R-3 Repository :: Browsing by Author "Bailey, Walter B."

Browsing by Author "Bailey, Walter B."

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A compilation and study of twentieth-century double bass solos from the orchestral literature
(2001) Ostlund, Sandor Christeson; Bailey, Walter B.
The purpose of this document is to identify in the twentieth-century orchestral literature, noteworthy solos written for the double bass. Each solo is examined from a variety of viewpoints, including: its musical context (i.e., within a larger work), musical techniques and styles, pertinent information regarding the solo's history (how and why the solo came to be written for the double bass), technical insight, and the solo's pedagogical value. Following this, a clear and accurate rendering of the music is given. The composers included in this study include: Bartok, Berg, Britten, Colgrass, Ginastera, Gorecki, Henze, Kodaly, Mahler, Milaud, Penderecki, Prokofiev, Ravel, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Sibelius, and Stravinsky. By studying how these solos have been written over the one hundred years of the past century, one can see how composers have or have not followed the evolution of the instrument itself. This document will use the information gained through this study to trace the development of how the double bass has been used and perceived as a musical instrument by composers throughout the century.
A distinctive legacy: The musical, historical, and practical evolution of the American concertmaster from the 1950s to the present. A comparative examination of the concertmaster position and concertmaster lineage in modern-day America
(2008) Yon, Kirsten Annica; Bailey, Walter B.
This document examines the historical role and lineage of the current American concertmaster. Foundational discussions include the establishment of the concertmaster, the professional relationship with the conductor, and the evolution of the role into its present-day format. Interviews with contemporary concertmasters of major American orchestras form the basis for a detailed observation of the modern orchestral audition process, the basic responsibilities of a concertmaster, the leadership, pressures, and community expectations involved with the position, and the future of concertmaster education in America. Interviewed concertmasters are: Bill Preucil of the Cleveland Orchestra, Emmanuelle Boisvert of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony, Andres Cardenes of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Juliana Athayde of the Rochester Philharmonic, and Joseph Silverstein, the former concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
A Guide to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Two Vocal Duets: A History and Musical Analysis of His First Settings of Walt Whitman
(2014-04-24) DeLoach, Marcus; Bailey, Walter B.; King, Stephen; Al-Zand, Karim; Campana, Joseph
Vaughan Williams composed the two duets, “The Last invocation” and “The Love-song of the Birds” for soprano, baritone, and violin with pianoforte (and string quartet ad lib.) in 1904. This study examines these two works, which were designed to be performed together, their origins, and the people and places associated with their premiere performances in Reading and London. It also discusses the biographies of the singing duo that premiered the work, Arthur Foxton Ferguson and Beatrice Spencer, and explores the Wagnerian influences in the music. Walt Whitman’s transcendental poetry, its appeal to Vaughan Williams, and the techniques by which the composer adapted and manipulated his chosen texts are discussed in detail. Through an examination of the various manuscript versions of the “The Love-song of the Birds” (all held in the British Library), the author proposes a chronology for the revisions of the work. Following its premiere performances, Vaughan Williams, and subsequently his wife Ursula after the composer’s death in 1958, suppressed Two Vocal Duets until 1996. This paper explores that suppression and argues why the materials, which were premiered in the same year as the song cycles The Songs of Travel and The House of Life, should now be published and made available to the public.
A justification for the study of folk song settings, or the arrangement as a valid composition
(2007) Busselberg, Paul; Bailey, Walter B.
