Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemThe 24 Monographs of Frederick Septimus Kelly( 2022)This thesis presents an analysis of Frederick Septimus Kelly’s 24 Monographs for piano in light of the composer’s private writings. Through a comparative analysis between the Monographs and other piano works, connections are drawn between Kelly and the composers who impacted him. These connections are illuminated by Kelly’s diaries, which are held at the National Library of Australia. In the past, these have revealed much about the composer’s life for biographers, but this analysis has sought from them a better understanding of Kelly’s music. Among its findings are clues to the meaning of the title ‘Monograph’, a regimented harmonic ordering of the 24 pieces and a strong connection to the piano writing of Johannes Brahms.
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ItemA comparative recording analysis of three Russian performers of Rachmaninoff’s transcription of J.S Bach’s BWV 1006: Towards a performance framework( 2022)As one of the finest pianists of the twentieth century, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s transcriptions for solo piano were regularly included in his concert repertory to demonstrate his musical excellence and artistry. Substantial research in recent years has documented the significance of the transcription genre in Rachmaninoff’s life and career, yet studies that are rigorously focused on the interpretative aspects of his arrangement of J.S Bach’s Violin Partita no. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006 – otherwise known as the Suite – are currently lacking. This thesis provides a comparative analysis of three Russian recordings of the Suite by the composer himself, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Daniil Trifonov. The interpretative aspects within these recordings, such as tempo variation, pedalling, and voicing, are investigated to construct a performance framework. This is conducted with the hope that the reader is provided with a valuable perspective to situate their own understanding of the Suite within a broader context of the work’s performance history.
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ItemCombinations of Western and Chinese elements in Wang Li-San’s On the Other Range and Flavors of Two Poems by Li He( 2022)This thesis is comprised of research in both performance and written format. The project is divided between the video-recorded recital (two-thirds) and the written document (one-third). Wang Li-San (1933-2013) is a Chinese composer, theorist, and educator. His composition output is made predominately of piano music, with several piano suites and solo works. In his early life and period of academic study, Wang became familiar with Western classical music, modernism, and traditional Chinese music. Then, political issues impacted him, resulting in a deeper understanding of Chinese folk songs and instruments. He developed a distinctive style and kept composing throughout his life. Among his works, On the Other Range and Flavors of Two Poems by Li He were two suites composed in the late period of his life, demonstrating unique ideas for combining Chinese and Western elements. This thesis focuses on how Wang Li-San used the two elements in the two works mentioned above. The theoretical framework consists of musical analysis of Wang’s compositional theory including tonality and forms, as well as analyzing ideas in philosophy. Wang used Chinese modes together with Western contrapuntal writing in On the Other Range, a set of Five Preludes and Fugues. In the other piece Flavors of Two Poems by Li He, he combined the twelve-tone technique with Chinese modes. Additionally, there are also influences from Chinese opera, imitation of Chinese instruments, and allusions to specific Western pieces in both suites.
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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.