Department: Music History ![[clear]](close-x.png "Remove this limiter")
21 matches in the database.
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1.
Batterson, Teresa E. A.
Variant Versions in Egerton Manuscript 2013.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► The English lute song (or ayre) was a short-lived song genre, usually…
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▼ The English lute song (or ayre) was a short-lived song genre, usually consisting of a solo vocal line accompanied by a lute or continuo (harpsichord and a bass instrument such as a bass viol). The most well-known composers of lute songs were John Dowland and Thomas Campion, although there were many lesser-known composers who wrote in the genre as well. Most collections of these pieces were written between 1596 and 1632. While some of the works have been transcribed, edited and published, many manuscripts are still not available in modern editions. One such manuscript is Egerton MS 2013, published in facsimile form with an added table of contents and commentary by Elise Bickford Jorgens in her series, English Song 1600-1675, in the volume entitled British Library Manuscripts, Part II (1986). The manuscript includes seventy-two lute and continuo songs by the composers Nicholas Lanier (1588-1666), William (1602-1645) and Henry Lawes (1596-1662), Richard Dering (1580-1630), John Hilton (1599-1657), Simon Ives (1600-1662), and Dr. John Wilson (1595-1674), as well as some anonymous pieces. There is also one piece, written in a different hand, attributed to John Lenton (1657-1719). (Jorgens dates this piece circa 1670.) An interesting feature of this collection, noted by Jorgens, is the inclusion of multiple copies of several of the works within the manuscript. In this thesis, I will give a brief overview of the English lute song and its social context; examine the concept of variant versions as they relate to compositional process, and then examine three case studies of variant versions from the Egerton MS: “Tell me not I my time misspent” by Dr. John Wilson, “Hark, how my Celia,” by Henry Lawes, and “Cloris, yourself you so excell,” an anonymous work. Finally, I will provide performing editions of the works based on a critical examination and comparison of the variant versions.
Advisors/Committee Members: Natvig, Mary.
Subjects: Music; History, European
Keywords: manuscript study; English lute songs; seventeenth-century; Henry Lawes; John Wilson; Lady Alice Egerton
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2.
Broderick, Amber E.
Grande messe des morts: Hector Berlioz's Romantic Interpretation of the Roman Catholic Requiem Tradition.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2012, Bowling Green State University
► Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was commissioned by the French government in 1836 to…
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▼ Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was commissioned by the French government in 1836 to compose a requiem mass for a state ceremony and to restore sacred music to a respected position in France. Berlioz envisioned a requiem that both continued the Roman Catholic requiem tradition and expanded it in context of the Romantic era and Kunstreligion. Berlioz conceived his Grande messe des morts (Requiem) as a “music drama,” in which the thirteenth-century Latin prose was used as secular poetry rather than an immutable sacred text. Berlioz’s Requiem is not religious in strict theological terms but relates more closely to what Frank Heidlberger calls an artistic statement of his “secular moral philosophy.” Berlioz devised a first-person physiological narrative which presented the listener with a private emotional experience. He achieved this psychological journey, in part, through a Romantic interpretation: textual alterations, programmatic orchestration, and the innovative use of antiphonal brass orchestras. The text was freely edited and rearranged to produce a libretto-type program, which Edward Cone deems a “dramatic portrayal of an imaginary progress through this world and the next.” Berlioz enhanced his interpretation by shifting from the traditional third-person perspective to the first-person. This adjustment required minimal changes to the text but maximum changes for the listener, who experienced a personal journey focused on the individual. I present a detailed textual analysis to shed light upon how Berlioz’s complex relationship with the Roman Catholic Church is reflected in the Requiem using the orchestration, scoring, structure, and literary connections to support my evidence. In what ways does Berlioz’s Requiem reveal connections to his religious and political views? How is his artistic and psychological interpretation presented in the changes to the text? To understand Berlioz’s conception of the text, I detail his experiences with the Church, childhood and adult life, and the political, social, and cultural influences of nineteenth-century France. This thesis will revisit the scholarship of Jacques Barzun, Peter Bloom, David Cairns, Edward Cone, Pierre Citron, Frank Heidlberger, and D. Kern Holoman in combination with my textual analysis and agnostic reading of the narrative to present a secular interpretation of the Requiem.
