Pedagogy and Artistry in Select Twentieth-Century Piano Etudes

Pedagogy and Artistry in Select Twentieth-Century Piano Etudes A document submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in the Keyboard Studies Division of the College-Conservatory of Music August 2020 By Grace Eunhye Lee P.D., Southern Methodist University, 2013 M.M., University of Cincinnati, 2011 B.M., Sookmyung Women’s University, Korea, 2006 Committee Chair: Samuel Y. Ng, PhD ABSTRACT The twentieth-century concert etude drew from and expanded upon the achievements of nineteenth-century composers such as Chopin and Liszt. Many composers wrote sets of etudes for piano exploring many disparate styles and techniques. While some composers rely on a general difficulty or complex compositional formulas for connection to the genre, other composers were more explicit about the technical difficulties, thus linking more directly to the tradition began by Chopin and others. This document examines and compares sets of etudes that retain this balance between concert artifice and pedagogical concerns and will examine works by Louise Talma (Six Etudes for Piano, 1954), Einojuhani Rautavaara (Etydit, Op. 42, 1969), Ned Rorem (Eight Etudes for Piano, 1975), György Ligeti (Études pour Piano Premier Livre, 1985), and William Bolcom (12 New Etudes for Piano, 1986). ii Copyright © 2020 by Grace Eunhye Lee. All rights reserved. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Most of all, I would like to express my thanks to God. I may have not been able to finish this journey without his help. He is always with me, guides me and gives me the strength. I want to say thanks to my advisor, Dr. Sam Ng, and two readers, Dr. Michelle Conda and Professor Awadagin Pratt. I appreciate their guidance and commitment for my document. Also, I want to give my thanks to my friends. Whenever I was struggling, they prayed for me and encouraged me. Especially, when I felt emotionally suffering because of the covid-19, they helped me to stay calm and encouraged for me to be able to finish this work. Lastly, I want to send huge thanks to my family. Though they are in Korea, they always give supports and send love. Especially, my mom supports me with endless love. I appreciate her praying for me day and night and the devotion. I am blessed to study with good professors. I see their passion to teach, deep understanding of music, and devotion to the practice and research. I will keep trying to be a better musician, educator and good person by following you all. Thank you, all my teachers. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………..iv LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES……………………………………………………………….vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………….1 2. LOUISE TALMA’S SIX ETUDES FOR PIANO……………………………………10 3. EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA’S ETYDIT………………………………………...21 4. NED ROREM’S EIGHT ETUDES FOR PIANO……………………………………32 5. GYÖRGY LIGETI’S ÉTUDES POUR PIANO, PREMIER LIVRE………………...46 6. WILLIAM BOLCOM’S TWELVE NEW ETUDES FOR PIANO…………………...54 7. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………67 BIBLOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………...72 v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES PAGE 2.1 Louise Talma, Six Etudes for Piano, No. 1, mm. 22–26……………………………...……12 2.2 Louise Talma, Six Etudes for Piano, No. 2, mm. 32–36…………………………...………14 2.3 Louise Talma, Six Etudes for Piano, No. 2 mm. 48–51……………………………………14 2.4 Louise Talma, Six Etudes for Piano, No. 3, mm. 1–2.….………………………………….15 2.5a Louise Talma, Six Etudes for Piano, No. 4, mm. 1–5……………………………………..16 2.5b Louise Talma, Six Etudes for Piano, No. 4, mm. 31–35......……………………………...16 2.6 Louise Talma, Six Etudes for Piano, No. 4, mm. 41–45...…………………………………17 3.1 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, no. 1, “Thirds,” mm. 6–7…………………………….……23 3.2 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, No. 1, “Thirds,” mm. 12–13…………………………........23 3.3 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, No. 2, “Seventh,” mm. 1–2………………………………..24 3.4 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, no. 3, “Tritones,” mm. 1–2………………………………..26 3.5 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, no. 4, “Fourths,” mm. 1–4………………………………...27 3.6 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, no. 4, “Fourths,” mm. 13–16……………………………...28 3.7 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, no. 5, “Seconds,” mm. 7–9………………………………..29 3.8 Einojuhani Rautavaara, Etydit, no. 6, “Fifths,” mm. 5–6…………………………………..31 4.1 Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 1, mm. 13–21………………………………...…34 4.2 Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 1, mm. 33–38………………………………...…35 4.3 Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 3, mm. 25–28…………………………………...37 4.4 Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 3, mm. 1–6…………………………………...