<p> In a letter from July 21, 1840, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809&ndash;1847) shared with his friend Karl Klingemann that in his Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major, the <i>Lobgesang</i>, &ldquo;all the movements, vocal and instrumental, are composed to the words &lsquo;Everything that breathes, praise the Lord&rsquo;; you understand that the instruments first praise in their own way, and then the chorus and the individual voices.&rdquo; This tantalizing passage is not a direct profession of faith, but the language of praising God through music does raise questions about Mendelssohn&rsquo;s personal religious philosophy. The topic of Mendelssohn&rsquo;s faith has been the subject of much speculation; some have assumed as the grandson of eighteenth-century Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, he ought to be considered Jewish, while others, such as R. Larry Todd, have posited that &ldquo;despite a willingness to compose sacred music for different faiths, in his personal convictions Mendelssohn adhered to the Protestant creed.&rdquo; </p><p> Mendelssohn&rsquo;s <i>Lobgesang</i> contains evidence of his deeply-held Protestant identity. Its &ldquo;motto&rdquo; theme appears at the beginning, middle, and end of <i>Lobgesang</i>. The first time with instruments alone; the second time sung with the text, &ldquo;Alles, was odem hat, lobe den Herrn&rdquo; (&ldquo;Everything that breathes, praise the Lord,&rdquo; Psalm 150:6), and lastly, at the end of the work, by the instruments alone, suggesting the associated text even though it is not uttered aloud. Combining this cyclical quality with the appearance of self-quotations and the Christo-centric thrust of the rest of <i>Lobgesang</i>&rsquo;s text, we are invited to view <i>Lobgesang</i> as a lens through which to view other works as having been composed for the glory of God&mdash;specifically, the God Mendelssohn knew from a Protestant perspective. </p><p> This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about the relationship between music and identity, with a focus also placed on the continuing conversation about musical quotation and reference.</p><p>

<p>Viator, Landon Bachelor of Music, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Fall 2015; Master of Music, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Spring 2017 Major: Music Title of Thesis: Thanatos Thesis Director: Dr. Quincy Hilliard Pages in Thesis: 68; Words in Abstract: 94 Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to provide a theoretical analysis of my composition as well as demonstrate the techniques used to compose and compile electroacoustic music in the digital realm using a DAW software. I have demonstrated how to use MIDI instruments to compose music, how equalization was used to digitally change the timbre of the guitar and drums, how compression was used to control the dynamic range of the drums and add fullness to their sound, and I have demonstrated how to create MIDI notes to be played by the software instruments.

abstract: Pacific Suite (2016) is a four-movement work for solo piano composed by the author of this paper, Holly Kordahl, that incorporates elements of several musical idioms, including Impressionism, tintinnabuli (as in the music of Arvo Pärt), post-modernism, minimalism and improvisation. This Doctorate of Musical Arts project consists of a descriptive paper, analysis, score and recording. The piece features varying levels of performer independence and improvisation along with notated music. Each movement is named after a different environment of the Pacific Ocean: Great Barrier Reef, Mariana Trench, Sunlit Zone, and Bikini Atoll. Pacific Suite is engaging to mature pianists and accessible to students. The score of Pacific Suite is a blank canvas in some ways; almost all dynamics, tempi, pedaling, and fingerings are to be determined by the performer. The first movement, Great Barrier Reef, presents different musical vignettes. The second movement, Mariana Trench, requires the performer to improvise extensively while following provided instructions. The third movement, Sunlit Zone, asks the performer to improvise on a theme of Debussy. The final movement, Bikini Atoll, illustrates events of nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll in the 1940s. / Dissertation/Thesis / I. Great Barrier Reef / II. Mariana Trench / III. Sunlit Zone / IV. Bikini Atoll / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2020

Musical numbers for a hypothetical musical based on the Winnie-the-Pooh series by author A.A. Milne. The plot is based on “In Which Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water,” the 9th chapter of the series’ first book, Winnie-the-Pooh, first published in 1926.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how to choose, adapt, and arrange music for school full orchestras with incomplete instrumentation that are not yet ready to perform unarranged standard literature. The literature suggests that while school full orchestra directors may be able to find some published arrangements that include generous cues for missing instruments and parts for substitute instruments, the most effective approach is to alter and arrange music as-needed. When arranging, it is important for teachers to make choices that allow for their students to be successful, but also preserve the original octaves, timbres, form, and tempo of the piece, as intended by the composer. Arranging options that accommodate incomplete instrumentation are demonstrated in an arrangement by the author for school full orchestra of Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 82, Movement I. Further examinations of arranging techniques and abridgement considerations are provided in an additional arrangement by the author of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Movement I, for school string orchestra. Two different published arrangements of “Dance Bacchanale,” from the opera Samson and Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns, are compared to each other and to the original, to observe how existing arrangements anticipate and accommodate incomplete instrumentation in school full orchestras. A brief history of the full orchestra ensemble in American schools is also included.

