MTO Dissertation Listings

Volume 4.5 1998

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Dogantan, Minee. Mathis Lussy's Theory of Rhythm as a Basis for a Theory of Expressive Performance

AUTHOR: Dogantan, Mine
TITLE: Mathis Lussy's Theory of Rhythm as a Basis for a Theory of Expressive Performance
INSTITUTION: Columbia University, New York
BEGUN: September, 1995
COMPLETED: May, 1997
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this dissertation is to reconstruct and interpret Mthis Lussy's theory of rhythm and expressive performance. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the theory of rhythm was part of the theory of composition, and the musical phrase was studied in its capacity to create large-scale forms. The second part of the 19th century witnessed a shift of focus towards a systematic investigation into the internal organization of the individual phrase in connection with performance practice. Because of the convergence of the theories of rhythm and performance methodology, the generating causes of expression in performance were thus sought in the structure of the musical phrase rather than in the inspired soul of the performing artist. In his Traite de l'expression musicale of 1874, Swiss theorist Mathis Lussy offered the first theory of rhythm as a foundation for a theory of expressive performance. His theory, along with the works of Spencer and Hanslick, has been cited as one of the most important contributions to 19th-century music psychology and psychological aesthetics. Lussy's thesis that the source of expression lies in unexpected metric, rhythmic, and tonal events has decidedly modern overtones. His argument that the structural features that generate musical expression are also responsible for the listener's affective response to music constitutes the first attempt to bring together music theory and affective psychology. Lussy's theory of rhythm, which is built on the principle of action-repose, has directly influenced the theories of Jaques-Dalcroze and the scholars of Solemnes. In this dissertation, the ideas of predecessors eho prepared the grounds for Lussy's theories are traced, and connections with recent theories of rhythm and of the psychology of expressive performance are considered.

KEYWORDS:
rhythm, expressive performance, timing, tonal attractions, kinesthesis, models of musical rhythm, intelligibility in music, passions.

TOC:
Chapter 1:Historical Background For Lussy'S Theory Of Musical Expression
Chapter 2: Foundations Of Lussy'S Theory Of Rhythm And Expression
Chapter 3: Lussy's Theory Of Rhythm And Meter As A Foundation For Performance

Chapter 4: The Elements Of Expressive Performance
Chapter 5: Connections Between Lussy, His Successors And Recent Developments In Theories Of Rhythm And Expression

CONTACT:
Bagdat Cad. 384/3
Suadiye, Istanbul
81070, TURKEY

Yeditepe University
School of Arts and Sciences
Istanbul

Phone: (216) 355-2702
Fax: (216) 368-5035
email: drdogantanm@superonline.com
dogantan@yeditepe.edu.tr

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Fiore, Carlo. I mottetti di Josquin Desprez: interpretazione attraverso l'analisi

AUTHOR: Fiore Carlo
TITLE: I mottetti di Josquin Desprez: interpretazione attraverso l'analisi
INSTITUTION: University of Bologna, Dipartimento di Musica e Spettacolo
BEGUN: February 1996
COMPLETED: April 1998
ABSTRACT:
Alle origini di questa tesi stanno due finalita convergenti dettate da altrettante lacune della letteratura musicologica corrente: contribuire alla fondazione di una metodologia analitica specifica per il repertorio polifonico rinascimentale, dedicare ai mottetti di Josquin Desprez un'indagine che ne interpreti le valenze espressive in una prospettiva storica corretta. L'intreccio tra il "discorso sul metodo" e la resa percettiva della poesia compositiva di Josquin e programmaticamente costante. Si inquadra la figura di Josquin come responsabile di un salto stilistico decisivo nella storia dell'arte musicale: la sua produzione appare cosi paradigmatica del mondo espressivo che si vuol provare a esplicare. I mezzi ritenuti piu pertinenti per questo tipo di analisi sono difficilmente riconducibili a una tradizione applicativa consolidata, si possono infatti identificare in una "metateoria" che utilizza senza preconcetti quanto di piu funzionale ci sia nei diversi procedimenti, valutando di volta in volta il piu utile per un aspetto o per un altro dell'opera in questione. In particolare si fa massiccio riferimento all'analisi stilistica dell'impianto testurale, a quella dei rapporti testo-musica e a quella basata sul rinvenimento di una matrice retorica sia a livello formale che motivico, il tutto corredato da numerosissimi esempi per l'immediata verifica auditiva. Anche tramite una schematica analisi del De profundis, si esemplifica come l'applicazione a un singolo brano dei principi esposti ne veicoli una segmentazione coerente e una visione pregnante del contenuto espressivo, senza pero far si che la sintassi specifica del brano venga globalizzata da aspettative e procedimenti che si dimostrerebbero blindati alla sempre sorprendente ricchezza e singolarita dello stile di Josquin. Nell'insieme la scarsissima presenza in sede esecutiva del repertorio trattato, viene avvertita come ancor piu esecrabile della trascuratezza in sede scientifica. L'interpretazione allora, cui fa da tramite questa analisi, acquista il carattere interdisciplinare di esegesi, giudizio estetico e veicolo per la prassi esecutiva.

