SOLOS DE CONCOURS FOR FLUTE AT THE PARTS CONSERVATORY: TWO DECADES-1900s AND 1940s

The topic of this dissertation is the concours pieces for flute at the Paris Conservatory covering two decades. The works are used for exit examination pieces for graduating students at the conservatory. The music is chosen by the director, the professors in the performance area, and a committee of other professors. These pieces still seem to be among the more important pieces known by flutists in the twenty-first century, and they are also frequently used as required audition pieces by conservatories, orchestras, and competitions. I have performed the works used for examination in two decades separated by almost half a century: The pieces from 1900 to 1909 and from 1940-1949, This performance dissertation contains three recital programs, and the recordings of the recitals are filed electronicaIly. I have grouped them according to contrasting styles in three recitals. Works performed are Agrestide (1942) by Eugene Bozza, Andante et Scherzo (1945) by Francois J. Brun, Preude et Scherzo (1908) by Henri Busser, Concertino (1902) by Cecile Chaminade, sixth Solo (1855) by Jules Demersseman (it was on the concours of 1896, dates which are outside the scope of this dissertation), Sonatine (1943) by Henri Dutilleux, Cantabile et Presto (1904) by Georges Enesco, Andante et Scheno (1901) by Louis Ganne, Fantaisie (1920) by Philippe Gaubert, Nocturne et Allegro Scherzando (1906) by Philippe Gaubert, Chant de Linos (1944) by Andre Jolivet, Fantasiestuck (1947) by Henri Martelli, Eglogue (1909) by Jules Mouquet, Concerto in A (1945-1949) by mile Passani, Ballade (1903) by Albert Perhilou, Sonatine (1946) by Pierre Sancan, Andante Pastorale et Scherzettim (1907) by Paul Taffanel, and Concertino in E Major (1945) by Henri Tornasi. Cantabile et Presto was required in both 1904 and 1940, and Andante et Scherzo was required in both 1901 and 1905.

SELECTED AMERICAN VIOLIN WORKS AND THEIR EUROPEAN CONTEXT

For my dissertation, I did a study and performance of American violin works by Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and John Corigliano, along with contemporaneous European works by Paul Hindemith, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, and Francis Poulenc. The selected American violin works display the development of a distinctively American style and cover a significant formative period (1914-1963) of American classical music. I intend that the European works form a backdrop for setting in relief any distinctly American qualities possessed by the American works. This is because they cover a similar time period and have significant stylistic affinities and shared influences. My topic stems from a question, "What defines the American Sound?" I attempted to find the answer by looking at the time when American composers consciously searched for their identities, and declared their music to be distinctly American. I found that those distinctive qualities stemmed from three sources: folk music, jazz and hymns. Ives and Copland can be viewed as American in content for their inclusion of such elements, while Bernstein and Corigliano can also be considered as "ideologically American" for their adventurous and eclectic spirit. The simplicity derived from singing a hymn or crooning a popular song; the freedom inspired by jazz; the optimism of accepting all possibilities-these elements inform the common spirit that I found in the music of these four American composers. FIRST RECITAL Sonatafor Violin Solo Op.3112 (1924), Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) Suite Italiennefor Violin and Piano (1932), Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Sonatafor Violin and Piano (1963), John Corigliano (b.1938) SECOND RECITAL Second Sonatafor Violin and Piano (1914-17), Charles Ives (1874-1954) First Rhapsody for Violin and Piano (1928), Bela Bart6k (1881-1971) Violin Sonata No.1 infminor (1938-46), Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) THIRD RECITAL Nocturne for Violin and Piano (1926), Aaron Copland (1900-1990)Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 119 (1942-3, rev.1949), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)Serenade (after Plato's "Symposium'') (1954) by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) The pianists were Sun Ha Yoon (Bart6k) and Grace Eunae Cho (all other repertoire).

INNOVATIONS IN FRENCH CHAMBER MUSIC AND MÉLODIE (1886 – 1962) – A COLLABORATIVE PIANIST’S PERSPECTIVE

French chamber music in the last quarter of the nineteenth century displayed significant advances in musical innovations and technical developments. As the Parisian public began to favor instrumental music and mélodie over opera, vocal and chamber music with piano became one of the main genres to express French composers’ creativity and individuality. The composers Franck, Debussy, Fauré, Duparc, Ravel, Chausson and Poulenc were the major contributors to this unusually creative period in French music. French mélodies of this period blend precision with lyricism, and demand the performer’s elegance and wit. They show careful settings of the French language’s rhythmic subtleties and increased expressiveness in and importance of the piano accompaniment. The chamber works of this period demanded superior pianistic and instrumental virtuosity while displaying wide ranges of sonority, multiple tone colors, and rhythmic fluidity. The three recitals which comprise this dissertation project were performed at the University of Maryland Gildenhorn Recital Hall on 27 October 2006, All Nations Mission Church (Dayton, NJ) on 5 December 2009, and the Leah M. Smith Lecture Hall of the University of Maryland on 11 May 2010. The repertoire included Poulenc’s Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1962) with oboist Yeongsu Kim, French mélodies by Fauré, Chausson, Debussy, Ravel and Duparc with soprano Jung-A Lee and baritone Hyun-Oh Shin, Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn (1932-1939) with flutist Katrina Smith, clarinetist Jihoon Chang, bassoonist Erich Heckscher, hornist Heidi Littman and oboist Yeongsu Kim, Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano (1915) with cellist Ji-Sook Shin, Poulenc’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (1942-1949) with violinist Ji-Hee Lim, Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (1886) with violinist Na-Young Cho, Ravel’s Piano Trio (1915) with cellist Ji-Sook Shin and violinist Yu-Jeong Lee and Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927) with violinist Yu-Jeong Lee. The recitals were recorded on compact discs and are archived within the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).