This thesis explores arrangements of British Isles folk song melodies as set by major composers: Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), and Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). These composers found vivid inspiration and a certain amount of success by setting folk songs as art music, but a survey of available scholarship centering on their works in most instances reveals only a superficial discussion of their folk song arrangements. Moreover, folk song studies, which tend to focus on the existence of melodies, their origins, and modern efforts in collection, also avoid the arrangements by serious composers. A few important studies exist which deal specifically with folk song arrangements, but by and large this area suffers from neglect. This is no doubt due to a misunderstanding of the term arrangement as it applies to the examples from the works of these composers, and its connotation as a composition of lesser value than wholly original works. This paper explores the folk song arrangements by these four composers through a study of similar melodies from their collections, which altogether number more than eight hundred songs. A review of the historical context of these collections reveals the degree of importance they occupied in each composer's overall output of works. Then an analysis of one melody set three different ways by Vaughan Williams, as well as analytical comparisons of arrangements of seven other melodies set by pairs of these four composers demonstrates the various devises each used to bring originality, creativity, and musical artistry to a work despite the limitations proscribed by a preexisting melody.
A Singer's Guide to the Songs of Ildebrando Pizzetti
(2014-04-22) Whatley, Mark; Bailey, Walter B.; King, Stephen; Al-Zand, Karim; Fette, Julie
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880–1968) composed approximately forty songs for voice and piano, thirty-three of which were published during his lifetime. Although many of his songs are of high quality, they have not become a part of the standard repertory. This guide is designed to make Pizzetti’s songs more accessible to singers. Toward this end it is organized in the following manner. The paper begins with an introduction that reviews the need for a guide to Pizzetti’s songs; it also details the methodology followed in creating the main part of the document, entries on each song. Chapter two briefly discusses Pizzetti’s life and provides information on the songs in general. The next three chapters contain detailed descriptions of each of the songs (they are organized according to publication dates). Each song entry contains: (1) a section that details facts about the song, such as the name of and dates for the author of the text, the composition date, publication information, and other useful information specific to the music of the song, such as range, key, meter, tempo, etc.; (2) a section that contains the text of the song, a word-for-word translation of the song, and an IPA transcription of the song; and (3) a brief discussion of the song that includes information about its inception and first performance (if known), its music and text, and its musical and vocal difficulties. In some cases, suggestions for performers are included. The remainder of the paper includes a complete listing of Pizzetti’s songs (Appendix A), an annotated bibliography of resources in English that deal with Pizzetti’s songs (Appendix B), and a new idiomatic translation of Pizzetti’s Due poesie di Giuseppe Ungaretti (Appendix C).
A stylistic, contextual, and musical analysis of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini", Op. 43
(2008) Zhang, Ying; Bailey, Walter B.
This document explores the use of the theme from Paganini's 24 th Caprice and the Dies Irae in Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43. The two themes are studied from a historical and musical perspective, and their contribution to the work's dramatic and musical design is analyzed. Chapter V is an extensive musical discussion of each of the work's twenty-four variations, where phrase structure, thematic relations, harmonic and melodic shapes, rhythmic patterns, dramatic implications, and performance challenges are discussed.
Adventurous music: Lukas Foss' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
(2004) Satterfield, Tracy Rhodus; Bailey, Walter B.
The purpose of the paper is to offer a detailed description of Lukas Foss' Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, a setting of Wallace Stevens' poem of the same title. The paper begins with an overview of Foss' achievements as a composer, conductor, educator, and pianist. The main body of the paper features a discussion of the wide variety of musical ideas contained in the work, within and among traditional parameters, with special consideration given to the non-traditional use of the instruments. This is followed by an overview of Wallace Stevens' life and works and a discussion of select elements of the poem. The relationship between the poem and the music is discussed in terms of the many levels at which Foss uses the text. The paper concludes with ways in which this work is representative of Foss' third compositional period. Appendices include a full text version of Stevens' poem and a select list of musical settings of the poem by other composers.
