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- All Subjects: Baroque
- Genre: Scores
- Creators: Feisst, Sabine
An eighteenth-century polychoral vespers service of José Gil Pérez: edition and historical context
Description
Compared to sacred choral music of the great Spanish composers of the Renaissance, church music of later Spanish composers is relatively ignored, despite the fact that many left behind a significant body of works worthy of scholarly investigation and performance. In fact, there is a paucity of information on eighteenth-century church music in Spain - music history books generally treat the subject in the briefest way. To correct this situation, scholars must delve into the large caches of unpublished works from this period, which lie dormant in the archives of religious institutions. Even contextualizing these works is difficult, because so much remains to be unearthed. To help fill the lacuna of knowledge about this repertoire, I will shed light on the music of maestro de capilla José Gil Pérez (1715-1762), who was active at the cathedral of Segorbe, Spain from 1745 until his death in 1762, by presenting an edition of one of his vespers services. This service is comprised of a magnificat and three psalms (nos. 116, 122, and 147). These works, transcribed from the composer's autograph housed in the Segorbe cathedral, and written for SAT/SATB chorus and organ, will serve as a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge concerning choral music of the Spanish late Baroque. It will be seen that despite Gil Pérez's innovative use of "theatrical" instruments in the Segorbe cathedral and "Italianisms" in his villancicos, his compositional style in Latin works was largely conservative, in keeping with the practice of most maestros in Spain at this time. In fact his oeuvre demonstrates varying influences, largely dependent upon the genre. To contextualize this composer and his works, I will provide background information regarding music in the Segorbe cathedral during the century in question, including trends and influences, as well as information on Gil Pérez himself.
ContributorsGorton, William Paul (Author) / Feisst, Sabine (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Reber, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
A New Home is a multi-movement musical composition written for a chamber orchestra of flute, oboe, clarinet in B-flat, bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in C, trombone, bass trombone, percussion (1), pianoforte, and strings. The duration of the entire piece is approximately fourteen minutes (movement 1: four minutes; mvt. 2: four minutes and thirty seconds; mvt. 3: five minutes and thirty seconds). As an exercise in compositional experimentation, some of the musical techniques explored throughout the piece are harmonic planing or parallelism, ostinati, modality, chromatic dissonance, thematic transformation, mixed meter, and syncopation, as well as issues of orchestral blend, balance, and color.
The first movement, ironically titled “Don’t Panic,” highlights my initial anxieties on experimentation by creating hectic textures. The movement is structured around two main alternating sections of chromatic, chordal dissonance with more modal, melodic syncopation in addition to a developmental section, but a sense of rhythmic groove is prominent throughout. The second movement, “Still Here,” is a darker, more sensitive music as it explores various settings of its main thematic material interspersed with march-like episodes and a related secondary theme. The themes are organized around a diatonic scale that omits one pitch to comprise a six-note scale. The third movement, “Change of State,” recalls the modality and rhythmic liveliness of the first movement, and it bears a thematic relationship to the second movement. Much of the material also revolves around scales and mediant relationships to comprise an opening theme, a groove section, and an ethereal, glassy texture which ends the movement. Essentially, the piece closes with a calmer music in contrast to the brute force that opened the piece.
The first movement, ironically titled “Don’t Panic,” highlights my initial anxieties on experimentation by creating hectic textures. The movement is structured around two main alternating sections of chromatic, chordal dissonance with more modal, melodic syncopation in addition to a developmental section, but a sense of rhythmic groove is prominent throughout. The second movement, “Still Here,” is a darker, more sensitive music as it explores various settings of its main thematic material interspersed with march-like episodes and a related secondary theme. The themes are organized around a diatonic scale that omits one pitch to comprise a six-note scale. The third movement, “Change of State,” recalls the modality and rhythmic liveliness of the first movement, and it bears a thematic relationship to the second movement. Much of the material also revolves around scales and mediant relationships to comprise an opening theme, a groove section, and an ethereal, glassy texture which ends the movement. Essentially, the piece closes with a calmer music in contrast to the brute force that opened the piece.
ContributorsJones, Zachary William (Author) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016