UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
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Item TONES IN BLACK: A HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN BASS/BARITONES IN CLASSICAL MUSIC: IN THE ECHOES OF ANCESTORS, A PIONEER’S VOICE(2024) McIlwain-Lightfoot, VaShawn Savoy; Short, Kevin C.; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation project has three major foci: a) to trace the history of classically trained African American Bass/Baritone vocalists through performance, recordings, and narrative; b) to recognize the historical performances of African American Bass/Baritone vocal pioneers and the significant contributions they made to the accessibility of opportunities for other African Americans within these voice types; and c) to discuss how Bass/Baritone community performances can promote social connectedness and DEI in opera. In addressing these foci, the paper will emphasize how the performances of Bass/Baritone vocal artists, past and present, have a) made African Americans, in general, more acceptable to White audiences and b) changed the perceptions of White Americans about who African Americans are and what they are capable of. Methodology involved securing physical/digital historical data from newspapers, journals, and books; collecting photos, programs, and articles from the private library of a former University of Maryland professor; conducted oral history interviews of students and progeny of the first African American Baritone to sing with a major opera company in the U.S. (Todd Duncan); delivered community performances domestically and internationally as a current example of the legacy of African American classical vocal artists, specifically Bass/Baritones. This project’s accounting of historical performances can serve to recognize unknown or forgotten contemporaries and predecessors.Item Decadence, Decay and Divine Retribution: Reframing Don Giovanni Through Costume Design(2024) Janney, Rebecca Anne; Huang, Helen; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This document describes the process of concepting, designing, and realizing the costume design for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte’s opera, Don Giovanni. This iteration of the opera centered the principal women Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina in their quest for retribution against Don Giovanni for his sexual abuse of them. The production uses the 1780s as a period touchstone but manipulated modern asymmetry and Baroque color to create the dramatic world of the show. This thesis contains a record of the entire design process from early concept to completed production. This includes research, renderings, fitting photos, production photos, and paperwork. The show was produced by the Maryland Opera Studio between April 14th to April 23rd, 2023. This production was conducted by Craig Kier, directed by Corinne Hayes, scenic designed by Brandon Roak, lighting designed by Heather Reynolds, and costume designed by Becca Janney.Item OLD MUSIC FOR A NEW WORLD: PERFORMING STANDARD REPERTOIRE WITH CONTEMPORARY SENSIBILITIES(2023) Vaughn, Rhiannon Evans; Kier, Craig; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Society and current events shape the art of their time. Many works of operatic and song literaturethat are considered masterpieces have elements that are challenging to modern audiences–be it their composer’s personal beliefs, embedded racism and sexism, or other unfavorable aspects. How to deal with these controversial elements of standard repertoire is not wholly agreed upon and the divide on how to engage with them is often generational. Those of an older generation often espouse the inherent value of these works, whereas those of a younger generation struggle to see beyond their faults. This does not have to divide the classical world of singing–with sincere and careful thought, discussion, and research it is possible to engage with works that have a checkered past and to continue to grow the canon and our understanding of it. Supplementing materials accompanying this dissertation project including video recordings of each performance event.Item AN EXPLORATION OF SELECTED VOCAL WORKS BY GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE (1892-1983)(2022) Bryant, Zachary Franklin; Short, Kevin; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)French composer and pianist Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) is commonly known as the sole female member of the French music collective Les Six, however her prolific career and abundance of compositions encompass a range of artistic endeavors and compositional expertise beyond this customary title. Important primary sources detailing her inspirations, compositional philosophies and artistic insights include a short, self-dictated memoir, letters, contemporary articles, critical reviews, interviews and music scores. Many of her manuscripts have remained unpublished or lost amid the destruction of World War II. And though a large number of her works enjoyed performances during her lifetime on Radio-France, archive recordings are unavailable to the public and subsequent performances have been rare by both French and international