KEYWORDS:
Josquin Desprez, Motets, Analysis, Rethoric, Performance practice

TOC:
Introduzione
Prima parte:
1.1 - I mottetti di Josquin Desprez: osservazioni preliminari
1.2 - Caratteristiche formali

Seconda parte:
2.1 - Rapporti tra musica e testo
2.2 - Analisi testurale
2.3 - Presenza e ruolo di un ordine retorico
2.4 - Individuazione e resa interpretativa degli intenti retorici

Terza parte:
3.1 - Analisi del De profundis: un esempio applicativo del metodo proposto

Conclusioni
Bibliogafia
Discografia selezionata

CONTACT:
Carlo Fiore
Corso Strada Nuova 134
27100 Pavia
tel: (+39)0382 34555
carlofiore@hotmail.com

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Hansen, Thomas Holme. From Mode to Key. An Investigation of European Modal/Tonal Theories in the Seventeenth Century [in Danish]

AUTHOR: Hansen, Thomas Holme
TITLE: From Mode to Key. An Investigation of European Modal/Tonal Theories in the Seventeenth Century [in Danish]
INSTITUTION: University of Aarhus (Denmark)
BEGUN:
COMPLETED: June 1996 (printed version (in Danish) June 1998)
ABSTRACT:
The subject of the dissertation is the evolution of the concept of tonality in European music theory during the seventeenth century. It aims to provide an overview of how the different doctrines of modality originating in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance (the eight so-called church modes, the eight psalm tones, the twelve modes) on the one hand survive and develop in various versions, and on the other are supplemented and replaced by other tonal doctrines eventuating in the major-minor system during the decades around 1700. The main focus is on three themes of the modal/tonal theories of the seventeenth century: (1) The maintenance of the twelve-mode doctrine dating back to H. Glarean and G. Zarlino, including various attempts at reducing or increasing the number of modes. It is concluded that the predominant part of continental theorists maintained the fundamental premises of the modal theory of Glarean/Zarlino. (2) The dissemination of the set of eight organ tones originating in Catholic alternatim practice. These modes represent a new and independent doctrine, whose theoretical codification in especially A. Banchieri and G.G. Nivers is discussed in detail. (3) Features of development leading toward the modern concept of major and minor keys. Although the theoretical premises of the modern system of keys were already present at the outset of the seventeenth century a number of remarkable discrepancies are pointing to a very diverse degree of key-like consolidation among the writers in the different countries.

