Jo Ann Miller - Thesis Committee

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Tracing the Development of Japanese Choral Tradition, and the Influence of Buddhism and Western Music
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Kishimoto, Masashi
This research deals with the origin and development of Japanese choral music emphasizing Japanese folk tunes. The process of how modern styles of Japanese choral music evolved is rather complicated, and has been greatly influenced by the paralleled development of society, tradition, culture, language, politics, and religion. In order to truly understand the essence and evolution of traditional Japanese music, it is crucial to recognize the cultural influences that make up Japanese history. In the late fifth century, Japan started to absorb new music from mainland Asia into its own culture. This led to the development of new musical ideas, laying the groundwork for musical traditions that defined Japanese culture for years to come. Both mainland Asia and Europe introduced strong religious influences (Buddhism and Christianity, respectively). However, it was not until the radical influence of European music in the 19th century merged with traditional Japanese folk song and created the modern synthesis of the form. This research aims to discuss how the different aspects of both Eastern and Western music, more specifically their unique rhythms, scales, chords and harmonies, evolved and now coexist within Japanese culture and music. Choral works based on Japanese folk tunes are used to assess specific developmental influences.
The Development of Works for Choir and Brass: A Study of Four Representative Works
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Armendarez, Christina Marie
As brass instruments evolved from crude instruments limited to only a few notes into instruments that could play melodic passages within the vocal range, they began to be paired with the voice. The development traced in this paper will focus primarily on the addition of brass instruments with a choral ensemble from the late Renaissance period through the Modern period. Insight into the historical use of brass and the evolution of choral and brass music allows us to better understand the genre and how subject matter, text, and/or the occasion for which the compositions were composed often influenced the composer’s decision to add brass. Four representative pieces will be studied: In Ecclesiis by Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1554-1612); Herr, unser Herscher by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672); Ecce Sacerdos by Anton Bruckner (1824- 1896); and Ode a la Musique by Frank Martin (1890-1974).
Jocelyn Hagen and Timothy Takach: An Introduction to their Choral Music and a Study of their Positions within a Lineage of Minnesota-Based Composers
(North Dakota State University, 2013) Culloton, Michael Patrick
This study serves as an introduction to the choral music of Jocelyn Hagen and Timothy Takach. It also examines their positions within a lineage that includes three generations of successful Minnesota-based composers. It begins with Dominick Argento as the key figure in the first generation. The second group includes Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, Carol Barnett, and Craig Carnahan. Hagen, Takach, and Abbie Betinis have emerged as leaders of the third generation, and are discussed in that context. Major similarities that link each generation include a high level of compositional craft and advocacy work on behalf of other composers and the artistic community in the Twin Cities. These similarities are explored as part of this thesis. Additionally, this study explores the link between the composers of this lineage and the thriving choral community found in Minnesota, especially in the Twin Cities region. Conductors Dale Warland and Philip Brunelle have been important figures in the musical and personal lives of nearly every composer in this lineage. Their careers and philosophies regarding the commissioning of new music are also studied.
The Compositional Style of Horatio Parker as Demonstrated in Selected Cantatas
(North Dakota State University, 2013) Saari, Eric Michael
Few musicians are familiar with the works of American composer, Horatio Parker (1863-1919), and those who know him likely are familiar only with his church music. This dissertation aims to bring attention to Parker and his secular choral output, specifically his cantatas. The author has chosen three representative examples of his dramatic secular works for choir and orchestra in order to examine the development of Parker's compositional style. They are The Ballad of a Knight and His Daughter (1884), Dream-King and His Love (1891), and A Star Song (1901). After a brief biography, the author pays particular attention to Parker's increasing use of thematic elements as well as the harmonic language and formal construction of the selected works. A course of development is demonstrated highlighting Parker's increasingly sophisticated use of themes and more chromatic harmonic language.
