Theses and Dissertations - Department of Music (Applied & Theory)

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations - Department of Music (Applied & Theory) by Author "Bailey, Mary Lindsey"

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    John de Lancie's influence on the modern oboe repertoire
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Pejasinovic Proud, Teodora; Bailey, Mary Lindsey; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This project is a performance of three concertos for oboe by Richard Strauss, Jean Françaix, and Benjamin Lees. The recital took place on March 2, 2019, and the accompanying manuscript serves as program notes for the performance. John de Lancie was known for his tenure with both the Curtis Institute of Music, where he served as the Professor of Oboe from 1953 to 1985, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he was principal oboe from 1954 to 1977. He is responsible for all three of the concertos mentioned above; he commissioned the works by Françaix and Lees, and his chance meeting with Strauss led the composer to write his Oboe Concerto. His career and connection to these works will be discussed. The work by Lees becomes the focus of this research; it is a forgotten work that has only been performed a handful of times. This document will focus largely on the history of Lees’s Concerto, its premiere, and other musical information about the piece.
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    The pedagogical benefits of playing violin duets: a historiography, pedagogical discussion, and annotated repertoire list
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Paillan, Christian; Grégoire, Jenny; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Although duets exist in abundance, they are less taught and performed than other chamber music subgenres, and there is limited historical study and scholarly research about them. This project will explore the didactic advantages of incorporating violin duets into the regular violin study curriculum. The manuscript will include a concise historiography of the pedagogical benefits of violin duets, a pedagogical discussion of selected works for a recital, and an annotated repertoire list of violin duets. The discussion includes pieces that represent diverse musical styles, eras, and levels of difficulty. The elementary level is represented by a selection of pieces from 44 violin duets, by Béla Bartók; 23 Stücke für eine und zwei Geigen, by Paul Hindemith; and Duetti per due violini, by Luciano Berio. For the intermediate level, the discussed works are Canonic Duo No. 3 in D major TWV 40:120, by Georg Philipp Telemann; and two arias from Don Giovanni: für zwei Flöten oder Violinen nach einer Ausgabe um 1809, arranged after the opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Finally, the advanced level is represented by Duo concertant in G Minor, Op. 57, No. 1, by Charles Auguste de Bériot; and Sonata for 2 Violins in C Major, Op. 56, by Sergey Prokofiev.
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    Voodoo and slave culture in Frederick Delius' Koanga
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Johnson, Jillian; Williams, Susan E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Exoticism was a reflection of European societies' increasing interest in foreign places and cultures. Better access to the outside world allowed for increased exploration, colonization, travel, and exposure to different cultures. In music, composers' interests in the "other" prompted them to capture foreign sounds. One of the most prominent subcategories within musical exoticism was Orientalism, but exoticism involved other features, including indigenous folk traditions, particularly those of Native Americans and Africans. Interest in the music of these groups often prompted composers to travel to the United States to experience their music first hand. During his travel to the United States, English composer Frederick Delius (1862-1934) grew fond of the Negro melodies he heard, and he frequently utilized musical features of the African American folk tradition in his compositions, in particular his opera Koanga. Although his work is powerful in many ways, particularly for its use of African American characters, Koanga reflects the sometimes exploitative nature of exoticism by using foreign subjects to entertain privileged Western audiences and to embellish overused plots, such as love stories. This document examines Delius' deviations from the original plot of the novel on which Koanga was based (George Washington Cable's The Grandissimes) and details the ways in which this impacted perceptions of the opera. Likewise, it focuses on societal and cultural influences that impacted compositional choices and investigates possible reasoning behind his choices. Because of Delius' deviations from Cable's novel, the manner in which he set certain musical material, and certain performance choices in initial stagings, this document, while acknowledging this was not Delius' intent, will draw the conclusion that the opera promotes stereotypical racial tropes that Cable was challenging in his novel.