Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1348

Date

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts

Major

Music

Concentration

Performance

Committee Member

Ken Kreitner

Committee Member

Jeremy Orosz

Committee Member

Lecolion Washington

Abstract

Gunther Schuller's bassoon concerto, subtitled "Eine kleine Fagottmusik" (a little basson music), was written for the late Kenneth Pasmanick in 1984-85 and premiered by Pasmanick and the National Symphony Orchestra on May 16, 1985. The work received its only commercial recording in 1994 in Germany; the reviews ranged from glowing to hideous. After several journal articles describing the piece appeared in the mid 1990's, the work disappeared in to hibernation by 1996. In the pages, Iawaken this potential goliath of the bassoon world and explore the piece in terms of form, analysis, technique, and changes that were made between the 1985 version and the commercial recording. The piece is primarily atonal and there are massive technical demands. This piece bridges two generations of bassoon music and includes one of the few segments of true jazz improvisation in ite "Blues" movement. In short, Gunther Schuller blends extraordinary compositional technique with quietly beautiful atonality to produce a satisfying piece that could easily stand with any work in the bassoonist's repertoire presently available.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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