Good listening : discovering and understanding Rudolf Escher’s harmonic language in his Arcana Suite for piano
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Corey Greyson Clifton (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Andrew Willis
Abstract: The music of The Netherlands is largely absent from Western repertories and scholarly pursuits. A glance at the contents of academic libraries, score anthologies, and concert offerings suggests that this music has been largely neglected by performers, pedagogues, and audiences. A common sentiment in many music historical works is that The Netherlands suffered a long period of musical stagnation between the time of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) and the career of Willem Pijper (1894-1947). Part of this perceived stagnation can be linked to the dominance of German art and aesthetics over the Dutch musical establishment for centuries after the death of Sweelinck. With the appearance of modernist musical trends around the turn of the twentieth century and the advent of World War I, Dutch composers began to look beyond Germany to create and establish a nationalist Dutch music. This movement, spearheaded by Pijper and his students, helped move Dutch music out of the shadow of German tradition. A member of this new Dutch School was composer and theorist Rudolf Escher (1912-1980) whose works synthesize twentieth century compositional trends with Dutch aesthetics. Dutch musical values such as formal craftsmanship, objective expression, and polyphony can be found alongside the liberated harmonic materials of the French School in his music. Under Pijper's tutelage, Escher was encouraged to find his own voice as a composer and to break free from entrenched traditions. The first part of this dissertation examines Escher's influences and compositional ethos within the historical context of his life. The second part of this study examines Escher's harmonic language in his World War II era suite for piano titled Arcana (1944-45). The analytical discussion in this study shows that Escher uses an eclectic palette of harmonic materials that incorporates octatonic scales with traditional diatonic and modal pitch collections. Polytonal juxtapositions derived from Pijper's "germ cell" technique and their influence upon the form of the work are also discussed. The final discussion in this dissertation addresses the influence of Escher's ethos and harmonic language on creating an informed performance of this music so that others are inspired to explore this neglected repertoire.
Good listening : discovering and understanding Rudolf Escher’s harmonic language in his Arcana Suite for piano
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Created on 5/1/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Arcana, Dutch Music, Music Theory, Piano, Rudolf Escher