Advisors/Committee Members: Spohr, Arne.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Hector Berlioz; Grande messe des morts; Requiem; Roman Catholic; requiem; mass; sacred music; secular
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3.
Bumpus, Julie L.
Ballad Opera in England: Its Songs, Contributors, and Influence.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► The ballad opera was a popular genre of stage entertainment in England…
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▼ The ballad opera was a popular genre of stage entertainment in England that flourished roughly from 1728 (beginning with John Gay's The Beggar's Opera) to 1760. Gay's original intention for the genre was to satirize not only the upper crust of British society, but also to mock the “excesses” of Italian opera, which had slowly been infiltrating the concert life of Britain. The Beggar's Opera and its successors were to be the answer to foreign opera on British soil: a truly nationalistic genre that essentially was a play (building on a long-standing tradition of English drama) with popular music interspersed throughout. My thesis explores the ways in which ballad operas were constructed, what meanings the songs may have held for playwrights and audiences, and what influence the genre had in England and abroad. The thesis begins with a general survey of the origins of ballad opera, covering theater music during the Commonwealth, Restoration theatre, the influence of Italian Opera in England, and The Beggar's Opera. Next is a section on the playwrights and composers of ballad opera. The playwrights discussed are John Gay, Henry Fielding, and Colley Cibber. Purcell and Handel are used as examples of composers of source material and Mr. Seedo and Pepusch as composers and arrangers of ballad opera music. A general overview of ballad opera music is discussed, followed by a case study of Gay‟s Achilles. I have singled out Achilles because little has been written on it, and because Gay seems to have been particularly sensitive to the use of music in his plays. The thesis concludes with material on the decline of ballad opera and its influence.
Advisors/Committee Members: Corrigan, Vincent.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: ballad opera; John Gay, english theatre
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4.
Doran, Molly Catherine.
The Transformation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin into Tchaikovsky's Opera.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2012, Bowling Green State University
► Since receiving its first performance in 1879, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky’s fifth opera,…
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▼ Since receiving its first performance in 1879, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky’s fifth opera, Eugene Onegin (1877-1878), has garnered much attention from both music scholars and prominent figures in Russian literature. Despite its largely enthusiastic reception in musical circles, it almost immediately became the target of negative criticism by Russian authors who viewed the opera as a trivial and overly romanticized embarrassment to Pushkin’s novel. Criticism of the opera often revolves around the fact that the novel’s most significant feature—its self-conscious narrator—does not exist in the opera, thus completely changing one of the story’s defining attributes. Scholarship in defense of the opera began to appear in abundance during the 1990s with the work of Alexander Poznansky, Caryl Emerson, Byron Nelson, and Richard Taruskin. These authors have all sought to demonstrate that the opera stands as more than a work of overly personalized emotionalism. In my thesis I review the relationship between the novel and the opera in greater depth by explaining what distinguishes the two works from each other, but also by looking further into the argument that Tchaikovsky’s music represents the novel well by cleverly incorporating ironic elements as a means of capturing the literary narrator’s sardonic voice. An in-depth study of Pushkin’s novel and its creation is included. Through the use of translated primary sources in addition to secondary ones, I analyze in detail both Tchaikovsky’s compositional journey and the opera itself in order to discover what drove the composer to pick only seven “scenes” from the novel and whether he viewed the opera as a genuine representation or simply an artistically liberal interpretation of Pushkin’s work. Ultimately, Pushkin’s novel and Tchaikovsky’s opera represent multifaceted and personal creations that stand as the results of unique circumstances and perspectives. Understanding the connections between the two works—and especially the translation of the novel’s most unique qualities to the opera—only becomes possible after they are studied separately and comprehensively. In my thesis I attempt to shed light on the two works independently and illuminate in detail this artistic and musical transformation.
Advisors/Committee Members: Papanikolaou, Eftychia.
Subjects: History; Literature; Music; Russian History; Slavic Literature; Slavic Studies
Keywords: Tchaikovsky; Pushkin; Eugene Onegin; Tatiana; novel in verse; irony; Byron; opera; transformation
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5.
Fisher, Heather Grace.
