Doctoral Degrees (Music)

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Arnold van Wyk as liedkomponis : ’n ontsluiting van die liedere in die Arnold van Wyk-versameling by die Universiteit Stellenbosch
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-04) Oosthuizen, Magdalena Johanna; Ludemann, Winfried; Muller, S. J. V. Z.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this study an investigation into Arnold van Wyk’s song oeuvre — including the published and unpublished (completed and incomplete) songs — is done on the basis of the available composition sketches in the Arnold van Wyk Collection at Stellenbosch University. Firstly, Van Wyk as composer of art song in South Africa was put in perspective against the broader cultural context, especially in relation to Afrikaans poets who were his contemporaries. An overall view is also provided of possible influences that other composers had on his work. This provides an holistic picture of Van Wyk as composer of the art song. In his Juvenilia a surprisingly large amount of his music language is present, though not yet mature. Four prominent periods characterise the discussion of Van Wyk’s song oeuvre. In addition to these periods the study provides a summary that clearly shows his development as an art song composer as well as the musical devices which, in the course of time, became characteristic as part of his style in song writing. Owing to the fact that the setting to music of each song’s vocal part is analysed in close relationship to the source text, the complete text have been provided, with Afrikaans verbatim translations for the Latin and Old Dutch poems. Even though the composer sometimes only sets a couple of stanzas of the text, the complete poem is provided to properly orientate the reader. This allows the complete picture of each song to be taken into account. The relationship between each text and its setting to music of the song’s vocal part is analysed. This also applies to the illustrative meaning of where in the vocal range each text lies (the range as well as tessiture of the vocal part) and the illustrative use of intervals and other melodic devices such as melismas, setting to rhythmic patterns, etc. The accompaniment is investigated, regarding the relationship to and illustrative of the text, complementary to and in support of the vocal part as well as to which extent it supports the song’s formal design. Only the most prominent characteristics of Van Wyk’s highly complex harmonic usage are pointed out. An important aspect of this study is the investigation from a vocal technical point of view into how Van Wyk merged the writing of a vocal melody with his knowledge of the human voice, for instance in Van liefde en verlatenheid as well as in the Petronius songs. Where available, the history of how a song evolved is recorded in great detail, to illustrate the inception of a specific musical idea as well as its development and finalisation, but moreover, to allow the sketches to reveal how tedious (and sometimes even laid-back) the composition process took place most of the time. Van Wyk’s method and tempo of composing can be clearly deduced from the compositional sketches. These conclusions are confirmed and illustrated by his fairly regular dating of his work, and by information such as an address and/or some diary information that he occasionally added. Particulars like these are often included in this study, to shed light on the compositional process as well as on the composer as a human being. To avoid scanning numerous examples of notes, the C1 tot c3 way of spelling the notes is used.
Contemporary performance of the sonatas for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven as informed by Carl Czerny
(2016-03) Martens, Peter; Ludemann, Winfried; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.; Magalhaes, Luis Miguel de Araujo.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation places the sonatas for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven into the context of a continuing discussion about the composer’s metronomic tempo indications (MTIs) for a large number of his own works, many of which were added retrospectively after the patenting of Maelzel’s metronome in approximately 1815. There seems to be an increasing consensus that these indications deserve serious consideration when performing such works. The sonatas for cello and piano happen to fall into a category of works for which the composer did not leave MTIs. But it is in the writings of his associate and former pupil, Carl Czerny, that one does find a source that not only includes MTIs, but also performance instructions for these works. Despite its title, the book Carl Czerny – On the Proper Performance of All Beethoven’s Works for Piano is not limited to a discussion of his works for solo piano, but also contains specific mention of the sonatas for cello and piano as well as all his other chamber music with piano. Therefore this source is given a central position in the present study. The authenticity and validity of Czerny’s text is evaluated, leading to the acceptance of Czerny as a reputable and qualified figure to pronounce on Beethoven interpretation, in this case specifically on his sonatas for cello and piano. In addition, Beethoven’s preoccupation with tempo is examined within the context of a conceptual study of the notion of tempo. Following the newly established premises of Performance- or Practice-based Research the performance of the sonatas in accordance with Czerny’s instructions and at his MTIs is then included as an integral part of the study. At the same time this research is anchored within three relevant streams of current discourse: Historically Informed Performance Practice and the performance history of the works in question, both of which are underpinned by the notion that the musical work is ultimately realised in its performance. Consequently, the interpretations, captured on CD, experiment with and reveal new knowledge about Beethoven’s six sonatas for cello and piano through performance. To place these sonatas in an even wider context the study also includes performances of Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra, Haydn’s cello concerto in D major, the second sonata for cello and piano in F major by Brahms and the sonata for cello and piano by Shostakovich. Finally, a South African link is created by the inclusion of Peter Klatzow’s sonata for cello and piano.
