Talent and Technique: George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and John Paul II's Mayday 1984 Address to New York Gay and Lesbian Socialists' League at Cooper Union's Great Hall (Transcribed into Verse from Unauthorized French and Italian Versions of the Official Soviet Translation of the Polish Original by Norman MacAfee) for Tenor Solo, Chorus (SATB), and Eight Players

<p>The dissertation consists of two parts, an analytical essay and a composition.</p> <p>The essay starts from the fact that the musical worth of the <em>Rhapsody in Blue</em> has often been questioned, despite its having been a fixture of the repertoire since its premiere. A close (Schenkerian) analysis shows the flaws of the piece in detail. It also reveals considerable structural coherence, however, comprising very sophisticated treatment of motives in the foreground and middleground, and, in the background, the unfolding of a tritone as the boundary of a tonic that is <em>both</em> B-flat major-minor and a whole-tone collection. Since Gershwin was mostly untrained at the time and the <em>Rhapsody</em> was his first large work, the question arises as to how he was able to achieve such sophistication. The answer proposed is that through improvisation he was able to tap his great <em>talent</em>, though lacking the <em>technique</em> to write a completely convincing work. The essay concludes with a brief consideration of Schenker's concept of talent as it relates to our our ability to comprehend music in general, particularly in light of recent thought about cognition.</p> <p>In form, the composition falls somewhere between a cantata and a monodrama (overlaid with elements of the Mass) for solo tenor and chorus (SATB). It is scored for flute (piccolo, alto), B-flat clarinet (E-flat soprano, bass), E-flat alto saxophone, percussion (one player), celesta, piano, electric piano, and organ (two keyboard players), violin (viola), and cello.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

1989

Author dc:creator

• Maisel, Arthur

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hugo Weisgall

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Henry Weinberg
• H. Wiley Hitchcock
• Steve Larson
• Carl Schachter
• Sherman Van Solkema

• Music

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1698

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-2720