Allusions, Illusions & Delusions
(2013-09-16) Bachicha, Stephen; Gottschalk, Arthur W.; Aazhang, Behnaam; Bailey, Walter B.; Lavenda, Richard
Allusions, Illusions and Delusions (2013) is an eight minute work for full orchestra that blends elements of lyricism with fast kinetic music, orchestral tutti with smaller groupings and solos, and familiar harmonic language with more exotic combinations. The piece begins with a bang, employing a figure that blurs the distinction between major and minor triads. After the ensuing short introduction, the flugelhorn’s lyrical theme becomes the main focus; indeed, elements of this solo line help to shape the entire piece. Following an expansive orchestral tutti built on this theme, the line and the ensemble are broken down and small groups of instruments begin a climb to the fast section of the piece. The longest portion of the score, this fast section takes the listener on a roller coaster ride with sharp turns and many ups and downs. The ride continues building more and more intensity and energy until the climax, marked in the score “huge and bombastic.” As this cacophonous “wall of sound” dies down, four solo strings and a clarinet emerge, recalling moments of the flugelhorn solo. A solo bucket muted trumpet presents a final paraphrase of the theme, bringing the piece to a calm and soothing resolution. Allusions, Illusions and Delusions takes its title from elements of the piece itself and from a number of external influences. The lyrical flugelhorn solo beginning at measure 27, the rapidly changing harmonies of the fast section, polychordal segments (such as the Eb major/d minor simultaneous sonority found in measures 87 through 89), and the climax at J, allude to the sounds of triadic harmonies from common practice tonal music. Aspects of these harmonies also create a sense of illusion: The main melodic and harmonic sounds used in the piece are intervals of seconds and thirds, and their inversions. By using minor seconds simultaneously as melodic and harmonic intervals, the quality of a triad or chord is often blurred, fooling the listener into thinking that they are hearing a triad, when five or more notes might actually be present. Delusion refers to the way a listener might react to the music. Often listeners invent a story to go along with a piece of music as a way for them to organize and understand the musical journey that they are experiencing. When there is no extra-musical idea tied to the piece at all, as in this instance, listeners might well be deluding themselves.
An analytical study of John Musto's "Encounters for Tenor and Orchestra"
(2006) Hall, James; Bailey, Walter B.
John Musto has established himself among the finest living American song composers of the twenty-first century. The son of a jazz guitarist, Musto merges elements of jazz, ragtime, and blues with traditional classical technique, resulting in a highly eclectic and original compositional style. His vocal compositions are dramatic, text-based, and contain copious word painting. Musto also utilizes constant metrical changes, as well as thematic and motivic development to create a solid compositional framework for the songs. This dissertation examines the compositional style of John Musto's vocal music through a text based analysis of his cycle, Encounters for Tenor and Orchestra. Chapter One provides biographical information about the composer, style characteristics of Musto's vocal music, and the origins of Encounters. Chapters Two through Seven contain detailed analyses of the six songs, including poet information, text setting, and musical structure for each. Chapter Eight offers conclusions regarding the cycle, and confirms Musto's place among America's preeminent composers.
Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot lunaire": A study of Sprechstimme and vocal performance practice through sound recording
(2006) Soder, Aidan Leigh; Bailey, Walter B.
Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire has inspired discussion and debate among scholars and performers alike for over ninety years. In particular, his use of Sprechstimme, a unique combination of speaking and singing, has been examined from a variety of perspectives and continues to be a controversial subject. Though scholarly writings have attempted to address performance practice issues, there are substantial gaps in the literature regarding the specific, technical, vocal elements required to execute Pierrot's Sprechstimme. Additionally, though a few recordings have been cursorily cited and reviewed, a more thorough and comprehensive examination of the Pierrot discography and the interpretation of Sprechstimme has been lacking. Contemporary performance practice often evolves through a work's sound recording legacy; Pierrot lunaire is no exception. Sprechstimme delivery varies greatly throughout the discography, and though a clear performance practice tradition has not emerged during the last sixty-five years (since Schoenberg's first recording in 1940), similar characteristics can be found among the recordings. This dissertation provides a thorough discussion of Pierrot's technical vocal requirements and how the sound recordings can assist the interpreter in her realization of the Sprechstimme, thereby contributing to the establishment of a performance practice tradition. Chapter One provides an overview of the origins of Sprechstimme, Schoenberg's intentions for its delivery (as revealed through the score and various documents), and the vocal elements necessary for its execution. Chapter Two examines four important early interpreters of the work and the first recording. Chapter Three discusses the range of interpretational styles represented on the recordings. Chapter Four presents some of the interpretational problems encountered in several popular, benchmark recordings, and also provides an overview of the remaining recordings. Chapter Five addresses five specific recordings, provides a brief history of each singer, a stylistic overview of each singer's interpretation and delivery of the Sprechstimme, and a detailed study of four individual songs. Finally, Chapter Six provides conclusions regarding the benefit of the sound recording, drawn to help the performer establish clear interpretational guidelines which could aid in the establishment of a solid performance practice tradition.
