This thesis explores the cultural context of Sacred Harp singing on Sand Mountain, Alabama. Using Stephen Feld’s concept of “iconicity of style,” I demonstrate that Sacred Harp singing is more than just a form of music, but an overarching aesthetic that ties together multiple forms of cultural expression and social interaction. Sacred Harp singing occurs in many different contexts on Sand Mountain, ranging from church services, to organized singings, to impromptu social events. Its presence in all these realms connects the sacred and the secular, bridging diverse aspects of Sand Mountain culture. As I investigate the place of Sacred Harp within this geographically and demographically distinct region of Alabama, I show how it forms the basis for the construction of complex individual and group identities. Notions of “tradition” are especially important to Sand Mountain singers, who attempt to preserve singing practices and stylistic elements from earlier generations. Sacred Harp singing not only ties together disparate social realms; participants believe that it connects families and communities across time and space, linking present and past generations. In my analysis of the social context of Sacred Harp singing on Sand Mountain, I convey a much more detailed understanding of the iconic nature of the musical form than exists in previous scholarship, greatly adding to scholarly understanding of the cultural context of this musical form.

Abstract of Thesis (kandidat iskusstvovedenii︠a︡)--Mosk. gos. konservatorii︠a︡ im. P.I. Chaĭkovskogo, Kaf. istorii rus. muzyki, 1997. / At head of title: Moskovskai︠a︡ gosudarstvennai︠a︡ konservatorii︠a︡ im. P.I. Chaĭkovskogo. Kafedra istorii russkoĭ muzyki. "Na pravakh rukopisi."

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references.

Includes bibliographical references. / The broader purpose of this study is to investigate musical change in relation to theological and liturgical change. The particular focus of this thesis is to explore the link between liturgial revision and musical development in the Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, between 1964 and 2010. This doctorate is situated in musicology but also embraces features of liturgical theology. Le Huray's account of musical change during the Reformation, in Music and the Reformation in England 1549-1660 (Cambridge, 1978), served as a model on which to view contemporary developments. Pass' definitions of the role of music in church (kerygmatic, koinoniac and leitourgic), contained in Music and the Church (Nashville, 1989), have also been used as a basis for the study. Additionally, the author developed a series of terms to distinguish the relationship between musical and liturgical change.

No description available.

Uppsatsens syfte är att ta reda på vad för slags knäppta stränginstrument, företrädesvis harp- och lyrinstrument, det kan ha spelats i Norden under vikingatid. Arbetsmetoden har varit att undersöka ikonografiska källor, skriftkällor samt arkeologiska fynd och bedöma deras relevans som källa till vikingatida musicerande. I äldre forskningslitteratur har skriftliga källor varit den främsta källan till vikingatidens musik. I uppsatsen särskådas alla dessa äldre skriftliga källor och ifrågasätts som källor till vikingatidens musik på grund av dateringen, vilket geografiskt område eller folkslag de beskriver och deras trovärdighet som historisk källa genom sitt mytiska eller sagobetonade innehåll. Det är emellertid möjligt att vissa av dessa källor bygger på muntlig tradition från vikingatiden eller tidigare. Ingen av de litterära källor som är nedtecknad på nordiskt eller brittiskt område kan sägas vara opåverkade av kristen eller annan litteratur. Alla musikmotiv i dessa skrifter kan ha förlagor som är antika eller kristna och har inte nödvändigtvis nordisk samtida förankring. De ibland använda äldre antika skrifterna som beskriver musicerande hos keltiska och germanska stammar är dels äldre än vikingatiden samt beskriver folkstammar från andra geografiska områden än Norden. Det finns mycket få bildkällor med stränginstrument. Endast en vikingatida stränginstrumentavbildning med nordisk anknytning finns bevarad, en harpspelande man på en bildsten på Isle of Man. De ofta använda norsk-svenska avbildningarna med Gunnar i ormgropen är daterade från 1100-talet till och med 1400-talet. De flesta av dessa är avbildade i kyrkliga miljöer vilket gör att det är osäkert vilken anknytning instrumenten hade till verkligt musicerande. De arkeologiska stränginstrumentfynden med nordisk anknytning består av mellan tre och sju fynd beroende på hur säker identifieringen bör vara samt hur det nordiska området definieras. De flesta av dessa instrumentfragment tycks höra till lyrinstrument. Beroende på vilka kriterier man använder kan antalet fynd vara fler eller färre. I uppsatsen diskuteras möjliga källor till musicerande, motivkretsar inom text- och bildkällor samt olika typer av arkeologiska fynd. Någon diskussion om vikingatida musicerande och musik förs inte eftersom källmaterialet är så pass litet.

