In this dissertation, I analyze presentations of German composer Felix Mendelssohn in English music history books published between 1850 and 1910 in order to explore the cultural forces affecting English music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By examining different authors’ passages on Mendelssohn, I demonstrate how trends in historiography, taste formation, and nationalism affect the reception of an individual composer. Mendelssohn is a thread that weaves through all these discussions; following it provides a provocative view of a tumultuous period in English music history.

The latter half of the nineteenth century witnessed many interrelated cultural shifts that affected England’s musical culture: a boom in the publication of books on the history of music, a rise in nationalistic sentiment that spurred English writers to tout their country’s accomplishments, increased interest in ancient music that led to significant discoveries about music in the Tudor era, new historiographical approaches that rendered previous history books antiquated, and a zeal for educating the wider public about music in the hopes of shedding the stigma of being das Land ohne Muisk. These decades also coincide with the peak and decline of “Mendelssohn Mania,” England’s fervent devotion to Mendelssohn that reached its height after his death in 1848 and diminished by the 1880s.

In Chapter 1, I review the available scholarship on Mendelssohn reception and English musical culture during the Victorian era, leading to the English Musical Renaissance. I also provide background information on the authors of the music history books used as sources throughout the dissertation, noting the social networks formed by these historians. Chapter 2 details a major historiographical shift in the nineteenth century which made Mendelssohn less relevant to later histories as they excluded some of his greatest accomplishments. This chapter places five English music history books in a continuum from Carlylean hero worship to Spencerian evolutionary progressions, demonstrating how each author reconciled the two models and the resulting effect on Mendelssohn’s representation. In Chapter 3, I trace various discussions surrounding Mendelssohn’s popularity and how it reflected on the perceived musical taste of the nation. Finally, in Chapter 4, I detail the effects of Mendelssohn reception through writings about subsequent generations of English composers, as they struggled to overcome the perception of being the “Land without Music” and claim a national musical identity comparable to but distinct from the Austro-German hegemony. The chapter examines the reception of three composers from this Dark Age: William Sterndale Bennett, Henry Hugo Pierson, and Arthur Sullivan. As the narrative surrounding the Dark Age and Renaissance coalesces, the ways in which historians portray their relationship to Mendelssohn shifts, as Mendelssohn moves from being a beneficial mentor to English composers to a harmful influence they must discard.

This dissertation traces the history of two regional orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Oakland and San José Symphonies, from their inceptions through their Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filings in 1986 and 2002, respectively. I pay special attention to the decades preceding the orchestras’ bankruptcy filings in order to understand the socio-economic shifts that exacerbated the orchestras’ financial problems. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of expansion for many symphony orchestras across the United States. This was due in part to philanthropic organizations such as the Ford Foundation, and government agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts, which augmented orchestras’ budgets and endowments. A rapidly-expanding cohort of college music graduates arrived into the workforce, looking for a professional orchestra to play in. Orchestras were in their heyday, and their budgets reflected their optimism for the future. However, this led some orchestras to expand beyond their means. In the final quarter of the twentieth century, some orchestras were able to grow into the large nonprofit institutions they are today, while others were forced to file for bankruptcy by the end of the century, when philanthropic efforts changed, neoliberal ideologies became naturalized economic expectations, and orchestra managements found themselves unable to meet their budget requirements and sank further and further into debt.

For every major symphony orchestra in the United States there are multiple professional regional orchestras, with smaller budgets, fewer performances, and an inability to pay their musicians a living wage. Nonetheless, by piecing together multiple orchestra jobs, teaching, and other work, musicians in a few specific regions in the US can earn a nearly-livable wage. The Bay Area has around thirty regional orchestras with collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) on file with the Union, which makes it a unique place for freelance orchestra musicians to earn a living by cobbling together jobs in the Bay Area and surrounding regions. The same musicians often drive thousands of miles a month to get to their gigs, garnering the freelance gig economy the nickname, “Freeway Philharmonic.”

This project is rooted in a variety of disciplines out of both curiosity and necessity. As well as musicological scholarship, I draw from archival resources, journalism from the time period, anthropology, sociology, economics, communications, philanthropic studies, and draw from the research of the foundations who granted millions of dollars to the Oakland and San José Symphonies. By using the bankruptcies of these two orchestras as case studies, I uncover the many missteps the orchestras made, and suggest possible alternate suggestion for the future. In a time of overwhelming uncertainty in the music world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope to provide an activist stance that will help regional orchestral musicians and their institutions as they find their way back from a dark period of no live performances toward a (hopefully) vibrant musical future.