Looking Back, Listening Forward: A New Transcription of Leos Janacek's Suite for Strings for Double Wind Quintet in the Harmoniemusik Tradition
(North Dakota State University, 2014) Miedema, Bradley
The Harmoniemusik tradition has provided the wind chamber repertoire with a tremendous wealth of literature. Spanning the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, these transcriptions of large-scale works had a formative influence on the creative activity of subsequent composers. Most notable are the transcriptions of operas. Some include more than twenty movements and capture much of the drama and intensity of the stage versions. While the Viennese wind octet with pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns became the standard instrumentation for the properly defined Harmonie, many pieces were also arranged and composed for ensembles ranging from six to ten players. Composers such as Haydn (1732-1809), Stamitz (1745-1801), Mozart (1756-1791), Krommer (1759-1831), Beethoven (1770-1827) and Mendelssohn (1809-1847) contributed works to the Harmoniemusik genre. In that spirit, Leos Janacek's (1854-1928) Suite for Strings (1877) serves as the basis of this research and transcription project. The project is divided into three parts. First, the background of the Harmoniemusik movement and its central characters, along with the development of the Harmonie ensemble and its repertoire, is examined. Second, an investigation of Janacek's early life and musical training, up to the years surrounding the composition of his Suite for Strings, offers a context for the origin of the work. A detailed analysis of the suite's six movements is provided for a better understanding of the piece. Third, the transcription process of transforming the original Suite for Strings into the author's Suite for Winds (2014) is described. The full score for all six movements is contained in the appendix.
The Choral Music of Frederick Delius (1862-1934) and its Influence on the Choral Music of Early Twentieth-Century British Composers
(North Dakota State University, 2015) Strommen Campbell, Jonathan Daniel
The composer Frederick Delius wrote a large body of choral music including choral/orchestral works and part songs. This body of choral music had an important influence on the younger generation of British choral composers, including Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock) (1894-1930), E. J. Moeran (1894-1950), Constant Lambert (1905-1951), and Patrick Hadley (1899-1973). To date, only one dissertation in the United States has been devoted to the choral music of Delius. While several books have been published on Heseltine (Warlock), the others—Moeran, Lambert, and Hadley—are underrepresented in scholarly choral literature. In his book Delius: Portrait of a Cosmopolitan (1976), Christopher Palmer details the extent to which Delius influenced this younger generation of composers. While Palmer examines some of the choral music of Delius and his followers in varying degrees of detail, other important choral works of Delius and his followers are absent from his discussion. Besides Donald Caldwell’s dissertation (1975), there is no recent study of Delius’s complete body of choral music. Moreover, the larger extent to which Delius influenced the next generation of British choral composers has not been satisfactorily researched. This thesis seeks to address this paucity. Some works, such as Moeran’s Nocturne (1935), show an explicit imprint of Delius. Others, such as Hadley’s The Hills (1944) and Lambert’s The Rio Grande (1927), show a more complex convergence of influences, including those of Delius. This study critically examines every choral work of Delius in an effort to make his music better understood and more accessible. In addition to investigating the influence of Delius on the choral music of Moeran, Lambert, and Hadley, this thesis also provides exposure to choral works which merit broader representation in the performing repertoire. By examining the music and composers whom Delius influenced most, it is hoped that more of this choral repertoire will be performed and shared with audiences.
The Tyger and the Lamb: Exploring the Relationship Between Text and Music in Selected Contemporary Choral Settings of Two Poems by William Blake (1757-1827)
(North Dakota State University, 2015) Zinter, Erik Andrew
Texts have been influencing composers of choral music for centuries. Some composers manipulate the text through the use of form and compositional technique, whereas others rely on highlighting specific words. Still others work to convey emotions or to conjure aural images for the listener. Expressive poetry, such as The Tyger and The Lamb, two poems by William Blake (1757-1827), has inspired several composers to set these texts to music, among them John Tavener (1944-2013), René Clausen (b. 1953), and Andrew Miller (b. 1983). This dissertation focuses on the choral settings of Blake’s The Tyger and The Lamb by these three composers. It offers an understanding of their compositional thought processes, a key element for the interpretation and performance of these works. It is only through careful consideration of these thought processes that choral conductors can ensure an informed performance of this literature. This study draws on interviews I have conducted with René Clausen and Andrew Miller, as well as on other scholars’ interviews with the late John Tavener. Furthermore, I have analyzed the compositional style and updated previous research on each of the composers. Each composer sets Blake’s texts in a different manner, however all approached the compositional process through the lens of imagery. Clausen’s, Miller’s, and Tavener’s compositional techniques create aural images and, in doing so, rely entirely upon their musical backgrounds and belief systems. In Clausen’s settings of The Tyger and The Lamb, he colors the melodic, harmonic, and textural material to reflect the nuances of each animal. For Tavener, his Orthodox faith guides his settings with the chant-like melody, ison, and use of canon, retrograde, and inversion. For Miller, he iv highlights the emotion in the music to demonstrate the “core” meaning of the poetry. Observing these three contemporary composers setting the same texts in different styles offers a glimpse into their creative process and gives conductors critical information for performance.
