Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Music

Sub-Department

Conducting

First Advisor

Scott Weiss

Abstract

Amongst late twentieth and early twenty-first century music, Arvo Pärt’s compositional style is a unique musical voice and has led to the composer becoming the most performed living classical composer for multiple years. His unmistakable tintinnabuli style is often labeled as part of the post-modernist movement, the minimalist genre, sacred minimalism, or even as neo-medieval. Despite any label, his music is as distinctive as it is revolutionary, and many of his works are considered cornerstone works of the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. However, despite the popularity of his works, most of his music is written for choir, orchestra, small chamber ensembles, or soloists. Written for brass octet, Arbos remains the only original work written for winds, and only two additional transcriptions of Fratres complete his catalogue of works accessible to the wind ensemble. Furthermore, these works are all fairly short and represent only his initial tintinnabuli phase. The intent of this document is to provide a transcription of a large scale tintinnabuli work for wind ensemble. It is my hope that this transcription of Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen will not only provide wind ensembles with increased access to the music of Arvo Pärt but also bring increased recognition of Pärt’s music within the wind ensemble community.

The purpose of this document is to produce a score and performance parts of Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen for wind ensemble, including relevant information on Arvo Pärt, the composition, and the transcription process. The opening chapters provide

a historical background leading up to the composition of Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen and an analysis of the work. The transcription process is discussed in detail, and a copy of the score of the transcription is included in the appendices. A score and performance parts may be available through Universal Edition (Pärt’s publisher) in the future. A recording of the premier performance of the transcription is held in the University of South Carolina Music Library.

Rights

© 2017, Julian Hartridge Sconyers III

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