Matching Items (14)
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- All Subjects: Guitar music
- All Subjects: Music History
- Creators: Solís, Ted
- Creators: Oeth, John
Description
The Space Race (1957–1975), a period of rapid technological advancements prompted by the uncertainty and fear of the Cold War, captured the curiosity and attention of many artists, filmmakers and composers. Their responses, recorded in a multitude of works from various genres, reflect the overall tone and mirror societal views in the midst of uncertain, politically-charged times.
My thesis explores two seminal American artists who explored outer space in numerous works. John Cage (1912–1992), an avant-garde classical composer, wrote such works as Atlas Eclipticalis (1961), Etudes Australes (1974–75), and the Freeman Etudes (1977–1980), all composed using star-maps. Sun Ra (1914–1993), an American Afrofuturist jazz composer, created hundreds of iconic experimental jazz works on the theme of outer space, with albums such as We Travel the Space Ways (1967), Space Is the Place (1973), and Cosmos (1976).
The works of these two composers span across several decades, encompassing the Space Race and Cold War. In this thesis, I will specifically discuss the details of two works: Cage’s Atlas Eclipticalis, and Ra’s composition Space Is the Place (later included in the soundtrack of a film by the same name). Discussion will elaborate on the cultural, political, philosophical, and societal influences that played a part in the creation of these two compositions.
My research materials for this thesis includes a collection of primary sources in the form of recordings, early musical sketches, and in the case of Ra, film footage from Space Is the Place (1974), as well as multitude of secondary sources. By choosing works from two different genres I hope to present a wider, more nuanced snapshot of artist responses to space exploration during the Cold War.
My thesis explores two seminal American artists who explored outer space in numerous works. John Cage (1912–1992), an avant-garde classical composer, wrote such works as Atlas Eclipticalis (1961), Etudes Australes (1974–75), and the Freeman Etudes (1977–1980), all composed using star-maps. Sun Ra (1914–1993), an American Afrofuturist jazz composer, created hundreds of iconic experimental jazz works on the theme of outer space, with albums such as We Travel the Space Ways (1967), Space Is the Place (1973), and Cosmos (1976).
The works of these two composers span across several decades, encompassing the Space Race and Cold War. In this thesis, I will specifically discuss the details of two works: Cage’s Atlas Eclipticalis, and Ra’s composition Space Is the Place (later included in the soundtrack of a film by the same name). Discussion will elaborate on the cultural, political, philosophical, and societal influences that played a part in the creation of these two compositions.
My research materials for this thesis includes a collection of primary sources in the form of recordings, early musical sketches, and in the case of Ra, film footage from Space Is the Place (1974), as well as multitude of secondary sources. By choosing works from two different genres I hope to present a wider, more nuanced snapshot of artist responses to space exploration during the Cold War.
ContributorsIvis, Andrea (Author) / Feisst, Sabine (Thesis advisor) / Wells, Christopher (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
ContributorsMayo, Joshua (Performer) / Wheeler, Thomas (Performer) / Dominguez, Ramon (Performer) / Tuijl-Goode, Remi (Performer) / Lehrer, Gave (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2019-04-05
ContributorsDominguez, Ramon (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2021-04-15
ContributorsDominguez, Ramon (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2022-04-28
ContributorsOeth, John (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2015-02-10
ContributorsSmith, Andrew Lesley (Performer) / Oeth, John (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2016-04-21
ContributorsOeth, John (Performer) / Smith, Andrew (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2016-04-03
Description
The American sublime aesthetic, discussed frequently in literature and art of the United States, is equally manifest in the nation’s symphonic music as a concurrent and complementary aesthetic. The musical application of the American sublime supports and enriches current scholarship on American musical identity, nationality, and the American symphonic enterprise. I suggest that the American sublime forms an integral part of nineteenth-century American music and is key to understanding the symphony as a genre in the United States. I discuss American symphonic works by Anthony Philip Heinrich, George Frederick Bristow, William Henry Fry, Dennison Wheelock, and Florence Beatrice Price, aided by an analytical tool which I developed, to illuminate my appraisal of the nineteenth-century American symphonic enterprise. Their compositions contribute meaningfully to the complex history of identity formation for both American composers and the nation. In focusing on these incorporations of the sublime by white composers and composers of color from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, my research demonstrates how the American sublime expanded and transformed to better accommodate the country’s diverse citizenry, despite the marginalization of some.
