Whenever a new form or style of musical composition is introduced, of which our society has not been adequately conditioned, there arises an immediate desire to present some type of logical and artistic interpretation to this person's new form of expressing himself. Thereby, if a performer or teacher of music desires to understand composition and the interpretation given to a piece of music, he usually draws from his reservoir of information which has been built upon the style and tradition of the past. However, this cannot be achieved when studying the music of our contemporaries, or of such a man as Olivier Messiaen, for he goes much further than any other composer and brings to use an entirely new form or media of musical expression. Although the organ music of Messiaen is becoming more and more widely known in this day of organ and stereo enthusiasts, there exists only in very rare cases, a musical and a spiritual understanding of his music. From the performing point of view, the music in most cases is technically difficult, requiring a real virtuosity in the French tradition, such as explored by Marcel Dupre (playing and composing or Improvising simultaneously). Unfortunately nearly all of our concert organists today employ the big, showy pieces of Messiaen as spectacular technical showpieces, forgetting entirely their deeply spiritual nature, and in many cases, insecure-or inacurate rhythmic presentations of the works, produce a distortion of the composers intent.Therefore, it is now the problem of the student, the recitalist, and theorist to study Messiaen's philosophies, plus the many new techniques in his composition, so that a true, concise, and valuable interpretation might be rendered in performance. Because the need for study in this area was felt, the creative project was selected and to these ends was directed.

This portfolio presents seven compositions composed for different instrumental and vocal forces, accompanied by a commentary and recordings of some of these works. Across the seven pieces there has been a concern with building longer-term structures; establishing a stronger developmental style; and with moving towards a more systematised approach to harmony as a way of creating a harmonic language that can underpin development more efficiently.  Several of the works show a direct engagement with the issue of form, which is approached from the perspective of Classical models, the listener’s perception and in the context of a highly chromatic harmonic language.  In contrast, two works (<i>Aubade</i> and <i>So Turn Your Heart</i>) engage more directly with diatonic models of harmony. The dominant concern across all the works presented has been the desire to create developmental, direct music in which the notion of transformation, rather than stasis and ritual, are of paramount importance.  From a melodic, harmonic and structural point of view each work represents different ways in which this has been attempted. The commentary that accompanies the works explores many of these ideas in more detail as well as setting out the origins and development of each composition. There is also an explanation as to how the initial material was decided upon and utilised during the compositional process. The commentary then concludes with a summary of what has been achieved over the course of the programme and where this might lead in the future.

This dissertation is an analysis of two of the six sonatas for organ using rhetorical-musical prescriptions from seventeenth and eighteenth-century German theorists. It undertakes to examine the way in which lines are built by application of figurae, to observe the design of each of the six movements, and to draw conclusions concerning implications for performance based upon the use of figurae in specific contexts. The period source on melodic design and the ordering of an entire movement based upon principles of rhetoric is Johann Mattheson's Per volkommene Capelmeister (1739). Guidelines for categorization of figures derive from the twentieth-century writers Timothy Albrecht, George Buelow, Lena Jacobson, and Peter Williams. Chapter I provides justification for the rhetorical approach through a brief description of the rise of the process as applied to composition during the Baroque period by relating Bach's own familiarity with the terminology and processes of rhetorical prescription, and by describing the implications for performance in observing the sonatas from the rhetorical viewpoint. Chapter II deals with the process of composition by rhetorical prescription in (1) the invention of the subject and its figural decoration and (2) the elaboration of the subject through the sixpart discourse of an entire movement. Specific figures of decoration are defined through examples of their use within the context of the sonatas. Chapter III constitutes the analysis of the six sonata movements. Chapter IV reinforces the justification of this type of analysis. The figures, as aids for inflection and punctuation, affect decisions concerning articulation of events and assist in effecting convincing performance.

This thesis analyzes the organ concertos of George Frideric Handel

Leo Sowerby is an American composer who has, in the writer's opinion, made a fine contribution to the field of modern music. This fact will be substantiated in the following study, the purpose of which will be to examine and to analyze to some extent the works of this eminent Chicago composer, teacher, organist, and choir-master. This study will-be of particular interest to students of the organ, for it concerns itself chiefly with the organ works of Sowerby, and to students of composition and modern harmonic trends, for the study high lights the composer's characteristic procedures in these two directions.

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Flame -- Night poem II -- Peach-blossom spring. / Wong Hok-yeung, Alfred. / Thesis submitted in: December 2002. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Composition / Chapter 1. --- Flame 《焰》 -for Organ Solo / Chapter 2. --- Night Poem II 《夜詩 II》》 -for Cello and Chinese Ensemble / Chapter 3. --- Peach-Blossom Spring 《桃花源記》 -for Bass and Orchestra

Foliage op. 8 for flute and piano / Daniel Carr -- Sonata in A minor "Arpeggione" for flute and piano / Franz Schubert -- Around, awry for flute doubling picc. and organ / Ethan F. Greene -- Fantasiestucke op. 73 for alto flute and piano / Robert Schumann -- Sonata in A minor for flute and piano / Cesar Franck. / text

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