Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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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 FACILITATING EASE AND EXPRESSIVITY IN LEFT-HAND BALANCE, FINGER ARTICULATION, AND NAVIGATING THE BOUTS ON THE VIOLA(2024) Burton, Tonya; Murdock, Katherine; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Prior to the emergence of the viola as a solo instrument in the twentieth century, the viola was often treated like a bigger violin. This has led to a lack of clear and consistent pedagogy for left-hand technique on the viola. The purpose of this project is to offer a resource for left-hand technique specifically for the viola, with an emphasis on areas which there is a lack of other written material. Violists often have preconceived notions about left-hand technique, stemming from ideals of violin technique which often use a different approach from what is needed or helpful on the viola. This can greatly hinder potential fluency and expressive freedom for violists and can even lead to physical harm. Additionally, the absence of a uniform size and shape for violas combined with the unique body of the player make standardization of left-hand technique nearly impossible, requiring violists to analyze technique in an individualized manner. In order to enable violists to discover healthy and fluid body motions in relation to particulars of their specific viola, the techniques will be primarily approached as movement. Part One equips the violist to take ownership of their technical journey with an exploratory mindset, a somatic viewpoint and discovering body balance with the viola. Part Two applies these concepts to left-hand balance, finger articulation, and navigating the shoulder bouts while dispelling common misconceptions and interweaving basic anatomical information alongside practical exercises and examples from the repertoire. My goal in this dissertation is to empower violists on a path towards greater technical ease and fuller expression by approaching left-hand technique as an individualized exploration of body movement and musculoskeletal understanding.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 VIOLA FROM IRAN: CONTINUING AND EXPANDING THE TRAJECTORY OF A RICH CULTURAL HISTORY(2019) Hesabi Amnieh, Kimia; Murdock, Katherine; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Middle Eastern country of Iran has been home to thousands of years of art, poetry, and music. The history of classical music of Iran can be traced back to 3000 BCE. This rich history has inspired the composition of a vast variety of music in different genres and styles. While there has been some scholarly research on the topic of Iranian classical music, the contemporary music of Iran largely remains an unknown territory to Western audiences. In the current social and political climate in the United States, there is an urgent need to open a new window into Iran through the arts. Most news in the U.S. regarding Iran appears to create a negative image, portraying it as a country that lacks culture, stability, and the desire for peace. Additionally, there is a gap in knowledge about Iran specifically when discussing the arts. This gap exists not only in an academic setting through scholarly work, but also with regard to performing and displaying works by Iranian artists. This dissertation introduces works composed for viola by Iranian contemporary composers and aims to display a wide range of styles and approaches in contemporary Iranian music. These works include commissions, U.S. premieres and world premieres; some were performed on a recital and some were included in a recording project. Each chapter of this document highlights one composer and their represented work in this project. The recital and the recording project can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).Item The Voluble Viola: Music for Viola Inspired by Text and Poetry(2019) MacDuff, Timothy Joseph; Murdock, Katherine H.; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This project is an exploration of music that draws inspiration from text or works that utilize programmatic themes. The vision for this project comes from Ernest Bloch’s Suite 1919 in which the composer created the music with a programmatic element in mind, but made the decision to not include extra-musical material in the title of the work or its movements. Bloch wrote quite eloquently about his extra-musical inspiration in his notes about the piece, but leaves the performer the option of relaying this information to their audience. I was not aware of the program notes Bloch wrote the first time I heard this work. My perception of the music changed after I read Bloch’s intended titles for each movement, as well as his written words about the colorful and evocative scenes he was imagining when writing the piece. The music came alive and moved me in a different way once I knew of Bloch’s inspirations. From this experience, I wanted to further my understanding of how a composer uses music to depict non-musical images or scenes when using text as a source, and how these extra-musical elements serve the performance