American Traditional Music in Max Steiner’s Score for “Gone with the Wind”.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Film composer Max Steiner’s score for Gone with the Wind (1939) showcases…
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▼ Film composer Max Steiner’s score for Gone with the Wind (1939) showcases a substantial amount of American traditional music from the nineteenth century. The overwhelming amount of music included in the film has left it neglected in film music studies. My analysis of the traditional music in the soundtrack will demonstrate multiple considerations of how the music works within the film. The first chapter delves into the source of the film, the novel Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell. This discussion includes an analysis of the major musical moments in the novel. The second chapter examines the film production itself, especially the difficulties that Max Steiner and his fellow composers and arrangers working on the film experienced while writing the score. The final chapter investigates the historical and political context of the American traditional songs Steiner included in the soundtrack and how they function within the film.
Advisors/Committee Members: Papanikolaou, Dr. Eftychia.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: music in Gone with the Wind; traditional music in Gone with the Wind; analysis of music in Gone with the Wind; analysis of Max Steiner score for Gone with the Wind
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6.
Gerdes, Erin Marie.
Instruments of Praise: Sixteenth-Century Pedagogy, Lutheranism, and the 26 Fugae of Johann Walter.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► In 1517, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses and began a religious…
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▼ In 1517, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses and began a religious revolution that would later be known as the Protestant Reformation. It was a fundamental reorganization of Christian practice, extending beyond church services to include education, family life, and even music. Instrumental music, which had previously played a prominent role in festivals and church services, virtually disappeared from the Protestant church; in the decades leading up to the Protestant Reformation, instrumental music had become increasingly associated with worldly values. Johann Walter (1496-1570) was at the forefront of early Lutheran musical reforms. His Geystliches Gesangk-Buchleyn (1524), with its simple, tuneful polyphonic chorales, served as the foundation of Lutheran church music for over a hundred years. Walter was also a leader in German educational reform during his time as a teacher at the Torgau Latin school. In spite of the arguments against instrumental music and its disappearance from church services, in 1546 Walter wrote his 26 Fugae, a collection of pieces for instruments of equal range. In this thesis, I examine the place of Walter’s fugues in the context of instrumental music in the early Lutheran church and in comparison to other German pedagogical fugues of the same time period. Although instrumental music was not commonly used in early Lutheran services, performing instrumental music continued to be a popular pastime during the Reformation. Walter’s fugues, in addition to being clearly pedagogical in intent, are modally ordered, creating an association with the sacred through the use of the eight church modes. Just as Walter’s Gesangk-Buchleyn was intended to be a wholesome alternative to secular songs, I argue that the 26 Fugae are an educational and edificatory alternative to secular instrumental music of the time.
Advisors/Committee Members: Natvig, Mary.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: music; lutheran; renaissance; instrument
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7.
Gonzalez-Appling, Julio M.
The Ox in the Concert Hall: Jazz Identity and La Création du Monde.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► Darius Milhaud’s La Création du monde has often been categorized as one…
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▼ Darius Milhaud’s La Création du monde has often been categorized as one of many modernist forays into jazz. Milhaud employed a distinctly different approach to jazz, however, than his contemporaries. He sought not only to imitate jazz gestures, but to understand jazz culturally. This thesis examines how Darius Milhaud’s respect for folk music and personal commitment to culture led to La Création du monde, a work demonstrating a more comprehensive grasp of the jazz idiom than any of his European contemporaries.
Advisors/Committee Members: Fallon, Robert.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Darius Milhaud; La Création du monde; jazz; musical appropriation; culture; appropriation
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8.
Hubley, Katherine Louise.
Site and Sanctuary in Holocaust Memorial Compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki and Ruth Fazal.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► This interdisciplinary thesis seeks to show how musical Holocaust memorialworks that contain…
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▼ This interdisciplinary thesis seeks to show how musical Holocaust memorialworks that contain theatrical elements in the text and musical score fulfill a social psychological need and provide opportunities for collective cathartic experience for the listener. The study draws on the academic fields of aesthetics, musicology, German history, theater and performance studies, Jewish and Christian religious studies, psychological trauma theory, and literature and the environment studies. I focus on two contrasting compositions, Dies Irae by Krzysztof Penderecki and Oratorio Terezin by Ruth Fazal. Through textual and musical analysis, I illustrate how the experience of hearing performances of these works is analogous to a current therapeutic approach for working through the effects of mass trauma.
