Music

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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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    ASPECTS OF AMERICAN MUSICAL LIFE AS REFLECTED IN THE NEW MUSIC REVIEW AND CHURCH MUSIC REVIEW, 1901-1935
    (2009) Fitts, Elizabeth Crouch; Cohen, H. Robert; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The early twentieth century was a time of growth and important change in American musical life. However, many aspects of our national musical culture during this period remain largely unexplored. Among these is The New Music Review and Church Music Review (NMR) which from 1901 to 1935 offered a detailed chronicle of American musical life in some 404 issues and in over 16,000 pages. During its thirty-year publication run, the NMR was one of the most important music journals published in the United States and one that enjoyed "a high reputation for its able editorials and the excellence of its contributed articles." This dissertation examines the central and, in the main, previously unexplored topics treated in the journal's feature articles including attempts to define an American musical identity, the promotion of American music and composers, and the history and development of the organ and its music in the United States -- i.e., efforts to standardize the organ console, the controversy over unification of organ pipes, transcriptions, service playing, programs, and accompaniment for motion pictures and choirs. The journal also treats the history and accomplishments of the American Guild of Organists, problems relating to early twentieth-century American sacred music, the purposes of church music, musical reforms in the Episcopal and Roman Catholic Churches, the education of the clergy, congregation, choirmaster and organists in their responsibilities for the implementation of sacred music, and the selection of church repertory, especially hymns and anthems. There are four appendices: the first summarizes the NMR's articles on choral music, the second summarizes the NMR's articles on music education, the third lists the NMR's biographical sketches, and the fourth provides a descriptive list of the journal's contributors.
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    Butch Morris and the Art of Conduction
    (2009) Stanley, Thomas Taylor; Witzleben, Lawrence; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris is a 62-year-old composer and bandleader who was part of a cadre of North American jazz innovators whose work began coming to public attention in the mid-1970s. Since 1985 he has developed, refined, and implemented a method for creating unique ensemble music using a patented vocabulary of conducting gestures. This novel strategy and the music it produces present an array of theoretical questions. Some of these have been simplified as questions of classificatory nomenclature: Is Conduction improvisation, interpretation, composition, or none of the above? How does Conduction as a system compare to other methods of structuring musical performance in real time? Other critical and social questions are addressed whose answers hinge upon the values and functions that sustain Conduction in the real world of monetized and competitive musicianship. Through interviews with Morris and members of his ensembles as well as observations conducted at numerous Conduction rehearsals and performances, my study documents Morris' art form as a new instrumentality that offers new ways of making and thinking about music. In the course of this study, a variety of materials and sources are used to describe how Conduction® was developed, what its historical precedents are, and how it operates in real performance situations. The explanatory implications of framing Conduction practice as a novel musical instrument are also examined. This new instrument has garnered a community of users with differential investments in and expectations for Morris' vehicle and how these investments and expectations have defined Conduction's place in the domain of musical performance and education. Supported by self-reporting and analysis, Morris' method is shown to arise from a pro-ensemble orientation that seeks to breathe new life into both the jazz big band and the classical orchestra by awakening and redistributing those core capacities most essential to the production of musical sound.
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    Beyond Racial Stereotypes: Subversive Subtexts in Cabin in the Sky
    (2008-09-02) Weber, Kate Marie; King, Richard; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The 1943 film Cabin in the Sky holds an important place in cinematic history as one of the first "all-Negro" pictures produced by a major Hollywood studio. The movie musical reflects a transitional period in American racial politics and popular culture, when long-established stereotypes and themes associated with blackness were still prevalent, but were shifting to reflect more progressive attitudes. On the surface, Cabin seems to reinforce reductive and conventional notions. It presents a folkloric story of Southern blacks, the corrupting influence of modern urbanity, and the redemptive power of marital devotion and religious piety--replete with the entire pantheon of Negro caricatures. Upon careful analysis, however, the film's stereotypical topics are rendered superficial by subversive undercurrents. In addition, Ethel Waters' appearance as herself exposes the story and characters as fictional constructs, and paves the way for a more liberal image of blackness to emerge.
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    The Music of Manuel M. Ponce, Julián Carrillo, and Carlos Chávez in New York, 1925-1932
    (2008-07-14) Gibson, Christina Taylor; Cohen, H. Robert; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    From 1925 to 1932, music by Manuel M. Ponce, Julián Carrillo, and Carlos Chávez was performed in New York and widely reviewed in the city's newspapers. Although they are among the most significant figures in Mexican musical history, the influence of these composers and their works in New York from 1925-1932 has not been sufficiently studied. During these years, New York was not only the cultural capital of the U.S. but it was also a center for modernism and expatriate Mexican culture. In addition, the years in question mark the period directly preceding the premiere of Chávez's ballet, H.P., with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, a performance that transformed Chávez's career and made him one of the most well-known Latin American composers in the U.S. This dissertation seeks to provide a multi-faceted examination of these composers and performances of their works in New York during the critical years before Chávez's ascendancy and to demonstrate the diverse Mexican musical aesthetics represented there during a relatively short period of time. Specifically this dissertation focuses on performances of Ponce's canciones and guitar compositions, Carrillo's avant-garde microtonal music, and Chávez's modernist chamber works; all of which were presented in New York between 1925 and 1932. It also provides information about Mexican music in New York directly before and after the central period in question, examining in some detail New York performances of Carrillo's First Symphony in 1915, Ponce's performance of his own piano music in 1916, and the aforementioned Philadelphia premiere of Chávez's H.P. in 1932.
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    Current Trends of Dialect Preservation Through Musical Performance in the Pennsylvania German Community of Southeastern Pennsylvania
    (2008-02-11) Yadush, Chantel Lynn; Dueck, Jonathan; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The purpose of this thesis is to examine who the Pennsylvania Dutch people are in light of American immigration history, interviews with Pennsylvania Dutch community leaders and scholars, performance observations, and printed text resources in order to evaluate how members of the Pennsylvania German community are actively promoting and preserving the Pennsylvania German dialect through the medium of performance. There is a general consensus among people familiar with the Pennsylvania Dutch culture that the Pennsylvania Dutch language is disappearing. Within the past 100 years cultural centers and educational institutions have been established to encourage and support preservation of the Pennsylvania Dutch language in Southeastern Pennsylvania. This study explores how and why musical performances within the community are fueled by a revivalist mentality to preserve the Pennsylvania Dutch language.
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    "Who expects a miracle to happen every day?": Rediscovering Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream, the forgotten musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein
    (2004-05-13) Mariska, Bradley Clayton; DeLapp, Jennifer; Music
    Me and Juliet (1953) and Pipe Dream (1955) diverged considerably from Rodgers and Hammerstein's influential and commercially successful 1940s musical plays. Me and Juliet was the team's first musical comedy and had an original book by Hammerstein. Pipe Dream was based on a John Steinbeck novel and featured bums and prostitutes. This paper documents the history of Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream, using correspondence, early drafts of scripts, interviews with cast members, and secondary sources. I analyze the effectiveness of plot, music, and lyrics, while considering factors in each show's production that may have led to their respective failures. To better understand reception, emphasis is placed upon each show's relationship to the political and cultural landscape of 1950s America. Re-examining these musicals helps document the complete history of the Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration and provides valuable insights regarding the duo's social values and personal philosophies of musical theatre.