Debussy's "Children's Corner": A pedagogical approach
(2001) Chen, Sherry Lin-Yu; Bailey, Walter B.
This document seeks to examine and analyze Debussy's Children's Corner through a pedagogical approach. In the initial chapters, the author provides a general overview of Debussy's piano music, compositional style and a historical background of Children's Corner. Following this introduction, the author summarizes Debussy's aesthetic principles with regards to Children's Corner. A detailed stylistic analysis of the harmony and tonal structure in each movement of Children's Corner is presented. The author also discusses her findings concerning how such analysis might influence performance of Debussy's Children's Corner.
Deep Song: The Historical and Musical Contexts of Osvaldo Golijov's Ayre
(2013-12-06) Hauschildt, Craig; Bailey, Walter B.; Brown, Richard; Harter, Deborah; Lavenda, Richard
Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960) composed Ayre, a song cycle for soprano and large ensemble, in 2004. On the larger thematic level, it explores the history of the conflicts among Christians, Jews, and Muslims—as well as their similarities—to reflect more broadly on the contemporary relationship between Israel and Palestine. To accomplish his goal, Golijov utilizes folk music and poetry from Andalusia, Morocco, Sardinia, and Lebanon as well as poetry by Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet. Golijov also interweaves the unique talents of specific musicians into the score, which thus becomes a vehicle to showcase the virtuosity of soprano Dawn Upshaw, who premiered and recorded the work, and Golijov’s hand-selected ensemble of instrumentalists, known as the Andalucian Dogs. Like Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs (1964), which served as Golijov’s model, Ayre is constructed using significant amounts of preexisting material. In addition, it incorporates substantial contributions from its original performers. This study examines Golijov’s own contributions and those provided by others to identify more clearly Golijov’s role as composer. It also places Golijov’s work in the broad historical context of twentieth-century music, taking into account the unique relationship between the composer and performer in the world of jazz and the many classical composers who have incorporated elements of folk and popular music into their art music. Additionally, it examines the music of select classical and popular composers—Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Gil Evans—to understand the censure that has often accompanied the appropriation of music from outside one’s normative style. The study concludes that Golijov, like many other postmodern composers, is not composing in reaction to the complexity and intellectualism of mid-century modernism, but rather he is composing in the manner of composers from the past who reverentially appropriated materials from a wide variety of musical traditions. Thus, even though Golijov relies on a significant amount of pre-existing material to construct Ayre, the work is ultimately a result of his own creative energy.
Defining Manon: Three Operas on Abbé Prévost’s Manon Lescaut
(2013-09-16) Boudreaux, Emily; Citron, Marcia J.; Bailey, Walter B.; Barnett, Gregory R.
Abbé Prévost’s novel L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (1731) has inspired at least four operas, notably by Daniel Auber, Jules Massenet, Giacomo Puccini, and Hans Werner Henze. This study will look at the three nineteenth-century operas based on that novel: Auber’s Manon Lescaut (1856), Massenet’s Manon (1884), and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (1893). Massenet’s treatment receives the most attention because it is the most popular, and arguably the most well-known, of the three operas. I will discuss Manon’s role in the novel and operas, and its impact on the dramatic conception of each work. In the three operas I will examine her arias and other music, and her relationships with other characters. The goal is to gain a better understanding of each composer’s interpretation of Prévost’s heroine and to explore why Manon is different in each work.
