• Login
    View Item 
    •   IDA Home
    • Students -- Research, Data, Projects, and Papers
    • Student Theses and Honors Collection
    • View Item
    •   IDA Home
    • Students -- Research, Data, Projects, and Papers
    • Student Theses and Honors Collection
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    (I) "The Girl and Her Balloon" and (II) Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 "The Age of Anxiety": Intricacy Grounded in Programmaticism

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Thesis Paper (1.774Mb)
    Date
    2014-08-18
    Author
    Mauro, Sarah
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    The following two-part thesis focuses on programmaticism, that is, the depiction through music of extramusical elements. In the first part, I present an original orchestral composition that musically tells the story of a young girl who gets lost at a carnival. Finding solace in the whimsy of a balloon, she quickly forgets her troubles until a gust of wind carries the balloon away. While the music paints a general trajectory of the story, there are several flourishes and subtleties meant to evoke specific actions and events, such as the balloon blowing away. The audience members, therefore, are able to visualize what is happening with help from the composer but also with their own imaginations. The second part is an analysis of American composer Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 “The Age of Anxiety”, a musical response to W. H. Auden’s poem “The Age of Anxiety: a Baroque Eclogue” of 1947. The symphony, completed in 1949, received criticism for its discontinuity and too-extreme juxtaposition. I argue, however, that the symphony is an intricate work grounded in devotion to Auden’s text and Bernstein’s desire to champion a discernable American musical language. Bernstein depicts Auden’s themes of faith and anonymity through the use of traditional compositional methods recast in the rapidly changing musical climate of the first half of the 20th century. Bernstein calls his symphony autobiographical, and it is indeed a true reflection of him as a philosopher and humanitarian.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10166/3591
    Collections
    • Student Theses and Honors Collection

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | MHC Accessibility Barriers Form
    Theme by 
    @mire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of IDACommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | MHC Accessibility Barriers Form
    Theme by 
    @mire NV