Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Musical Performances

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    The Manipulation of Time Perception in John Adams's Doctor Atomic
    (2010) Lintott, Robert Warren; Haldey, Olga; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis is the first scholarly study of John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic. The study includes a brief history of the opera. It then concentrates specifically on one aspect of the work: time perception. Using a newly developed comprehensive methodology, I examine the manipulation of "clock time," "stage time," and "psychological time" in the libretto, the score, and the staging of Doctor Atomic. Thus, a dichotomy between poetry and prose in the "found" texts of Peter Sellars's libretto is reflected in a similar psychological time dichotomy of "now" vs. the timeless. Adams's score accentuates this point by relying on compositional techniques of the Baroque, as well as effectively elongates stage time in the final countdown scene. Finally, the analysis of the 2007 Amsterdam production of the opera reveals that a combination of props, blocking, and lighting in Sellars's staging contributes to the manipulation of the audience's perception of time.
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    All This the World Well Knows: a symphonic cantata in Sonnets and Proverbs for mixed chorus, four solo voices, and orchestra
    (2010) Perry-Parrish, Joseph Adams; Wilson, Mark E; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    All This the World Well Knows is a 30-minute symphonic cantata for mixed chorus, four solo voices (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone), and orchestra. The libretto, adapted by the composer, weaves together texts from Shakespeare's Dark Lady sonnets and from the King James Bible's book of Proverbs in a loose narrative of love, betrayal, and reconciliation. The composition's pitch material includes microtonality that arises from the just intonation of sonorities derived from the harmonic series. In passages in which the solo voices express this microtonality, they are amplified in order to allow precise, non vibrato intonation. The modest size of the orchestra, which includes pairs of winds and only two percussionists, makes the composition practical for a wide range of performing groups.