Hans Roosenschoon's choral music
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Kappis, Jolene Auret; Ludemann, Winfried; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Hans Roosenschoon's music is performed infrequently and has not attracted much scholarly investigation. The present study is the first research project at a doctoral level that deals with Roosenschoon’s work. Through the discussion and analysis of a selection of his choral music this study endeavours to show that his work is, indeed, of paramount importance to South African art music in the European tradition. Based on Hermann Danuser’s “contextualising” method of analysis the study presents a detailed discussion of the contextual and structural aspects of the works in question. Firebowl (1980), set to the similarly titled poem by Sydney Clouts, is the first choral composition in which Roosenschoon evokes the sounds of Africa, being predated by the brass quintet Makietie (1978). It is claimed that these works are the first by a South African composer to engage in a consistent manner with the stylistic elements of African music and it challenges the narrative that African influence was first introduced into South African art music by other composers. The discussion of the sacred choral work Prayer of St Richard (1990) highlights Roosenschoon’s use of layering and stratification as stylistic devices, while his technique of manipulating predetermined tone constellations is also illustrated. The third work under discussion, Miserere (1991), shows a further development in Roosenschoon's style: compact but effective presentation of textural contrasts and the movement between consonance and dissonance characterise this work. The trilogy Kô, lat ons sing (1993) forms the centrepiece of this study. The work has three movements, Ons het 'n hys gebou, O waar is Moses and Kô, lat ons sing, which are musical settings of poetry by the renowned Adam Small. The work incorporates African and European stylistic elements as well as the sounds of the Cape. Thematic references to the music of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the anthem Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika are shown to be present in the first movement. Tone constellations derived from Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika also characterise the haunting second movement. The third movement presents an explosion of folklike ideas and culminates in a full rendition of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. The following composition to form part of this study, Mbira (1994), presents yet another, highly original example of the composer’s continued engagement with African music. Here he creates a text out of the names of four African musical instruments, creating an ingenious composition that alludes to the sounds of these instruments and the music with which they are associated. Magnificat (1994), the third sacred composition in this study, presents traits similar to those of the previous two sacred works. Imitation of motivic material, layering, stratification and transformation of texture, the clever manipulation of thematic material and the continuous sway between consonance and dissonance are the work’s outstanding characteristics. Lux Aeterna (2003), shows another side of Roosenschoon's compositional style. Here he exploits the possibilities offered by progressions of tonally derived chords that are not related to each other within a tonal structure. The final work, Sky (2004), places the serene poetry of Sydney Clouts’ Slope down, Great Sky into an evocative eruption of sound, depicting Roosenschoon's predilection for playing with this element in very imaginative ways. Linking the text “in a dream of encircling, circling” from the composition Sky with the present study, the hope is expressed that this research will create a further "circling" of Hans Roosenschoon’s highly significant contribution to South African art music in the European tradition.
