UCLA

Times of war and political turmoil provoke an array of musical responses. The years between 1936 and 1945 saw unprecedented casualties for humanity in the horrors inflicted by the Third Reich. Artistic freedom also suffered under such oppressive forces, and mounting nationalistic impulses in Europe and the United States served to both strengthen and convolute composers’ sense of identity. Seminal works of the era include Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, which was famously performed during a violent siege by the Axis forces and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, written while the composer was a prisoner of war. This dissertation will focus on smaller compositions, works for solo piano that echoed the sentiment of their composers’ inward nostalgia and nationalist spirit that came to the fore as a result of the turbulent political climate. I shall explore these issues through three piano cycles of similar scope. Joaqu�n Rodrigo’s Cuatro Piezas para Piano was written during the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that elicited in the composer a reflective glance at the past through folk traditions and early music. �mile Gou� composed Pr�histoires in a Nazi prison camp, and his unfortunate circumstances inspired the development of his unique compositional voice. Samuel Barber wrote Excursions, Op. 20 as a medley of regional styles during a time when most of his works were contributions to U.S. war propaganda. The research shall highlight the ways in which these three very different composers crafted their music, examining through analysis their use of traditional devices against a modern compositional idiom. An abundance of primary source material will inform the research, including the original manuscripts of Gou� and the recently translated writings of Rodrigo. Scholarship from the war years as well as our current era illuminates how perceptions have evolved and also remind us that the challenges of confronting this pivotal era have not yet been exhausted. The present dissertation is not a comprehensive study, but a snapshot of three individuals who, through these piano cycles, offer nuanced musical responses to their varied wartime experiences. Looking at the music through the lens of nostalgia raises questions about modernism and traditionalism, the past and present, and how the notion of freedom exists within those dichotomies.