KAIKHOSRU SORABJI’S RAPSODIE ESPAGNOLE DE MAURICE RAVEL-TRANSCRIPTION DE CONCERT POUR PIANO: A COMPARISON OF THE TWO VERSIONS FROM 1923 AND 1945 Fang Yi Chu, B.M., M.M. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 201 8 APPROVED: Gustavo Romero, Major Professor Elvia Puccinelli, Committee Member Pamela Paul, Committee Member Steven Harlos, Chair of the Division of Keyboard Studies Felix Olschofka, Interim Director of Graduate Studies of the College of Music John W. Richmond, Dean of the College of Music Victor Prybutok, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Chu, Fang Yi. Kaikhosru Sorabji’s Rapsodie Espagnole de Maurice Ravel-Transcription de concert pour piano: A Comparison of the Two Versions from 1923 and 1945. Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance), December 2018, 47 pp., 36 musical examples, bibliography, 34 titles. Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988) was an English composer-pianist of Parsi descent. Although he composed many works for piano, these compositions remain largely unknown to the public due to the composer's self-imposed 40-year ban on public performances of all his works and the immense technical difficulty of his music. This research proposes a comparative study of Sorabji's two versions of Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel- Transcription de concert pour piano (1923, 1945). These transcriptions are based on Ravel's orchestral work and are different in terms of the style of their arrangements: the 1923 version is more of a literal transcription, whereas the 1945 version has been expanded upon the former. This dissertation compares the differences between the two versions, as well as identifying how Sorabji infused his own style into the 1945 transcription. This study relies on primary sources including writings and manuscripts of Sorabji, and secondary sources such as articles on interpreting Sorabji's piano works and biographies about Sorabji. Copyright 2018 by Fang Yi Chu ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS With my deepest gratitude to Professor Gustavo Romero, Dr. Elvia Puccinelli, and Dr. Pamela Paul for their encouragement and valuable insights. I would also like to thank Alistair Hinton and Marc-André Roberge, who kindly permitted the reproduction of the music excerpts of Sorabji’s compositions. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ................................................................................................. v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose of Study ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Method .................................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 2. LIFE AND WORKS OF SORABJI ........................................................................ 4 2.1 Short Biography ...................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Sorabji’s Piano Compositions ................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 3. SORABJI’S PIANO TRANSCRIPTIONS: LISZT, GODOWSKY AND BUSONI AS MODELS ................................................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 4. RAPSODIE ESPAGNOLE DE MAURICE RAVEL – TRANSCRIPTION DE CONCERT POUR PIANO ............................................................................................................ 22 4.1 Interest in Ravel’s Music and Spanish Sounds ..................................................... 22 4.2 Analysis and Comparison of Sorabji’s Two Versions of Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel—Transcription de concert pour piano .......................................... 23 4.2.1 Prélude à la Nuit ....................................................................................... 24 4.2.2 Malagueña ................................................................................................ 29 4.2.3 Habanera .................................................................................................. 34 4.2.4 Feria .......................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 43 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 45 iv LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES All musical examples are reproduced with permission from The Sorabji Archive and Marc-Andé Roberge. Page Example 2.1: Sorabji: Rapsodie Espagnole (1923), mm. 1-2......................................................... 9 Example 3.1: Sorabji: Pastiche on the Minute Waltz, mm. 44-48. ............................................... 13 Example 3.2: Godowsky: Étude no. 10, m. 42. ............................................................................ 14 Example 3.3: Godowsky: Étude no. 11, m. 64. ............................................................................ 14 Example 3.4: Sorabji: Transcription on Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy, m. 27. ................................ 15 Example 3.5: Busoni: Kammer-Fantasie über Bizets Carmen, mm. 110-114. ............................ 17 Example 3.6: Busoni: Kammer-Fantasie über Bizets Carmen, mm. 118-125. ............................ 17 Example 3.7: Busoni: Kammer-Fantasie über Bizets Carmen, mm. 133-140. ............................ 18 Example 3.8: Busoni: Kammer-Fantasie über Bizets Carmen, mm. 161-164. ............................ 18 Example 3.9: Busoni: Kammer-Fantasie über Bizets Carmen, mm. 167-170. ............................ 18 Example 3.10: A comparison between the end of the introductions of Busoni’s Carmen (mm. 107-109) and Sorabji’s Carmen (mm. 11-12)............................................................................... 19 Example 3.11: Sorabji: Habanera from Three Pastiches, mm. 13-19. ........................................ 20 Example 3.12: Sorabji: Habanera from Three Pastiches, mm. 40-44. ........................................ 20 Example 3.13: Sorabji: Habanera from Three Pastiches, mm. 71-74. ........................................ 21 Example 4.1: (a) Sorabji: Prélude à la Nuit (1923), mm. 1-3. ..................................................... 25 Example 4.2: (a) Sorabji: Prélude à la Nuit (1923), m. 19. .......................................................... 25 Example 4.3(a) Sorabji: Prélude à la Nuit (1923), m. 28. ............................................................ 26 Example 4.4: Sorabji: Prélude à la Nuit (1923), second cadenza. ............................................... 27 Example 4.5: (a) Sorabji: Prélude à la Nuit (1945), excerpt from the first cadenza. ................... 28 Example 4.6: (a) Sorabji: Malagueña (1923), mm. 35-39. ........................................................... 29 v Example 4.7: Comparison between measures 44 and 45 of Malagueña (1923) typeset edition and Sorabji’s manuscript. .................................................................................................................... 31 Example 4.8: Sorabji: Malagueña (1923), mm. 52-55. ................................................................ 31 Example 4.9: Sorabji: Malagueña, m. 18. Comparison between the 1923 and the 1945 version. 32 Example 4.10: Sorabji: Malagueña (1945), mm. 35-40. .............................................................. 32 Example 4.11: Sorabji: Malagueña (1945), mm. 48-49. .............................................................. 32 Example 4.12: Sorabji: Malagueña (1945), mm. 73-75. .............................................................. 33 Example 4.13: (a) Sorabji: Malagueña (1945), mm. 81-82. ......................................................... 33 Example 4.14: (a) Sorabji: Habanera (1923), mm. 7-12. ............................................................. 35 Example 4.15: Sorabji: Habanera (1945), mm. 14-15. ................................................................ 36 Example 4.16 : Sorabji: Feria (1923, 1945), mm. 8-10. .............................................................. 37 Example 4.17: Sorabji: Feria (1923), m. 32. ................................................................................ 38 Example 4.18: Sorabji: Feria (1923), mm. 70-71. ....................................................................... 38 Example 4.19: Sorabji: Feria (1945), mm. 71-72. ....................................................................... 39 Example 4.20: Sorabji: Feria. Comparison between 1923 version, m. 113 and 1945 version, m. 115................................................................................................................................................. 40 Example 4.21: Sorabji: Feria (1923), m. 159. .............................................................................. 41 Example 4.22: Sorabji: Feria (1923, 1945), last two measures.................................................... 41 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of Study This research proposes a comparative study of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s (1892-1988) two versions of Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel—Transcription de concert pour piano (1923, 1945) to examine the composer’s