Music Theses and Dissertations
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Item BEETHOVEN AND SCHUBERT: SELECTED LATE-PERIOD PIANO SONATAS(2017) Carmichael, Sean Anthony; Tsong, Mayron; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The piano sonata genre sits at the apex of formal experimentation and expression within the solo piano repertoire. Since its introduction, the term ‘sonata’ has represented short instrumental pieces in binary form, pieces containing fantasy elements and multi- movement dance suites in the same key, to name a few. The modern definition of a sonata ultimately emerged as a work containing three or four movements: a sonata- allegro movement, a scherzo or minuet and trio, a slow cantabile movement, and an upbeat [typically] rondo finale. Following Beethoven’s piano sonatas, numerous composers have contributed to the genre in novel ways; however, none have produced an output of any comparable magnitude. This may be due in part to a sentiment felt by his contemporaries and expressed by Schubert, who commented, “Secretly, in my heart of hearts, I hope to make something of myself, but who can do anything after Beethoven?” While Beethoven and Schubert’s nearly coterminous deaths marked the end of the Viennese classical sonata, the passing of Beethoven in 1827 undoubtedly alleviated some pressure for Schubert as an instrumental composer. Composing a total of twenty-two piano sonatas (albeit some remaining incomplete), it was in this year that Schubert composed his final three, D. 958, 959 and 960. In this dissertation, I will examine four late-period sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert, exploring their influences and the characteristics that position them between the classical and romantic eras. The sonatas examined are Beethoven’s Op. 101 in A major and Op. 110 in A-flat major and Schubert’s D. 959 in A major and D. 960 in B-flat major. The dissertation was recorded by Antonino d’Urzo in the Dekelboum Concert Hall at the School of Music, University of Maryland and edited by Sean Carmichael. These recordings can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).Item Beethoven's Violinists: The Influence of Clement, Viotti, and the French School on Beethoven's Violin Compositions(2016) Chimchirian, Jamie M.; Stern, James; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Over the course of his career, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) admired and befriended many violin virtuosos. In addition to being renowned performers, many of these virtuosos were prolific composers in their own right. Through their own compositions, interpretive style and new technical contributions, they inspired some of Beethoven’s most beloved violin works. This dissertation places a selection of Beethoven’s violin compositions in historical and stylistic context through an examination of related compositions by Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755–1824), Pierre Rode (1774–1830) and Franz Clement (1780–1842). The works of these violin virtuosos have been presented along with those of Beethoven in a three-part recital series designed to reveal the compositional, technical and artistic influences of each virtuoso. Viotti’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major and Rode’s Violin Concerto No. 10 in B minor serve as examples from the French violin concerto genre, and demonstrate compositional and stylistic idioms that affected Beethoven’s own compositions. Through their official dedications, Beethoven’s last two violin sonatas, the Op. 47, or Kreutzer, in A major, dedicated to Rodolphe Kreutzer, and Op. 96 in G major, dedicated to Pierre Rode, show the composer’s reverence for these great artistic personalities. Beethoven originally dedicated his Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, to Franz Clement. This work displays striking similarities to Clement’s own Violin Concerto in D major, which suggests that the two men had a close working relationship and great respect for one another. The first recital was performed in Ulrich Recital Hall; the second and third recitals were performed in Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland. All three performances were collaborations with pianist, Hsiang-Ling Hsiao. A Recording of the first program can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM). Recordings of the second and third recitals can be accessed at the University of Maryland Hornbake Library.Item Tracing Beethoven Through the Ten Sonatas for Piano and Violin(2016) Shapiro, Rachel Kitagawa; Salness, David; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Examination of Beethoven’s ten sonatas for piano and violin as a single arc, to uncover linkages between the individual sonatas and observe their stylistic evolution as a set, benefits from placing these works also in relation to the wider realm of Beethoven’s chamber music as a whole. During the years in which his sonatas for piano and violin were written, Beethoven often produced multiple works simultaneously. In fact, the first nine sonatas for piano and violin were written within a mere five-year span (1798 – 1803.) After a gap of nine years, Beethoven completed his tenth and