Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

6064

Mathias Elmer

Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts

Major

Music

Concentration

Conducting

Committee Chair

Kenneth R Kreitner

Committee Member

Michelle Vigneau

Committee Member

John William Baur

Committee Member

Scott Hines

Abstract

This dissertation discusses writings on conducting and ensemble direction from 1500 to 1800 with a focus on time-beating technique, the development of modern conducting patterns, and the function of the most common types of ensemble direction in the eighteenth century: the Kapellmeister, the keyboardist-leader, the violinist-leader, and the double-leadership. Evidence are writings of selected theorists from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century; all primary sources which are originally written in either German, French, or Italian are revised and presented with a side-by-side English translation. The examination on time-beating includes treatises from 1532 until 1768 by the theorists Martin Agricola, Etienne Loulié, Johann Beer, and Johann Adolph Scheibe. The differentiation between the French and Italian conducting technique of the seventeenth century is discussed with the French theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The development of modern conducting patterns is presented by the French and Italian theorists Lorenzo Penna, Michel de Saint-Lambert, Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, and Henri-Louis Choquel. Also incorporated is a brief discussion on left-handed conducting. The eighteenth century unfolds a variety of types of ensemble direction and I discuss the most common types of ensemble directing executed by the Kapellmeister, a double-leadership concept with Kapellmeister and concertmaster, keyboardist-leader, and the direction by a violinist-leader. At the end of this dissertation there are thoughts toward a prospect of historically informed conducting.

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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