UMD Theses and Dissertations
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- ItemDEPARTURE, CONFLICT, AND REBIRTH IN THE MUSICAL LANGUAGE OF FRANZ LISZT(2023) Chen, Tzu-yi; Haggh-Huglo, Barbara H; Gowen, Bradford; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)“Departure” is a starting point to examine how Franz Liszt responded to and expressed his life away from his homeland through the musical language of selected piano works. After his initial departure from Hungary, Liszt’s relocations, changes of occupation, and artistic vocations led to conflict and disillusionment and at the same time reawaken his creative craft and religious calling to God to which his emotional experiences and spiritual calling give witness. While the idea of departure in Liszt’s case often signifies a geographical separation, it also reflects the resulting inner conflict, which fundamentally shaped his choices of compositional tools that he used to express conformity or deviation from musical traditions. This study examines five spiritually influenced programmatic piano works dating from 1839 to 1877 in light of Liszt’s physical and musical departures and demonstrates how he infused an evolving selection of extramusical inspirations into his program music, forms, and harmonic language. It provides a timeline connecting the events of his life and his artistic development. The tension and conflict of his inner life and creativity, after many twists and turns, will be shown to have led to his reconciliation with his Catholic faith, but first led him to compose program music. Liszt encountered a variety of extramusical inspirations around the mid-1830s. His reading of literature, ranging from epic poems to poetry collections influenced him heavily. As a result, he began to conceptualize program music. All five examples discussed here drew inspiration from literary texts, but his symphonic poems were inspired by poetry and painting. After arriving in Weimar in 1848, he developed his program-music concept in his symphonic poems and in important published piano works including revisions of earlier piano works. He learned to be more selective in quoting from a program in his compositions—he typically included poetry to introduce musical scores or as inserted texts in musical scores—and in the mid-1850s, he further defined his thoughts on musical forms and programs in his essay of 1855, On Berlioz’s Harold in Italy. During his subsequent prolonged sojourn in Rome, the unexpected failure of his marriage plan and the loss of his two children brought heightened awareness of destiny and death. These tragic events led him to reduce the numbers of themes expressing different moods. That allowed him to delve into his quoted program more deeply, which he accomplished by experimenting freely with various harmonizations. In his programmatic works that were spiritually influenced, Liszt responded to the tension he felt between his Christian ideals and his worldly desires by the divine and the diabolical in his music, by including quoted literary texts in the score that inspired him, and by using harmonies based on different scales. His musical conception of the divine was inspired by the musical heritage of the Church, which he evoked with pentatonic and hexatonic (whole-tone) scales, Gregorian chant-inspired themes and melodies, and harmonizations based on the Church modes. In his spiritually inspired compositions, Liszt also favored F-sharp major, representing heaven, as his key of choice, and he balanced a selection of consonant or perfect intervals versus dissonant harmonies and diminished intervals based on his readings of spiritually inspired literature. In contrast, his diabolical side is manifested in tritones, diminished seventh chords, chromatic scales, unexpected modulations, and his “diabolical” themes, which were part of his programmatic plan and represented by thematic transformations. This study describes his nuanced compositional progress in his conception and application of new forms—a modified one-movement sonata form, a freely structured passacaglia theme and variation form embedding a recitative and answered by a chorale, a three- act dramatic form—and in his use of increasingly sophisticated compositional techniques. He transformed themes to advance the plot of the quoted poetry, composed melodies to ‘sing’ the syllables of an absent but musically implied and thus quoted text, and even deliberately placed the texts of a Lutheran chorale or from the Latin Bible within his musical scores to make his piano compositions resemble vocal or liturgical choral music. These observations show how Liszt’s physical departures from Hungary, Paris, Weimar, and Rome fundamentally stimulated his artistic growth, in that his resulting life as sinner and saint, and his inner spiritual conflicts awakened both his diabolical nature and his ultimate search for the divine. Liszt succeeded in representing his strongly felt inner departures with deeply informed imagination in his piano music. I performed these five compositions on February 16, 2021, in Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland. Both live and studio recordings of this performance can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland.
- ItemAn Analysis of the Correlation Between the Attitude, Belief, Opinion, and Demographic Components of Voluntary Forfeiture of One's Fourth Amendment Constitutional Right in Order to Permit Police Officers the use of New Concealed Weapons Detection Technology(2002) Vann, Diane Hill Esq.; Wellford, Charles; Criminology & Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)The primary purpose of the study is to determine and analyze relationships between the major components of the participants' opinions, attitudes, and beliefs as to the effectiveness and willingness of individuals to voluntarily forfeit their Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights to permit the use of the new Concealed Weapons Detection Technology ("CWDT"). The new CWDT, as described in this study is capable of performing hands-off, non-intrusive body searches for contraband such as plastic explosives, drugs, and concealed weapons, specifically concealed guns. The study questions that Constitutionality of permitting police officers the use of such CWDT, and the Constitutionality of one's voluntary forfeiture of a Constitutional right to permit such use. Data collected for the study is from 100 residents of Madison, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., aged 18 years or older. The study analyzes Frequencies, Crosstabs, Chi Square, and Pearson's (r) and Spearman's (rs). The study although conducted before September 11, 2001, found that crime and terror remain great oppressors in the Nation, and that citizens are desparate for a resolution. The study reveals that the great majority of the study participants consider CWDT a positive solution.