Female Sexual Identity and Characterization in Richard Strauss’s Salome
(2012-09-05) Murphy, Maria; Citron, Marcia J.; Bailey, Walter B.; Ferris, David
This thesis examines the sexual development and characterization of the title character in Richard Strauss’s Salome (1905). It contends that Salome experiences a sexual evolution—a "maturing"—that Strauss derives from Oscar Wilde's play and further emphasizes through Salome's musical language and character development. Three structural phases in Salome's sexual development are proposed: a pre-pubescent phase, a phase of sexual awakening, and a phase of dangerous sexuality. The characterization of Salome is also explored through the lens of performance theory, in an examination of the film versions of Götz Friedrich (1974), Jürgen Flimm (2004), and David McVicar (2008). In addition, the thesis applies Wildean literature on aestheticism and spirituality to Strauss’s opera to show that Salome’s sexual transformation presents an alternative path to self-fulfillment apart from religious salvation. Strauss’s setting reveals a secular, or temporal, aestheticism that leads to an earthly spirituality.
Folk and western influences in Pancho Vladigerov's "Rhapsody Vardar"
(2008) Smith, Cameron M.; Al-Zand, Karim; Parker, Jon Kimura; Bailey, Walter B.; Maas, Michael R.
This thesis presents an in-depth discussion and analysis of the stylistic influences of Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978), and their presentation in his Rhapsody Vardar , Opus 16. Vladigerov's background includes studies in both his native Bulgarian folk music, as well as formal western training at two different music academies in Berlin. The first chapter provides relevant biographical information, and explores aspects of Vladigerov's compositions which derive from Western European traditions, including a discussion of the composers and styles that influenced his writing. This is done through discussion and analysis of his Three Pieces for Piano , Opus 15, a work written in the same year as his Rhapsody Vardar . Chapter two provides a general overview of Bulgarian folk music, especially during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Chapter three brings together these observations in an analysis of Vladigerov's landmark piano work, Vardar Rhapsody .
Historical perspectives on Adolphe Adam's "Le Diable a quatre"
(2001) Collins, Willa J.; Bailey, Walter B.
Composer Adolphe Adam is typically recognized and acknowledged only through Giselle, his most famous ballet. However, Adam's ninth ballet, Le Diable a quatre, though rarely remembered, is also a historically significant work. At the time of its premier in 1845, the story of this morality-comedy had been familiar to the Parisian public for nearly a century. Yet despite its "unromantic" qualities, Le Diable a quatre surpassed some of its contemporaries in longevity and remained in the Opera's repertory for a substantial period of time. In this study I offer a comparison of Le Diable a quatre with contemporary ballets, focusing on several historical perspectives and on critical and popular aesthetics of ballet and ballet music. Additionally, I include an overview of the score of Le Diable a quatre, a discussion of the historical significance of national dance in the Romantic ballet, and a discussion of Adam's significance within the musical canon.
Impact
(2013-09-16) Halka, Charles; Gottschalk, Arthur W.; Bailey, Walter B.; Heffes, Gisela
Impact (2013) is an eight-minute work for full orchestra that explores an aural gesture best described as a heavy thud. This gesture, which opens the work in its clearest form, is a steep drop from the upper register of the orchestra, such as the flutes and triangle, to its depths in instruments such as the basses, contrabassoon, and tuba. Each time the gesture plummets to the bottom, the impact of this arrival generates various “resonances” – shards of harmonic or melodic material that proceed to develop on their own, contributing to subsequent thuds and eventually blooming into more lyrical sections of music. Along the way, the thudding gesture is dissected, reversed, and fragmented before finally regaining its original form and prominence near the end. One giant, swirling thud brings the work to a rumbling close. The work was greatly influenced by my exposure to electronic music techniques, many of which focus on non-traditional aspects such as register, timbre, and abstract shapes and gestures rather than rhythm, melody, and harmony. Also central to the work’s creation was my desire to treat the orchestra as a single, metamorphosing instrument rather than a layering of its distinct parts.