and affect the expressive power of music. The first program focuses on poetry and literature set to instrumental music, featuring two poetic oboe, viola, and piano trios by August Klughardt and Charles Martin Loeffler, as well as Prokofiev’s musical portrait of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Vocal chamber music and the exploration of text as part of the performance is the theme of the second program, including works by Johannes Brahms, Frank Bridge, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Benjamin Britten. The final program interprets music titled “Fairytales” by Robert Schumann, as well as further examining poetic settings by Vincent Persichetti and Toru Takemitsu. The recitals were performed on November 2, 2018, February 22, 2019, and April 28, 2019 at the University of Maryland School of Music’s Ulrich Recital Hall, and I was assisted by oboist Michael Homme, mezzo-soprano Gabriela Estephanie Solis, clarinetist Dane Clark, and pianist Andrew Welch. The CD's for this dissertation recording project are available on compact discs which can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).Item FROM THIRD FIDDLE TO CENTER STAGE: HOW LIONEL TERTIS, MAURICE VIEUX, AND FYODOR DRUZHININ EXPANDED THE ROLE OF THE VIOLA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY(2019) Rokosny, Dana Marie; Murdock, Katherine; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Not until the turn of the twentieth century did the role of the viola begin to expand and eventually blossom into the prominence that it occupies today. Violists today enjoy the same idolizing attention that violinists and cellists have enjoyed for a few hundred years. Three violists are particularly important in the advancement of the viola during the twentieth century: Lionel Tertis (1876–1975), Maurice Vieux (1884–1951), and Fyodor Druzhinin (1932–2007). All contributed in expanding the role of the viola in the areas of virtuosity, pedagogy, and repertoire. This dissertation explores the significance of these three violists and provides a pathway to sources available relative to each artist. The performance aspect of this project included three recitals, each centered upon one of the three violists. Works included were selected from those dedicated to and/or commissioned by that violist, and works each violist composed or arranged for the instrument. The recital based upon Lionel Tertis included a movement from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Suite; The River and the Old Irish Air composed and arranged by Tertis respectively; the Sonata for viola and piano by Sir Arnold Bax; a piece by William Henry Reed; a movement from York Bowen’s viola concerto; and Benjamin Dale’s work for six violas. The next was based upon the French violist, Maurice Vieux. The first half consisted of a Romance by Gabriel Grovlez; a concert étude by Vieux; a movement by Joseph Jongen’s for viola and orchestra; and the Ballade by Philippe Gaubert. The second half continued the character with a programmatic work by Stan Golestan; Max Bruch’s Romanze; another of Vieux’s études; and the Soliloque et Forlane by Reynaldo Hahn. The final recital centered upon Fyodor Druzhinin, a violist and composer for whom the revered Shostakovich Sonata was written; performed on the second half of this program. The first half consisted of Grigori Frid’s first viola sonata and a duo for violas by Druzhinin. The appendices include the three recital programs; discographies; articles or books written by or about these three violists; as well as lists of compositions; arrangements; and commissions and dedications.Item FINAL STAGES: MUSIC WRITTEN FOR VIOLA IN COMPOSITIONAL TRANSITION(2016) Green, Chelsey A.; Murdock, Katherine; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Through the presentation of three performance recitals, this dissertation examines nine pieces written for viola by eight different composers during major transitional moments in their lives. Whether the moment of transition was set amid battling terminal illness, the end of their compositional career, or even death, these substantial pieces, often recorded and performed today, are significant staples in the standard viola repertoire. The works chosen for this project showcase an effective progression of virtuosity for the viola as a solo instrument through the late 19th and into the 20th century. The compositions included in this dissertation are: Béla Bártok (1881-1945) Concert for Viola and Orchestra, Op. Posthumous (1945/1949) Ernest Bloch (1880 - 1959) Suite Hébraïque (1951) Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (ed. for Viola), Op. 120 Nos. 1 and 2 (1894) Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) Passacaglia (1941) and I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still (1944) Robert Fuchs (1847-1927) Sechs Phantasiestücke für Viola and Pianoforte, Op. 117 (1927) Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 No. 4 Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Märchenbilder (1851) Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147 (1975) Through analysis of compositional style and consideration of each