GABRIEL URBAIN FAURÉ, THE UNSUNG MODERNIST: A PERFORMANCE SURVEY OF SELECTED LATE WORKS WRITTEN AFTER 1892 FOR PIANO SOLO, AND PIANO IN COLLABORATION WITH VIOLIN, VIOLONCELLO, AND VOICE

Gabriel Urbain Fauré lived during one of the most exciting times in music history. Spanning a life of 79 years (1845-1924), he lived through the height of Romanticism and the experimental avant-garde techniques of the early 20th century. In Fauré's music, one can find traces of Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Debussy and Poulenc. One can even argue that Fauré presages Skryabin and Shostakovich. The late works of Gabriel Fauré, chiefly those composed after 1892, testify to the argument that Fauré holds an important position in the shift from tonal to atonal composition and should be counted among such transitional composers as Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Richard Strauss, and Ferruccio Busoni. Fauré's unique way of fashioning harmonic impetus of almost purely linear means, resulting in a synthesis of harmonic and melodic devices, led me to craft the term mélodoharmonique. This term refers to a contrapuntally motivated technique of composition, particularly in a secondary layer of musical texture, in which a component of harmonic progression (i.e. arpeggiation, broken chord, etc.) is fused with linear motivic or thematic development. This dissertation seeks to bring to public attention through exploration in lecture and recital format, certain works of Gabriel Fauré, written after 1892. The repertoire will be selected from works for solo piano and piano in collaboration with violin, violoncello, and voice, which support the notion of Fauré as a modernist deserving larger recognition for his influence in the transition to atonal music. The recital repertoire includes the following--Song Cycles: La bonne chanson, opus 61; La chanson d'Ève, opus 95; Le jardin clos, opus 106; Mirages, opus 113; L'horizon chimérique, opus 118; Piano Works: Prelude in G minor opus 103, No. 3; Prelude in E minor opus 103, No. 9; Eleventh Nocturne, opus 104, No.1; Thirteenth Nocturne, opus 119; Chamber Works: Second Violin Sonata, opus 108; First Violoncello Sonata, opus 109; Second Violoncello Sonata, opus 117.

AUSTRO-GERMAN VIOLIN REPERTORIE FROM BAROQUE THROUGH ROMANTIC PERIOD

At the end of the sixteenth century, Germany had become one of the most active centers of early Baroque music, and therefore Austro-German music came to dominate Western music. An investigation of violin works written during this period reveals the ways in which Austro-German compositions are extraordinary contributions to the violin repertoire. This research warranted further study and performance of these works in order to determine what influence these composers had on the violin repertoire as a whole. For my dissertation recital project, I trace the history of works for violin focusing the violin concerto repertoire in particular. A genre which remained popular throughout the century, the nineteenth-century concerto served primarily as a vehicle for virtuosic display of the violin and piano as never before. For my research I studied and performed works selected from the Baroque through the Romantic period in three recorded recitals with collaborative pianists Ilya Sinaisky, Sun-ha Yun, and Seyon Lee at the Gildenhorn Recital Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. I selected particularly prominent pieces which represent the work of significant composers from each period. The composers discussed include Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), owing to the fact that his works are the culmination of the Baroque era during the first half of the eighteenth century; from the Classical period, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) all of whom emerged mixing German and Italian traditions into his own style, and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), the bridge composer between the Classical and the Romantic periods; Romantic composers, Franz Schubert (1979-1828), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), and Max Bruch (1838-1920), all who tended to mix Classic and Romantic elements. As a violinist, I learned that their own original sound, rich harmonies and unique expression made these works worthy of becoming masterpieces. I have relished the opportunity for musical and professional growth in exploring these substantial compositions.

THE COMPLETE PRELUDES OF ALEXANDER SCRIABIN: THE EVOLUTION OF HIS REVOLUTIONARY COMPOSITIONAL STYLE

During the second half of the nineteenth century, a series of remarkable advances in musical composition emerged in the works of such innovative spirits as Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner. Their pioneering works exerted an extraordinary impact on the music of the subsequent generation of composers--of disparate nationalities-who were active at the dawn of the 20th century: Including most notably Claude-Achille Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin. These important musical figures, each one leaving an indelible and formative imprint on late-nineteenth century Romantic style, together launched the modern era in music. Scriabin stands alone as a transcendental visionary: His music, initiated in the fashion of Chopin and Liszt, wanders through the realms of Debussy and Wagner, and, ultimately abandoning late Romantic tradition, unlocks the heretofore unforeseen power of atonality, bitonality, polyrhythms and key-signature free compositions. Arguably, Scriabin's compositions count among the most innovative, idiosyncratic and bewitching of all time. The development of Scriabin's groundbreaking compositional style is best understood by means of his piano works, which comprise the majority of his oeuvre. Beyond the larger works-his twelve sonatas, a concerto and a fantasy-Scriabin's piano explorations are also represented by miniature gems: The mazurkas, impromptus, waltzes, poems, a polonaise, etudes, nocturnes, morceaux and, in particular, the preludes. Scriabin's 90 preludes for piano, arranged in several opus numbers, richly exemplify the striking evolution of his ingenious music, his idiosyncratic philosophy and his provocative personality.

THE PIANO FANTASY FROM BACH TO DANIELPOUR

The Fantasy, as the term suggests, is a genre that composers have found congenial for exploring innovative and imaginative processes. Works in this genre are numerous in the solo piano literature, and extend even to works for piano and orchestra and to chamber music with piano. I was curious to explore how a specific genre of music maintained similar characteristics but evolved over time. A fantasy is primed to be inventive and I wanted to see how composers from different eras and backgrounds would handle their material in this genre. I have learned that composers worked through formal developments while making innovations within this genre. The heart of my dissertation is presented through the recording project. Because ofthe abundance ofpiano fantasies, many works had to be excluded from this project for time's sake. On two compact discs, I have recorded approximately two hours of solo piano music. I have included some shorter fantasies to magnify significant developments from era to era, country to country, and composer to composer. The first disc has recordings of eighteenth and nineteenth-century fantasies: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903 by J.S. Bach (1685-1750); Fantasia inC major, H. XVII, 4 by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809); Fantasy inc minor, K. 475 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756- 1791); Fantasia inf-sharp minor, Op. 28 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847); and Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61 by Frederic Chopin (1810-1849). On the second disc I have included mid-19th, 20th and 2151-century piano fantasies: Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H by Franz Liszt (1811-1886); Fantasia Baetica by Manuel de Falla (1876-1946); Three Fantasies by William Bergsma (1921-1994); Fantasy, Aria and Fugue by Frederic Goossen (1927-2011); and Piano Fantasy ("Wenn ich einmal sol! scheiden") by Richard Danielpour (b. 1956). The accompanying document includes program notes for each of the pieces recorded. They were recorded on a Steinway "D" in Dekelboum Concert Hall at the University of Maryland by Antonino D'Urzo ofOpusrite Productions. This document is available in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland and the CO's are available through the Library System at the University of Maryland.