Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-80). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Rochester, 1982. Includes bibliographical references. / Digitized version available online via the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music http://hdl.handle.net/1802/6494

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.

Sowerby's compositions based on hymn tunes cover the extent of his career - from 1913 to the time of this study. There are two purposes in selecting them for study: to describe the development of Sowerby's musical style; and to show, from a study of these compositions, the various devices, forms, and techniques which are effective in this area of composition in general.