"The Indians may be led, but will not be drove": The Creek Nation's Struggle for Control of Its Destiny, 1783-1795
(North Dakota State University, 2016) Cummings, William
History tends to portray the interactions between Euro-American settlers and native Indian Nations as one in which Euro-American settlers imposed dominance on the Indians. This work takes an in-depth look at the relationship between the Creek Nation and the Euro-American settlers of Georgia in the early years of the American republic and shows the Creeks in control of their own destiny, as well as the destiny of Georgia and the young republic. The core argument is that the nature of the Creek nation allowed them to maintain autonomy while affecting the physical development of the United States. From Massachusetts to Carolina various Native American nations had tried to fend off Euro-American expansion but were forced off their land in short order. The Creek Nation considered Georgia and its settlers to be usurpers without valid claim to Indian land, and put forth a near impenetrable defense of their claim for over a decade. The Creeks steadfastly maintained their claim to the land between the Ogeechee River and the Oconee River, and declared war to enforce the boundary on their terms. In their struggle, primarily with the state of Georgia, new leaders emerged and new polities replaced old traditions. This was a significant accomplishment when one considers the lack of any form of political unity around which to take a stand against the expansionist plans of Georgia. This study will show that the Creeks succeeded because a common determination united the nation in its opposition to Georgia’s attempts to take their land, while its political disunity prevented any group less than the whole from negotiating effectively concerning their land.
A Legacy of Hope in the Concert Spirituals of Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882–1943) and William Dawson (1899–1990)
(North Dakota State University, 2017) Stone, Jeffrey Carroll II
When the careers of the composers Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) and William Levi Dawson (1899-1990) began, the United States was a racially-divided society. Despite this division, both composers held a firm belief in the potential of spirituals to bring people together. Racial segregation severely limited the civil rights of people of color; however, Dett and Dawson were fueled by the hope for spirituals to bridge the racial divide in America. Both composers desired to achieve racial equality through their music. I argue that these aspirations are embodied within their concert spirituals. This disquisition examines the legacies of Dett and Dawson for the role of “hope” in their concert spirituals. The phrase “legacy of hope” frames a distinct perspective of Dett’s and Dawson’s aspirations for the function of spirituals in American music. I examined their choral music and provided evidence of their hope for concert spirituals. In addition, I draw on scholarly books, essays, interviews, and dissertations to consider Dett’s and Dawson’s legacy of hope within the context of their social environment. Historically, spirituals share an intimate bond to the social environment of the United States. The capacity of spirituals to provide hope appears frequently in the United States during periods of social change. To further strengthen my arguments for Dett’s and Dawson’s legacy of hope, my study relates the concept of hope to the performance of spirituals. The study is limited to the start of the concert tradition of spiritual in the late nineteenth century. Hope proves to be an inherent trait of spirituals throughout its history. As choral conductors, we can also contribute to the legacy of hope when we further our understanding of the value and meaning of spirituals. The more ways the conductor can foster and integrate a respect for spirituals into rehearsals and performances, the greater is the conductor’s contribution to the legacy of hope. Spirituals provide the choral conductor an avenue to explore meaningful social objectives for choral ensembles. The legacy of hope was significant for the generation of Dett and Dawson and it is still relevant for ours.

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