When Antonín Dvořák received the libretto to the opera Dimitrij in 1881 he liked it and asked to speak to “Mr. Librettist” right away. The answer, from the director of Prague’s National Theater was, “The librettist wears skirts!” Dvořák quickly corrected himself and soon thereafter was introduced to Marie Červinková-Riegrová, his new libretistka (female librettist). Despite Dvořák’s initial surprise he was not alone in working with a female librettist during this period of Czech history. Indeed, by the time Dvořák began composing Dimitrij, Bedřich Smetana had already composed two operas to libretti by Eliška Krásnohorská and was completing a third, and Zdeněk Fibich would compose three operas based on libretti by Anežka Schulzová in the 1890s. Although the female librettist was a comparatively common phenomenon in 19th-century Bohemia, elsewhere few women were engaged in the work of creating the texts for operas. In this dissertation I explore the cultural contexts that allowed for this high concentration of female librettists, the collaborations between composers and their librettists, and the reception of the works that resulted from these collaborations.

When Antonín Dvořák received the libretto to the opera Dimitrij in 1881 he liked it so much that he asked to speak to “Mr. Librettist” right away. The answer, from the director of Prague’s National Theater, was: “The librettist wears skirts.” Dvořák quickly corrected himself and soon thereafter was introduced to Marie Červinková-Riegrová, his new libretistka (female librettist). Despite Dvořák’s initial surprise he was not alone in working with a female librettist during this period of Czech history. Indeed, by the time Dvořák began composing Dimitrij, Bedřich Smetana had already composed two operas to libretti by Eliška Krásnohorská and was completing a third, and Zdeněk Fibich would compose three operas based on libretti by Anežka Schulzová in the 1890s. Although the female librettist was a comparatively common phenomenon in 19th-century Bohemia, few women were engaged in the work of creating the texts for operas elsewhere. In this dissertation I explore the cultural contexts that allowed for this high concentration of female librettists in Bohemia, the collaborations between composers and their librettists, and the reception of the works that resulted from these collaborations.

Building on the work of other musicologists who have established the historical narrative for Czech opera and examined the complex cultural politics of the waning Habsburg Empire, I place libretti and the composer-librettist collaboration at the center of my analysis. After providing biographical information, in some cases for the first time in English, about the lesser-studied figures featured in my dissertation in Chapter 2, I present two case studies that center on the collaborations between Dvořák and Červinková-Riegrová, and between Fibich and Schulzová. In Chapter 3 I discuss Dvořák and Červinková-Riegrová’s collaborations on Dimitrij and Jakobín. These works offer an informative juxtaposition that allows for an analysis of the conflicting demands of audiences in different parts of the multi-ethnic Habsburg Empire. Chapter 4 focuses on Fibich and Schulzová’s work on Šárka, an opera that was almost universally praised for its music and widely criticized for its libretto. By looking at this opera I expose the implications of inventing traditions and histories through the lens of Šárka’s reception. In the conclusion I offer several possible explanations for the phenomenon of female librettists in nineteenth-century Bohemia. Ultimately this dissertation explores the confluence of gender, national identity, and opera in a specific time and place, but has applications for all three topics in a variety of broader contexts.

Throughout the 1930s and 40s, the United States played host to thousands of European émigrés who were fleeing the spread of fascism in their homelands, namely the dangerous policies of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. While many of these refugees settled on the East Coast, a surprising majority headed west for the sunny prospects of Southern California and, in particular, Los Angeles. What resulted was a truly remarkable community of some of the twentieth century’s brightest musical and artistic minds.

Alongside the mental and emotional tolls of adapting to life in a new country, the issues put forth by American musical institutions—and their surrounding cast of conductors, composers, newspaper critics, arts administrators, patrons, and community leaders—created a vibrant and often dizzying whirlwind of discourse, occasionally leaving the émigrés wondering how best to contribute. The ways in which this played out in Los Angeles specifically present a fascinating microcosm of American classical music culture and reveal the disparate ideologies, objectives, and ambitions that contributed to the identities of local institutions—and the émigrés themselves—during a pivotal juncture in history.

