abstract: John La Montaine (b. 1920) has devoted his life to music composition. His major works total 62 opus numbers, including operas, concertos, songs, chamber music, and orchestral works as well as eleven compositions for solo piano. Among his composition teachers were Nadia Boulanger and Howard Hanson, and his first piano concerto was awarded the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He was active also as a concert soloist and collaborative pianist, appearing on prestigious concert series and with first-rank orchestras. Despite his obvious success, La Montaine did not seek publicity. As a result, the majority of his music is not widely known. La Montaine's eleven compositions for solo piano are written in a wide variety of styles, from tonal to serial, with many based on a tonal center, and they range in difficulty from the easiest beginner pieces to challenging concert works. His elementary works include a set of easy canons and many small pieces written for an early piano method. An imaginative set of children's pieces and a small virtuoso étude challenge the intermediate pianist. A diverse range of works for the advanced pianist includes a serious sonata, a lively toccata, several contrapuntal works, lilting dance pieces, and unique smaller pieces. The recording included with this research project is the first to present La Montaine's complete works for solo piano. The composer's own recordings of many of his works are difficult to obtain, and only a few have been recorded commercially. While some of his works remain in publishers' catalogs, those which are out-of-print can be obtained via interlibrary loan. This recording and discussion of La Montaine's solo piano pieces are intended to make his work better known. / Dissertation/Thesis / 1 Questioning / 2 6 Dance Preludes: Preamble / 3 6 Dance Preludes: Aria / 4 6 Dance Preludes: Burlesque / 5 6 Dance Preludes: For Those Who Mourn / 6 6 Dance Preludes: Intermezzo / 7 6 Dance Preludes: For Those Who Dance / 8 Fuguing Set: Prologue / 9 Fuguing Set: Fugue in G / 10 Fuguing Set: Pastorale / 11 Fuguing Set: Fugue in D / 12 Fuguing Set: Cadenza / 13 Fuguing Set: Fugue in C / 14 Fuguing Set: Epilogue / 15 Jugoslav Dance / 16 Sonata for Piano: I / 17 Sonata for Piano: II / 18 Sonata for Piano: III / 1 Copycats: Have you seen a copycat? / 2 Copycats: Cuckoo / 3 Copycats: Owl / 4 Copycats: Walk and hop / 5 Copycats: October / 6 Copycats: Sing a song and clap your hands / 7 Copycats: Shadow / 8 Copycats: Where has our puppy dog gone? / 9 Copycats: Alarums / 10 Copycats: Hungarian Lullaby / 11 Copycats: Sing no more, it's time to dance / 12 Copycats: Winter song / 13 Copycats: Blackbird / 14 Copycats: Now let us dance / 15 Sparklers / 16 A Child's Picture Book: Pageant / 17 A Child's Picture Book: Story for a Rainy Day / 18 A Child's Picture Book: Pussy Cat has a Dream / 19 A Child's Picture Book: Jack Frost / 20 A Child's Picture Book: The Giant Has A Hobby-Horse / 21 A Child's Picture Book: Even Coolies Watch the Sunset / 22 12 Relationships: Bold and Plain / 23 12 Relationships: Teasing / 24 12 Relationships: Plaintive / 25 12 Relationships: Sprightly / 26 12 Relationships: Bittersweet / 27 12 Relationships: Wayward / 28 12 Relationships: Saucy / 29 12 Relationships: Entreating / 30 12 Relationships: Piquant / 31 12 Relationships: Brooding / 32 12 Relationships: Spirited / 33 12 Relationships: Jubilant / 34 3 Pieces for Piano Solo: Birds / 35 3 Pieces for Piano Solo: A Summer's Day / 36 3 Pieces for Piano Solo: Venice West Blues / 37 Toccata / D.M.A. Music 2010
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:asu.edu/item:8720 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Contributors | O'Brien, Andrew (Author), Hamilton, Robert (Advisor), Cosand, Walter (Committee member), Holbrook, Amy (Committee member), Meyer Thompson, Janice (Committee member), Arizona State University (Publisher) |
| Source Sets | Arizona State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral Dissertation |
| Format | 153 pages |
| Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, All Rights Reserved |
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