Advisors/Committee Members: Fallon, Robert.
Subjects: Judaic studies; Mental health; Music; Psychology; Therapy
Keywords: Penderecki; Fazal; Holocaust memorial; trauma; musical memorial; Terezin; Auschwitz
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9.
Lent, Kathryn L.
Walter Wilson Cobbett and the English Phantasy.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► Walter Wilson Cobbett (1847-1937), amateur violonist and philanthropist during the English Musical…
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▼ Walter Wilson Cobbett (1847-1937), amateur violonist and philanthropist during the English Musical Renaissance, supported the composition and performance of chamber music in England. In 1905 and 1907 Cobbett held competitions, followed by a series of commissions over the next decade, for compositions that he called Phantasies. According to Cobbett's announcement, the phantasies were to be twelve minutes in length, have sections that differed in tempo and meter, and parts of equal importance. These works were to be reminiscent of the early English fantasies and were intended to supplement the longer chamber works that were popular at the time. Following a discussion of the English Fantasia and Cobbett's musical knowledge, this thesis examines Cobbett's phantasy competitions and commissions in addition to his definition of the term "phantasy." After Cobbett's ideas are established, the reactions and comments of his contemporaries are presented and discussed. The final pages discuss and analyze three of the award winning phantasies in terms of Liszt's thematic transformation and Brahms's developing variation.
Advisors/Committee Members: Papanikolaou, Eftychia.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Walter Wilson Cobbett; Phantasy; English Musical Renaissance; Developing Variation
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10.
Lowther, Gail Elizabeth.
A Historical, Literary, and Musical Analysis of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► On 17 July 1794, at the height of Maximilien Robespierre’s “Reign of…
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▼ On 17 July 1794, at the height of Maximilien Robespierre’s “Reign of Terror” (1793-1794), sixteen Carmelite nuns were guillotined at the Place du Trône in Paris, having been condemned to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal for crimes against the French people. Beginning with Gertrud von Le Fort’s 1931 novella Die Letzte am Schafott, the account of the Carmelites’ martyrdom has since inspired a series of quasi-historical dramatic adaptations, including a film scenario (1947) by Raymond-Léopold Bruckberger with dialogues (1947-1948) by Georges Bernanos, as well as Francis Poulenc’s opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1953-1956). Although Le Fort, Bernanos, and Poulenc each appropriated some aspects of the historical account in his or her version of the martyrdom, at the heart of each retelling is the fictional story of Blanche de la Force, the progeny of Gertrud von Le Fort’s fear-stricken imagination. In my thesis, I focus on the theme of fear in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and specifically his characterization of Blanche de la Force and her conflicts of fear. I will compare Gertrud von Le Fort’s, Georges Bernanos’s, and Francis Poulenc’s treatment of Blanche and her fear in their respective adaptations of the story of the Carmelites of Compiègne. In particular, I focus on Poulenc’s dramatic conception of Blanche as evidenced by his musical portrayal of her character, specific stage directions, and the use of musical motives throughout the opera, with a particular concern for the scenes wherein Blanche’s conflicts of fear are most evident. Finally, I explore the political connections in Le Fort’s novella and Bernanos’s dialogues, contrasting them with Poulenc’s comparatively apolitical opera.
Advisors/Committee Members: Papanikolaou, Eftychia.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Francis Poulenc; Dialogues des Carmélites; Georges Bernanos; Gertrud von Le Fort; opera
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11.
Payne, Alyson Marie.
