Master of Music, Youngstown State University, 2013, Dana School of Music

The thesis examines George Gershwin's piano solo version of Rhapsody In Blue. The aim is to discover how the American music spirit is reflected in this great work. The study presents a brief account of Gershwin's background, followed by a parametric analysis including form, harmony, tonal centers outline, rhythmic structure, textural structure, and climaxes. The thesis shows that, despite putative shortcomings, Gershwin created a revolutionary fusion of American popular and Western classical music elements. The detailed examination of the Rhapsody proves that genius and artistry existed and flourished in Gershwin's music.

Committee: Robert Rollin PhD (Advisor); Kent Engelhardt PhD (Committee Member); David Morgan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2008, College-Conservatory of Music : Piano

Born as a simple peasant dance in the Austrian countryside, the waltz has grown into a nearly ubiquitous feature of classical and popular music. In the realm of solo piano music alone, the waltz has served as a common subject for experimentation and the expression of personal artistic idioms. If the waltz seemed quaint at the twilight of the nineteenth century, composers took little notice. The solo piano waltz grew significantly after the Romantic period, experiencing a myriad of styles, transformations, andexploitations by some of the most brilliant composers of the modern and postmodern periods. To be sure, the recession of Romanticism left the solo piano waltz vulnerable to great change. Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, Satie's Les Trois Valses distinguees du precieux degoute, and Ravel's La Valse each recall the “good old days” of the waltz in grand nineteenth century fashion, but introduce startling changes in form and harmony. Between 1920 and 1950, the piano waltz splits into two paths - the traditional route, led by Gershwin's Two Waltzes in C, Poulenc's Valse-Improvisation sur le nom de BACH, Copland's “Saturday-Night Waltz” from his ballet Rodeo, and Ross Lee Finney's Nostalgic Waltzes - and the esoteric route, reflected in Schoenberg's Waltzer in Five Piano Pieces, which employs the composer's twelve-tone method. From 1950 to 1980, the eclecticism of the postmodern era splintered the piano waltz even further. Alwyn's Fantasy - Waltzes calls upon the style of nineteenth century, but the collection Waltzes by 25 Contemporary Composers insists upon more contemporary techniques. After 1980, Putz's Waltzing the Blues: 3 Jazz Waltzes completely absorbs the jazz idiom, but Gould's Ghost Waltzes and Helps' Shall We Dance fuse both the new and the old. This document serves not as an exhaustive study of any one piece, but as a detailed chronicle of one of the most colorful genres in recent music literature. Henceforth, this paper invites the interested (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sandra Rivers (Committee Chair); Eugene Pridonoff (Committee Member); Elisabeth Pridonoff (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Music

George Gershwin's An American in Paris, while an important part of the orchestral concert repertory, has not traditionally been associated with a two-piano version. Only since the two-piano publication in 1986 has a score been available. Although the published two-piano score was adapted from the holograph two-piano manuscript, a number of questions and problems become evident when the piece is being studied for performance. The main purpose of this paper is to give pianists wishing to perform the two-piano version of An American in Paris a resource they can use to better understand the work. This is done by offering a background study of the piece, a structural analysis, a critical score study to identify and correct errors in the two-piano score, and also by providing some performance suggestions. A secondary purpose is to offer others who may be studying An American in Paris a way of understanding exactly what is in the two-piano holograph manuscript if they are unable to go to the Library of Congress, where the unpublished document is located. The research method used in this paper involves an examination of the published two-piano score in comparison with the original unpublished two-piano manuscript and other published versions in order to make critical score recommendations. Scores that were in the composer's own hand or had his sanction are given more credibility.

Committee: Dr. Caroline Hong (Advisor); Dr. Charles Atkinson (Committee Member); Dr. C. Patrick Woliver (Committee Member) Subjects: Music