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- All Subjects: Choral music
- Creators: Saucier, Catherine
- Creators: Machander, Sina
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978) is highly regarded as an accomplished and prolific composer of choral music. His creative output includes works for chorus, solo piano, and wind symphony. His unique style infuses elements of cinematic music, jazz and improvisation, with particularly intriguing selections of text. This study examines the factors that influence Gjeilo's compositional techniques, and the musical interpretations of conductor Charles Bruffy in his preparation for The Phoenix Chorale's recording Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo. The eleven works discussed in this study are: The Ground, Evening Prayer, Ubi caritas, Prelude, Northern Lights, The Spheres, Tota pulchra es, Serenity, Phoenix (Agnus Dei), Unicornis captivatur, and Dark Night of the Soul. As a relatively new and young composer, there is very little published literature on Gjeilo and his works. This study provides an intimate glance into the creative process of the composer. By composing in multiple styles and with a variety of inspirational sources, Gjeilo creates a fresh approach toward composition of new choral music. His style is revealed through interviews and numerous collaborations with conductors and performers who have prepared and performed his music, as well through an examination of the eleven works recorded by The Phoenix Chorale.
ContributorsGarrison, Ryan Derrick (Author) / Reber, William (Thesis advisor) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Doan, Jerry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In the sixty-seven years following the end of World War II, West Germany and Japan underwent a remarkable series of economic and social changes that irrevocably altered their respective ways of life. Formerly xenophobic, militaristic and highly socially stratified societies, both emerged from the 20th Century as liberal, prosperous and free. Both made great strides well beyond the expectations of their occupiers, and rebounded from the overwhelming destruction of their national economies within a few short decades. While these changes have yielded dramatic results, the wartime period still looms large in their respective collective memories. Therefore, an ongoing and diverse dialectical process would engage the considerable popular, official, and intellectual energy of their post-war generations. In West Germany, the term Vergangenheitsbewältigung (VGB) emerged to describe a process of coming to terms with the past, while the Japanese chose kako no kokufuku to describe their similar historical sojourns. Although intellectuals of widely varying backgrounds in both nations made great strides toward making Japanese and German citizens cognizant of the roles that their militaries played in gruesome atrocities, popular cinematic productions served to reiterate older, discredited assertions of the fundamental honor and innocence of the average soldier, thereby nurturing a historically revisionist line of reasoning that continues to compete for public attention. All forms of media would play an important role in sustaining this “apologetic narrative,” and cinema, among the most popular and visible of these mediums, was not excluded from this. Indeed, films would play a unique recurring role, like rhetorical time capsules, in offering a sanitized historical image of Japanese and German soldiers that continues to endure in modern times. Nevertheless, even as West Germany and Japan regained their sovereignty and re-examined their pasts with ever greater resolution and insight, their respective film industries continued to “reset” the clock, and accentuated the visibility and relevancy of apologetic forces still in existence within both societies. However, it is important to note that, when speaking of “Germans” and “Japanese,” that they are not meant to be thought of as being uniformly of one mind or another. Rather, the use of these words is meant as convenient shorthand to refer to the dominant forces in Japanese and German civil society at any given time over the course of their respective post- war histories. Furthermore, references to “Germany” during the Cold War period are to be understood to mean the Federal Republic of Germany, rather than their socialist counterpart, the German Democratic Republic, a nation that undertook its own coming to terms with the past in an entirely distinct fashion.
