In the Fall of 1919, the Boston Symphony, under Pierre Monteaux, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Stokowski, premiered works cf Charles T. Griffes. The performances met with phenomenal success. A reviewer in the Boston Globe found Griffes' music to exhibit "genuine originality and power of a sort that entitles its composer to be judged by the same standard as men like Ravel, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, not by that usually applied to..works by unfamiliar Americans." The following Spring Griffes died at the age of thirty-five. Most sources agree that American composition suffered a great loss in the early death of Charles Griffes. His music has gained critical prestige and has won a small but significant position in the orchestral and solo repertoire in the concert hall as well as in the teaching studio. Griffes' creative life spans the first two decades of the twentieth century. He was a pianist and over half of his compositions were for solo piano. In addition, many of his orchestral works are transcriptions of piano pieces. And yet, except for The White Peacock and the Sonata, his piano works are almost unknown and rarely performed. This study seeks to trace the influences contributing to Griffes' general style, and explore the technical components characteristic of that style as they relate to his piano music. Its purpose is to create an interest in the study and performance of this important source of twentieth century American piano music.

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William Bolcom was born May 26, 1938, in Seattle Washington. Formal training in music began at age eleven at the University of Washington School of Music with Bertha Poncy Jacobson (piano), John Verrall (composition), and George McKay (composition). In 1958 he began study with Darius Milhaud, first at Mills College, Oakland, and later at the Paris Conservatory; while in Paris he also studied aesthetics with Olivier Messiaen and counterpoint with Simon Ple-Caussade. Stanford University awarded him a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition in 1964, and since that time he has taught at Queen's College in New York, the New York University School of Arts and Yale Drama School; he was also composer-in-residence at the New York University School of the Arts from 1969 to 1970. He is presently associate professor of composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, a position he has held since 1973. Bolcom is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He won second prize in composition at the Paris Conservatory, and he has held fellowships and grants from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations and the New York State Council for the Arts. He has also received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and commissions have come from the Domaine Musical (Berlin), Julliard Repertory Ensemble, the Koussevitsky Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Milhaud, Rochberg and Boulez have exerted a significant influence on Bolcom's development as a composer, and his compositions incorporate a wide variety of techniques and procedures ranging from popular music and improvisation to microtones and serialism. In 1979 eight of Bolcom's new works were premiered, and his other compositions continue to be performed widely. His works are published by Bowdoin College Press, Jobert, Theodore Presser, Nonesuch, Philips, Advance, and CMS-Desto. As pianist and accompanist for his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, he is recorded on Columbia, Jazzology, and Nonesuch. A prolific writer on musical subjects, Bolcom has written articles for Stereo Review and Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians; he is also co-author with Robert Kimball of Reminiscing with Sissle and Blake, a book about Eubie Blake and Nobble Sissle's contribution to the black musical theatre of the '20's (New York: Viking Press, 1973). Bolcom has written over a hundred compositions ranging from stage works to carillon music. His theatre works include Theatre of the Absurd, a work for actors, musicians and tape, and he has completed a half-length version of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera which was left unfinished by Darius Milhaud in 1937. He has produced a large body of piano literature including twelve Etudes, numerous rags, and a work for two pianos, harpsichord, and harmonium. Orchestral works, chamber music, choral music, violin pieces and works for organ are also represented in his output.

To most flutists, Paul Taffanel is known for his Method and as the "Father" of the French school of flute playing. Considering the import of this title, little research has been done on him. It is the goal of this researcher to present a more complete picture of Taffanel than has previously been seen. To understand the significance of some of the things Taffanel did, it is necessary to know what study at the Paris Conservatoire was like. Lessons were given in classes in which all levels of playing were represented. There was no individual study, and until 1945, there was only one flute class. The number in the class was usually 12, and entry into it was by competitive audition. These auditions were held every October, and the Concours (public exam) was held each July. Requirements for the Concours included a set piece for each instrument (called Morceau de Concours) and a piece of accompanied sightreading. The jury was chaired by the Director of the Conservatoire, with both internal and external jurors. Taffanel sat in on at least two of these juries before he became professor of flute at the Conservatoire. The awards given were First or Second Prize or First or Second Certificate of Merit. A prize means playing against a certain standard, not competition between individual candidates. As a result, more than one First Prize could be awarded, or it could be withheld altogether. A First Prize was really necessary for a successful musical career. In Paris, there were many theatre and concert orchestras. There were also salons in which to play chamber music, but the best positions available were in the Paris Opéra and Opéra- Comique. These were government subsidised and had full -time employment and state pension on retirement. There was also the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire which gave annual Sunday concerts between November and April. Membership into this orchestra was by election. The most successful flutist therefore was one who had gained a First Prize and held positions at the Paris Opera and Société des Concerts.

