This lecture recital seeks to prove that Sergei Taneyev's only piano concerto is a valuable addition to the piano concerto repertoire for historical and theoretical examination. Taneyev's biographical background proves he was one of the major figures in Russian musical life during the late nineteenth century. For one who had such an important role in music history, it is an unfortunate that his music has not been popular. Through letters to contemporary composers and friends, Taneyev's master teacher Tchaikovsky revealed why his music and piano concerto were not as popular as they should have been. This lecture recital examines Taneyev's compositional style and illustrates his influence in the works of his famous student Sergei Rachmaninoff through examples from Taneyev's Piano Concerto in E-flat Major and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Taneyev's Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 have both similarities and differences that resulted from the composers' close relationship. Letters between the teacher and student enlighten readers to the compositional process of the two piano concertos and demonstrates the value of Taneyev's Piano Concerto. A detailed theoretical analysis is included in this dissertation. The principal themes and motifs are presented with a detailed analysis of the structure of the concerto's first movement as the themes, motifs, and variations are woven into a unified piece of music. The second movement of the concerto is remarkable for its harmonic progressions. This research substantiates that Taneyev's Piano Concerto is valuable to the current piano repertoire and worthy of performances throughout the world. The concerto occupies an important role in music history and theory and is useful for piano students to study.

Cette thèse permet de mettre en lumière divers aspects de l’interprétation pianistique contemporaine. Pour cela, trois concours internationaux ont été choisis – Chopin de Varsovie, Long-Thibaud de Paris et Tchaïkovski de Moscou – de façon à exposer au mieux, à travers des épreuves de ce genre, la situation de l’art pianistique à une échelle mondiale sous des rapports divers : social et historique en relation avec chacune de ces compétitions, technique dans la chaîne compositeur-interprète-auditeur, et artistique sur la base de l’étude des interprétations des finalistes durant la période 1985-2010, sans oublier les enjeux de l’évaluation dans ce cadre.L’analyse générale de la situation actuelle a mis en évidence l’utilité de ces concours dans la vie musicale contemporaine. Si les valeurs esthétiques du monde actuel ne stimulent pas réellement la formation de personnalités d’une grande force et d’une réelle profondeur, un certain nombre de signes positifs semblent toutefois se dégager de ces manifestations. / The scientific work reveals various aspects of contemporary piano performance. Three international piano competitions were chosen – Chopin in Warsaw, Long-Thibaud in Paris and Tchaikovsky in Moscow – because it is through events like these ones that is exposed to its best the situation of pianistic art on a global scale. Given the complexity of our questions, we have shared our research in several areas: social and historical related to each analyzed musical competition, technical according to the chain composer-performer-listener, and artistic based on the study of interpretations of the finalists during the period 1985-2010, preceded by issues evaluation in this context.The general analysis of the current situation has highlighted the need of these competitions in contemporary musical life. If the aesthetic values of the modern world do not actually stimulate the formation of deep and strong personalities, a number of positive signs, however, seem to emerge from these events.

Biblical mythology as a possible programme for a musical work never attracted Tchaikovsky''s interest. Epistolary heritage also does not give the reason to suppose that the Bible was the composer''s favourite book. Nevertheless, these superficially obvious facts do not settle the question about Tchaikovsky and the Bible.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed the rapid growth of musical culture in Russia. This resulted in a large repertoire of piano music — ranging from miniatures to virtuosic etudes and sonatas. Growing out of the nineteenth century romantic tradition, and highly influenced by the social conditions of the time, Russian composers developed a distinctive style which closely reflected their culture, personalities and ideologies. There are several approaches to studying performance practice. One is to study the interpretations of other pianists. While this does have many advantages, it has not been adopted in this paper as it has one flaw: it still fails to capture the distinctive language of these composers. Rather, the paper will study the social and musical influences on the composers, and, more importantly, their philosophies about pianism and the purpose of music. This will be related to interpretative issues in the works. The repertoire has been divided into four areas. The paper commences with a study of the miniature, which is valuable in finding the ‘essence’ of a composer’s musical language expressed on a small scale. Here, the ‘elementary’ considerations in performance practice will be studied. The second chapter discusses etudes. This is useful in gaining an insight into composers’ conception of technique, and how this relates to performance practice. The third chapter deals with music that has extra-musical themes. This provides opportunity for a more detailed cultural and biographical study of the composers. To represent the large-scale repertoire of Russian composers, the sonata will be studied. Here, a detailed analysis of the composers’ musical language and its relationship to expression will be discussed. / Masters Thesis

The title of the diploma thesis: Fairy Tale Themed Ballet Music in the 19th and 20th Century Focused on the Works of P. I. Tchaikovsky and S. Prokofiev This diploma thesis deals with fairy tale motifs in ballet music of the 19th and 20th century. It focuses mainly on fairy tale ballets of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Sergei Prokofiev. The first chapter deals with fairy tale themes in ballet on a more general level and advances to the concrete inclusion of these themes in the socio- historical context of the 19th and 20th century. The second chapter briefly deals with the development of ballet from its beginnings in the 15th century to the 18th century. This chapter chronologically describes important periods and events concerning ballet. The next chapter deals with ballet of the Romantic period and music of the 19th century in France and Denmark. Chapter four and five present the prominent ballets of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, namely Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. Furthermore, this thesis focuses on ballet of the 20th century, those of Igor Stravinsky and mainly Sergei Prokofiev. Most of these ballets were created in cooperation with the patron of arts Sergei Diaghilev. The last part offers various activities that can be used in music lessons. KEYWORDS fairy tale motives, ballet...

