Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2016, Musicology

The animated statue represented one of the central magical figures in French musical theater of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During the period covered by this dissertation, 1661-1748, animated statues appeared in more than sixty works of musical theater of almost every available genre. This number does not include the many works containing statues that demonstrated magical or otherworldly properties through means other than movement or song. Some of the works of this period that feature living statues are well-known to musicologists—e.g. Moliere/Jean-Baptiste Lully's comedy-ballet Les Facheux (1661), Lully's opera Cadmus et Hermione (1673), and Jean-Philippe Rameau's one-act ballet Pigmalion (1748)—while others have received little recognition. This dissertation is the first study to consider the history of animated statues on the French stage during this period, and the first to reveal music as a defining feature of these statues. Over the course of nearly ninety years, music assumed an increasingly important role in the theatrical treatments of these figures that operated in the space between magic and mechanics. At the beginning of Louis XIV's reign, animated statues appeared with some frequency in both public and court spectacles. By the mid-eighteenth century, the animated statue had become the central focus of many works and had transformed into a potent symbol of, among other ideas, the power of music and dance, as most dramatically realized in Rameau's Pigmalion. This dissertation traces the history of this transformation.

Committee: Georgia Cowart (Committee Co-Chair); Francesca Brittan (Committee Co-Chair); Susan McClary (Committee Member); Elina Gertsman (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; Dance; European History; Music; Theater

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2006, College-Conservatory of Music : Conducting, Choral Emphasis

This document presents a modern edition of Michel-Richard de Lalande's motet In convertendo Dominus(1684; revised before 1726) along with information that choral conductors attempting to perform grands motetsshould find immediately useful. This particular grand motetis one of several by Lalande that have not previously been published in modern edition. The document presents a brief historical background of the Bourbon monarchy and the artistic climate that gave birth to the Versailles-style grand motetin the grand siecle. The origins of this genre are explored and the grand motet's development is traced up through the works of Lalande to its popularity throughout the remainder of the eighteenth century at the Concert Spirituel. An overview of the primary sources of Lalande's motets is presented, including facsimiles of title and dedication pages of several important manuscripts, along with translations and descriptions of their contents. An overview of current research and thought on the difficulties and ambiguities of French Baroque performance practice is included in hopes of encouraging performers who might otherwise be hesitant to essay such a study and performance. As we approach the three-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of Lalande's birth, it is this author's hope that this document will find its place in the growing body of research about his affective and exciting oeuvre.

Committee: Dr. Earl Rivers (Advisor) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Musical Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2006, Early Music Performance

The loure, a French theatrical dance and air, flourished during the reign of King Louis XIV and spread throughout much of Europe during the eighteenth century. The music for this dance is generally characterized by its slow tempo, 6/4 time signature, iambic pickup and sautillant rhythms. The evolution of this dance, from its emergence in Jean-Baptiste Lully's operas and ballets through stabilization in the works of Andre Campra and his contemporaries to diffusion in Georg Telemann's works and the late operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau both support these general characteristics and exhibit flexibility within these limited traits. The following study examines three types of source material in separate databases: definitions, music, and notated dances. Although some aspects of the loure arise in only one type of source, the three databases complement each other and together form a well-rounded portrait of the loure through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Committee: Ross Duffin (Advisor) Subjects: Music