institutions. The vocal works of Tailleferre therefore offer fertile ground for further analysis, exploration and consideration for standard repertoire and academic discussion.The first performance event features a lecture introducing the life and works of Germain Tailleferre, similar in format and content to a higher education song or opera literature lecture. The discussion includes biographical information, compositional characteristics and analysis and performances of two song sets and operatic excerpts. The second and third performance events share the U.S. premiere of the complete operatic cycle Quatre opéras bouffes: petite histoire lyrique de l’art français, du style galant au style méchant. The Part 1 performance features La fille d’opéra and Le bel ambitieux and the Part 2 performance features La pauvre Eugénie and M. Petitpois achète un château. Supplemental materials accompanying this dissertation project include video recordings of each performance event and the complete supertitle files created with original translations and utilized during the performances of Quatre opéras bouffes.Item The Cunning Little Vixen: A Scenic Design(2020) Guarniere, Grace Limbach; Conway, Daniel; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this thesis is to provide research, supporting paperwork, production photographs, and other materials that document the scenic design process for The Cunning Little Vixen by the University of Maryland – College Park, Maryland Opera Studio. This thesis contains the following: scenic research images that express the play, and location, and inspiration that helped develop a common emotional vocabulary with the production team; preliminary sketches; photographs of the ¼” scale model; a full set of drafting plates and paint elevations used to communicate the design to the technical director and the paint charge; a prop list with research supporting, in detail, what is needed for hand props, set dressing, and consumable pieces for the prop master; and an epilogue of the continuing transformation of this production due to the unforeseen circumstance of COVID-19.Item THE IMPACT OF GENRE FUSION AND IMPROVISATIONAL ELEMENTS IN 21ST-CENTURY OPERAS ON VOCAL PEDAGOGY AND PERFORMANCE PRACTICE(2019) DuBose, Sequina; Balthrop, Carmen; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the 21st century, opera composers are expanding beyond traditional boundaries by incorporating improvisatory elements and musical style elements from non-classical genres. The purpose of this study is to point to the impact these trends will have on vocal pedagogy and performance practice. The opening chapters of the dissertation provide historical context by examining the role of improvisation in the Baroque era and beyond, along with details concerning key shifts in audience culture, vocal aesthetic and performance practice throughout history. Chapter two also incorporates narratives from key industry practitioners, voice pedagogue Dr. Rachelle Fleming, and American Opera Projects Artistic Director, Mila Henry. Chapter three consists of a discussion of the research methodology and the key researchers and methodologists that influenced the study. This study is a narrative inquiry that employs an analysis of narrative approach and paradigmatic reasoning in its analysis, inducing themes and relationships between the concepts that reveal themselves in the data and literature. Chapter four includes narrative research and analysis based on interviews that have been conducted with composers and singers from four innovative operas: Charlie Parker’s Yardbird (Daniel Schynder), I Dream: A Rhythm and Blues Opera (Douglas Tappin), Blue Viola (Peter Hilliard), and The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock (David Lang; the composer intentionally uses lowercase script in the titles of his works). Each composer and singer offers a unique perspective regarding the interpretation of and preparation for contemporary operatic works and furthers the argument that academic voice programs will benefit from an expanded curriculum that prepares singers to meet the evolving demands of the opera industry. The final chapter provides personal testimony from the author and suggested vocal and dramatic exercises for incorporating improvisation in a manner that may be of use in university opera workshops, group voice classes, and voice studios. This body of research documents the stylistic and technical considerations that modern opera singers and teachers take into account in order to branch out and explore operatic works that have genre-bending and/or improvisative elements. Based on the findings from this study it is recommended that voice teachers cross-train by teaching classically trained singers to adapt their singing methods to various styles.Item MAKING DO: AN EXAMINATION OF HISTORIC POVERTY AND CONTEMPORARY SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH THE COSTUME DESIGN OF KURT WEILL’S STREET SCENE(2019) Ahern, Kristen Patricia; Huang, Helen Q; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This document demonstrates a case study of the process of researching, envisioning and producing the costume design for a production with an emphasis on environmental and ethical values