BAROQUE MUSIC FOR TRUMPET: A STUDY OF SOLO AND CHAMBER REPERTOIRE

The trumpet experienced important changes in terms of its musical use during the middle and late Baroque period. Prior to the Baroque, and even in to the first half of the 17th century, the trumpet had historically been used for rather "non-musical" purposes, sometimes as an instrument for battle or as a tool to be used in the town square to announce the arrival of a dignitary. On the whole, the trumpet was most certainly not used as an instrument of melody -that was typically reserved for violins, flutes, and oboes. However, in the late 1600's, composers such as Allesandro Stradella and Henry Purcell began to treat the trumpet differently. They saw the melodic potential in the trumpet and began to feature the trumpet more as an instrument of melody, as opposed to relegating it to only outlining triads and emphasizing harmony. Of course, keyboard, string, and woodwind instruments had long established a significant catalogue of works by the late 17th century. Additionally, even after the trumpet had been established as an instrument of melody, prominent composers of the time still wrote significantly more solo music for these other instrument families than for the trumpet. Consequently, the overall Baroque repertoire for the solo trumpet pales in comparison to that of the other families of instruments. But, much of this Baroque literature not originally written for trumpet can be presented effectively in the form of a transcription, thereby adding greatly to the repertoire of the Baroque solo trumpet. The goal of these three dissertation recitals is twofold: 1) to perform literature that offers music from a variety of countries of origin that span the entire Baroque era and 2) to feature music that has remained relatively unknown in the trumpet world, yet is musically strong. I will also introduce viable "new" music to the trumpet repertoire through Baroque transcriptions originally written for other instruments or voice. The majority of the transcriptions I will be performing have originated from my own listening and study of Baroque music, and I have selected music that I felt would translate well for the trumpet.

DISSIMILAR CONTEMPORARIES: SELECTED PIANO MUSIC OF SERGEI RACHMANINOFF AND SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Virtual contemporaries, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev were pianists, steeped in the traditions of Russian pianism; recordings of both pianists-composers playing their own works are available. Although the composers can be perceived as having little in common, in fact both composed in classical forms, both had a strong lyrical sense and both had an unbreakable connection with their Russian heritage. Rachmaninoff was the last great representative of Russian late Romanticism as well as one of the finest pianists of his generation. He cultivated a sweepingly passionate and melodious idiom, with pronounced lyrical quality, expressive breath and structural ingenuity. Prokofiev, on the other hand, tried to push the Russian Romantic traditions to a point of exacerbation and caricature before experimenting with various kinds of modernism. Stressing simplicity, he helped invent Neo-Classicism. His melodies are essentially tonal with wide skips and sweeping long lines. Harmonically, he used triadic harmony full of dissonances, strange inversions, unusual spacings, and jarring juxtapositions. Writing in classical forms, he incorporated rhythmic vitality and lyrical elements into his music. I have chosen to perform five works by each composer, written in a variety of genres, including the sonata, the toccata, variations, the concerto. I also have divided the pieces into three recital programs to show the idiosyncratic characteristics of the composers. I have endeavored to select pieces based on the technical and artistic challenges that they offer, thereby allowing me to grow as a pianist and an artist. My goal is to gain a thorough understanding of not only the pieces but also the musical styles of both composers.

SELECTED ICONIC CHAMBER MUSIC WORKS WITH PIANO FROM THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES

Chamber music repertoire featuring the piano blossomed from the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth century. The quantity of works increased greatly during this time and the quality of these works reached the highest level. Among the many symbolic works that were composed were sonatas for a single string instrument with piano, piano trios, quartets: and quintets as well as two-piano works and four-hand duets. Being able to study and perform many of these iconic works before I graduated was one of the major goals I set for myself as a collaborative pianist. The abundance of repertoire has made it easy to choose works considered "iconic" for my dissertation's three recitals. Iconic is defined as "very famous or popular, especially being considered to represent particular opinions or a particular time" in the online Cambridge Advanced Leamer's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University. The compositions featured in the recitals were composed from 1842 through 1941, including works by Schumann, Brahms, Faure, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Lutoslawski. Choosing the repertoire with my fellow performers in mind was an important part of this dissertation. In addition to trying to make balanced programs which include variety, working with different instruments and performers is one of the most fulfilling parts of the musical experience for me as a collaborative pianist. Joining me for the concerts were members of the Aeolus String Quartet (violinist Nicholas Tavani, violinist Rachel Shapiro, violist Greg Luce, and cellist Alan Richardson), pianist Hsiao-Ying Lin (a doctoral student from the Peabody Conservatory), and my colleagues from the Peabody Institute Preparatory Division (faculty violinist Dr. Christian Tremblay and cellist Alicia Ward), and Derek Smith, Associate Principal violist of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestras). The three recitals were performed in the Gildenhom and Ulrich Recital Halls at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. They are recorded on CD and available on compact discs, which can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).

Music for Three Stages: Performance Preparation for Opera, Operetta and Recital

Music for Three Stages: Performance Preparation for Opera, Operetta and Recital began as three stand-alone performances: two operas, Albert Herring and Die Fledermaus, as assigned by my opera program, and a recital of music by composers who wrote operas, art songs and non-operatic large-scale works, which I programmed. Upon starting the process of preparing for these three performances, I hypothesized that each would require unique preparation techniques. What I discovered, however, was that instead of each being unique and isolated in preparation, each performance, along with other performances that I had throughout the year, highly informed my approach to each piece. Through the preparation of program notes, included in this dissertation, as well as the musical preparation of each performance, I concluded that preparing for these performances was a long arc over the course of the year, with much give and take among the styles of music and an integrated style of preparation, instead of the individualized preparations that I expected.

Polish Violin Music in the 20th and 21st Century

The purpose of this dissertation is to promote Polish violin music written in the 20th and 21st Century. My recitals included many lesser-known compositions and composers which I strongly believe deserve to be better known and more often performed. The search and preparation of those pieces, for which recordings and music scores are not easily found, was a very exciting and stimulating process. Much Polish music written in the 20th and 21st Century is interesting, expressive, beautiful, and deserves to be more often performed. Performing 20th and 21st Century music opens new perspectives in two directions: musically and technically. Performer and listener are, in many cases, unbound from tonality. Composers are looking for new sonorities and exploring such performing techniques as varieties of harmonics, quarter tones, extreme dynamics, complex rhythms, and usage of a wide range of registers. An important part of Polish music is Polish folklore. The little town of Zakopane is known for Polish traditional clothing, food, architecture, dance and music. Also, most prominent Polish luthiers including Wojciech Topa, whose instrument I am playing, have been making their instruments in Zakopane. This little town in the Tatras Mountain has been an inspiration for many Polish artists including Iwaszkiewicz, Witkacy, Karłowicz, and Szymanowski. Those composers used such folklore elements as folk scales, popular tunes, and imitations of the sound of the folk band with characteristic folk dance rhythms. Other musical genres where folk elements are strongly present are the compositions dedicated to young musicians, with a specifically educational purpose. Among composers who wrote educational music were Grażyna Bacewicz, Witold Lutosławski, and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. This approach makes the works more easily understood by young performers and, at the same time, broadens their understanding of Polish culture and prepares them for the challenges of contemporary music. This has been an exciting project for me because, on the one hand, it allowed me the challenge of performing compositions that are lesser-known and often consist of musical language new to me while, on the other, it brought me back to my roots and the country of my mother tongue.