The Sound of Struggle: A Study and Comparison of Expressive Musical Features From Works by "Dweller" Composers (1933 - 1956)

In this document, I discuss specific musical features used for representations of struggle in tonal symphonic works from a selection of what I term "Dweller" composers (a category of composers defined by their life struggles and inability to move beyond or overcome them, getting stuck to "dwell" in the aftermath of the events surrounding WWII as it affected them) from different Nazi- and Communist-occupied territories in Europe and the Soviet Union. "Dweller" composers were in similar traumatic situations during the Third Reich until just after the death of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 and 1956, and evidence exists of struggle in their lives that is present in their music. I propose that both the inner thought and feeling processes (mental and emotional) and the corporeal processes (physiological and psychophysiological) respond to these features of tension found within the pieces in my study, showing a connection to the composer's expressive compositional plan and theorized personal state based on their life's experiences at the time surrounding the writing of their piece. I achieve this by noting measurements of both basic types of bodily responses to tension that are related to the musical features that would induce these kinds of responses. I find and assess those features in the scores and draw connections and comparisons between them, showing the devices are present in the sound worlds of these scores and that they are justifiably prominent and translatable as a sound of struggle .

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Musical Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctorate Degree

Grantor

University of Nevada, Reno

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Cochenet-Gallastegui, JoAnna

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Altieri, Jason

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Chamberlin, Reed
• Lindberg, Julianne
• Torkelson, Paul
• Bogard, Rebekah

• Dweller Composer
• Physiological Response
• Psychophysiological
• Struggle
• Symphony
• WWII

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholarwolf.unr.edu/handle/11714/11071

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarwolf.unr.edu:11714/11071