality. The musical analysis proceeds by identifying in Arioso Barocco the specific application of Jolivet's technical and aesthetic principles to the music, as well as considering formal structure and thematic process. The Second Concerto is then examined in the same way, and a stylistic and technical comparison is drawn between the two works. The study concludes that while both works serve the same underlying atonal and incantatory musical aesthetic, they are markedly different in many significant technical characteristics and stylistic traits. In view of the fact that both works come from what is considered Jolivet's third and final creative period, these findings give cause for further research into Jolivet's compositions from this period to determine whether they do in fact constitute one creative period or two separate and distinct periods.

An investigation into the nature and functions of periodicity is presented through analysis and discussion. Periodicity is established by the repetition of any musical event at regular intervals in time. The three works analyzed exhibit periodic elements in a variety of contexts and on different structural levels, thereby illustrating typical functions of periodicities in complex twentieth-century music. These functions include stratum delineation, textural definition, and metric-style organization. In some cases, the regularity of the periodicities is crucial to their function, while in others the periodicity of the elements simply provides a convenient model for study. Reference is made to perceptual tendencies and thresholds including Gestalt principles of grouping, the phenomena of auditory streaming and fusion, and the temporal limits of the perceptual present. As our response to periodicities is affected by the specific rate of recurrence, a classification is made according to the rate of recurrence. The links between rate and function are discussed. Boundaries are suggested for three main divisions: very fast rates (less than 0.10"), medium (between 0.10" and 10"), and long (greater than 10"). An additional tripartite division of the medium range is proposed, incorporating the levels of pulse, sub-pulse, and super-pulse. The term "super-pulse" is introduced to emphasize the potency of the pulse-grouping level. Relationships between levels of periodic events are described in terms of rhythmic consonance and dissonance. The analyses show that a contrast in the degree of rhythmic consonance is a typical means of indicating structural boundaries. They also suggest a link between the levels which produce a dissonance and the degree of harshness felt. Consonance on several levels adds significant coherence to a stratum, enhancing its recognition in complex textures or on later appearances. / Graduate

Rap music and its affect on the lives of adolescents has been a controversial topic since the mid-1970s. The celebratory and inflammatory aspects of rap and the often negative media coverage of rap music and rap artists have placed the questionable art form at the forefront of popular controversy. Rappers often struggle with the tension between fame and rap's gravitational pull toward inner city narratives; generally, rappers craft stories that represent the creative fantasies, perspectives, and experiences of racial marginality in America. Effort to make meaning of this art form and its perceived affect on contemporary American youth is at best obscure. Rap music is often deemed noisy, nonsensical, and absent of sustenance by strongholds of popular culture. Rap's controversial landscape tends to be inundated with the following questions in regard to its affect on the lives of adolescents: Can violent images incite violent action; can music enhance the political mobilization of the disenfranchised; and whether or not sexually explicit lyrics contribute to the moral "decay" of contemporary American society? / Ph. D.

Note: Pages have been removed from this digital copy due to copyright restrictions. A print copy is available in the McGill Library. / This dissertation presents the history of space in the musical thought of the 2Othcentury (from Kurth to Clifton, from Varèse to Xenakis) and outlines the development of spatialization in the theory and practice of contenlporary music (after 1950). The text emphasizes perceptual and temporal aspects of musical spatiality, thus reflecting the close connection of space and time in human experience. A new definition of spatialization draws from Ingarden’s notion of the musical work; a new typology of spatial designs embraces music for different acoustic environments, movements of performers and audiences, various positions of musicians in space, etc. The study of spatialization includes a survey of the writings of many composers (e.g. Ives, Boulez, Stockhausen, Cage) and an examination of their compositions. The final part of the dissertation presents three approaches to spatialization: Brant’ s simultaneity of sound layers, Xenakis’s movement of sound, and Schafer’s music of ritual and soundscape. / Cette thèse présente l’histoire de l’espace dans la pensée musicale du vingtième siècle (de Kurth à Clifton, de Varèse à Xenakis) et retrace le développement de la spatialisation dans la théorie et la pratique de la musique contemporaine (après 1950). Le texte souligne les aspects perceptuels et temporels de la spatialisation musicale, reflétant ainsi le lien étroit entre temps et espace t!ans l’expérience humaine. Une nouvelle définition de la spatialisation tire son origine de la notion de l’oeuvre musicale d’Ingarden; une nouvelle typologie des plans spatiaux prend en considération des musiques pour différents environnements acoustiques, diverses positions des musiciens dans l’espace de même que le mouvement de ceux-ci et des auditeurs, etc. L’étude de la spatialisation inclut un survol des écrits de plusieurs compositeurs (Ives, Stockhausen, Boulez et Cage, par exemple) de même qu’un examen de leurs oeuvres. La dernière partie de la thèse présente trois approches compositionnelles de la spatialisation: la simultanéité de strates sonores ,:hez Brant, le mouvement du son chez Xenakis et la musique du rituel et l’écologie sonore chez Schafer.

Note: Pages have been removed from this digital copy due to copyright restrictions. A print copy is available in the McGill Library.

Theis(MMus) -- Stellenbosch University, 1983. / No Abstract Available

The concerto enjoys a position of centrality within the oeuvres of many contemporary Nordic composers: the genre often functions as a vehicle for the exploration of advanced compositional techniques and aesthetic preoccupations, and the resulting works are well-represented on recordings and in the concert hall. Yet this repertory has largely been neglected in scholarship. Through detailed analysis of works by Per Nørgård, Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, this thesis develops analytical technologies for a genre which has received less musicological attention than it deserves. Placing a particular emphasis on the theatrical aspects of concerto performance, the project explores the application of three lines of enquiry, each of which has been theorised in some detail: agency (Cone, Maus, Cumming), physicality (Clarke, Cox, Larson), and space (Brower, Williams). Each of these lines of enquiry has been directed at the concerto sporadically, if at all – even though concertos make particularly compelling and potentially enriching case studies for the theoretical models in question. This thesis represents the first sustained attempt to explore the concerto with reference to these bodies of literature. The analytical models developed have wider applicability, to concertos both within and without the Nordic arena. I draw attention at numerous points to ways in which they can illuminate works by Ligeti, Birtwistle, Musgrave, Berio, and Lutosƚawski, among others. The project also has wider implications for our understandings of Nordic identity, virtuosity, and musical modernism at the turn of the twenty-first century.

In order to trace the origin of the chaconne and passacaglia, the much larger classification of basso ostinato, of which the chaconne and passacaglia are two later examples, must be considered. According to one authority, Lili Propper, the earliest beginnings of the basso ostinato can be traced back to the Middle Ages through the use of organ points exemplified in organum purum. A later and more developed use of the basso ostinato can be discovered in the recurring basses of the Montpellier Codex and the masses of the fifteenth century. A freer manifestation of the idea can be found in the reiterated bass motive of the familiar canon, Sumer is icumen in.