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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Item REBECCA CLARKE, THE VIOLIST: HER CAREER AND PERFORMANCE PRACTICE ON AN EMERGING SOLO INSTRUMENT IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY(2023) Castleton, Caroline Maxwell; Murdock, Katherine; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) was a violist and composer of the early twentieth century whose career spanned thirty-five years. The scholarship on Clarke tends to focus on her career in composition while neglecting her immense contributions in the field of viola performance. My written dissertation traces her performance career, including her education, influences, international travel, chamber ensembles, performance reviews, collaborators, and radio broadcasts as found in contemporaneous primary sources. The second chapter draws specific conclusions about Clarke’s playing style and performance practice based on marginalia found in works she studied and performed. A new discovery resulting from this research is a cadenza for the Casadesus Viola Concerto, written by Clarke and pasted into her sheet music. In support of this project I performed a solo recital at the University of Maryland on February 11, 2023. I selected six works representative of Clarke’s professional accomplishments and her particular style of playing: Sussex Mummer’s Christmas Carol by Percy Grainger; Variations on “Bonny Sweet Robin” by Ethel Smyth; Komm’, Süsser Tod by Johann Sebastian Bach; Zwei Gesänge, op. 91 by Johannes Brahms; Dumka by Clarke herself; and Viola Concerto in B Minor by Henri Casadesus, including Clarke’s cadenza. My performances of these works may be found as supplemental files to the dissertation document.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 Brahms Performance Practice in a New Context: The Bruce Hungerford Recorded Lessons with Carl Friedberg(2008) DiClemente, Ann Riesbeck; Davis, Shelley G; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A product of the student-teacher relationship between Australian pianist Bruce "Leonard" Hungerford (1922-1977) and German pedagogue Carl Friedberg (1872-1955) are fifteen recorded lessons of more than twenty hours from February 1951 through May 1952, now part of the Bruce Hungerford Collection at the International Piano Archives at Maryland (IPAM). These lessons yield a remarkable repository of insight into Brahms performance practice, as Friedberg was a student of Clara Schumann and protégé of Brahms. Part I, Chapter One: Bruce Hungerford and Carl Friedberg: Introduction and Context presents biographical surveys of the lives and careers of Hungerford and Friedberg. Chapter Two: The Recorded Lessons consists of the lessons' genesis and nature, repertoire, and aspects of interpretation, technique, and performance practice, as well as Friedberg's first-hand accounts of a number of musicians, conductors, and composers from Bach to Busoni. Chapter Three: Brahms Performance Practice presents Friedberg's personal history with Brahms as musician, composer, and conductor, and focuses on the Brahms repertoire covered in the lessons. Analysis and commentary regarding the significance of the lessons follow. Part II: The Transcription of the Hungerford-Friedberg Lessons consists of the transcription and accompanying indices of the recorded lessons. Appendix A: Hungerford Memorabilia contains a biography by Thomas Stanback, published interview, and discography. Appendix B: Friedberg Memorabilia contains performance reviews, recital dates and programs, and compositional oeuvre with discography. Appendix C: Hungerford-Friedberg Memorabilia presents reproductions of selected photographs, letters, and documents from the correspondence and scrapbooks of the Bruce Hungerford and Carl Friedberg Collections at IPAM.