Creating Music of the Americas in the Cold War: Alberto Ginastera and the Inter-American Music Festivals.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► This thesis examines the Inter-American Music Festivals, and how the festivals subsequently…
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▼ This thesis examines the Inter-American Music Festivals, and how the festivals subsequently affected noted Argentine composer, Alberto Ginastera. These festivals, held in Washington D.C. and sponsored by the Organization of American States, arose during the height of the United States-Soviet conflict, when hemispheric solidarity safeguarded against communism’s encroachment. The festival’s aims of an inter-American alliance affected the music selected, which also had repercussions for the composers participating. Ginastera’s career offers the most intriguing intersection of politics of inter-Americanism and creative impetus. In 1958, Ginastera was on the cusp of a stylistic change from nationalism to serialism. In his Second String Quartet, commissioned for the first festival, Ginastera assimilated international trends into his markedly Argentinean style. By 1961, Ginastera had completely immersed himself in avant-garde techniques. Ginastera’s switch to a highly dissonant, serialist style, when placed within the context of Cold War inter-Americanism, sheds new light on the composer and his compositions.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hess, Carol A.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Inter-American Music Festivals; Alberto Ginastera; Cold War; Roque Cordero; String Quartet no. 2; Cantata for Magic America
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12.
Pierce, Kathryn.
THE CORONATION MUSIC OF CHARLES II.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► The Coronation of Charles II and the Procession on the preceding day…
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▼ The Coronation of Charles II and the Procession on the preceding day marked not only the return of the monarchy, but also the return of Great Britain’s (and especially London’s) musical institutions. Several sources for the Coronation and Procession exist that provide a partial record of the music used. This thesis brings together all of the sources, including manuscripts, diaries, official documents, and music manuals (in facsimile) in order to reconstruct the musical portions of the Coronation and Procession. Although at the present moment a complete reconstruction cannot be made, this study provides as clear a picture as possible, given the sources available. This study includes transcriptions of music that was certainly part of the Coronation and Procession, as well as transcriptions of music that may have been used, but was never included in any record.
Advisors/Committee Members: Corrigan, Vincent.
Subjects: Music; History, European
Keywords: Music; British; Coronation; Charles II
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13.
Psujek, Jennifer Lauren.
The Intersection of Gender, Religion, and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Germanic Salons.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Modern salons began as gatherings for conversation among the French aristocracy in…
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▼ Modern salons began as gatherings for conversation among the French aristocracy in the seventeenth century. By the eighteenth century it had become a bourgeois tradition, with its importance cumulating in the French Revolution. The French salon moved to Germany and Austria in the late eighteenth century, however, its heyday in those lands was in the nineteenth century. The salon became a place where women in both France and the Germanic lands could gain an education and power. What has yet to be discussed in scholarship is the extent to which the salon in the Germanic lands moved away from its French roots and became its own unique tradition. First, purely musical salons began during the Biedermeier period, as will be seen when examining the German salons of Sara Levy, Amalie Beer, Lea Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, and Clara Wieck-Schumann. Second, Germany and Austria saw the first salons hosted by Jewish women. This thesis highlights those of Henriette Herz, Rahel Levin-Varnhagen, Fanny von Arnstein, Sara Levy, Amalie Beer, Lea Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Berta Zuckerkandl, and Salka Viertel. Finally, to demonstrate the benefits of Germanic salon culture, the last chapter focuses on Johanna Kinkel’s involvement with the Berlin salon tradition. Kinkel was a composer, writer, and political activist. Her time in Berlin represents the most musically active period of her life. By examining the influence of the Germanic salon on her life, the importance of the tradition as a whole is apparent.
Advisors/Committee Members: Natvig, Mary.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Salon; Germany; Austria; Feminism; Judaism; Bettina Brentano-von Arnim; Johanna Kinkel
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14.
Rich, Morgan Marie.
Lulu and the Undoing of Men: Unveiling Patriarchal Conventions Imposed and Overturned in Alban Berg's Opera.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► Alban Bergs Lulu is an operatic adaptation of Frank Wedekinds plays The…
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▼ Alban Bergs Lulu is an operatic adaptation of Frank Wedekinds plays The Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box. The opera was composed during First Republic-era Vienna, a time of great social, cultural, and political unrest. The culture was bombarded by changes such as the rise in psychoanalysis, emancipation movements, and the changing role of women. This opera presents an allegoric representation of a high Bürgertum circle and examines its demise. Lulu's significance lies in its relevance to the pervasive and changing views of men and women in First Republic Austria. The uniqueness of the opera comes from its vivid inversion of conventional portrayals of women, men, and marriage.This thesis examines the significance of Lulu through the inversion and mirroring of gender stereotypes regarding desire, control, and marriage. I argue that upon marrying Lulu the husbands become victims of degeneration due to Lulu's inability to change her promiscuous ways. She is controlled by the men around her and is a reflection of their patriarchal expectations. Sources that guide this study are Catherine Clément's Opera, or the Undoing of Women (1979/1988), Wedekind-contemporary Otto Weininger's then-influential Sex and Character (1903), and three iconic representations of independent and destroyed female characters in contemporaneous Austro-Germanic opera (Kundry, Salome, and Marie). Chapter 1 introduces the relevant cultural sources that influenced Berg's conception of Lulu. Chapter 2 describes Lulu's character. Finally, Chapter 3 describes how the male characters are undone by Lulu, or undone by themselves.
