CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE GRADUATE RECITAL IN CONDUCTING An artistic performance presented in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Music by Ann Wind January, 1978 The artistic performance of Ann Wind is approved: John Alexander, Committee Chairman California State University, Northridge -ii ABSTRACT GRADUATE RECITAL IN CONDUCTING by Ann Wind Master of Arts in Music January, 1978 MISSA BREVIS IN D MAJOR1 K,V, 194 ....... W, A, MOZART (1756-1791) Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus Benedictus Agnus Dei SWEET NYMPHS THAT TRIP ALONG . THOMAS GREAVES (16 C.) FAIR PHYLLIS I SAW ...... JOHN FARMER (16 c.) THE SILVER SWAN OR LANDO GIBBONS (1583-1625) THREE GYPSY SONGS FROM ZIGEUNERLIEDERJ OP, 103 .... JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn Horch, der Wind klagt in den Zweigen Brauner Bursche fuhrt zum Tanze CHORAL DANCES FROM GLORI ANA . BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) Time Concord Time and Concord Country Girls iii Rustics and Fishermen Final Dance of Homage FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) Saints Day in Chigisak Ovsen The Pike Master Portly The following musical program was chosen because of its diversity and historical span. The challenge was to convey a sense of style, form, and feeling in the music. To do this it was necessary to analyze the conducting prob- lems in each piece, be they rhythmic, harmonic, textural, or metric in nature, and then try to solve them by the use of specific conducting and rehearsal techniques. Mozart's Missa Brevis in D Major, K.V. 194, written in August of 1774, is one of a group of twelve written between 1768-1773; ten of them written in Salzburg. The first three written as a boy, Mozart begins to show a mature mastery of form in this 0 Major Missa Brevis, his sixth mass. Scored for a chorus, four soli and small orchestra: violins I and II, cello and continuo, the mass is light in feeling and texture, yet contains beautifully expressive passages in the "Et incarnatus," the "Benedictus, 11 and the "Agnus Dei." The three madrigals come from a time in English music history that revives and personalizes secular music in England. Emerging from an era of detached, dark, somber church music, the madrigal sought to express personal feel- ings through lighter music and lighter texts. Most often iv polyphonic, the music could include homophonic sections to accentuate the words. These sections would change meters as well to benefit the flow of the music. The "Three Gypsy Songs," Op. 103, by Johannes Brahms are from a collection of eleven entitled, Zigeune~Ziede~. The texts founded upon Hungarian folk songs were favorites of Brahms' as he published most of them as solo songs as well. The songs, as Brahms describes them, "playfully extravagant nonsense," are in a cyclic grouping telling a story of the joys and sorrows of love. They are unified by the resigned, relentless longing of the text. A Hungar­ ian flavor can be found in the melodies, the irregular rhythms, 2/4 time, the frequent use of syncopation, and the imitation of gypsy instruments in the accompaniment. The "Choral Dances" by Benjamin Britten are from his opera, Gloriana, written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The dances are written in the tra­ dition of the motet containing: fugal episodes, a wealth of mock polyphony, and homophonic solidarity. William Plomer's libretto, derived from Lytton Strackey's Elizabeth and Sussex, recalls the life and times of Elizabeth I. The choruses which are now published under the English title of Four Russian Peasant Songs were originally called Podbludnyeh or "Saucer Readings." The texts, collected by Afanasiev, are connected with traditional fortune telling: a saucer, its bottom blackened in the smoke of a fire, is held against the fingers of the interested party while an v assembled company sings a little song of encouragement: afterward the fortune is read from the fingerprints. The songs, written between 1914 and 1917, were originally a capella; in 1954 Stravinsky revised them and added new parts for four horns. vi .