final sonata, marking the end of his “Middle Period.” Because of this distribution, it is important to consider each of these sonatas not only as an interdependent set, but also in relation to the whole of Beethoven’s output for small ensemble. Beethoven wrote the last of his piano and violin sonatas in 1812, with a decade and a half of innovation still ahead of him. This provokes one to look beyond these sonatas to discover the final incarnation of the ideas introduced in these works. In particular, the key creative turning points within the ten sonatas for piano and violin become strikingly apparent when compared to Beethoven’s string quartets, which dramatically showcase Beethoven’s evolution in sixteen works distributed more or less evenly across his career. From the perspective of a string quartet player, studying the ten sonatas for piano and violin provides an opportunity to note similarities between the genres. This paper argues that examining the ten sonatas from a viewpoint primarily informed by Beethoven’s string quartets yields a more thorough understanding of the sonatas themselves and a broader conception of the vast network of interrelationships that produce Beethoven’s definitive voice. The body of this paper contains a full exploration of each of the ten sonatas for piano and violin, highlighting key musical, historical, and theoretical elements. Each of the sonatas is then put not only in context of the set of ten, but is contrasted with Beethoven’s sixteen string quartets, identifying unifying motives, techniques, and structural principles that recur across both bodies of work.Item Registral Space as a Compositional Element: A New Analytic Method Applied to the Works of Ligeti, Josquin, and Beethoven(2012) Burt, Patricia Ann; DeLio, Thomas; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The motion of a musical work through registral space is an important element of the listening experience. However, the tools developed for analysis of registral space are limited in number and are generally geared toward the study of 20th century music, where register is more frequently engaged with as an important component of musical structure. In this dissertation, I outline a new method I have created for the analysis of registral space and apply it to three compositions from different stylistic periods: György Ligeti's Continuum (1968), Josquin's "Benedictus" from his Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales (c. 1490-5), and Beethoven's Bagatelle in G major, Op. 126, No. 2 (1824). In so doing, I show how registral form can contribute equally, along with parameters such as melody and harmony, to the meaning of a composition. The first chapter of this dissertation outlines and demonstrates the analytic procedure using a short passage from Frédéric Chopin's C minor étude from Op. 25. Registral space, a conceptual, two-dimensional space created by the coordinates of pitch and time, is represented graphically where pitch is notated along the vertical axis and time along the horizontal axis. From the pitch graph, I define and quantify four types of registral space: positive, upper negative, lower negative, and inner negative space. This data is then used to create a series of graphs that elucidates a composition's registral form at both global and local levels. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 contain full analyses of the Ligeti, Josquin, and Beethoven works respectively. Though these pieces are written in different styles, they share a number of common features with regard to the treatment of registral space. For example, all three pieces exhibit self-similarity at multiple structural levels. Additionally, they each appear to have been conceived with deliberate consideration of the pitch shape's placement within the range of the piece, often employing some form of registral centering or balancing. By considering registral space in a new and meaningful way, this method of analysis can be applied to a diverse body of music and reveals aspects of musical structure that might otherwise remain hidden.Item A MELODY FAVORED BY BEETHOVEN IN BALLET, CONTREDANSE, VARIATIONS, AND A SYMPHONIC FINALE(2010) Abbazio, Jessica M.; Wexler, Richard; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)During the transition to his heroic period, Ludwig van Beethoven employed Classical era ideas in an experimental way that led to the discovery of his personal style. Beethoven's transition to the heroic style was marked by desire to compose music in what he referred to as a "new way." The refinement of his novel and complex heroic style occurred through technical experimentation with an idea known in this thesis as the Eroica Theme. In Opus 43, Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, WoO 14, Zwölf Contretänze für Orchester, Opus 35, Fünfzehn Variationen (Es-dur) mit einer Fuge für Klavier, and Opus 55, Symphonie Nr. 3, "Sinfonia eroica," Beethoven built upon and expanded this idea to test the limits of its structural potential as symphonic material. Beethoven's use and manipulation of the Eroica Theme provides us with insight into the compositional process through which Beethoven developed his signature heroic style.