in design. The production featured is Street Scene, an opera set in a New York tenement in 1929. The document describes the early collaboration with the director in creating the concept for the piece, how this influenced the research and design and how the design and the designer’s personal values influenced the sourcing and implementation of the design. Included are images documenting the research, renderings, fittings and finished production images. Street Scene was composed by Kurt Weill with libretto by Langston Hughes based on a 1929 play by Elmer Rice. This production was produced by the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland, April 12-20, 2019 under the direction of Professor Amanda Consol, conductor Professor Craig Kier with scenic design by Ryan Fox and lighting design by Peter Leibold.Item Isle of Gold - a story in music(2018) Samson, Matthew David Arling; Gibson, Robert; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Out of the great abundance of stories available to humans throughout history, opera composers and their librettists have favored a surprisingly small subset of these stories in the production of their works. Thus, a significant amount of very interesting subject matter has remained largely unexplored by the compositional community. One such seldom attempted story is Plato’s tale of Atlantis, both its existence and its fall. At present, only a small handful of composers have attempted large scale musico-dramatic works dealing with the legend, and arguably none of these works have taken hold in the greater operatic canon, if they are even known in the first place. Despite its neglect, this particular legend, which depicts the conflict of an idealized primal state with one ruined by arrogance and both of their eventual destructions by catastrophe, is ripe for interpretation. This work is an attempt to begin to begin to address the story’s neglect. My focus in exploring the topic and composing this stage piece has been foremost on the idea of repetition, and key to that exploration has been the use of carefully structured anachronism. Symbolically, Atlantis can be made to function as a stand-in for nearly any powerful nation or empire in nearly any time period. As such, textually, “the Isle” as it is called in the piece, is ostensibly placed in the distant past; however, there are textual elements that problematize this assumption, such that it could indeed be set in the distant future or even as a continuously repeating event, removed from the normal workings of time. Similarly, the orchestration consists of essentially only instruments present in an early baroque orchestra, and while they are generally asked to play in a conventionally baroque style, the harmonic, melodic, and formal material is decidedly contemporary. Furthermore, from time to time, both the instruments and voices are asked to perform techniques and in styles borrowed from many different times and places. All these elements and others taken together serve to underscore the universality and timelessness of the tale, especially highlighting its relevance to the modern world and our place in it.Item An Operatic Contribution to a Literary Conversation: Locating Henry James' Ambiguity in Benjamin Britten and Myfanwy Piper's "The Turn of the Screw"(2018) Athanasiou, Evangeline Katerina; Haldey, Olga; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In 1954, Benjamin Britten and Myfanwy Piper’s chamber opera, "The Turn of the Screw," premiered at the Venice Biennale. They adapted their story from the late eighteenth-century Henry James novella of the same title. Soon after its publication in 1898, James’ "The Turn of the Screw" sparked a literary debate focusing on the credibility of the main narrator, a young governess who claims to see ghosts while in charge of two children isolated in a country house. During the 1950s, when Britten’s musical career was steadily advancing, the literary debate moved in the direction of reconciling the argument over the governess’ credibility. This study primarily expands upon musicological scholarship from Philip Rupprecht as well as literary scholarship by Shlomith Rimmon, along with various other studies concerning music, literature, and adaptation. Through a textual and musical analysis of James’ ambiguity as realized in Britten and Piper’s "The Turn of the Screw," this study demonstrates that the opera should be considered among the contributions to the mid-century critical trend toward the synthesis of the two dominating interpretations of the novel from the twentieth century.Item House of Winter: Opera in One Act(2018) Pazdziora, Eric; Wilson, Mark E; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)House of Winter is a one-act dramatic musical composition, approximately 70 minutes in duration, with a libretto written by Dr. John Patrick Pazdziora. It is scored for four singers and chamber orchestra including strings, woodwinds, harpsichord, and frame drum. The opera combines music and text with thematic material evocative of Scottish folk songs in a narrative exploration of the experience of an elderly woman facing the end of her life and reflecting on her lost cultural traditions and identity through encroaching dementia.