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A.B. Marx's Concept of Rondo and Sonata: A Critical Evaluation of His Explanations of Musical Form

Description: The third volume of A.B. Marx's theory treatise Die Lehre von der musikalischen Komposition is discussed. His definitions of rondo and sonata formal types are demonstrated in the first chapter in addition to the manner of their derivation through a developmental process originating in the Liedform. Musical examples chosen by Marx are examined in chapter two. These examples, taken from Mozart's and Beethoven's piano works, are evaluated in relation to Marx's definitions of the various types of f… more
Date: July 1993
Creator: Lang, Adelheid K.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Analytical Study of Paradox and Structural Dualism in the Music of Ludwig van Beethoven

Description: Beethoven's rich compositional language evokes unique problems that have fueled scholarly dialogue for many years. My analyses focus on two types of paradoxes as central compositional problems in some of Beethoven's symphonic pieces and piano sonatas. My readings of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 27 (Op. 90), Symphony No. 4 (Op. 60), and Symphony No. 8 (Op. 93) explore the nature and significance of paradoxical unresolved six-four chords and their impact on tonal structure. I consider formal-tona… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Graf, Benjamin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Looking through a Different Lens, Beyond Censorship: The American Reception of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

Description: The censorship of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is a familiar story to musicologists, but reception of the opera is not frequently mentioned. Examining the reception of a work can bring a work's relative importance into focus. In this thesis, German literary and reception theorist Hans Robert Jauss's model of the horizon of expectations is applied to reviews of American productions of Lady Macbeth. Curiosity about communism following the Great Depression in 1930s, America and American mu… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Cassell, Holly
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Dido the Chaste: A Characterization of Dido in Spanish Baroque Pasticcio Opera

Description: The Dido myth has evolved and been adapted by many cultures over the centuries. Each Dido was altered to fit the needs of its creator, their society and customs. Despite these variations, every Dido retelling is derived from the Virgilian Dido, historical Dido, or chaste Dido narrative, or a combination of these stories. The pasticcio opera, Ópera armónica al estilo italiano que se intitula Dido y Eneas draws on the general Virgilian plot but emphasizes the chaste Dido narrative. The changes in… more
Date: August 2022
Creator: Zimmerman, Camila
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Composing-Out Notre-Dame: How Louise Bertin Expresses the Hugolian Themes of Fate and Decay in La Esmeralda

Description: From 1831 to 1836, Victor Hugo and Louise Bertin collaborated on an opera titled La Esmeralda. For Hugo, it would be the only opera libretto he would ever write, a mere footnote to his collection of widely admired novels, plays, and poetry; for Bertin, however, it would become her most important work, yet seemingly destined to fade into obscurity like so many great pieces of art. Using Schenkerian analysis, this thesis uncovers the tonal and voice-leading structure of the first act of La Esmera… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Walls, Levi
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Metric Dissonance in Non-Isochronous Meters

Description: Although music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries makes frequent use of non-isochronous meter (meters involving beats of different length, such as 5/4 and 7/8), most studies on meter and metric dissonance focus on isochronous meters (meters involving beats of the same length, such as 4/4 and 9/8). This dissertation bridges this gap by developing two methodologies to account for metric dissonance involving non-isochronous pulses: modified ski-hill graphs and the composite beat attack po… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Smith, Jayson
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Crisis and Catharsis: Linear Analysis and the Interpretation of Herbert Howells' "Requiem" and "Hymnus Paradisi"

Description: Hymnus Paradisi (1938), a large-scale choral and orchestral work, is well-known as an elegiac masterpiece written by Herbert Howells in response to the sudden loss of his young son in 1935. The composition of this work, as noted by the composer himself and those close to him, successfully served as a means of working through his grief during the difficult years that followed Michael's death. In this dissertation, I provide linear analyses for Howells' Hymnus Paradisi as well as its predecessor,… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Davenport, Jennifer Tish
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Sing Rāga, Embody Bhāva: The Way of Being Rasa

Description: The rasa theory of Indian aesthetics is concerned with the nature of the genesis of emotions and their corresponding experiences, as well as the condition of being in and experiencing the aesthetic world. According to the Indian aesthetic theory, rasa ("juice" or "essence," something that is savored, that is tasted) is an embodied aesthetic experienced through an artistic performance. In this thesis, I have investigated how the aesthetics of rasa philosophy account for creative presence and its… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Krishnamurthy, Thanmayee
Partner: UNT Libraries