- ItemThe Genera Hemiberlesia and Abgrallaspis in North America with Emphasis on Host Relationships in the H. Howard (Cockerell) Complex (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae)(1960) Davidson, John Angus Sr.; Bickley, William E.; Entomology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)The work reported consists of revisionary studies of Hemiberlesia Cockerell 1897 and Abgrallaspis Balachowsky 1948 in North America. The interpretation of North America is that of Ferris (1937), "all the mainland from the Arctic regions to and including the Panama Canal Zone." According to Ferris (1942), Hemiberlesia contained 15 species. As a result of this study, only eight of these species are here referred to Hemiberlesia. They are: rapax (Comstock), lataniae (Signoret), popularum (Marlatt), ignobilis Ferris, cupressi (Cockerell), diffinis (Newstead), candidula (Cockerell), and palmae (Cockerell). The species H. coniferarum (Cockerell) is newly assigned having previously been placed in Diaspidiotus Berlese and Leonardi, by Ferris. A tenth species, H. pseudorapax McKenzie, was assigned to this genus by its author. Seven of the 15 species have been assigned to Abgrallaspis. Both these genera appear to be North American in origin. Abgrallaspis was originally created for six species. Three of these occur in North America and were transferred from Hemiberlesia by Balachowsky. They are: palmae (Cockerell), degeneratus (Leonardi), and cyanophylli (Signoret). The last named species was designated as the genotype. Balachowsky (1953) later reassigned palmae to Hemiberlesia and transferred four more North American Hemiberlesia species to Abgrallaspis, namely, howardi (Cockerell), comstocki (Johnson), coloratus (Cockerell), and fraxini (McKenzie). A study of these species in the National Coccoid Collection revealed a complex centering about A. howardi as conceived by Ferris (1938). Usual morphological comparisons of slide mounted adult females failed to yield results, therefore, host transfer experiments were undertaken. A population of "howardi" of Ferris was secured on pachysandra. A total of 2,700 individual crawler transfers were then made to 20 different host plants. These hosts had been chosen because a preliminary study indicated unusual character variation in specimens collected from them. Fourteen of the test hosts (largely ornamentals) were later found to be infested with 14 to 54 per cent of the transferred crawlers. These crawlers were allowed to mature. Adult females were then collected and mounted for study. Six host plant species were completely unacceptable to infestation by the transferred crawlers. Five of these were plum, pear, peach, apple, and pine. A. howardi was described from plum in Colorado, and later recorded from such hosts as pear, peach, and apple. A study of the species Ferris synonymized with A. howardi revealed the test population to be A. townsendi (Cockerell), which was described from an unknown host in Mexico, and later recorded from a long list of ornamentals primarily in the southern and eastern United States. This species is redescribed and the name revalidated. A table is presented showing the variations found in salient taxonomic characters of A. townsendi collected from 14 different experimental host plants. Important variations in the size of the second lobes of A. townsendi were recorded. Second lobe reduction from three-fourths the length of the median lobes to mere hyaline points was observed. Specimens in the last category strongly resemble Diaspidiotus ancylus (Putnam). Aside from these second lobe variations, A. townsendi is a relatively stable species from the standpoint of host determined morphological variables. Avocado was the sixth test host on which transferred crawlers would not develop. Long series of scales from this host are present in the National Collection. They were collected from avocado fruit in quarantine at Texas, from Mexico. This species, A. perseus Davidson, is described as new herein. As here understood for North America, Abgrallaspis contains 13 species. Six were placed in this genus by Balachowsky, and seven by the writer. The last are: flabellata (Ferris) from Hemiberlesia; quercicola (Ferris) from Hemiberlesia; mendax (McKenzie) from Hemiberlesia; oxycoccus (Woglum) from Aspidaspis Ferris; ithacae (Ferris) from Aspidaspis; perseus Davidson as a new species; and townsendi (Cockerell) as a revalidated name. A brief presentation of materials and methods utilized in the host transfer experiments is followed by a discussion of the structural characters used in this work. Descriptions of Hemiberlesia and Abgrallaspis are accompanied by keys and descriptions to all the species in North America. Figures of adult female pygidial characters and scale coverings are provided for all species considered in these two genera.
