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Viktor Ullmann: a style analysis of selected Theresienstadt compositions featuring piano
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Beaven, Alexandra; Grobler, Pieter; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social sciences. Department of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Viktor Ullmann was an Austrian composer who was born in 1898 into a Jewish family. He was incarcerated in the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1942, where he wrote some of his most significant compositions for voice and piano. This study attempts to complete stylistic analyses of selected compositions with piano from the Theresienstadt period in order to gain insights into Ullmann’s compositional approach to the instrument. The following questions were considered about the composer’s output: 1. What stylistic characteristics can be attributed to Viktor Ullmann's compositions featuring the piano during his mature Theresienstadt period? 2. Which aspects of Victor Ullmann’s style (and influences on his compositional choices) could be considered so distinctive that they contribute towards an understanding of his musical contribution, should the composer’s music be studied within a wider 20th Century context? The Research Methodology comprises various methods of stylistic analysis inspired by the writings of Leonard Meyer and Jan LaRue.