Allusions and Borrowings in Selected Works by Christopher Rouse: Interpreting Manner, Meaning, and Motive through a Narratological Lens

Description: Christopher Rouse (b. 1949), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Trombone Concerto (1993) and a Grammy award for his Concerto de Gaudi (1999), has come to the forefront as one of America's most prominent orchestral composers. Several of Rouse's works feature quotations of and strong allusions to other composers' works that are used both rhetorically and structurally. These borrowings range from a variety of different genres and styles of works, from Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Popp… more
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Date: May 2019
Creator: Morey, Michael J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Two-Dimensional Sonata Form as Methodology: Understanding Sonata-Variation Hybrids through a Two-Dimensional Lens

Description: One of the difficulties of nineteenth-century form studies is ambiguity in ascertaining which formal types are at work and in what ways. This can be an especially difficult problem when multiple formal types seem to influence the construction of a single composition. Drawing on some recent innovations in form studies proposed by Steven Vande Moortele, Janet Schmalfeldt, and Caitlin Martinkus, I first develop a set of analytical tools specifically made for the analysis of sonata/variation formal… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Falterman, David
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Multidimensional Musical Objects in Mahler's Seventh Symphony

Description: Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony seems to belie traditional notions of symphonic unity in that it progresses from E minor in the first movement to C major in the Finale. The repertoire of eighteenth and nineteenth century composers such as Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms indicates that tonal holism is a significant factor for the symphonic genre. In order to reconcile Mahler's adventurous key scheme, this dissertation explores a multidimensional harmonic model that expands upon other concepts like… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Patterson, Jason, 1982-
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Chicago Renaissance Women: Black Feminism in the Careers and Songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds

Description: In this thesis, I explore the careers and songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds—two African American female composers who were part of the Chicago Renaissance. Price and Bonds were members of extensive, often informal, networks of Black women that fostered creativity and forged paths to success for Black female musicians during this era. Building on the work of Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins, I contend that these efforts reflect Black feminist principles of Black women workin… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Durrant, Elizabeth
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Theory and Practice in Book 2 of Ugolino's (c. 1380-1457) "Declaratio musicae disciplinae"

Description: Ugolino (c. 1380-1457) wrote one of the largest treatises on music theory in the first half of the fifteenth century. This work, the "Declaratio musicae disciplinae," is comprised of five books that cover everything a musician of the era would need to know, from plainchant to harmonic proportions, from musica practica to musica speculativa. However, the treatise has received contradictory interpretations by modern scholars, some viewing it as mainly practical, others as mainly theoretical. I ar… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Turner, Joseph (Joseph Alexander)
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814) and His Jesuit-Influenced "System" of Harmony

Description: This dissertation reexamines the music-theoretical writing of Georg Jospeh Vogler (1749-1814) in light of his educational background. His system, which is often characterized as "awkward" or "self-contradictory," is actually indicative of the rationalist/humanist preferences of Vogler's main source of training: the Jesuit Order. I argue that Vogler's theories and compositional style have been marginalized, partially due to their incompatibility with the more prevalent systems of his era, whic… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Donley, Douglas Michael
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Listening in the Living Room: The Pursuit of Authentic Spaces and Sounds in Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Punk Rock

Description: In the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) do-it-yourself (DIY) punk scene, participants attempt to adhere to notions of authenticity that dictate whether a band, record label, performance venue, or individual are in compliance with punk philosophy. These guiding principles champion individual expression, contributions to one's community (scene), independence from the mainstream music industry and consumerism, and the celebration of amateurism and the idea that everyone should "do it yourself." While each … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Peters, Sean (Sean Louis)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Opera and Society in Early-Twentieth-Century Argentina: Felipe Boero's El Matrero

Description: Premiering at the twilight of the gauchesco era and the dawn of Argentine musical Modernism, El matrero (1929) by Felipe Boero (1884-1958) remains underexplored in terms of its social milieu and artistic heritage. Instantly hailed as a masterpiece, the work retains a place in the local repertory, though it has never been performed internationally. The opera draws on myths of the gaucho and takes further inspiration from the energized intellectual environment surrounding the one-hundred-year ann… more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Sauceda, Jonathan
Partner: UNT Libraries