Advisors/Committee Members: Fallon, Robert.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Alban Berg; Lulu; opera; First Republic; patriarchal; gender; masculine
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15.
Sewell, Amanda J.
Blending the Sublime and the Ridiculous: A Study of Parody in György Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► Most musical depictions of the apocalypse do not begin with a car-horn…
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▼ Most musical depictions of the apocalypse do not begin with a car-horn prelude. However, György Ligeti’s only opera, Le Grand Macabre, written in 1978 and revised in 1996, is not most music. Dark, humorous, sometimes off-color, and always thought-provoking, Le Grand Macabre is filled with examples of musical and musical-historical parody. This thesis analyzes five parodic episodes from Le Grand Macabre, evaluating them in light of the theories of literary scholar Linda Hutcheon, musicologist David Metzer, and others. Metzer, especially, proposes a twofold perspective for works comprised of quotation: either the dramatic action collapses internally, resulting in insanity, or it collapses externally, yielding destruction. A comet strikes in the penultimate scene of Le Grand Macabre, and the final scene involves the characters trying to discover whether or not they are dead. Ultimately, the only person to die is Nekrotzar, the self-proclaimed Death. However, Ligeti insists that the ending of the opera be left to individual viewers to interpret: he does not want the production to end as either a farce or an apocalypse. Thus, I analyze Le Grand Macabre based not on Metzer’s twofold concept, but rather on a continuum in which the two extremes are insanity and destruction. Critical to this analysis is a discussion of Peter Sellars’s production of Le Grand Macabre at the 1997 Salzburg Festival. Ligeti attacked the production, and most reviewers agreed that Sellars interpreted the story as an apocalypse, not as the ambiguous adventure Ligeti had envisioned. Accordingly, I explore this ambiguity in light of Umberto Eco’s The Open Work to determine whether an inconclusive ending automatically denotes an “open work.”
Advisors/Committee Members: Hess, Carol A.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Ligeti; Le Grand Macabre; parody; quotation; Metzer
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16.
Shold, Jonathan Matthew.
“Temporalities of Timelessness” in Stravinsky’s Neoclassical Apotheoses.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► The various musical meanings of the polysemous term “apotheosis” have received scattered…
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▼ The various musical meanings of the polysemous term “apotheosis” have received scattered and uneven attention in musicological discourse. Although some historical instances of musical “apotheosis” have generated a fair amount of research, at least one application of the term has generated only little scholarship: the climactic “apotheosis” in the nineteenth-century ballet, and the surviving legacy of this concept in the music of twentieth-century composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). This thesis investigates the concept of “apotheosis” in the finales of five of Stravinsky’s neoclassical compositions: Apollo (1928), Le baiser de la fée (1928), Symphony of Psalms (1930), Scènes de ballet (1944), and Orpheus (1948). Although only three of these finales are explicitly entitled “Apothéose” in the score, the musical restraint generally exhibited in these finales will be shown to form the basis for a modern theoretical conception of the “timeless musical apotheosis” in Stravinsky's music. Chapter 1 investigates conceptions of “apotheosis” in the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt and the ballets of Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky as potential historical models for Stravinsky’s own conception of “apotheosis.” Chapter 2 explores the antithetical model of a “temporality of timelessness,” a paradoxical frame of reference in which the passage of varying rates of time is juxtaposed with the cessation of time to create a dense temporal web; it is then suggested how such a curious “temporality” might be signified in a passage of music. Chapter 3 applies the historical and theoretical concepts of the previous chapters to Stravinsky’s music; it is argued that the reception history of these works has led to a conception of the “timeless musical apotheosis” that ultimately has little immediately in common with Stravinsky’s own understanding of “apotheosis.”