Isaac Albeniz and "La Vega": A publication history and new edition
(2003) Laufer, Milton Ruben; Bailey, Walter B.
La Vega represents Isaac Albeniz's compositional transformation from a salon-style composer for the piano into a composer of large-scale works employing sophisticated harmonic vocabulary and thematic development. The piece was published by A. Diaz and Cia. in San Sebastian, Spain, and was edited by an anonymous editor who copied the manuscript inaccurately. All of the subsequent publishers of the piece duplicated Diaz's printing, and consequently their inaccuracies. A new edition including the revisions that were made to La Vega as well as a publication history and catalog of editorial alterations follow.
Japanese piano compositions of the last hundred years: A history of piano music in Japan and a complete list of Japanese piano compositions
(1998) Garrett, Junko Ueno; Bailey, Walter B.
This dissertation consists of six chapters: The first four chapters trace the history of Japanese piano music; the fifth chapter is a conclusion; and the last chapter is a complete list of 3,000 Japanese piano compositions written since the first Japanese piano piece was composed in 1900. The response of Japanese composers to Western-style music from the Meiji Restoration to the present is analogous to a transfusion: Japanese composers have accepted Western music while maintaining their cultural identity in an ever changing environment. The introduction of Western music through public school education at the beginning of the Meiji-period changed the function of music in Japan before Japanese composers could react to it creatively. The way that Japanese Western-style music has developed parallels other aspects of cultural Westernization: importation; absorption; and recreation. The borrowed musical forms eventually were transformed by combining them with the original characteristics of Japanese traditional music. It has taken more than one hundred years for the complete absorption of Western music into Japanese culture. The level of piano playing in Japan had improved dramatically from 1950 to 1970, and this is reflected in piano compositions in Japan. The first chapter relates Japanese history to Western music up to the first Japanese piano piece, which was composed in 1900. It examines the importation and development of Western ideas and culture into Japan from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century. The second chapter illustrates the flowering of vocal music which led the development of Western-style music in Japan from 1900 to 1926. The third chapter discusses piano music from the beginning of the Showa-period (1926-1989) to the end of World War II. In this period the level of Japanese compositions improved greatly and Japanese piano music entered the international stage. The fourth chapter concerns Japanese piano music in the post-war generation.
"Les Chansons de Bilitis" by Claude Debussy: A discussion of the original stage music and its resulting transcriptions
(2000) Kerbs, Susan J.; Bailey, Walter B.
In the year 1901, Claude Debussy wrote incidental music to accompany a set of staged poems written by his friend, Pierre Louys. The poems were taken from a volume of 143 poems and three epitaphs entitled, Les Chansons de Bilitis, which were published in 1894. Louys claimed that he had translated these poems from works found in the tomb of a sixth century B.C. Greek poetess named Bilitis, when in fact, he had fabricated them himself. Debussy's incidental music is scored for two flutes, two harps, celesta, and reciter. The music was not published during his lifetime and the celesta part did not survive. Several editions have since been produced with newly composed celesta parts. Pierre Boulez created a version for a 1954 performance; this version remains unpublished. Arthur Hoeree reconstituted the celesta part and made an edition for the publisher Jobert in 1971. This is the edition from which the analysis and examples in this document were taken. Rudolf Escher made a 1972 edition for the publisher Donemus, partly in reaction to his disagreements with parts of Hoeree's edition. The preparation of these editions of the incidental music was greatly aided by the fact that Debussy reworked six movements of Les Chansons de Bilitis for piano four-hands in 1914 and titled them Six Epigraphes antiques. Two versions for flute and piano have since been made from these works. Donald Peck published a version, titled Bilitis, for Bourne Co. based on Les Chansons de Bilitis in 1979, and Karl Lenski published a version for Universal Edition based on the Epigraphes, also titled Bilitis , in 1984. This document discusses all of the editions listed above, and provides background information on Pierre Louys, his friendship with Debussy, and the origins of Les Chansons de Bilitis.

Browsing by Author "Bailey, Walter B."

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