Heyr, himna smiður: the sacred a cappella SATB works of Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson (1938-2013)
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Valsson, Bragi Þór; Ludemann, Winfried ; Berger, Martin; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Very little research exists on the work of 20ᵗʰ and 21ˢᵗ-century Icelandic composers and none in particular on Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson's sacred choral music. This project aims to fill this gap by presenting analyses, performances and recordings of the majority of the composer's sacred a cappella compositions for mixed choir. The analyses attempt to answer the question whether it is possible to describe conclusively the composer's sacred choral works. To complement this, I also formed a choir for the purpose of rehearsing, performing and recording 32 of these works in two concerts in May 2022. Although it is challenging to describe Þorkell's varied compositional style, it can be said that much of his music is characterised by shifting tonal centres, frequently changing time signatures, use of ostinato and a significant emphasis on word painting. However, several pieces are straightforward songs in a key or mode that mostly follow conventional harmonic and rhythmic compositional principles. Much of Þorkell's choral repertoire is difficult for a choir to learn and requires significant planning by the conductor. In addition to the analytical findings, this project also contributes to our understanding of Þorkell's music by means of high-quality audio recordings of 32 compositions, 20 of which are first-time recordings. In this sense the project represents a contribution to what is widely known as practice-based research. The author hopes this research will be of use to future generations of conductors interested in studying and performing Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson's choral compositions.
Sounds of suffering : a creative response to human suffering and emotional pain in the form of a contemporary composition
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Ghayem, Nina; Roosenschoon, Hans; Ludemann, Winfried; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This doctoral dissertation is intended as a contribution to the field of practice-based research in music, more specifically in the area of composition. It presents a study on the topic of human suffering in which theoretical and creative work are integrated so as to provide a view on the subject from the perspective of the researcher as composer. Throughout their history and in all cultures humans have been confronted by the phenomenon of pain and suffering as an integral part of life and have been dealing with it in various ways. This also applies to artists, who have responded to the phenomenon with the respective creative means at their disposal. For a twenty-first century composer the devices that were developed by composers in past centuries to represent or express pain and suffering are no longer viable. Therefore, to respond creatively to this phenomenon in a way that is contemporary, musically sensitive and stylistically appropriate, I explore the potential which the sounds of actual human voices expressing pain and suffering offer me for my compositions. The aim of the project, therefore, was to record and analyse the expressive quality of human voices in a state of suffering so as to understand their particular characteristics and then to exploit these characteristics for my creative work. For this purpose I undertook extensive fieldwork, during which I recorded vocal expressions of pain by people in a state of suffering, more specifically the expression of grief in the form of mourning at funerals conducted at public cemeteries. These sound samples were then analysed by means of SPEARsound analysis software. The results provided me with raw sound material for my creative work, which, in turn, led to the portfolio of compositions offered as part of this dissertation. Ultimately, the challenge was to find a theoretical basis on which to base the entire project and to integrate its various parts, i.e. cultural awareness, fieldwork, questions of compositional style, the possibilities offered by software and the actual creative work, into a coherent whole.
South African concert pianists: an overview 1900 -1989
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Gollom, Ingrid; Ludemann, Winfried ; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research focuses on the history of the piano concert as an established cultural phenomenon in South Africa since the beginning of the 20th century, with a specific emphasis on the pianists who contributed to its establishment and development. The overview ends with the death of, arguably, South Africa's most illustrious pianist, Steven De Groote, in 1989. The hypothesis underlying the project as a whole is that a distinct piano concert tradition gradually came into being in the early 1900s. Over the next several decades it developed from its initial colonial characteristics to a cultural institution that was firmly anchored in its South African environment. The term "piano concert tradition" has been coined to capture the essence of this cultural phenomenon. Of the pianists concerned, some came from abroad and had studied with leading teachers of the day, while an increasing number of exponents were raised and trained in South Africa. The cultural and social infrastructure that accompanied the tradition is given consideration and includes training institutions, professional orchestras, diverse funding, a broadcasting network, supportive audiences, and, as a late addition, music competitions. This dissertation also touches briefly on the socio-political context in which the tradition evolved and highlights the tension between colonialism and apartheid on the one hand and a cultural tradition with the loftiest aspirations on the other. The careers and achievements of some of the pianists presented here have been the topic of limited inquiry before, while the majority are presented as the subjects of research for the first time. The dissertation ends with the recommendation that comparative studies, in countries with similar or contrasting colonial and culturally diverse backgrounds, would be an interesting topic for further research.
