Abstract

This D. M. A. dissertation, Resurrection, is an Expressionistic and Romantic work written in three movements for full orchestra. The first movement consists of a focus on sound mass textures centered on the B-flat/E tritone pitch interval. This pitch choice results from the lowest note on the contrabassoon being B-flat and the musical reference to the “diabolus in musica.” In this composition, the tritone references the notion of one being (thinking, speaking, acting) in ignorance or darkness. The second movement is quieter, with less dense textures offering more space within the structural context. The orchestra speaks in whispers, sighs, and fragmented lines as well as polyphonic textures. Unlike the first movement, conjunct melodic statements are heard, and klangfarbenmelodie is utilized in this movement and in the third movement. The third movement combines elements from the two previous movements, and includes a twelve-note tone row and matrix. The final movement also quotes from the first eight measures of movement III of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb Major, Op. 83, and from the hymns “I Surrender All,” text by Judson W. Van DeVenter and music by Winfield S. Weeden, and “My Faith Looks up to Thee,” text by Ray Palmer and music composed by Lowell Mason. The length of this composition is approximately 45 minutes.