This dissertation examines select moments of intersection between European émigrés and Los Angeles orchestras in the 1930s and 40s, focusing specifically on how four institutions variously built and expressed distinct identities—European, American, or Angeleno—in response to the presence and participation of the local émigré population. Three case studies will illustrate this, some of which have not been explored at length in any previously-published studies: the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s September 1936 benefit concert for the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom, the Werner Janssen Symphony’s “non-performance” of Paul Hindemith’s Theme with Four Variations in January 1942, and Richard Lert’s spring 1942 performances with the Pasadena Civic Orchestra and the American Music Theatre of Pasadena. Making ample use of primary sources and archival documents throughout, this project will reveal on a small scale how émigrés fared within Los Angeles’s orchestral community of the 1930s and 40s and how these local institutions—despite differences in professionalism, audience, and funding—were shaped, reshaped, or confirmed during moments of convergence between European and American sensibilities.

Entertainment has changed dramatically in recent decades. The frequency of live music making and live performances of all genres has significantly declined. These changes reach deep into the heart of classical vocal music. This study examines present concerns in art song performance as its enthusiasts recognize the necessity to employ innovative approaches in order to continually share their art form. All people involved in performing or in educating others to perform this genre are reexamining its relevance in society. Some have reached a new conviction that art song is important. Those who have observed evidence of its decline seek ways to rejuvenate audiences for this beloved and transformative art form. Establishing an authentic connection with the audience, utilizing art song as true theatrical entertainment, and removing lenses that would alienate audiences are each essential.

Jake Heggie is a composer who offers a relevant artistic contribution to society and reinvigorated hope for contemporary opera and art song. His significant collaborations speak of his ability to work successfully in theatrical productions and his enthusiasm to educate students about this rewarding vocation.

Desire for and expertise with connecting with the audience is a priority in professional performance but was not the priority in student venues while perfecting technical skill. However, the transition to professional status requires a performer's deep understanding and expressive capability. Performing in such a way that this happens in a mutually satisfying manner for performer and audience is the definition of artistic success. Heggie's song cycle inspires a deep reflection on the vocation, the problems and potential solutions in a song artist's journey.

The genesis of Heggie's The Starry Night, a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano on texts of Vincent Van Gogh, Anne Sexton and Emily Dickinson, was inspired by a personal event in Heggie's life. While each of the authors of the texts have contributed significantly to art and poetry, their personal lives give inspiration to others who share similar types of suffering. Each analysis of the songs explores the text and the composer's musical treatment. The author and soprano Elizabeth Croy coached the cycle with Jake Heggie and his personal interpretations of the texts and music, as described on February 23, 2010, are recorded in this document.

In this dissertation, I analyze the first and last movements of the Symphonie fantastique with respect to four layers: melody, harmony, orchestration, and hypermeter. I use several types of layer-interaction to determine points of large-scale structural significance and refer to this analysis to resolve points of disagreement over the form of each movement. Historically, this piece has been the subject of much criticism because Berlioz has mixed multiple styles, genres, and compositional procedures. Many of Berlioz's works have resisted both categorization and analysis thanks to this general creative strategy.

Chapter One defines each of the four layers that I take into account and gives two examples of the ways in which these layers can move in and out of phase. Chapter Two compares three interpretations of Berlioz's first movement: as an "arched" sonata form in which the first and second themes are reversed in the recapitulation, as a Type 3 sonata form but with recapitulation beginning in the dominant, and as an instance of Anton Reicha's Grande coupe binaire. I suggest that the Grande coupe binaire and the Type 3 sonata forms each provide a closer model to the movement than the "arched" sonata hypothesis. Chapter Three compares my layered analysis of Berlioz's first movement and the first movement of Reicha's Symphony no. 2 in E♭. I find similarities between the two movements that point towards Reicha's theory of the form as a plausible model for Berlioz's first movement. Chapter Four applies my proposed analytical technique to the entire fifth movement to establish not only the points of large-scale structural significance, but also to establish continuity in the movement by demonstrating momentum gain and loss through the interaction of the layers. Finally, Chapter Five evaluates Berlioz's Ronde du sabbat under the Paris Conservatoire's guidelines for the fugue by examining treatises by Reicha and by Luigi Cherubini. It then establishes the interaction of layers as an important aspect of fugue composition.