▼ Benjamin Britten (1913-76) wrote four chamber works involving oboe. Two of these works were published during Britten's lifetime; the other two remained in virtual obscurity until after he died. The two published during his life, Phantasy, Opus 2 and Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Opus 49 were the first and the last of his oboe chamber works. They have different instrumentations, the first being for oboe, violin, viola and cello and the last being for unaccompanied oboe, and also span the course of almost twenty years between composition. The two other works, Two Insect Pieces and Temporal Variations, were published posthumously but were composed in close proximity of each other in 1935 and 1936, and both share the same instrumentation, oboe and piano. Britten paid homage to most of the oboists who first performed these works, except for Temporal Variations, by dedicating the work to them. Temporal Variations was dedicated to author Montagu Slater, a colleague of Britten and librettist for Peter Grimes. Montagu Slater was known for his left-wing writings. This document proposes to address the question of why the posthumously published works were not published during Britten's lifetime. The disappearance of these works answers the question in part. Other answers are found through letters from Britten and also in his diary entries. This document also addresses the history behind the works Britten had published, through accounts of their popularity and first performances. Phantasy was a work of a young composer still in his last year of college, whereas Six Metamorphoses after Ovid was composed when Britten was in the midst of his illustrious career. Along with the historical accounts, full detailed analyses give equal legitimacy to all four of the works. These analyses include a recent orchestration of the Temporal Variations by Colin Matthews. Advisors/Committee Members: Zierolf, Robert.

▼ At one time or another, every collegiate oboe student has toted the thick, yellow Barret Oboe Method, the bible of oboe study, to his or her lesson. Surveys of teachers in the United States reveal that this is the most commonly used etude book, even though it was first published in 1850 for an oboe with key work different than our modern one. Barret's Oboe Method is part of a tradition of pedagogical materials that have been generated by oboe professors and students at the Paris Conservatory. When oboists travelled from Europe to fill positions in U.S. Orchestras in the early twentieth-century, this etude tradition was transplanted but did not grow, even though it continued in France. Because teachers in the United States lost touch with twentieth-century French etude output, these valuable studies never became a part of mainstream American pedagogy. If American teachers continue to rely heavily on the nineteenth-century etudes that were passed down to them, then potentially valuable twentieth-century etudes could be lost to future students. In order to avoid such a calamity, I have made the case for resuscitating these overlooked gems. Chapter One provides a brief history of the etude tradition in France from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century tutors cater to an amateur audience with collections of simple tunes. Nineteenth-century methods and etudes reflect a more specialized audience with their progressive nature, and demonstrate the latest mechanical developments of the oboe. Chapter Two traces the twentieth-century etudes that were produced in France but not transferred to the United States. These etudes reflect developments in twentieth-century music, and satisfy the need to equip oboists for difficult orchestral repertoire. Chapter Three ties twentieth-century French etudes to the preparation of standard orchestral excerpts. Many oboe students in the United States plan to seek orchestral jobs, and these pedagogical materials may be used to prepare them for orchestral auditions. That the most prevalent etudes in use today were written for the oboe in different stages of mechanical development is troubling, and I hope to remedy this situation by exposing other options. Advisors/Committee Members: Ostoich, Dr. Mark.

▼ Léon Goossens (1897–1988) was an English oboist considered responsible for restoring the oboe as a solo instrument. During the Romantic era, the oboe was used mainly as an orchestral instrument, not as the solo instrument it had been in the Baroque and Classical eras. A lack of virtuoso oboists and compositions by major composers helped prolong this status. Goossens became the first English oboist to make a career as a full-time soloist and commissioned many British composers to write works for him. This document examines the result of Goossens’s impact on his contemporaries and English oboe literature by focusing on Benjamin Britten’s Phantasy Quartet, Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Concerto for Oboe and Strings, and York Bowen’s Sonata for Oboe. In addition, it explores why Goossens’s playing style was so different than his predecessors, as well as how it shaped the compositions written for him. Each work examined shows the characteristics of Goossens’s style found in the work and discusses the resulting influence it had on English oboe literature. Advisors/Committee Members: Ostoich, Mark.

▼ Francis Poulenc’s final work, his Sonata for oboe and piano, is one of the standard works in the oboe repertoire. However, this beloved sonata presents many puzzles and challenges for the thoughtful performer. This thesis came about because of those puzzles and challenges. One of the most exciting and innovative directions in music scholarship has come from the feminist movement and its many influences on the way scholars look at, talk about, listen to, and perform music. Feminist music theory steps outside the bounds of traditional techniques, seeking ways to offer new kinds of music analysis that may have more value to a wider audience. This thesis begins with an overview of feminist waves, terms, and philosophies before moving to how feminism has influenced music scholarship. The second chapter explores feminist music theory, citing examples of analysis from important feminist music scholars and drawing conclusions about the nature and work of feminist music theory. The third chapter presents an analysis of Poulenc’s oboe sonata, drawing primarily upon feminist techniques but not neglecting traditional theoretical systems when appropriate. The analysis begins by discussing Poulenc’s contextuality, personal life, and musical style, and then proceeds to deconstruct the music. In the process, Poulenc’s affinity for creating art through music, and for creating dramatic musical narrative in instrumental music, are brought to the forefront. Advisors/Committee Members: Pendle, Dr. K.

▼ This study focuses on a chronological comparison of gender issues that directly affected careers of women oboists from 1943 to the present. It begins by establishing a historical perspective of the women's movement and its effect on women musicians in the twentieth century, then moves to a discussion and comparison of experiences taken directly from interviews of thirteen American women orchestral oboists. Included in the appendix are: transcriptions of the interviews, a list of women playing oboe in American orchestras in the year 2002 as listed in the rosters of 37 International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians orchestras, a selective list of women oboists in America without regard to career focus, and selective bibliography. Advisors/Committee Members: PENDLE, DR. KAREN.