The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Fall 2019 A Stylistic Analysis with Performance Suggestions of Robert Muczynski’s Selected Late Piano Works: Maverick Pieces, Opus 37, Masks, Opus 40, and Dream Cycle, Opus 44 Ji Hyun Kim University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Music Performance Commons, Music Practice Commons, and the Other Music Commons Recommended Citation Kim, Ji Hyun, "A Stylistic Analysis with Performance Suggestions of Robert Muczynski’s Selected Late Piano Works: Maverick Pieces, Opus 37, Masks, Opus 40, and Dream Cycle, Opus 44" (2019). Dissertations. 1706. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1706 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS WITH PERFORMANCE SUGGESTIONS OF ROBERT MUCZYNSKI’S SELECTED LATE PIANO WORKS: MAVERICK PIECES, OPUS 37, MASKS, OPUS 40, AND DREAM CYCLE, OPUS 44 by Ji Hyun Kim A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Music at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Approved by: Dr. Ellen Elder, Committee Chair Dr. Elizabeth Moak Dr. Michael Bunchman Dr. Christopher Goertzen Dr. Douglas Rust ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ Dr. Ellen Elder Dr. Jay Dean Dr. Karen S. Coats Committee Chair Director of School Dean of the Graduate School December 2019 COPYRIGHT BY Ji Hyun Kim 2019 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT Robert Muczynski (1929-2010) was a composer, pianist, and educator whose work is starting to garner more attention and interest from scholars, performers, and audiences. Muczynski’s musical output covers a variety of genres from works for solo instruments to orchestral works and film scores. He was especially devoted to writing for piano. This is well represented in his musical output. Among his forty-eight compositions with opus numbers, seventeen works are for solo piano. He also wrote a piano concerto (No.1, Op.7), and twelve chamber works featuring the piano. Although his music has increased in popularity, it is less discussed when compared to other American composers of the twentieth century. This study explores Muczynski’s later piano compositions, with a focus specifically on his last three piano compositions: Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, Masks, Op. 40, and Dream Cycle, Op. 44. This document does not explore Desperate Measures, Op. 48, which is already discussed in several other academic documents. Because of limited scholarship available, this document contributes to the existent literature pertaining to Muczynski’s later piano works in general and provides a stylistic analysis and discussion of each of these three works, as well as pianistic suggestions for the performer. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Ellen Elder, my advisor. Although it has taken a long time to complete my degree, she has always encouraged and helped me. Thanks also to my committee: Dr. Elizabeth Moak, Dr. Christopher Goertzen, Dr. Douglas Rust, and Dr. Michael Bunchman, for their time and assistance. I would also like to thank my former advisor, Dr. Lois Leventhal, who retired in 2016 from The University of Southern Mississippi. Lastly, thanks to my dearest dad and mom. I appreciate their endless prayers and love for me. iii DEDICATION To my family: my husband, Jaeman Son, and our two children, Gyum and Dana. Without Jaeman’s love, support, and dedication, I could not have achieved this work. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... viii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES .................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION, BIOGRAPHY, AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY .. 1 CHAPTER II – ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 12 Maverick Pieces, Opus 37................................................................................................. 12 No. 1: Allegro marcato ......................................................................................... 13 No. 2: Andante sostenuto ...................................................................................... 18 No. 3: Allegro ma non troppo ............................................................................... 21 No. 4: Moderato .................................................................................................... 25 No. 5: Allegro........................................................................................................ 32 No. 6: Andante sostenuto ...................................................................................... 38 No. 7: Allegro grazioso ......................................................................................... 42 No. 8: Allegro brillante ......................................................................................... 46 No. 9: Andante molto ............................................................................................ 51 No. 10: Allegro ma non troppo ............................................................................. 55 v No. 11: Adagio ...................................................................................................... 61 No. 12: Allegro con spirito ................................................................................... 65 Masks, Opus 40 ................................................................................................................. 71 Dream Cycle, Opus 44 ...................................................................................................... 92 Movement I (Allegro moderato) ......................................................................... 102 Movement II (Allegro risoluto) .......................................................................... 108 Movement III (Andante maestoso) ..................................................................... 114 Movement IV (Allegro) ...................................................................................... 118 CHAPTER III – CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 126 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................... 129 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 132 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 1 ................................... 13 Table 1.2. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 2 ................................... 18 Table 1.3. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 3 ................................... 21 Table 1.4. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 4 ................................... 25 Table 1.5. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 5………………………32 Table 1.6. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 6 ................................... 38 Table 1.7. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 7 ................................... 42 Table 1.8. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 8 ................................... 46 Table 1.9. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 9 ................................... 51 Table 1.10. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 10 ............................... 55 Table 1.11. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 11 ............................... 61 Table 1.12. Structural Analysis of Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 12 ............................... 65 Table 2.1. Structural Analysis of Masks, Op. 40………………………………………...72 Table 3.1. Structural Analysis of Dream Cycle, Op. 44, movement I ............................ 102 Table 3.2. Structural Analysis of Dream Cycle, Op. 44, movement II ........................... 108 Table 3.3. Structural Analysis of Dream Cycle, Op. 44, movement III ......................... 114 Table 3.4. Structural Analysis of Dream Cycle, Op. 44, movement IV………………..118 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Tcherepnin’s Hard-Triad and Its Inversions Excerpted from Basic Elements of My Musical Language ...................................................................................................... 11 Figure 2. Metric Pattern of Isorhythmic Melody in Palindrome ...................................... 74 viii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Example 1.1: Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 1, mm. 1-6 .................................................. 14 Example 1.2: Maverick Pieces, Op. 37, No. 1, mm. 10-14 .............................................