The Mediant Relations in Amy Beach's Variations On

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The Mediant Relations in Amy Beach's Variations On i THE MEDIANT RELATIONS IN AMY BEACH’S VARIATIONS ON BALKAN THEMES, OP. 60 A thesis submitted to the College of the Arts of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts By Jiaqi Sun May, 2020 ii Thesis written by Jiaqi Sun B.A., China Conservatory of Music, 2017 M.A., Kent State University, 2020 Approved by Gerrey Noh, Ph.D., Advisor Kent McWilliams, PhD, Director, School of Music John R. Crawford-Spinelli, Ed. D., Dean, College of the Arts iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ v INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 2 1. Objective and Significance of the Thesis ............................................................................ 2 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 3 2.1 Research on Amy Beach’s Biography ............................................................................ 3 2.2 Research on Women in Music ........................................................................................ 4 2.3 Research on Amy Beach’s Piano Works ........................................................................ 5 2.4 Research on the Works about Piano Pedagogy ............................................................... 5 2.5 Research on Other Works ............................................................................................... 6 AMY BEACH AND HER COMPOSITIONS ............................................................................... 9 1.1 Amy Beach’s Life as a Pianist and Composer ...................................................................... 9 1.2 Amy Beach’s Compositional Style ............................................................................... 14 1.3 Introduction to Amy Beach’s Selected Compositions .................................................. 17 VARIATIONS ON BALKAN THEMES, OP. 60........................................................................ 23 2.1 Thematic Origins and Compositional Process .............................................................. 23 2.2 Tonal and Formal Structure .......................................................................................... 35 ANALYSIS THE MEDIANT-RELATIONS IN VARIATIONS ON BALKAN THEMES, OP. 60................................................................................................................................................... 38 3.1 i-III-i Relationship ............................................................................................................... 40 3.1.1 Theme and the Restatement of the Theme ................................................................... 40 3.1.2 Variation I ..................................................................................................................... 51 iv 3.1.3 Variation II ................................................................................................................... 53 3.1.4 Variation III .................................................................................................................. 59 3.1.5 Variation VI: Allegro all ’Ongarese ............................................................................. 62 3.1.6 Variation VIII: Marcia funerale .................................................................................... 65 3.2 I-vi-I Relationship ............................................................................................................... 71 3.3.1 Variation IV: i-#iii-i ...................................................................................................... 78 3.3.2 Variation VI: A tempo: I-III(♭)-i .................................................................................. 82 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 86 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................... 88 1. Sheet Music Editions ........................................................................................................ 88 2. Discography ...................................................................................................................... 88 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 90 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1. Beach, Valse-Caprice, Op.3……………………………………………………………..…..16 1.2. Beach, Let This Mind be in You, Op.105, mm. 33-37…………………………………......…16 1.3. Beach, Prelude and Fugue for Piano, Op. 81, mm. 97-103……………………………….....17 1.4. “Variation I” in The Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60, mm. 1-10…………………….…17 2.1. Folksong Themes used Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60……………………………….27 2.2. The First Three Notes in the First and Second Folk Songs…………………………………...30 2.3. The Picard Third in the First Cadence of the Variation II, mm. 55-56……………………..…31 2.4. mm. 93-95 in Variation IV…………………………………………………………………...31 2.5. The Opening of Variation V, mm.105-106…………………………………………………..32 2.6. The Beginning of Variation VIII, mm. 269-270……………………………………………..34 2.7. The Beginning of Marcia funerale, mm. 286-287…………………………………………...34 2.8. The Beginning of Quasi fantasia, mm. 369-370…………………………………….……….36 2.9. Whole-Tone in Thirds at the Cadenza, m. 377……………………………………….………36 2.10. The Augmented Seconds with Tremolos between Octaves at the Cadenza………..………..36 3.1.1. The Harmonic Analysis of the Theme…………………….…………………..….………..44 3.1.2. The Extension of the Restatement of the Theme……………………………………….......45 3.1.3. Background-Level Five-Line Structure of the Theme……………………………..………46 3.1.4. Background-Level Three-line Structure of the Theme……………………………...…..…48 3.1.5. Background-Level Three-Part Structure of the Theme………………………………..…...49 vi 3.1.6 Middleground-Level Five-Line Structure of the Theme………………………………..…..50 3.1.7. Middleground-Level Three-Line Structure of the Theme……………………….……..…..51 3.1.8. Background-Level Three-Part Structure of the Theme………………………………..…...52 3.1.9. Variation I……………………………………………………………………………..…...56 3.1.10. Background-Level Five-Line Structure of the Variation II…………………………….....58 3.1.11. The Analysis of Variation II…………………………………………………………..….61 3.1.12. The Analysis of Variation III…………………………………………………………..…64 3.1.13. The Analysis of Variation VI: Allegro all ’Ongarese………………...………..…..……..66 3.1.14. The Analysis of Variation VIII: Marcia funerale……...……………………………..…..73 3.2.1. Background-Level Five-Line Structure of the Variation V…………………………..….…75 3.2.2. The Analysis of Variation V………………………………...………………………..…....79 3.3.1. Background-Level Five-Line Structure of the Variation IV…………………………..…...81 3.3.2. The Analysis of Variation IV……………………………………………………………....83 3.3.3. The Analysis of Variation VI: A tempo…………………………………………….............87 vii LIST OF TABLES Figure Page 2.1. Comparison of the Original and Revised Version of Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60…………………………………………………………………………………………………36 2.2. Tonal Outline in Beethoven’s Six Variations, Op. 34……...………………………..……...38 2.3. Tonal Outline in Beach’s Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60...…..…………………..…38 3.1. The Key Schemes of Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60...……………..…………….…40 3.2. Structural Analysis of the Repeated Theme…………………………………...………….…52 3.3. Structural Analysis of the Repeated Theme……………………………………………...….53 3.4. Structural Analysis of Variation I………………………………………...……...………….54 3.5. Structural Analysis of Variation II…………………………………………...………...……57 3.6. Structural Analysis of Variation III……………………………………………………...….62 3.7. Structural Analysis of Variation VI: Allegro all ’Ongarese……………………...…………65 3.8. Structural Analysis of Variation VIII: Marcia funerale…………………...………………..68 3.9. Structural Analysis of Variation V………………………………………………….....…..…74 3.10. Structural Analysis of Variation IV………………………………………………………..81 Table 3. 11. Structural Analysis of Variation VI: A tempo…………………………...…………8 1 SUN, JIAQI, M.A., MAY 2020 MUSIC THEORY THE MEDIANT RELATIONS IN AMY BEACH’S VARIATION ON BALKAN THEMES, OP. 60 Director of Thesis: Dr. Gerrey Noh Amy Beach is known as the first American female composer to achieve worldwide fame. Almost all her more than three hundred works were widely published and performed after coming out, making her one of the most representative composers of the late romantic period in the United States. As an excellent pianist, Beach composed a considerable amount of piano works with a wide range of difficulties. Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 is Amy Beach’s the longest and most technically demanded solo piano work. This piano variation is based on four folk melodies from Eastern Europe. This work not only reflects the composer's active interest in folk music but also reflects her superb compositional skills. It is one of the most representative works of the composer, with high research and performance value. As an enthusiast of mediant-related harmony, Beach widely applies the tonal relationship throughout her works in different genres, so does in this piece. This thesis will discuss and analyze Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 through four chapters. The first chapter briefly summarizes the composer’s life experience as a pianist
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