Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

Mak Grgic

Abstract

Music of the early twentieth century developed drastically from that of previous eras. With Debussy’s emphasis on tone color and timbre, Stravinsky’s rhythmic complexities, and Bartók’s incorporation of folk music, the twentieth century had a far different sound to that which preceded it. Each of these composers demonstrated different practices of this new genre called modernism. However, likely due to Andrés Segovia’s dislike of modernist music, there were not many popular composers that followed this trend in the guitar world. Those composing for the guitar shied away from attributes of modernism, ensuring that their works would be played. Manuel María Ponce broke this trend. Not only did he gain the guitarist’s approval, but he became the favored composer with which he worked. Ponce (1882-1948) was born into a family of musicians in the small town of Fresnillo, an area within the central Mexican state of Zacatecas. After moving to Mexico City to study piano with Vicente Mañas and harmony with Eduardo Gabrielli in 1900, he was encouraged to pursue musical studies in Europe. Ponce traveled to Bologna in 1904 to study at Liceo Musicale after meeting the school’s director, Marco Enrico Bossi. It was here that he studied with Cesare Dall’Olio. After Dall’Olio’s death in 1905, Ponce moved to Berlin to study piano with Martin Krause. In early 1907, financial troubles forced him to leave Germany and return to Mexico. Ponce quickly began a career of teaching at the Conservatorio Nacional (with breaks from 1915-1917 due to his departure during the Mexican Revolution and from 1925-1933 to study in Paris with Paul Dukas), where he honed his craft as a composer. Ponce’s works can be placed within three compositional styles: folk, neoclassical, and impressionistic. His nationalistic compositions, sparked from his presence as a judge in 1910’s composition competition celebrating the centennial of Mexico’s independence,2 include such works as Tres Canciones Populares Mexicanas and Sonata Mexicana. His historical pastiches are a series of suites and sonatas written in the style of composers such as Schubert, Sor, and Weiss. Pieces like his dance suites in A-minor and D-Major, as well as his Sonata Classica and Sonata Romantica, fall into this category. Lastly, his impressionistic style is often thought of as being his own harmonic vocabulary. These pieces, developed during his time in France, have dense harmonies and different chord progressions from many other composers of the time. His Variations sur “Folias de España” et Fugue and Thème varié et Finale are both examples of this style. Within these different works, Ponce incorporated neoclassical, folk, and impressionist elements, all typical traits of modernist composers.

Rights

© 2025, Michael William Bunny

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