Advisors/Committee Members: Zagorski, Marcus.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Stravinsky; apotheosis; timelessness; temporality of timelessness; eternity; neoclassical; Apothéose; Apollo; Le baiser de la fée; Symphony of Psalms; Scènes de ballet; Orpheus
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17.
Steadman, Amanda Joy.
Images of Japonisme: The Portrayal of Japan in Select Musical Works.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► In 1854, United States Naval Commander Matthew Perry helped to negotiate a…
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▼ In 1854, United States Naval Commander Matthew Perry helped to negotiate a treaty with Japan which opened its doors to the West after nearly 200 years of cultural and political isolation. For the first time in almost two centuries, Western countries began to see Japanese art and culture on a wide scale. Through these influences, Western artists and composers began to create works which represented or emulated aspects of Japan. The resulting style is called Japonisme and many examples can be found originating all over Europe around the turn of the century in art and music. The problem which arises in studying Japonisme, however, involves a confusing mixture of terms which are used interchangeably. This thesis has created a system of organization which categorizes different influences in select works of musical Japonisme. The categories here are based on similar consistency with which one visual arts source, Michael Sullivan's The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art, applies three French terms associated with the Japonisme movement, Japonerie, Japonaiserie and Japonisme. After explanation of artistic Japonisme and how this relates to musical works representing the style, this thesis discusses all three categories of Japonisme in Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, several works by Debussy, Stravinsky's Three Japanese Lyrics and Messiaen's Sept Haïkaï. Finally, it examines how these influences and the resulting works may reflect the overreaching idea of Orientalism and exoticism in music.
Advisors/Committee Members: Papanikolaou, Dr. Eftychia.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: exoticism; Japonisme
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18.
Sung, Ying-Wei Tiffany.
Turandot's Homecoming: Seeking the Authentic Princess of China in a New Contest of Riddles.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► The negative portrait of Chinese culture in Puccini's Turandot hindered this opera's…
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▼ The negative portrait of Chinese culture in Puccini's Turandot hindered this opera's acceptance in China. Wei Minglun's Sichuan Opera performance Chinese Princess Turandot (1995) and Zhang Yimou's collaboration with Zubin Mehta on Puccini's Turandot premiere in Beijing, however, brought Turandot home at the end of twentieth century. This thesis explores Turandot's transformation and reception in China by analyzing the Chinese cultural representation and authenticity of these two Chinese versions. To provide a historical context, the thesis traces Turandot's origin from Nizami's Haft Paykar (1197) to Puccini's opera. It also includes discussion of varied Chinese adaptations from 1995 to 2010. Ultimately, this thesis investigates issues of Orientalism, Occidentalism, authenticity, and hybridism in Turandot's homecoming. Because the Orientalist image of Turandot has been modified by cross-cultural context, I propose that Orientalism and Occidentalism can be distinguished by how a work is made and how it is perceived.
Advisors/Committee Members: Corrigan, Vincent.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Turandot; Zhang Yimou; Wei Minglun; Orientalism; Occidentalism; Sichuan Opera
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19.
Vincent, Michael F.
Shifting Sands of Identity: Salome and Select Early Twentieth-Century Interpretations.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Richard Strauss’s Salome constitutes an operatic adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play.…
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▼ Richard Strauss’s Salome constitutes an operatic adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play. The popularity of this biblical account spans several hundred years with portrayals in mediums including folk tales, poetry and musical adaptations. The identities of the characters evolved over time, with emphasis on different personalities and relationships with each variation. Beginning with Gustave Flaubert’s short story Hérodias (1877), retellings dramatized the exoticism of the characters by virtue of their ethnicities and geographical location. By the end of the nineteenth century, Salome had developed into the Oriental femme fatale of Wilde’s and Strauss’s renderings. Early twentieth-century audiences became familiar with Salome’s story through a multitude of interpretations including Strauss’s opera. In this thesis, I examine the identities of the main characters of the tale. The characteristics of previous realizations betray the origins and meanings of these identities. Although the characters differed in each interpretation, audiences always saw them as part of a faraway time and place. The Orientalist underpinnings of early twentieth-century interpretations demanded that the characters be constructed to conform to exotic stereotypes. Chapter 1 reveals the development of the story, with an emphasis on Salome’s identity and her relationships with John the Baptist and Herod. Chapter 2 compares the Salomes of modern dancer Maud Allan and composer Richard Strauss. Chapter 3 demonstrates that the characters in Salome were understood mainly through contrasts of identity.
