MUSIC OF THE BRITISH ISLES: AN EXPLORATION OF MUSIC WRITTEN FOR THE VIOLIN BY COMPOSERS FROM ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND SCOTLAND DURING THE ROMANTIC ERA

Abstract

This project focuses on music written for the violin by composers from England, Ireland, and Scotland during the Romantic era. The specific composers represented here include Ethel Smyth, Edward Elgar, Michele Esposito, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Charles Villiers Stanford, Ina Boyle, John B. McEwen, Alexander Mackenzie, and Alfred Moffat. In highlighting the particularly unique and creative aspects of each composers’ compositional aesthetic, this study examines the many ways composers of the British Isles created particularly memorable works with impactful musical moments. In addition, in representing a variety of composers with varying backgrounds and interests, this study highlights the diversity of the British musical community. This study aims to encourage an interest in these composers and their work, especially because many of them, and their work, are relatively unknown. As a performance dissertation, this project consists of this written document as well as three recitals which were performed on December 13, 2021, in Smith Recital Hall, October 24, 2022, in Gildenhorn Recital Hall, and December 12, 2022, in Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland. The recordings of the recitals can be accessed on DRUM.