David Baker is a prominent American composer, noted for his fusion of jazz elements with western art music. The focus of this study is on his composition for cello and percussion, Singers of Songs-Weavers of Dreams, where this fusion is particularly evident. Baker's writing for the cello is most innovative and of considerable historical significance. Firstly, he introduced the cello to the realm of jazz, and secondly, revolutionized fingering patterns in order to accomodate jazz modal sequences and improvisational patterns. This composition is truly a milestone in the cello literature, unprecedented in style and technical innovation, and deserving of more attention.

Benjamin Britten has written solo and chamber works for the harp which extend harp technique and contribute to a twentieth century public awareness of the instrument. Unlike the majority of harp composers, Britten was internationally known and not a harpist himself. His works form a large part of all contemporary harp literature, yet his solo work and composition for harp and high voice are rarely played because of their difficulty. An examination of A Ceremony of Carols (1942), Suite for Harp (1969), and A Birthday Hansel (1975), will illustrate his contribution to harp performance and technique, and will serve as a valuable resource for harpists.

The "Concerto for Trumpet" by Henri Tomasi is a work which has enjoyed increasing popularity in recent years. Two recordings of the concerto have been made by the French performers, André and Thibaud, and while it has been a part of the standard repetoire in France for a number of years, its popularity in the United States has been fairly recent. This concerto has gained a secure place in the trumpet repetoire for American performers, and it has been performed with some frequency at the conventions of the International Trumpet Guild. In spite of the recent interest in this work, very little has been written about the Concerto, and information in the English language on Tomasi's life and musical works is very limited. It is the intention of this study, therefore, to provide a better understanding of the Concerto for Trumpet by Henri Tomasi with the goal of directing the performer toward a more informed and authentic performance of this important work for trumpet. In order to provide a thorough understanding of Tomasi's Concerto, this study will first examine the area of French trumpet music, both orchestral and solo, and its relationship to the work. The second section of this project deals with the life and work of the composer which is followed by an analysis of the Concerto.

This document is really a tale of two Heinrichs. The first is the famous seventeenth-century German musician, Heinrich Schütz (1585- 1672), composer of the Musikalische Exequien (S WV 279 -281). The second is Prince Heinrich Posthumus von Reuss (1572- 1635), for whose funeral the Exequien was written. Portraits of both men appear on the opposite page.

The purpose of this study is to provide historical information, analytical material, and to discuss performance problems and teaching techniques relative to the Concertino da Camera by Jacques Ibert. A number of articles have been written concerning the premiere date and the necessity for the saxophonist to perform certain passages in the extreme high register of the instrument. The known arguments will be presented and discussed. The main purpose of this study is to examine and offer solutions to challenging performance situations which both teachers and performers encounter during study of the Concertino. A Technical Problems List was constructed and possible solutions are discussed based upon a survey of professional saxophonists and the performing experience of the researcher. The survey results have proved invaluable and many references are made to the practice methods of the survey respondents. The Concertino da Camera was selected for this study because of its musical value, frequency of performance, level of difficulty and appropriateness for educational use. In a survey conducted in 1973 by Cecil Gold, 120 professional saxophonists were requested to list examples of repertoire which they have students perform. The Concertino was listed as the fourth most frequently chosen work at the undergraduate level and the first choice at the graduate level, and is recognized as one of the most musically rewarding works in the solo literature for the saxophone. Two texts by Teal and books by Farkas and Gold served as primary reference material as the researcher identified and offered solutions to performance challenges during construction of the performance analysis. Two books, by Pottle and Stauffer, which discuss the intonation problems of wind instruments, were also helpful. In tracing the history of the Concertino, the researcher found books by Hemke and Rousseau, and articles by Rascher to be helpful. The Concertino da Camera, written in 1935, is representative of the most prolific period of Ibert's artistic production. In Chapter 1, this period and the history of the Concertino are examines. A discussion of the formal structure followed by a description of the music will be given in Chapter 2. Problems of technique, intonation, tonal matching, articulation, rhythm, range and special fingerings will be detailed in Chapter 3. The writer feels that the Concertino da Camera is an outstanding composition which is deserving of reputable performances. It is hoped that the results of the research will benefit the educator and performer of this challenging composition.

Francis Poulencs musical setting of La Voix Humaine, a one-act monodrama by Jean Cocteau, has enjoyed many successful performances since the premiere at the Paris Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique in February, 1959. Cocteau's original play (1932) was inspired by a crossed-wire" telephone conversation which he overheard in 1930. The play has become an international success, and requires the talents of a gifted actress. La Voix Humaine (hereafter LVH) is one of three unique stage works by Poulenc. All of his operas were composed late in his life and reflect a variety of libretto types. His first opera, Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1947), was a one-act comic opera. This satirical and humorous subject may be greatly contrasted with his full-length tragic opera, Les Dialogues des Carmélites (1957). In view of its monodramatic construction and the sensual tragic-romantic use of the orchestra, LVH stands alone as a specialized and demanding work for the theatre.