The toccatas in the Italian lute and theorbo repertoires of the early seventeenth century: a contribution to the history of instrumental music in the beginning of the Baroque
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Louw, Zirk Walter Eon; Ludemann, Winfried ; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Science. Department of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Published in 1604, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger’s Libro primo d’intavolatura di chitarone, holds interest not only for being the first printed book of theorbo music, but also for its six toccatas, which are presented at the beginning of the volume. These highly innovative works substituted for the contrapuntal genres, namely the fantasias and the intabulations of vocal music, which traditionally formed the bulk of the non-dance repertoire in lute manuscripts and prints in the sixteenth century. Toccatas are also featured in Kapsperger’s subsequent lute and theorbo prints. Moreover, this genre enjoyed considerable significance in the oeuvre of other seventeenth-century Italian lutenists, too. Yet, the assumption that the toccata was primarily a keyboard genre has meant that the toccatas in the seventeenth-century lute and theorbo repertoires have received little scholarly attention to date. This is exacerbated by the fact that, owing to the disappearance of the lute family in the later eighteenth century, the lute and its repertoire largely remain a rather specialised and obscure tract of scholarly research. This is hardly representative of the prominent position which the instrument enjoyed in Western music in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This inquiry provides an overview of the toccatas in the Italian lute and theorbo repertoires of the first half of the seventeenth century, a geographical and periodical focus which reflects the actual concentration of the printed and manuscript sources of lute toccatas. These works present departures from contrapuntal traditions but are also to be understood as derivatives of certain trends which were already present in the sixteenth-century lute repertoire too. The analyses therefore serve to contextualise the toccatas as manifestations of the broader musical milieu of the early Baroque. Cognisance is taken not only of musical-stylistic changes, but also of the increasing idiomaticity in instrumental music, the significant shifts in reception and patronage, as well as of the compositional and performance settings. In order to allow a better evaluation and to facilitate further research, the second volume of this study presents transcriptions from the original tablature into staff musical notation, of a representative selection of toccatas from printed and manuscript sources. This inquiry contributes to an alternative view of the toccata genre and provides new insights into the early Baroque.
Wilfried Hillers geistliche Werke
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Berger, Martin Anton; Ludemann, Winfried; Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Music.
DEUTSCH ABSTRACT: Obwohl Wilfried Hiller (*1941) als einer der meistgespielten deutschen Bühnenkomponisten der Nachkriegszeit gilt, sind seine nach 2005 entstandenen geistlichen Werke wenig bekannt und selten aufgeführt. Neben der Komplexität der Werke, den ungewöhnlichen Besetzungsvorgaben des Komponisten, und einer Tonsprache, die sich nicht in gängige Kategorisierungen einordnen lässt, ist ein Mitgrund sicherlich darin zu finden, dass sich Hiller konsequent dem schnellen, Beifall haschenden musikalischen Effekt entzieht. Auch musikwissenschaftlich ist Hillers Oeuvre bisher wenig erschlossen. Die geringe Anzahl von akademischen Publikationen steht in erstaunlichem Gegensatz zur Präsenz des Komponisten im kulturellen Leben Deutschlands. Ein ähnliches Ungleichgewicht besteht zwischen der Rezeption seiner Werke in Deutschland und der im Ausland: obwohl Hillers Werke auch in einem internationalen Kontext verständlich und interessant erscheinen, sind sie im Ausland kaum gespielt und wenig bekannt. Besonders die erst ab 2005 entstandenen geistlichen Werke Hillers sind bisher kaum oder noch nie untersucht worden. Unter Einbeziehung von Danusers Sieben Modi eines musikwissenschaftlichen Kontext-Begriffs und Aspekten der Literaturtheorie, die auf Jauß, Iser, Kristeva und Eco zurückgehen, soll die vorliegende Arbeit die wesentlichen Gestaltungsprinzipien von Hillers Kompositionsweise beschreiben und kontextualisieren, Binnenstrukturen offenlegen, biographische Kontexte diskutieren und somit ein Gesamtbild des geistlichen Schaffens dieser außergewöhnlichen Künstlerpersönlichkeit zeichnen. Dabei versteht sich diese Arbeit als Grundlagenarbeit, die die weitere Auseinandersetzung mit Hillers geistlichem Werk inspirieren und befördern will. Eine ähnliche komplexe Auseinandersetzung mit seinem geistlichen Werk hat bisher nicht stattgefunden.

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