KEYWORDS:
tonality, modality, history of theory, modes, organ tones, major/minor keys, Zarlino, Banchieri, Renaissance, Baroque

TOC:
1. Introduction
2. Tonal System System of Modes/Keys Tonality
3. Monophonic Modal Theory
4. Polyphonic Modal Theory
5. The Modal Theory
6. The Organ Tones
7. The Major and Minor Keys
Conclusion; Catalogue of Seventeenth-Century Theoretical Sources
(1571-1722); Bibliography; Appendices; Musical Supplements

CONTACT:
Thomas Holme Hansen
Department of Musicology
University of Aarhus
Langelandsgade 139
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
phone: +45 8942 5154;
fax: +45 8942 5164; e-mail: musthh@hum.aau.dk

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Paley, Elizabeth S. Narratives of 'Incidental' Music in German Romantic Theater

AUTHOR: Paley, Elizabeth S.
TITLE: Narratives of 'Incidental' Music in German Romantic Theater
INSTITUTION: University of Wisconsin-Madison
BEGUN: January 1995
COMPLETED: July, 1998
ABSTRACT:
Because incidental music by definition is not omnipresent within drama (in contrast to music in opera), moments when music intrudes into a play necessarily arouse attention. From purely instrumental overtures and entr'actes to songs and the accompanied declamation of melodrama, incidental music occasions diverse interactions between dramatic and musical narratives. When listeners combine music with verbal texts (programs, poems, plays, a composer's verbal reference to a composition, an analytical narrative such as "sonata form," etc.), they enable it to be read as narrating, as foreshadowing and recalling events of the text and providing musical commentary on it. More importantly, the synergistic whole, the music-plus-text, often points to compelling secret narratives hidden behind those suggested by the text or music alone. A set of Zwischenreden--incidental texts--published in 1821 to accompany concert performances of Beethoven's Egmont-Musik provides the touchstone for Chapter 1, which draws on Der rida's logic of the supplement to argue not only that music supplements narrative, but also that narrative supplements music. In Chapters 2-4, theories of narrative in music, literature, and film inform detailed analyses of Goethe's/Beethoven's Egmont, Shakespeare's/Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Byron's/Schumann's Manfred. These diverse musicodramatic works reflect a flourishing theoretical and practical interest in incidental music in Germany during the first half of the nineteenth century. The analyses reveal a mutual supplementarity between music and narrative, demonstrating that incidental music is rarely "incidental."

KEYWORDS:
incidental music, narrative, Egmont, Midsummer Night's Dream, Sommernachtstraum, Manfred, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann

TOC:
Chapter 1. Zwischenreden for Zwischenakte: Incidental Narratives of Incidental Music

Chapter 2. Past, Presence, and Future: Musical Narratives in Beethoven's Egmont

Chapter 3. Musical and Dramatic Framing in Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream

Chapter 4. "The Voice Which Was My Music": Nonnarrative Musical Discourse in Schumann's Manfred

CONTACT:
Elizabeth S. Paley
Department of Music and Dance
452 Murphy Hall
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
espaley@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
(785) 864-9757

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Sachania, Millan. The Arrangements of Leopold Godowsky: An Aesthetic, Historical, and Analytical Study

AUTHOR: Sachania, Millan
TITLE: The Arrangements of Leopold Godowsky: An Aesthetic, Historical, and Analytical Study
INSTITUTION: University of Cambridge, England
BEGUN: October, 1994
COMPLETED: July, 1997
RILM citation:
1998-07340-dd.
BLDSC Microform reference no: BLDSC no. D197866 (British Library Document Supply Centre, the British version of UMI (now Bell-Howell etc.)
ABSTRACT:
The aim of the thesis is to promote understanding of the published concert arrangements of Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938). This may be attained by elucidating them in three ways. The historical approach sets the arrangements in the context of those by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Busoni and others. The analytical considers technical matters to do with harmony and counterpoint, rhythm, structure, and key. But the latter mode of inquiry is unable to rise to the challenges posed by the wider concept of arrangements ; for this reason, the Introduction debates aesthetic matters, and in the process attempts to explicate Godowsky's syncretic commitment to an unfashionable cause.

