Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemVisions of Venice: A Comparative Analysis of Mendelssohn’s Gondola Songs for Piano( 2022)Abstract During the nineteenth century, there was a growing interest for Romantic piano repertoire. Felix Mendelssohn was a significant contributor to music for the romantic piano and his Songs Without Words coincided with the increasing popularity of the home piano. This meant there was an increased appetite for accessible music to the amateur musician. In his lifetime, Mendelssohn composed four piano gondola songs: three titled Venetianisches Gondellied as part of his eight-volume Lieder ohne Worte with an additional gondola song titled Gondellied published after his death. There is a considerable lack of research and representation of Mendelssohn’s Venetian Gondola Songs in the current literature. This is compounded by an absence of literature that examines all four Gondellied. This thesis explores Mendelssohn’s three Venetianisches Gondellied as well as his posthumous Gondellied. The four works are examined individually before a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the four works. In the investigation, I conduct a traditional musical analysis of the four pieces. The analysis focuses on elements such as form, harmony, accompaniment, and articulation, in addition to an engagement with the surface elements of the music which include patterns, figurations, and gestures. My analytical approach involves score analysis as well as practice and performing of the pieces. This research identifies the distinguishing elements of Mendelssohn’s Gondola Songs for piano solo. The research undertaken in this study contributes to the existing body of literature by allowing performers to situate their practice within a broader analytical context in addition to serving as a valuable performative and analytical resource. By examining the three Venetian gondola songs from the Songs Without Words with the posthumous WoO 10 gondola song, this fills a void of knowledge in the current literary environment with no studies examining all four of these compositions.