Degree Name
Master of Music
Graduate Program
Music
Advisor
Morehouse, Christopher
Abstract
This document will discuss the repertoire selected for the required graduate master’s recital. An overview of the historical background, harmonic analysis, style and, form, will be presented along with performance practice concepts involving the interpretation and technical challenges of each piece. The program will include: Prelude, Fugue and Allegro BWV 998 by Johann Sebastian Bach; Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos; Historie del Tango by Astor Piazzolla and Usher Waltz Op. 29 by Nikita Koshkin.
A variety of resources that include books, articles, liner notes and dissertations will be used to form a fresh examination of each style of music represented in this program. Adapting BWV 998 for the guitar requires a detail study of style, harmony and guitar technique because it was originally written for keyboards. The Villa-Lobos concerto explores idiomatic elements linked to the physicality of the guitar such as combinations of open string drones with parallel motion passages of the instrument. Piazzolla’s composition for guitar and flute demonstrates how the guitar can blend with other instruments and the use of Argentinean folklore in concert level music. Finally, Usher Waltz Op. 29 uses polyrhythms and colorful harmonies to interpret Edgar Allen Poe’s short story of “The Fall of the House of Usher.”