The broader musical argument is waged not chronologically but in terms of the various post-opera-fantasy 'genres' of arrangement that Godowsky explored. Each Part, though, compares and contrasts Godowsky's earlier and later forays into the various 'genres'. Part One examines the Chopin arrangements. The musical inquiry is here supplemented by accounts of the historical context, genesis, chronology, and critical reception of the fifty-three studies on Chopin's Etudes (1894-1914). Part Two deals with the two collections of Baroque arrangements. The musical inquiry has a dual mission : to indicate the paraphrase qualities of the earlier collection, Renaissance (1906 and 1909), and to judge the extent to which the later 'elaborations' of Bach's solo violin and cello suites (1924) 'realise' and recompose the originals. Part Three scrutinises the 'symphonic metamorphoses' on Johann Strauss (c. 1905-7 and 1928), the twelve Schubert song arrangements (1926), and the reworkings of Weber, Albeniz, and others.

The Conclusion remarks on the fate of the 'genres' with which Godowsky engaged and briefly charts the trajectory of the arrangement after Godowsky. In highlighting the rigidity of Godowsky's idiom, and in evaluating the merit of the particular arrangements, it isolates various components of Godowsky's musical enginery : for instance, 'discretion' and naivete. One trend in Godowsky's output, though, is discernible. The earlier arrangements are generally more radical; for they thoroughly rework the details of the original texts. By contrast, the later ones tend to perform only cosmetic surgery on the originals. anding

KEYWORDS:
Aesthetics, Analysis, Arrangements, Transcriptions, 19th-century music, 20th-century music

TOC:
Acknowledgments
Notes on the Text
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction

Part One: The Chopin Arrangements

Part Two: The Baroque Arrangements

Part Three: Strauss, Schubert, And Others

Part Four: Conclusion

Appendix 1. Godowsky: Obituary Notice
Appendix 2. A Catalogue of Godowsky's Arrangements
Bibliography

CONTACT:
6 West Way
Shepperton
Middlesex
TW17 8HG
United Kingdom
Tel: + 44 (0)1932 222240
Email: M.Sachania@btinternet.com

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Saunders, Michael, D. A Computer-based Notation for the Process of Musical Composition

AUTHOR: Saunders, Michael, D.
TITLE: A Computer-based Notation for the Process of Musical Composition
INSTITUTION: University of Wales, Cardiff
BEGUN: September 1995
COMPLETED: September 1998
ABSTRACT:
This dissertation describes a system for computer composition called "Rusty", with particular emphasis on its representation of musical objects. Rather than taking an abstract approach, Rusty models the process of composition as it is practiced by human beings. Its design is general and powerful enough so that any musical process may be represented and enacted by it. Despite its scope, its use of familiar musical concepts and a sophisticated graphic interface make it easy to use. With Rusty, a composer may automate all or part of his compositional method. The system is equally useful to analysts and musicologists and is readily extendible to the tasks of machine performance and sound synthesis.

Two features enable Rusty to achieve this breadth and utility. One is a means for the representation of all the musical concepts (of every level of abstraction) which musicians use when speaking of music. The computerization of the technical language of musicians doesn't merely make the system user-friendly, it incorporates into Rusty the vast store of practical understanding which musicians have accumulated over the centuries. The most interesting feature of Rusty is that it treats these (perhaps quite high-level) computerizations of musical objects as signals. This gives the user a natural, intuitive and highly powerful means for the expression of processes. Its forms for representing any musical concept in a tradition-neutral way, and for representing even vague or conflicting concepts precisely are expected to be especially valuable to theorists and musicologists.

KEYWORDS:
fuzzy logic, object-oriented, music representation, ethnomusicology, computer language

TOC:
1. Introduction
2. System Overview
3. Implementation and Evaluation
4. Aesthetics
5. The Underlying Forms of Musical Concepts: Part 1---Physical Eidola

6. The Underlying Forms of Musical Concepts: Part 2---Musical Eidola
7. The Underlying Forms of Musical Concepts: Part 3---Mathematical Eidola
CONTACT:
spxmds@astro.cf.ac.uk
http://www.astro.cf.ac.uk/pub/Michael.Saunders/thesis/toc.html

Michael Saunders
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Wales, Cardiff
P.O. Box 913
Cardiff
CF2 3YB
UK

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Prepared by
Lee A. Rothfarb
9/1/98