DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2011, College-Conservatory of Music: Piano

As a practical performance guide, this document identifies performance issues for Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960, and proposes possible solutions. The introduction provides a brief historical background of Schubert's piano sonatas in general and the B-flat Sonata in particular. Chapter one demonstrates how a harmonic analysis of the B-flat Sonata can inform such performance issues as timing, pacing, and tone color. Chapter two concerns performance practice issues related to playing this sonata, such as tempos, repeat signs, dynamics, pedaling, rhythm, and memorization. Through a comparison of two performing editions and a critical edition, chapter three suggests the best editions for the B-flat Sonata. Consequently, I hope this document will become a practical source to help pianists interpret and perform Schubert's B-flat Sonata.

Committee: bruce mcclung PhD (Committee Chair); Awadagin Pratt (Committee Member); Elizabeth Pridonoff MM (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2005, Arts and Sciences : Chemistry

A detailed study of the emission and photophysics of late transition metal complexes as well as investigations of the role of π-stacks in mediating electronic communication have been undertaken as a step towards the design of systems that will undergo photoinduced two electron transfer. Here we report investigations of the self-quenching and energy-transfer reactivity of a novel luminescent platinum(II) diimine complex, Pt(tmphen)(bdt) (tmphen=3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline, bdt=1,2-benzenedithiolate), using both time-resolved and steady-state emission spectroscopies. By simulating data according to analytical solutions derived for the lifetime and quantum yield, we have shown that the self-quenching reactivity can be described by the same model that is used to describe excimer formation in organic aromatic systems. In addition we have mapped out a narrow range of values for the kinetic parameters that describe self-quenching. We have also prepared binuclear rhenium and ruthenium complexes with bridging [2.2]paracyclophane diimine ligands as a means of probing the role of π-stacks in facilitating electronic communication. From spectroscopic data and comproportionation constants we find relatively weak interactions mediated by the paracyclophane bridging group. To better understand the triplet excited states associated with the 2-pyridinecarboxaldimine (R-pyCa) Schiff base diimine ligands we have investigated the electronic structure of zinc(II) chloride complexes prepared with the R-pyCa ligands.

Committee: Dr. William Connick (Committee Chair); Dr. Bruce Ault (Other); Dr. Michael Baldwin (Other) Subjects:

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2004, College-Conservatory of Music : Piano

Franz Schubert's last piano Sonata in B-flat, major, D. 960, has always remained an intriguing piece of music for me ever since hearing it for the first time when I was an undergraduate at Rice University. Even though the technique required within the B-flat Sonata is not as difficult as other Schubert piano works, a performance of this piece cannot be approached lightly considering the emotional concentration that the music demands. This document is dedicated to exploring the source of the Sonata in B-flat's emotional content, which will involve Schubert's failing health, his depression, and his preoccupation with a popular character in German Romanticism, the Wanderer. The first chapter addresses Schubert's biographical background to explain why his emotional and physical state at the time of the Sonata in B-flat's creation could have affected the composer's preference for music related to the Wanderer. The second chapter discusses Schubert's famous song “Der Wanderer,” D. 493, based upon one of the most popular characters of the Romantic era, the isolated Wanderer searching for his homeland. This chapter also identifies musical characteristics within “Der Wanderer,” that resurface throughout Schubert's other works related to a Wanderer character. The following chapter, the main portion of the document, uncovers these musical characteristics of the Wanderer within Schubert's Sonata in B-flat, in addition to other harmonic and melodic associations that reveal the Wanderer's influence on the Sonata. Finally, the last chapter links the Sonata in B-flat to other Wanderer characteristics found throughout many of Schubert's late compositions. In order to fully appreciate the genius of the Sonata in B-flat, D. 960, Schubert's subtle references to the Romantic Wanderer within the sonata must be fully understood. This will in turn lead to a greater understanding of the great composer in his final months of life.

Committee: Dr. Frank Weinstock (Advisor) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2009, Chemistry

The focus of this research is to investigate the mechanism of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) in photoexcited 4-dimethylaminobenzonitrile (4-DMABN) and related aminobenzonitriles. Electronic absorption spectra of the low-lying ππ* and πσ* states of several dialkylaminobenzonitriles and 4-dimethylaminobenzethyne have been studied by time-resolved transient absorption and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculation. In acetonitrile, the lifetime of the πσ*-state absorption is very short (picoseconds or subpicosecond) for molecules that exhibit intramolecular charge transfer, and very long (nanoseconds) for those that do not. Where direct comparison of the temporal characteristics of the πσ*-state and ICT-state transients could be made, the formation rate of the ICT state is identical to the decay rate of the πσ*-state within the experimental uncertainty. These results are consistent with the πσ*-mediated ICT mechanism, La (ππ*) πσ* ICT, in which the decay of the πσ*-state is determined by the rate of the solvent-controlled πσ* ICT charge-shift reaction. The ππ* πσ* state crossing does not occur in 3-dimethylaminobenzonitrile or 2-dimethylaminobenzonitrile, as predicted by the calculation, and 4-dimethylamino- benzethyne does not exhibit the ICT reaction, consistent with the higher energy of the ICT state relative to the πσ* state.

Committee: Edward C. Lim PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Chemistry