ContributorsPiscopo, Michael (Author) / Benkert, Volker (Thesis director) / Moore, Aaron (Committee member) / Machander, Sina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
The English Renaissance anthem Christ rising again is a valuable addition to the study of sacred English music during the first one hundred years of the English Reformation (c. 1530s-c.1630s) and provides insight into the theological and musical perspective of English reformers, humanists, and composers. The text of Christ rising again is the only anthem text that was set by the following prominent composers active during the English Reformation: John Sheppard (c.1515-1563), Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573), Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585), William Byrd (c.1540-1623), and Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656), as well as an unfinished setting by Thomas Weelkes (c.1576-1623) as well as complete settings by less prominent English composers. The anthem's text and musical settings are analyzed in terms of their place within the liturgical services of the Church of England, context within the ceremonies surrounding the Easter sepulchre, theological interpretation of the scriptural passages that comprise the anthem's text by Renaissance humanists and theologians, and performance forces available to composers. This study found that the anthem was an integral part of the Easter sepulchre procession during the first English version of the Easter Matins service found in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. Its function later changed as the sepulchre procession was eliminated from the 1552 revised version of the Book of Common Prayer and the anthem was moved to later within the Easter Morning Prayer service. Analysis of various commentaries and interpretations by contemporary theologians and humanists who influenced the English Reformation is provided to demonstrate the interpretation and meaning associated with specific musical settings by various composers. Finally, an examination of Renaissance English performing forces is provided, particularly centered on the institutions of the Chapel Royal and Lincoln Cathedral, both significant institutions that employed prominent English composers during the examined era.
ContributorsOlsen, Ryan Allen (Author) / Gentry, Gregory (Thesis advisor) / Saucier, Catherine (Thesis advisor) / Doan, Jerry (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Scmidt, Marg (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
ABSTRACT
The annual concours, or examens de fin d’année, of the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP) is a centuries-old tradition that began in 1797. It serves to determine each participating student’s readiness for graduation. For each competition from 1797-1999, specific pieces were assigned for each instrument. Through much of the nineteenth century, conservatory professors wrote these pieces for their students. In the twentieth century, the practice of assigning works previously written by other composers or commissioning new works by (usually) French composers became the norm. Oboists outside of France tend to associate terms such as “conservatory pieces” or “concours pieces” with pieces assigned during the nineteenth century, while generally overlooking twentieth century morceaux de concours. The purpose of this paper is to bring these forgotten pieces to light and provide background information to help oboists determine the suitability of these pieces for their own performance contexts.
Because research regarding the pieces selected during Professor Georges Gillet’s tenure (1882-1919) is already available, this paper focuses on the pieces selected from 1920-1999. A list of required pieces for oboe from 1824-2000, obtained from CNSMDP archive manager Sophie Lévy, made possible the compilation of an annotated bibliography of morceaux de concours for oboe from 1920-1999. (The annotated bibliography ends with the 1999 concours because, since 2000, oboists have been required to select their own programs.) The bibliography lists every piece that was performed, but only gives detailed descriptions of (1) twentieth century pieces that were specifically commissioned for the concours and (2) twentieth century pieces selected, but not specifically commissioned, for the concours, that are not considered to be part of the standard oboe repertoire. A brief description of trends observed within this set of contest pieces follows the bibliography, along with appendices intended to facilitate more productive use of the bibliography.
The annual concours, or examens de fin d’année, of the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP) is a centuries-old tradition that began in 1797. It serves to determine each participating student’s readiness for graduation. For each competition from 1797-1999, specific pieces were assigned for each instrument. Through much of the nineteenth century, conservatory professors wrote these pieces for their students. In the twentieth century, the practice of assigning works previously written by other composers or commissioning new works by (usually) French composers became the norm. Oboists outside of France tend to associate terms such as “conservatory pieces” or “concours pieces” with pieces assigned during the nineteenth century, while generally overlooking twentieth century morceaux de concours. The purpose of this paper is to bring these forgotten pieces to light and provide background information to help oboists determine the suitability of these pieces for their own performance contexts.
Because research regarding the pieces selected during Professor Georges Gillet’s tenure (1882-1919) is already available, this paper focuses on the pieces selected from 1920-1999. A list of required pieces for oboe from 1824-2000, obtained from CNSMDP archive manager Sophie Lévy, made possible the compilation of an annotated bibliography of morceaux de concours for oboe from 1920-1999. (The annotated bibliography ends with the 1999 concours because, since 2000, oboists have been required to select their own programs.) The bibliography lists every piece that was performed, but only gives detailed descriptions of (1) twentieth century pieces that were specifically commissioned for the concours and (2) twentieth century pieces selected, but not specifically commissioned, for the concours, that are not considered to be part of the standard oboe repertoire. A brief description of trends observed within this set of contest pieces follows the bibliography, along with appendices intended to facilitate more productive use of the bibliography.
ContributorsEthington, Charlotte (Author) / Schuring, Martin (Thesis advisor) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020