A new type of viol consort fantasy emerged about the beginning of the seventeenth century and lasted until its virtual demise after the death of William Lawes in 1645. This thesis shows that this fantasy was distinct from Elizabethan forms and that it evolved from the late sixteenth-century Italian polyphonic madrigal and canzonetta.;The aim of this thesis is to show how the late sixteenth-century Italian madrigal influenced stylistic elements of the early Jacobean viol consort fantasy. This entails a detailed study of early seventeenth-century documents (manuscripts, etc.) to show how and why stylistic similarities between the two genres came about. This is demonstrated by examining in two ways the music of possibly the earliest composers of the medium - Thomas Lupo and, in particular, John Coprario - whose fantasies shaped all subsequent efforts. Firstly, it is shown that the repertory of music circles at the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean court and contemporary viol consort circles (with which both composers would have been most closely associated) was dominated by late sixteenth-century Italian madrigals and related forms. By examining viol consort manuscripts which contain textless Italian madrigals and seventeenth-century English fantasies and by compiling a complex of late Elizabethan and Jacobean court-related manuscripts, it can be shown that viol consort players mostly gained their copies of Italian madrigals from courtly circles. All these manuscripts are dominated by canzonetta-madrigals and seconda pratica madrigals. Secondly, an examination of the music of Coprario and Lupo, particularly their use of parody, shows how they assimilated these twin influences of the canzonetta-madrigal and seconda pratica madrigal to form a new rhetorical style of fantasy. This thesis also shows how, in the hands of Alfonso Ferrabosco II, the fantasy loses its vocal associations to become an independent instrumental genre, both in form and style.

No description available.

Benjamin Britten is regarded as one of the most prominent British composers of the Twentieth Century. His music covers nearly all genres and can routinely be heard in many different types of performances. Britten worked diligently throughout his life to produce a large body of works that are in most cases accessible to the listener, yet highly detailed in their construction. For a large part of his life Britten enjoyed celebrity as a composer, having had his works performed in the world's most prestigious musical venues by many of the most renowned virtuosi. Through his work as a composer, Britten worked to revive English opera. He also increased outreach to schoolchildren in an effort to boost national musical awareness and musical literacy throughout the population. Britten wrote four pieces for the oboe, each of which is now a standard in the Twentieth Century repertoire for the instrument. All four of these pieces feature the use of harmonies that are very characteristic of the composer's writing—tonal, yet tinted with slight ambiguity and/or dissonance. In addition, all of Britten's oboe pieces represent the high level of detail for which he was known. This treatise chronologically depicts the life and career of Benjamin Britten as a whole. For each of the four oboe pieces in question, historical elements such as time, place, reasons for composition, similarities with other pieces by the composer, relationships to musical trends of the respective period, as well as British and/or world issues of the time are examined. Harmonic and formal analysis is also provided for each piece. Several commercial recordings of today's most famous oboists playing the pieces in question are examined and evaluated in this document. Particular attention is paid to performance practice and the adherence, or lack thereof, to Britten's intentions for each piece. / A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005. / Date of Defense: February 16, 2005. / Six Metamorphoses After Ovid, Temporal Variations, Twentieth Century Music, Gay Composers, British Composers, British Music, Oboe Performance, Oboe, Benjamin Britten, Insect Pieces, Phantasy Quartet / Includes bibliographical references. / Eric Ohlsson, Professor Directing Treatise; Charles Brewer, Outside Committee Member; Jeff Keesecker, Committee Member; Frank Kowalsky, Committee Member.

No description available.