composer’s life condition at the time of composition, this project provides insight towards the origins of these iconic pieces and facilitates a greater understanding of the composers’ connection to and proclivity towards the viola as voice at these significant transitional moments in their lives. The recitals were recorded on compact discs and are archived within the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).Item NEW PERSPECTIVES: TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR VIOLA(2016) Hodges, Nicholas John; Stern, James; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)One must only glance upon Franz Zeyringer’s 400-page, exhaustive Literatur für Viola to understand the error of the familiar but casual criticism of the paucity of the viola catalogue. Examining Zeyringer’s resource, however, we find a trend: while the viola repertoire contains many pieces (over 14,000 works) and does lay claim to many masterworks (Bartok’s Viola Concerto, Hindemith’s Sonatas, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, etc.), many of the pieces originally written for the instrument are not widely recognized compositions and not often considered outstanding achievements. The violist, much like the double-bassist, bassoonist, and hornist, faces a certain challenge when selecting repertoire for a recital: a lack of large, important works that both fit the instrument and challenge the recitalist. This project will aim to expand recital repertoire for the viola through the development of new transcriptions, using the previously transcribed Fantasy Pieces by Schumann (trans. Leonard Davis) and Sonata No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 120 by Brahms (trans. Brahms) as an inspiration and guide. As a result, the catalogue of viola repertoire will not only be increased but the difference in tone and depth of the instrument may unveil previously unnoticed perspectives on the works. With a primary aim to expand the literature of the viola through the development of new transcriptions, this project will also strive to offer new, previously unnoticed perspectives on preexisting works. Through the changing of the instrumentation, listeners and performers will have the opportunity to explore the character of the compositions in a fresh and possibly illuminating way. Perhaps this project will encourage previously unexplored transcriptions to be realized and performed. While the recital repertoire for the viola boasts many and great works, the original transcriptions of this project attempt to infuse the collection with new and interesting possibilities for both study and performance. This dissertation project is comprised of three recitals featuring works transcribed for viola and, in most cases, newly transcribed by myself. All events took place on the campus of University of Maryland, College Park: Recital #1 on November 9, 2014 in the Gildenhorn Recital Hall of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center; Recital #2 on May 9, 2015, in Ulrich Recital Hall; and Recital #3 on November 6, 2015, in the Gildenhorn Recital Hall. Item British Viola Repertoire of the First Half of the Twentieth Century(2015) Luce, Gregory; Murdock, Katherine; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The aim of this dissertation performance project has been to obtain a familiarity with the sound and emotional palette of the British viola repertoire of 1900-1950. The music of this time and place has a uniquely soulful, pensive, and internally wrought emotional quality which translates perfectly into the character of the viola. The first recital consisted of music written for the world’s then-preeminent viola virtuoso, Lionel Tertis (1876-1975). This program included Vaughan Williams’ Romance for Viola and Piano, Frank Bridge’s Two Pieces for Viola and Piano (Pensiero and Allegro Appassionato), Arnold Bax’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, and finally York Bowen’s thrilling Sonata No. 1 in C Minor. The second recital contained the chronologically ordered complete works for viola and piano of Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979). Thanks to the monumental sonata of 1919, Rebecca Clarke is thought of by many as a composer, but she was most certainly a remarkable violist as well, making her one of the last performer-composers to continue the legacy of the great composer-virtuosi of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Clarke was at the very forefront of a time when female composers were beginning to be accepted socially. She is removed by only fifty or so years from the time of Clara Schumann, another great female artist, but is perhaps more remarkable in that her instrument of choice was not as widely accepted as a solo instrument at that time. The final recital consisted of several works chosen to showcase the viola’s unique relationship with British composers over time. The first half of the recital featured three under-celebrated works by Arnold Bax: Concert Piece, Trio in One Movement, and Legend. The second half of this program reached back into the late Renaissance with a pair of pieces by John Dowland arranged for