AN EXAMINATION OF A CONDUCTOR’S PERFORMANCE PREPARATION OF THE MENDELSSOHN VIOLIN CONCERTO IN E MINOR

The music of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-47) has earned a prominent position in the orchestral repertoire. One of his greatest works, and certainly one of the most performed, is his Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64. The work enjoys much popularity with, and recognition by, soloists, orchestras, and conductors alike. Even with its fame and familiarity, it remains a work that must be carefully studied and prepared by the conductor. This document presents an examination of a conductor’s performance preparation of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. The purpose of this examination is to equip the conductor with a depth of knowledge that will yield rehearsals and performances of the concerto that are stylistically appropriate, well informed, and efficient. Major sections include an examination of the concerto’s 1844 and 1845 versions and available performance materials, tempo selection and execution, size, balance and composition of the orchestra, stylistic traits, and aspects of performance practice

Critical Performances

Philosophers of music commonly distinguish performative from critical interpretations. I would like to suggest that the distinction between critical and performative interpretations is well captured by an analogy to legal critics and judges. This parallel draws attention to several features of performative interpretation that are typically overlooked, and deemphasizes epistemic problems with performative interpretations that I believe are typically blown out of proportion and ultimately fail to capture interesting features of performative interpretation. There is an important distinction to be made between critical and performative interpretation, but its source lies in a difference between the authority of critical and performative interpretations

Score-Informed Source Separation for Musical Audio Recordings [An overview]

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Annual Report Of Research and Creative Productions, January to December, 2007

2007 Annual Report of Research and Creative Productions, Morehead State University, Division of Academic Affairs, Research and Creative Productions Committee

Edward Elgar’s the Music Makers: A Choral Conductor’s Analysis and Score Preparation Guide

Edward Elgar’s The Music Makers, op 69, a cantata for full choir, mezzo-soprano soloist and orchestra, was debuted and conducted by the composer on October 1, 1912 at the Birmingham Festival in England. Based on the now familiar poem by late nineteenth-century English pre-Raphaelite poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881), and beginning with the phrase “We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams”, the work is considered by some historians to be a personal requiem by the composer. Written at Elgar’s peak of compositional creativity, this extended, almost forty-minute cantata, is a choral work of deep personal meaning and reflection. The Music Makers was criticized by his contemporaries on two counts. Elgar set the entirety of O’Shaughnessy’s “Ode” as his libretto whereas in other works, such as The Dream of Gerontius, he chose only those poetic lines that best suited the drama of the work. In the late nineteenth century, O’Shaughnessy’s poems were briefly in fashion, but by the time Elgar set the “Ode” only a few years later, they came across as being dated and of questionable literary quality. In addition, Elgar included numerous musical quotations from earlier compositions, including his own Symphonies #1 and #2, Sea Pictures, The Dream of Gerontius, and the “Enigma” Variations. As a result, many reviews critiqued the work as lacking compositional originality and creativity. With its debut in the years leading up to England’s entry into World War I, and with less than stellar public reviews, the work did not receive the number of early public performances which other Elgar works tended to enjoy. This pattern has continued to this day. The Music Makers tends to be performed for its curiosity value and recorded only by large orchestra choruses in conjunction with professional orchestras, and the few live performances tend to be limited to ones in England. However, The Music Makers deserves greater visibility as it is actually more accessible to a broader level of choral ensemble, including college and larger community choirs, than is assumed. This study will show that with an informed understanding of the history, form, and interpretive opportunities of The Music Makers, combined with strategies to addressing some of the pedagogical, vocal and conducting challenges, Elgar’s magnum opus is a worthy work to perform at almost any choral level

Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano, Op. 80,by Sergei Prokofiev: A Guide to Interpretation

Sergei Prokofiev was an extremely prolific composer whose career brought him success throughout Europe and the U. S. as well as Russia and the Soviet Union. He wrote for nearly every genre, and his most popular works today include operas, ballets, symphonies, and concertos. As a pianist, most of the concertos and sonatas that Prokofiev wrote were for the piano. However, his contributions to the violin repertoire are significant. Prokofiev wrote two concertos and two sonatas for solo violin. Of these, Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano, Op. 80 is unique for many reasons. The piece took Prokofiev eight years to finish, an unusually long amount of time for a composer who normally wrote quickly. He began the piece in 1938, shortly after permanently returning to the Soviet Union. At this point, Prokofiev’s career and popularity seemed to be at its peak. By the time the piece was premiered in 1946, Prokofiev had been subject to Soviet censorship and travel restrictions. In addition, the overall tone of the sonata is significantly harsher and more melancholic than Prokofiev’s other works for violin. These characteristics give the sonata unparalleled potential for meaningful individual interpretations. It is the interpretation of this piece that is of primary focus in this instance. Several factors regarding the origins, context, and schools of interpretation are considered. These factors include details of Prokofiev’s biography leading up to Op. 80’s completion, a brief history of Op. 80’s composition and early reception, a formal analysis of the piece, a review of available recordings, interviews of professors at major conservatories in the U. S., and a comparison of available editions

Alfred Hill’s viola concerto: analysis, compositional style and performance aesthetic

This thesis investigates Alfred Hill’s Concerto for Viola of 1940, showing through indepth analysis, performance and contextual understanding that this work presents a valuable contribution to both Australian music history and the wider viola concerti literature. This study has been undertaken to address some misconceptions regarding Hill and his musical output, a composer undermined posthumously because of a lack of musical and contextual understanding. This investigation has focused on Hill’s highly virtuosic viola concerto, a work evoking the great nineteenth-century concerti, a genre from which the viola was all but excluded. The thesis begins by placing this study within the relevant scholarship. Chapter two considers the effect of Hill’s Leipzig training and subsequent social contributions. Chapter three provides a brief overview of the concerto and Romantic musical ideas, followed by musical analyses in chapters four through six. Chapter seven presents some ideas regarding appropriate cadenza material and the final chapter contains a discussion and conclusions

A Background, Analysis, and Performance Guide for Eugene Goossens\u27s Concerto in One Movement for Oboe and Orchestra

Sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) was a leading English composer and conductor of the early twentieth century. Though his music is relatively unknown today, at the height of his popularity as a composer in the 1920s and 30s, Goossens’ music was considered equal to that of British contemporaries Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Malcolm Arnold, Arnold Bax, and Gordon Jacob. A public scandal towards the end of his career resulted in his works falling into relative obscurity, with the exception of his oboe concerto. Despite the concerto’s popularity within the oboe community, few in-depth studies of the work exist. This monograph presents a formal examination of Eugene Goossens’s Oboe Concerto in One Movement (1929). Chapter One explores the life and musical journey of Eugene, as well as his brother Léon, a well-known oboist for whom the concerto was written. It also delves into the history of the concerto, including its premiere and significance of the piece within the oboe repertory. In Chapter Two, the concerto is examined through an analysis of the formal structure, unifying elements, and salient aspects of the piece. Chapter Three provides a guide for performing or teaching the piece, focusing on interpretation, technical challenges, and ensemble considerations