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Orchestral excerpt books have become a staple in instrumental study for those pursuing a career in the orchestra. Many of these books, especially those for clarinet, are catered towards the popular and prolific clarinet solos found in principal clarinet parts. However, there is a lack of quality resources geared towards those pursuing second clarinet positions. Former materials might be outdated or are filled with inconsistencies or mistakes. The purpose of this document is to provide a resource and guide for select second clarinet orchestral excerpts. In this guide, certain aspects of playing second clarinet will be discussed as a whole and as it pertains to selected excerpts. The excerpts included in this document are: Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, Mendelssohn The Hebrides and Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Ravel Daphis et Chloé and Rapsodie Espagnole, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.

Diese Arbeit untersucht den Begriff der Liebe interdisziplinär in der Literatur und in der Musik in Deutschland und Russland in der Epoche der Romantik. Ausgegangen wird von der antiken Rede des Sokrates über Liebe und seiner Definition von ihr, welche Platon in seinem „Symposion“ nach Sokrates aufschreibt. Diese wird in die Zeit der Romantik zuerst in die deutsche und russische Literatur und später auf die Musik übertragen und untersucht. Welche Veränderungen treten im Verständnis des Begriffes auf? Welche Unterschiede oder möglichen Parallelen in den zwei auf den ersten Blick unterschiedlichen Kulturen und Mentalitäten sind vorhanden? Welchen Einfluss nehmen die Persönlichkeiten der Künstler auf diese Veränderungen? Die Ergebnisse werden auf einzelne Werke der Schriftsteller, A. Puschkin und E.T.A. Hoffmann, und auf die Vertonungen dieser Werke der Komponisten, P. Tschaikowski und R. Schumann, übertragen. Diese, in erster Linie literaturwissenschaftliche Untersuchung stellt den Begriff der Liebe in den Vordergrund, noch vor der Person oder dem Werk des Künstlers. Somit ist das vorrangige Ziel der Arbeit, der Rezeption der platonischen Liebestheorie während der Epoche der Romantik nachzugehen. Der Gedanke der eigenen Wandelbarkeit und der Entwicklung des Schönen und der Liebe als Stufenweg korrespondiert mit der Erkenntnisphilosophie der Romantiker. Das Thema der Liebe hat auch in der heutigen Zeit eine wichtige Bedeutung, vor allem weil die Medien immer öfter von einer Krise der moralischen Werte sprechen. Die Liebe ist transmedial, sie durchwandert das subjektive Leben des Menschen, die objektiven äußeren Voraussetzungen, die Kultur und die Mentalität, die Literatur und die Musik und sie bleibt eine Sehnsucht, ein Streben, eine Idee. Sie ist aktiv und überbrückt jegliche Schranken als Kommunikationscode oder als höchster Versuch, den die Natur macht, um das Individuum aus sich heraus und zu dem anderen hinzuführen. / This work examines the expression of Love in an interdisciplinary approach to literature and music in Germany and Russia during the Romantic Period. The starting point is Socrates’ classical discourse about Love and his definition of it, which Plato recorded in his Symposium. This will be applied to and examined in the Romantic Period, first in German and Russian literature and later in Music. What changes occur in the reception of this term? What differences or possible parallels can be determined in the two cultures and mentalities that are different at first sight? What is the influence of the respective artists on these changes? The results will be applied to the individual works of the writers A. Pushkin and E.T.A. Hoffmann as well as the musical settings of these works by the composers P. Tchaikovsky and R. Schumann. This examination, which is based primarily on literature and literary criticism, places the concept of Love in the foreground, even above the person or the work of the respective artist. Therefore, the primary goal of this work is to follow the reception of Plato’s “theory of love” during the Romantic Period. The concepts of one’s own inconstancy, the development of beauty, and the path of love correspond with the metacognitive philosophy of the Romantics. The subject of love has particular significance today because of the media’s frequent discussions about the crisis of moral values. Love is transmedial. It transcends the subjective lives of humans, the objective external conditions, culture and mentality, literature and music; and it remains a desire, an ambition, an idea. Love is active and bridges every boundary as a communicational code or as nature’s utmost attempt to lead an individual out of himself and to another.