FOLKLIFE, TRADITIONS, AND NATIONALISM: INFLUENCES ON WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC

Abstract

This dissertation performance project seeks to feature music written for the classical concert setting that is inspired by, directly references, or highlights specific and unique aspects of a particular country, culture, tradition, or heritage, that fall outside of typical western classical music. This may present as an arrangement of a folk song, the use or quotation of a distinct folksong melody or popular dance rhythm, an allusion to a piece of folk lore, the inclusion of nationalistic idioms, or mimicked instrumentation.I wish to demonstrate the impact and fascination many composers had with their own roots or those of another country, and the effect that it had on their music. I suggest that classical music conceived with this perspective has the potential to be particularly gripping. It has a wonderful ability to feel ancient, familiar, and new all at the same time, and can create a meaningful connection to the past while remaining deeply satisfying, intensely modern, and culturally relevant. In an effort to explore the legacy of this sort of music and the work of composers who found it arresting, I developed three concert programs during which I played music composed with some form of distinct folk, cultural, or nationalist influence. I primarily focused on music of the 20th century with a particular emphasis on American and English music, but by the end of the project, I visited America, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Hungary, Romania, France, Greece, Argentina, Slovakia, and Israel and commissioned a local composer to write a piece that was featured at the last concert.