Advisors/Committee Members: Papanikolaou, Eftychia.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Salome; Richard Strauss; Maud Allan; modern dance; Orientalism; exoticism; identity; alterity
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20.
Waseen, Amber Donna.
Carlos Chávez and the Corrido.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2005, Bowling Green State University
► From his 1921 ballet El Fuego Nuevo to his triumphant Sinfonía India…
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▼ From his 1921 ballet El Fuego Nuevo to his triumphant Sinfonía India of 1936, Mexican composer Carlos Chávez was seen as a leader in the so-called “Aztec Renaissance.” This status, however, has overshadowed his work in other areas, notably that of Mexican popular song. In fact, his music is often restricted to the labels “Indianist” and “non-Mexican,” excluding works that draw from both tendencies as well as a third (Mexican popular) style. Such works include his 1934 choral works Corrido de “El sol” and Llamadas: Sinfonía proletaria in which he sought to create a national but universal art and communicate with the Mexican people, following the goals of the Mexican painters’ movement of the 1920s as well as his own art music aesthetic. For Chávez, Mexican national art entailed a fusion of popular and classical music that would elevate popular song to art and reach out to the Mexican people from a didactic posture. In 1928, he intended to redeem popular music, which he considered vulgar. Six years later, he wrote Corrido de “El sol” and Llamadas, both of which use preexisting songs from the popular Mexican genre known as the corrido. Through musical analyses, this thesis shows how Chávez uses principles of the corrido alongside those of his Indianist and non-Mexican styles to raise the corrido to “art” and potentially benefit the cultural growth of the masses. Textual analyses of these works examine the variants between the lyrics of Corrido de “El sol” and Llamadas and the text of the corridos on which they are based. Alone, these analyses show that the lyrics contributed to Chávez’s goals insofar as they were taken from the corrido, a form of mass-media that the Mexican people had already adopted as their own. However, I also relate the lyrics of Corrido de “El sol” and Llamadas to agrarian and labor reforms in Mexico. Through his polystylistic tendencies and sensitivity to the political climate, Chávez expanded the possibilities of the corrido, contributing to the genre’s adaptability as a soundtrack to current events.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hess, Carol A.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Carlos Chávez; corrido; Corrido de El sol; Llamadas
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21.
Washington, Erica Lanice.
“Shabach Hallelujah!”:The Continuity of the Ring Shout Tradition as a Site of Music and Dance in Black American Worship.
Degree: MM, Music History, 2005, Bowling Green State University
► The expressive forms that were possessed by Africans enslaved in the U.S.…
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▼ The expressive forms that were possessed by Africans enslaved in the U.S. – such as music, dance, religion, and language – continue to be developed by many African Americans in secular and sacred contexts. This thesis will explore the ways in which dance and music are still central and are utilized particularly in Christian worship practices in black communities of faith today. The Ring Shout tradition on Southern slave plantations will be investigated for its role from the past to the present to show the continual development of its common practices throughout West Africa and the United States. Using data obtained through a field study in Toledo, Ohio, my research will test what previous scholars have concluded about the syncretism of African traditions in African American culture as it relates to music and dance within religious contexts. My field study in Toledo, Ohio, will be enhanced with observations and interviews in another field study that took place in Benin, West Africa. The juxtaposition of these two field studies demonstrates a strong connection between African American Christian worship and African religious practices that persists even today. I conclude that some practitioners of black Christianity are not cognizant that the mode of their worship is African in origin. For this reason, my research will examine why and how patterns of African American Christian liturgy have West African origins.
Advisors/Committee Members: Natvig, Mary.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Ring Shout; African American Worship
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