The nineteenth-century trans-Atlantic dialogue between Americans and their European contemporaries sustained a “distinctly cosmopolitan cultural ethos,” a phenomenon also described by Douglas Shadle as “one of the most vibrant intercultural exchanges in all of Western music history.” This dialogue shaped the cultural formation of identity for many American composers throughout the century and provided the foundation for a symphonic repertoire, which became internationally recognized for the first time as “American.” In this cosmopolitan environment, the Americanization of the sublime aided in the rebranding of long-established European artistic expressions like the symphony, while perpetuating the idealization of the nation’s geography, its people, and its beliefs. Perhaps most importantly, the American sublime supported the widely held belief in American exceptionalism and manifest destiny. The applicability of the American sublime to various genres made it a useful tool to assert autonomy and individuality in forms such as the symphony. For this reason, a revaluation of American symphonic music and its relation to the American sublime amplifies the significance of this repertoire.
The nineteenth-century trans-Atlantic dialogue between Americans and their European contemporaries sustained a “distinctly cosmopolitan cultural ethos,” a phenomenon also described by Douglas Shadle as “one of the most vibrant intercultural exchanges in all of Western music history.” This dialogue shaped the cultural formation of identity for many American composers throughout the century and provided the foundation for a symphonic repertoire, which became internationally recognized for the first time as “American.” In this cosmopolitan environment, the Americanization of the sublime aided in the rebranding of long-established European artistic expressions like the symphony, while perpetuating the idealization of the nation’s geography, its people, and its beliefs. Perhaps most importantly, the American sublime supported the widely held belief in American exceptionalism and manifest destiny. The applicability of the American sublime to various genres made it a useful tool to assert autonomy and individuality in forms such as the symphony. For this reason, a revaluation of American symphonic music and its relation to the American sublime amplifies the significance of this repertoire.
ContributorsHicks, Glen Wayne (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Shadle, Douglas W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
ContributorsOeth, John (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2015-10-04
Description
In 1568, Vincenzo Galilei published the first edition of Fronimo as a guide to the art of intabulating vocal music for the lute. A second edition was released in 1584 in which Galilei presents “26 Ricercari” to demonstrate the sound of each Glarean mode. These short works provide a methodical approach to experiencing the Renaissance modes through his beautiful writing for the lute.
This research project focuses on the “26 Ricercari” and explores the challenges of transcribing and arranging Renaissance lute tablatures to be played on the guitar. Topics such as making decisions for voicings, fingerings, tactus reductions, and formatting are examined. Historically-informed playing suggestions such as articulations, lute techniques, and tempo are also included.
Many lute and vihuela works, like the ricercari, have not yet been transcribed. The ricerari tablatures are idiomatic and instantly playable for guitarists who are familiar with different forms of tablature, but most classical guitarists today are familiar only with modern staff notation. Because of this, Galilei’s works have been wrongfully neglected.
My project presents the first guitar edition of these works, along with the documentation of my methodology, and serves as an aid to others for transcribing lute tablatures.
This research project focuses on the “26 Ricercari” and explores the challenges of transcribing and arranging Renaissance lute tablatures to be played on the guitar. Topics such as making decisions for voicings, fingerings, tactus reductions, and formatting are examined. Historically-informed playing suggestions such as articulations, lute techniques, and tempo are also included.
Many lute and vihuela works, like the ricercari, have not yet been transcribed. The ricerari tablatures are idiomatic and instantly playable for guitarists who are familiar with different forms of tablature, but most classical guitarists today are familiar only with modern staff notation. Because of this, Galilei’s works have been wrongfully neglected.
My project presents the first guitar edition of these works, along with the documentation of my methodology, and serves as an aid to others for transcribing lute tablatures.
ContributorsOeth, John (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020