violin and viola, then finishing with Benjamin Britten’s Lachrymae of 1950, which was inspired by these two works.Item The Violist as Composer(2015) Hart, Sarah; Stern, James; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The search for interesting and rewarding repertoire is a lifelong process for the modern violist. Because of the viola's belated acceptance as a solo instrument, only the occasional solo viola piece appears in the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, giving violists special incentive to embrace new sources of repertoire, including transcriptions of works for other instruments, new works by living composers, and rediscovered works by lesser-known composers. This dissertation explores another means by which violists have contributed to the concert repertoire: composing their own music. Music written by violists with performing careers follows in a historical tradition of player-composers, especially pianist-composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, and Sergei Rachmaninov, whose intimate knowledge of their instrument resulted in beloved works of art. In order to highlight music that stems from this intersection of performance and composition, I adopted the following criteria for a violist-composer's inclusion in the project: specialization in the viola over other instruments, including the violin; professional performance career, usually in an ensemble, on recordings, or in a teaching position; particular interest in writing for the viola within the compositional oeuvre; and chronological overlap of performance and compositional undertakings. I crafted, prepared, and performed three recital programs of music by violist-composers, selecting works that appealed to me as a performer and represented a variety of instrumentations, styles, and genres. The chosen pieces highlight themes common to violist-composers, including improvisatory gestures, exploration of tone colors, stylistic crossover from non-classical music, pedagogical goals, technical virtuosity, and chamber music for multiple violas. Featured composers are Alessandro Rolla, L. E. Casimir Ney, Lionel Tertis, Henri Casadesus, Maurice Vieux, Paul Hindemith, Rebecca Clarke, Tibor Serly, Lillian Fuchs, Paul Walther Fürst, Atar Arad, Michael Kugel, Garth Knox, Paul Coletti, Brett Dean, Kenji Bunch, Scott Slapin, and Lev Zhurbin. The dissertation includes live recordings of the three recitals with program notes discussing the composers and their music. A list of violist-composers, including those not featured on the recital programs, appears as an appendix, providing the basis for further exploration by violists seeking engaging new concert repertoire.Item THE INFLUENCE OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN NATIONAL MUSICAL STYLES AND GENRES ON THE MUSIC OF J.S. BACH: A PERFORMANCE DISSERTATION PROJECT(2012) McCarthy, Daniel W.; Murdock, Katherine; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The music of Johann Sebastian Bach was heavily influenced by the French and Italian styles of composition. The three recitals that comprise this dissertation trace these connections through programming of French and Italian Baroque works alongside the compositions of J.S. Bach. The recitals include original viola repertoire as well as viola transcriptions of works for the cello, viola da gamba, and violin. In addition to showing the connection between Bach and his extra-national contemporaries, these recitals expand the capabilities and repertoire of the viola as a solo instrument and ensemble instrument in Baroque repertoire. The first recital features Italian Baroque composition paired with selections from the third, fourth, and sixth cello suites of J.S. Bach. The works of Marco Uccellini and Carlo Marino show the contrapuntal and rhythmic Italian aesthetic that Bach would mimic when writing comparable suites. In addition, his use of ornamentation directly reflects the works on the program. The second recital consists of works from seventeenth century France. The instrumental and orchestral suites of Marin Marais are paired with Bach's fifth cello suite to show his adoption of the pure dance forms and harmonics that arise from the period. The final recital consists solely of works by J.S. Bach. The connections drawn in the first two recitals are heard in the performances of the repertoire of the third and final recital. While the viola often seems like a neglected instrument during the Baroque period, these recitals, performed during the 2011-2012 school year, show that the versatile and improvisatory nature of Baroque instruments and composition give the viola a unique place in modern period performance. The viola suits the range and tone quality of many Baroque instruments, allowing for natural transcriptions and arrangements of many works. The viola da gamba suite of Marin Marais and cello suites of J.S. Bach display the viola as a solo instrument fully capable of achieving the expressive qualities of the original intentions. The ensemble work featured in the first two recitals show the viola as not just a member of the continuo section, but also as an independent melodic voice.