This dissertation consists of two parts. Part 1 is a composition for orchestra entitled Now at the Middle of the Night. Part 2 is the current document, which concerns temporality in the score of the movie Arrival. The essay discusses types of experiential time and how the main character begins to see time as a whole, not simply as a linear path. The paper looks at three scenes to examine how the musical techniques mirror the change in perspective the main character undergoes. / Music Composition / Accompanied by 1 .maxpat file: now-at-the-middle-of-the-night.maxpat; and 1 PDF file: Litts_temple_0225E_171/Now at the Middle of the Night.pdf

No description available.

<p> Influenced by the 1960's vanguard movement of <i>Tropic&aacute;lia, </i> Itamar Assump&ccedil;&atilde;o became a leader of the so-called <i> Vanguarda Paulista</i>. He offered a new critique of the establishment while taking part in an independent DIY scene. This critique took the form of a detached and ironic narrative voice, and the exploration and reimagining of Samba and Pan-Africanism through polyphony and dissonance. Assump&ccedil;&atilde;o stands out as someone who was able to generate a new synthesis of Pan-African traditions and the Brazilian Popular Song tradition. Though today there's a current generation of musicians from S&atilde;o Paulo who are influenced by Assump&ccedil;&atilde;o, he still remains largely unknown in Brazil and the rest of the world. I analyze selected pieces from his discography by looking at his lyrics and compositional procedures in order to demonstrate a vast scope of artistic thought that utilized influences from contemporary theater to Reggae.</p><p>

This is a piece for mixed chamber ensemble (flute doubling piccolo and alto flute, bass clarinet, piano, percussion [crotales and vibraphone] violins 1&2, viola, and cello). The total performance length of the piece is approximately fifteen minutes. The structure of the work is based on the exploration of formlessness as form, a piece of music where the drifting, seemingly aimless instrumental lines create a complex texture that becomes more than the sum of its parts. Instead of relying on a clearly delineated form based on goal-oriented structures, this work gradually transforms its elements without ever feeling the need to go anywhere other than where it already is. In this sense, the music is in a constant state of becoming itself, a goal that it can never really achieve.

abstract: In 2006, composer James DeMars conceived of an opera when he began setting the Aztec legend known as Nican Mopohua, the “legend of Guadalupe.” Many inherent challenges arose as DeMars began to compose his first opera. His unfamiliarity with operatic writing and production, a preference for the aural elements of opera over visual ones, inexperience with dramatic textual writing, and insecurity in his ability to have it produced, encouraged him to detour from his operatic vision altogether and instead write an oratorio. Yet, his original operatic concept revealed itself through the music and text enough to encourage him and others to believe that his oratorio, Guadalupe: Our Lady of the Roses, could be produced on the operatic stage. Despite the oratorio’s success, DeMars persisted in realizing his original operatic vision and began the arduous task of rewriting his opera in 2012. To overcome the challenges, he relied heavily on the input of an “Operatic Advisory Council.” This group of dedicated colleagues and experts in the field of opera revealed to DeMars certain essential elements of opera that were absent from the oratorio, and through the course of three years advised and instructed the composer as he transformed his oratorio into an opera – something rarely attempted in the operatic repertoire. In this document, Chapter 1 discusses the formation of the Council, its members, and the expertise they offered. Chapter 2 presents the areas of concern the Council had during the process. Chapter 3 discusses the methods by which DeMars rectified the flaws in the oratorio’s visual aspects, the vocal writing, and the dramatic elements that needed attention. It also presents musical and textual examples of the adjustments and additions DeMars made during the transition, and discusses their effect on the opera’s staging, vocal writing and drama. The changes DeMars made under the guidance of the Operatic Advisory Council ultimately resulted in an operatic version of Guadalupe, which premiered at Arizona State University in November 2015. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2018