…38 4.5a Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 6, mm. 15–17………………………………….42 4.5b Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 6, mm. 21–23………………………………….42 vi 4.6 Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 6, mm. 28–34…………………………………...43 4.7 Ned Rorem, Eight Etudes for Piano, No. 8, m. 2…………………………………………..45 5.1 György Ligeti, Études pour Piano Premier Livre, No. 1, “Désordre,” mm. 1–4…………..47 5.2 György Ligeti, Études pour Piano Premier Livre, No. 3, “Touches bloquées,” Performance Note………………………………………………………………………………………….49 5.3 György Ligeti, Études pour Piano Premier Livre, No. 3, “Touches bloquées,” mm. 1–4…50 5.4 György Ligeti, Études pour Piano Premier Livre, No. 5, “Arc-en-ciel,” mm. 7–8………..52 5.5 György Ligeti, Études pour Piano Premier Livre, No. 6, “Automne a Varsovie,” mm. 43– 46…………………………………………………………………………………………….53 6.1 William Bolcom, 12 New Etudes for Piano, No. 1, “Fast, Furious,” fourth system……….55 6.2 William Bolcom, 12 New Etudes for Piano, No. 2, “Récitatif,” m. 4……………………...56 6.3 William Bolcom, 12 New Etudes for Piano, No. 6, “Nocturne,” mm. 5–9………………...61 6.4 William Bolcom, 12 New Etudes for Piano, No. 8 “Rag infernal,” mm. 6–8……………...62 6.5 William Bolcom, 12 New Etudes for Piano, No. 10 “Vers le silence,” m. 10……………..65 6.6 William Bolcom, 12 New Etudes for Piano, No. 11 “Hi-jinks,” first and second system….66 vii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION The etude is one of the most important genres for pianists. Its origins can be traced to the many types of teaching pieces designed by instructors for their students since the Baroque period, such as François Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin, George Frederic Handel’s four volumes of keyboard studies, Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas, originally named Essercizi per Gravicembalo (Exercises for harpsichord), and the four volumes of “keyboard practice” by J. S. Bach known as Klavier Übung.1 These pieces to some degree or another address technical and intellectual issues of keyboard playing while providing quality music for amateur and professional musicians. By the end of the eighteenth-century and the beginning of the nineteenth-century, specifically pedagogical publications became popular. Johan Baptist Cramer’s Etudes pour le pianoforte Op. 39, Johann Hummel’s Klavierschule, and Ignaz Moscheles’s Twenty-four Etudes Op. 70 and Charakteristiche Studien Op. 95 are good examples of this trend; however, Muzio Clementi’s Gradus ad Parnassum is perhaps the most famous of these sets. The pieces found in these collections are generally short, use binary and rounded binary forms primarily, and focus on one to two technical problems within a melodic framework; as sets, they are often graded, gradually becoming more and more difficult. In his numerous publications, Karl Czerny kept these basic principles while greatly expanding on the length as well as difficulty and technical aspects.2 In the nineteenth century, the etude developed in several ways. Some composers such as Louis Köhler and Friedrich Burgmüller (mainly writing for young students) continued to compose studies in the Clementi or Czerny vein, while others reduced the technical problems to 1 Eun Young Kang, “Late Twentieth-Century Piano Concert Études: A Style Study” (DMA document, University of Cincinnati, 2010), 1. 2 John Gillespie, Five Centuries of Keyboard Music (New York, NY: Dover, 1965), 248–249. 1 more basic elements. Joseph Pischna, Charles-Louise Hanon, Aloys Schmiddt and many others published collections of studies designed to develop good technique; some of these are still used today. Generally, a simple pattern is repeated in descending and ascending scales. Even Johannes Brahms contributed to this type of work with his 51 Übung für Klavier in which various polyrhythms are explored in great detail, among other techniques.3 The third major development was the advent of the concert etude. Largely credited with initiating this genre for piano, Frederic Chopin’s Etudes Op. 10 and Op. 25 combine technical difficulties with musicianship. While each etude tackles a technical difficulty, such as the arpeggio (Op. 10, No. 1), or octaves (Op. 25, No. 10), etc., they were also performed in concerts.4 Later composers such as Franz Liszt, Alexander Scriabin, Moritz Moszkowski, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Claude Debussy expanded this genre. Liszt, especially, handles several technical difficulties in his etudes (compared to Chopin’s) and each of his transcendental etudes includes evocative titles. In the twentieth century, the concert etude continued to be important to composers. As musical styles developed into various trends, techniques to convey these styles developed as well. While traditional techniques continued to be explored, such as arpeggios, scales, intervals of thirds or sixths, composers also focused on intervals not common in the nineteenth century, rhythmic complications and extended techniques. Many of these composers are more interested in the use the etude to develop their own style.5 For instance, Leopold Godowsky arranged all of Chopin’s etudes in his own manner (53 Studies on Chopin Etudes); John Cage’s Etudes Astrales uses star charts to compose the pieces, and Philip Glass’s etudes eschews technical demands for 3 Johaness Brahms, 51 Exercise for Piano, ed.

Load more