Florida State University Libraries 2016 The Use of Traditional Folk Music in Andy Teirstein's Maramures Violin Concerto and Restless Nation String Quartet Mihai Razvan Berindean Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC THE USE OF TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC IN ANDY TEIRSTEIN’S MARAMURES VIOLA CONCERTO AND RESTLESS NATION STRING QUARTET By MIHAI RAZVAN BERINDEAN A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music 2016 Mihai Razvan Berindean defended this treatise on April 6, 2016. The members of the supervisory committee were: Pamela L. Ryan Professor Directing Treatise James R. Mathes University Representative Benjamin Sung Committee Member Gregory D. Sauer Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the treatise has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the following committee members for the help, support, and exemplary knowledge in completing my treatise: Dr. James Mathes, Prof. Greg Sauer, Dr. Benjamin Sung, and mostly my teacher and mentor, Dr. Pamela Ryan for the love and support throughout my studies at Florida State University. Not only that I became a better musician, but with her guidance I became a better person. I would also like to thank Dr. Andy Teirstein for composing these two works included in this treatise, for allowing me to study and perform Restless Nation string quartet and Maramures viola concerto, and for all the tremendous support throughout the process. I wouldn’t have been able to complete this treatise without the support from my family: my parents Doina and Călin which although live in Romania, were able to keep close to my heart and provide with incredible support. Many thanks to my brother Bogdan, his wife Bonnie, my best friend Virgil Lupu, and my friends Allyson Royal and Meghan Carey for all their love and encouragement. Many thanks to the members of Eppes Quartet: Jia-Rong Gan, Sophia Han, and Meghan Carey, and to the pianist Galen Dean Peiskee, Jr. for all their love and knowledge invested in learning these new works with me. I cannot thank you enough for helping me bring this music to life. This treatise could not be completed without the tremendous help and support from Alice Culin-Ellison and the amazing staff from FSU Music Library Laura Gayle Green and Sara Nodine. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................8 1.1 Composer’s Biography ........................................................................................................8 1.2 Scope and Limitations of this Study ....................................................................................9 1.3 Approach ............................................................................................................................11 2. MARAMURES VIOLA CONCERTO .......................................................................................13 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................13 2.1.1 Background of Romanian folk music .....................................................................13 2.2 Maramures Viola Concerto ...............................................................................................17 2.2.1 Background .............................................................................................................17 2.2.2 First movement .......................................................................................................19 2.2.3 Second movement ...................................................................................................20 2.2.4 Third movement ......................................................................................................22 3. RESTLESS NATION STRING QUARTET ...............................................................................24 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................24 3.2 Introduction to Fiddle Music .............................................................................................25 3.2.1 Background of fiddle music ....................................................................................25 3.2.2 Bowing in fiddle music ...........................................................................................26 3.2.3 Tuning in fiddle music ............................................................................................28 3.3 Movement I “My eyes were hungry… and I didn’t know it.” ...........................................30 3.4 Movement II “Our teachers… Flora and Fauna” ............................................................32 3.5 Movement III “Recess” .....................................................................................................34 3.6 Movement IV “The Door of No Return” ...........................................................................35 3.7 Movement V “Stories of Rocks and Rivers” ......................................................................36 3.8 Movement VI “Finding Our Way Home” ..........................................................................37 4. SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................................39 APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................................41 A. ANDY TEIRSTEIN’S LIST OF COMPOSITIONS ................................................................41 B. PERMISSION LETTER FROM ANDY TEIRSTEIN .............................................................45 C. PERMISSION LETTER FROM OLGA HIIVA ......................................................................46 D. MARAMURES VIOLA CONCERTO - LECTURE HANDOUTS ...........................................47 E. RESTLESS NATION STRING QUARTET – LECTURE HANDOUTS ..................................53 References ......................................................................................................................................58 iv Biographical Sketch .......................................................................................................................60 v LIST OF FIGURES 1 Maramures first movement, score, mm. 1-5............................................................................19 2 ”By the Mara River, in Romania, summer of 1994. The composer (far left) learns a tune from fiddler Ghiță Pîrja, accompanied by a three-stringed guitar. Seated are the Chief Engineer (left), and the Mayor (right). Photo by Olga Hiiva.” ...............................................................................20 3 Maramures second movement, viola solo part, mm. 1-8 ........................................................21 4 Maramures third movement, viola solo part, mm. 13-22 ........................................................23 5 "Natural flat" tuning .................................................................................................................29 6 "A minor" tuning ......................................................................................................................29 7 "Cross keys" tuning ..................................................................................................................30 8 Restless Nation first movement, viola part, mm. 1-7 ...............................................................31 9 Restless Nation first movement, viola part, mm. 47-50 ...........................................................31 10 Restless Nation second movement, viola part, mm. 20-30 ......................................................33 11 Restless Nation second movement, viola part, mm. 185-189 ..................................................33 12 Restless Nation third movement, score, mm 8-10 ...................................................................34 13 Restless Nation third movement, score, mm. 29-31 ................................................................35 14 Restless Nation fourth movement, score, mm. 1-3 ..................................................................36 15 Restless Nation fifth movement, first violin part, mm. 1-12 ...................................................37 16 Restless Nation sixth movement, first violin part, mm. 1-5.....................................................38 vi ABSTRACT Andy Teirstein (b. 1957 in New York, NY) is a composer, performer, and producer who is passionate about the characteristics of folk music found at the root of different cultures around the world. Intrigued by the compositional style and folk song collection of Béla Bartók, Teirstein followed the same formula used by Béla Bartók to achieve many successful compositions. Teirstein traveled to Maramureş County in Romania and collected many traditional Eastern European tunes. During