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With music coming out of Paris at the turn of the twentieth century as its primary focus, specifically Poulenc’s Rapsodie Nègre and Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses, this document discusses moments, whether explicit or implicit, in which musico-dramatic means used to express blackness cause a lingering effect. It questions the utilization of blackness as a theme or source of inspiration by non-black composers. This document means to peer into the larger Africanist influence. It wants to know how Africa, the land, and its people, sparked a fascination that was manifested in works not written by them; works reflective of them, but not by them. Sweeping change came to Paris in the years following the first World War but significant cultural colliding occurred at the century’s turn when Claude Debussy began publishing music influenced by cakewalk dances and American Minstrelsy. Francis Poulenc would go on to write Rapsodie Nègre, a work that paints an image of Africa using exhaustive ostinato and sung lines of nonsense by a made-up poet named Makoko Kangourou, while Maurice Ravel would add elements of jazz and blues in works like his Sonata for Violin and Piano and push the limits of exoticism in the Chansons Madécasses. The document will provide a purpose-specific analysis of the selected works and seek to find connections between them and the people they represent.

Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977) was a Russian-born American composer, his musical style represents the modern and diverse features of much twentieth-century piano music. The purpose of this research is to conduct a comprehensive pedagogical analysis of Alexander Tcherepnin's Bagatelles, Op. 5 with the goal of introducing contemporary characteristics in twentieth-century piano music for the late-intermediate student. Chapter 2 contains overall biographical information regarding Alexander Tcherepnin and a discussion of the general compositional style of his piano works. Chapter 3 analyzes the Bagatelles, Op. 5 from the perspective of musical challenges concerning the contemporary characteristics, including contemporary harmony: interval of seconds, non-tertian chords, special use of the seventh chords, and ninth chords; contemporary rhythm and meter: shifted accents, asymmetric meter, meter change, and ostinato; modal melodic resources and tonalities; and other special tonalities. Chapter 4 has suggestions on fingering, pedaling, articulation, tone, dynamics and phrasing, and practicing procedures for individual technical difficulties. Studying the Bagatelles, Op. 5 provides a transition for the student from learning standard repertoire of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century, to contemporary repertoire through the combination of Russian compositional traditions with twentieth century repertory.

There has long been a connection made between music and visual art movements of around the turn of the twentieth century. Naïve art, as exemplified by Henri Rousseau, has been virtually lost in such artistic comparisons. Similarly lost in canonic explorations of art in conjunction with music is the work of twentieth century Swedish composers. The simplicity and childish depictions of the world found in the work of Naïve visual artists in both France and Sweden can be seen in musical form in compositions by Swedish composers such as Hugo Alfvén and Wilhelm Stenhammar. This paper examines in detail the way music by Swedish composers working at the beginning of the twentieth century reflects the concepts of Naïve art.

It often happens that a composer or performer of contemporary music, in preparing for a performance, asks the question: “Will my audience get it?” When the answer is “probably not,” a second question may arise: “Should I care?” This study takes up the latter question in detail. Put more specifically, the question at hand is: Should we take accessibility into consideration when we compose, perform, and criticize music? This, in turn, raises at least two other broad questions, both of which will be explored in this thesis. The first is “What is the nature of accessibility in music?” The second is “Should we consider accessibility a desirable quality of music?” To answer these questions, I use music cognition research and philosophical studies on musical understanding to characterize accessibility, and draw from that characterization to arrive at a way of determining its value.

This thesis argues that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s sound art program The Listening Room has been , both through broadcasting and related activities, a major factor in the life and growth of sound art in Australia. The thesis also argues that, internationally, The Listening Room is accepted as a leading member of the world sound art community by its contribution to the artistic development and wider recognition of the genre. In order to examine the influence of The Listening Room, interviews and case studies with Australian composers and overseas producers and observers are recounted and analysed. Finally, pertinent data from historical summaries, interviews and case studies are conflated to demonstrate the depth and significance of The Listening Room.

The dissertation consists of four recitals: one chamber music recital, two solo recitals, and one lecture recital. The repertoire of these programs was chosen with the intention of demonstrating the capability of the performer to deal with problems arising in works of varying types and of different historical periods.

This study was made in conjunction with a recital of contemporary American song literature. It it designed to show how the modern composer has taken the tools of words and music and utilized them in creating a valid art-form. I believe it is the first study of its kind that has been made. The song literature which formed the basis of the study has been attested to as valid data by Otto Luening, prominent modern composer and pedagogue and twice winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship in composition, and John Kirk, distinguished pianist and lecturer on modern music.

The compositions to be considered in this study have been divided into three periods, corresponding with certain times in the life of Alfredo Casella. There is enough consistency of style in the compositions of each period to justify this division. The first period, characterized by lyricism and virtuosity, includes the works written in Paris after Casella left the Paris Conservatory. The second period, with its chromaticism and dissonance, comprises his output during the first years after his return to Italy. The third period begins with the close of World War I. In this period Casella returns to a classic style which is firmly embedded in an extended tonal system. The compositions of this period combine various ideas and styles gathered through the years and blend them into works marked by maturity, sincerity, and originality.

The purpose of this thesis is to isolate the techniques presently being used by composers and to define and explain these techniques. The thesis concludes with a series of studies based on these twentieth-century compositional techniques for high school students in the form of warm-up and technique materials. The purpose of this study was to devise a sequence of studies designed to acquaint band members with twentieth-century composition techniques found in contemporary band literature.