- ItemA Study of International Farm Youth Exchange Delegates Who Visited Latin America(1960) Blum, Lee Ann Leet; Wiggin, Gladys A.; Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)A. Statement of Problem The problem of this thesis is to study the nature and prediction of adjustment to foreign culture of 24 American International Farm Youth Exchange delegates. Specifically, this thesis is designed to answer the following questions: 1. What was the nature of adjustment or the 24 subjects as determined through: a. An analysis of a questionnaire administered on return from the foreign visit. b. An analysis of correspondence during the foreign visit. 2. Could the nature or the adjustment have been predicted prior to the foreign visit by materials available in: a. Application form for foreign visits. b. Supplementary biographical data. A secondary purpose of this thesis is to review the literature relating to technical and/or student exchange programs of: 1. Foreign nationals in the United States. 2. Americans in other countries. B. Procedures 1. Selection of the Group from which Population Was Drawn A group of 1010 IFYE delegates who have visited a total of 59 different countries and Puerto Rico was the population from which the sample was drawn. Due to the variety of country cultures represented and the world coverage, it was decided to simplify and centralize the population. The 133 delegates who visited the 18 Latin American countries were selected to represent the group. Latin American countries were selected because of their similar cultural and religious background. Since information on file was to be used in the study, it was essential to select only those del egates with comparable data. Comparable data were available for delegate participants during the years 1955-57. As so limited, the group numbered 64. 2. Criterion for Selecting Population The next step was to determine whe ther the 64 subjects could be categorized at the outset into most and least adjusted to the foreign culture visited, on the basis of material available after return. The answer to question number 19 on the Individual Report Form was selected as the item to be used for categorizing. For categorizing question 19, eight individuals were asked to serve as raters. Four raters had only a slight knowledge of the IFYE program and four raters were past participants in the IFYE program. Each rater was given the group of 64 Individual Report Forms and asked to categorize question 19 in one of three categories. These categories were: (1) Least Adjusted, (2) Medially Adjusted, and (3) Most Adjusted. No criteria were given the rater to influence his placement. The categorizing was used as an attempt to see if a significant pattern could be recognized. For the purpose of this study, it was decided that the following method be used in classifying subjects: a. Each subject must appear in the least adjusted or in the most adjusted category a minimum of four times (which means that at least half of the raters thought that the subject was either least adjusted or most adjusted). b. The subject was not to appear in the least adjusted category if classified in the most adjusted category, and vice versa. c. The subject might appear in the medially adjusted category and still be used for the most or the least adjusted category if qualifications for step (a) listed here were fulfilled. After all raters had completed their categorizing, tabulations were made and it was found that 11 subjects in the least adjusted category and 13 subjects in the most adjusted category could be used in this study. Complete categorizing of the 64 subjects can be found in Appendix A. 3. Procedures for Analysis of Data a. Nature of Adjustment Question number 19 of the Individual Report Form was used to categorize the subjects into groups of most adjusted and least adjusted. The question reads as follows: "Of all things that were new and different to you, which were difficult or disagreeable to adjust to?" The Individual Report Form appears in Appendix B. The 24 subjects' responses to the question appear in Appendix G. Answers were available to all other questions on the report and an analysis will be made in this study of all questions relating to the nature of adjustment. Correspondence received from the delegates while visiting in the foreign country was available in individual files. An analysis of the correspondence indicated that delegates report a variety of news. The nature of news reported is available for study in relationship to the delegates' adjustment in the foreign culture. b. Prediction of Adjustment Adjustment while in the host country is of special interest to the officials of the IFYE program. To be able to predict adjustment of a delegate to his host country before actually participating in the program would be of great value to IFYE. This study is designed to investigate available pre-participation background information on each subject. The available information on file relates to: (1) Delegate Application Form (to be found in Appendix c) and (2) Delegate Biographical Form (to be found in Appendix D). The purposes of this study are to investigate the background information listed above and to test for significant relationship of nature of adjustment in the foreign country.
- ItemModeling the Determinants of Satisfaction and Commitment in Buyer-Seller Relationships in the Less-Than-Truckload Segment of the Motor Carrier Industry(1992) Jarrell, Judith L.; Corsi, Thomas M.; Transportation, Business and Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)Buyer-seller relationships in the U.S. are changing with the advent of closer, longer-term alliances. In establishing and maintaining these alliances, firms need to understand those factors which determine satisfaction and commitment in relationships. Drawing on theoretical and conceptual work based on Resource Dependence Theory and Social Exchange Theory, this dissertation focused on the buyer-seller dyad in the less-than-truckload segment of the motor carrier industry. The buyer-seller dyads in this segment are particularly interesting since deregulation has necessitated dramatic changes in these relationships. A system of structural equations modeled the determinants of shipper's satisfaction and commitment in these dyads using a correlation input matrix. The network of influencing factors included: carrier's power, shipper's power, comparison level given an alternative and trust. The analysis allowed an in-depth discussion of the relative importance of each of these constructs and found both shipper's power and comparison level given an alternative to have a great influence on satisfaction; satisfaction and trust significantly affect commitment, with satisfaction being more important, relatively speaking. The managerial implications of this research focused on understanding those factors which are most important in creating satisfaction and commitment in buyer-seller relationships. Carrier's need to dedicate personnel to key accounts in order to display initiative in problem solving and responsiveness to inquiries in order to enhance shipper's satisfaction and willingness to commit to a long-term relationship. Other suggested programs include offering customer-oriented programs such as 1-800 numbers, increased flexibility in pick-up and delivery times, and a willingness to forego some accessorial charges.