Sounds Themselves: Intersections of Serialism and Musique Concrète in Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Elektronische Studie I"

Description: In the summer of 1953, Karlheinz Stockhausen began composing his first piece of elektronische Musik at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne. Up to that point, Stockhausen's only experience with electroacoustic music was his time spent at the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française the previous year, where he assisted Pierre Schaeffer and composed a piece of musique concrète. An early case study in the marriage of serial aesthetics and electroacoustic techniques, Studie … more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Huff, David, 1976-
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Clementi the Scientist: Contemporary Reception of His Symphonies

Description: Muzio Clementi's symphonies were first performed in London between 1786 and 1796. After an extended hiatus from 1796 to 1813, his symphonic works appeared on programs again from 1813 to 1824. Clementi's career as a symphonist corresponds closely with trends in London's concert life. The reception of Clementi's symphonies during his lifetime has frequently been misinterpreted by scholars who oversimplify the use of "science" in musical discourse of the day and fail to consider the positive conno… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Asber, Joyce
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Borrowing Culture: British Music Circulating Libraries and Domestic Musical Practice, 1853-1910

Description: In Victorian Britain, music circulating libraries libraries operated by music publishers Novello & Co. and Augener & Co. supported upper- and upper-middle-class patrons in their pursuit of cultural capital that would help them perform their socioeconomic status. Studying these libraries in the context of domestic music-making reveals the economic and social impact of these libraries in the lives of amateur musicians and in the music publishing industry. An analysis of the account books in the N… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Cooper, Amy Nicole
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Sounding the Ancestors: Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw and the Ancestral Spirit Imaginary

Description: Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw is a Taiwanese Aboriginal pop artist of the Pinuyumayan ethnic group. His albums have been acclaimed by Aboriginal listeners and Han-Taiwanese mainstream music critics for capturing the traditional Aboriginal sound and evoking the presence of the ancestors. In this thesis, I explore why Sangpuy's songs are understood to evoke ancestral spirit imaginary using a semiotic approach. I compare his music to traditional Pinuyumayan music such as pa'ira'iraw and shamanic song… more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Chen, Yang T.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Developing Variation and Melodic Contour Analysis: A New Look at the Music of Max Reger

Description: Max Reger was a prolific composer on the threshold of modernism. The style of his extensive musical output was polarizing among his contemporaries. A criticism of Reger's music is its complex and dense musical structure. Despite writing tonal music, Reger often pushes the boundaries of tonality so far that all sense of formal organization is seemingly imperceptible. In this dissertation, I offer what I observed to be a new way of discerning Reger's motivic relationships and formal structures wi… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: McConnell, Sarah E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Tonal Enigmas: A Study of Problematic Openings and Endings

Description: When talking about tonal music, we sometimes tend to take for granted the idea that the tonic should always be clearly established either at the beginning or the end. However, there are composers who sometimes deviate from the normal path by creating different types of riddles or tonal enigmas in their works. Some of these riddles can be solved later on as the piece progresses; yet others may need to bexplained with the help of some external references. This thesis examines three such examples,… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Yun, Xiao
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Most Expressionist of All the Arts: Programs, Politics, and Performance in Critical Discourse about Music and Expressionism, c.1918-1923

Description: This dissertation investigates how German-language critics articulated and publicly negotiated ideas about music and expressionism in the first five years after World War I. A close reading of largely unexplored primary sources reveals that "musical expressionism" was originally conceived as an intrinsically musical matter rather than as a stylistic analog to expressionism in other art forms, and thus as especially relevant to purely instrumental rather than vocal and stage genres. By focusing … more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Carrasco, Clare
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Musical and Dramatic Functions of Loops and Loop Breakers in Philip Glass's Opera The Voyage

Description: Philip Glass's minimalist opera The Voyage commemorates the 500th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of America. In the opera, Philip Glass, like other composers, expresses singers' and non-singers' words and activities by means of melodies, rhythms, chords, textures, timbres, and dynamics. In addition to these traditional musical expressions, successions of reiterating materials (RMs, two or more iterations of materials) and non reiterating materials (NRMs) become new musical expr… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Wu, Chia-Ying (Charles)
Partner: UNT Libraries
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