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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano by a Neglected Composer, Howard Ferguson: A Performer's Analysis

Lin, Ya-Chiao
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392371929

Abstract Details

2000, Doctor of Musical Arts, Ohio State University, Music.
Howard Ferguson, born in Ireland in 1908, was a twentieth-century composer with a classical mind. Composed in the time of the evolution of compositional methods categorized as modernity, Ferguson’s music shows a connection to the musical heritage he inherited from his predecessors, especially of the classical era. His compositions stem from classical genres, such as sonata, partita and concerto. While following classical models, Ferguson blended in his own individual voice, as his line of communication with his predecessors. Over the years his compositional style shows great consistency with a gradual increase of maturity in handling meticulous musical details. The strength of his music lies in a strong sense of structure and balance with an organic unity created especially by motivic connections, and the expression in his music is intense yet restrained. His fondness for the semitone tension is reflected both his early and late music. A close study of the two sonatas for violin and piano, composed fifteen years apart and representing two different periods of his life, illustrates not only the consistency of his compositional style but also his growth in maturity. Ferguson currently is known and remembered more as a pianist and a music editor than as a composer, partly because of his public career as a pianist and partly due to his career as an editor in his later years. In addition, his decisive announcement in 1960 that he would cease composition, feeling that he was repeating himself and unable compose something new, seems to work against the recognition that he was a composer with a significant production of profound and intellectual music. However, the fact that he stopped composition should not devalue his music, and, although his contribution to the repertoire of classical music may not be major in terms of quantity and evolution, his fine compositions certainly deserve greater appreciation. It is hoped that this document will serve as an introduction to Howard Ferguson’s two violin sonatas: the detailed analysis of both sonatas will help understanding his contribution to the violin/piano chamber repertoire and his craftsmanship illustrated in these two violin sonatas. At the same time, some suggestions of performance practice provided in this document will help the performers who are interested in learning and performing these pieces.
Michael Davis (Advisor)
Edward Adelson (Committee Member)
Burdette Green (Committee Member)
134 p.
Music

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lin, Y.-C. (2000). The Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano by a Neglected Composer, Howard Ferguson: A Performer's Analysis [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392371929

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lin, Ya-Chiao. The Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano by a Neglected Composer, Howard Ferguson: A Performer's Analysis. 2000. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392371929.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lin, Ya-Chiao. "The Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano by a Neglected Composer, Howard Ferguson: A Performer's Analysis." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392371929

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1392371929
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© 2000, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.