Ricercare

The goal of this work was the study of structural aspects in polyphonic pieces by Adrian Willaert, aiming to identify a possible relationship between his vocal and instrumental works, namely the moteto and ricercare genres. Among the various structural aspects that served as a basis for comparison, cadence was chosen as a measurable and predominant common element, by patterns of occurrence and typology associated with a relatively well-established classification by Bernhard Meier. Some unusual cadential species were identified in Willaert’s pieces, specially the melodic clausula cantizans fuggita, which however could not be attributed to the composer without an investigation on its possible occurrence in works by influential composers such as Josquin. This observation implied in the study of primary sources previous to Willaert, in order to identify, on the one hand, aspects that corroborated the development of the instrumental music from vocal models during the fifteenth- and sixteenth-centuries and, on the other hand, possible influences related to the use of these unusual cadential species. An expanded cadential plan model was developed as the pieces were being analyzed, including a method of motivic analysis that prompted the scope examination of this converging analytical method in a piece by Clemens non Papa, a contemporary but unrelated composer to Willaert’s circle. As a consequence of this research, it was possible to identify a cadential structure nominated ‘staggered cadence’ as an ultimate means of potential articulation, besides some structural groupings in coupling with the basic cadential pattern cantizans-tenorizans, here nominated as ‘C/T-cadence’.

El Patronato Colombiano de Artes y Ciencias alberga en sus instalaciones la producción musical de algunos de los compositores sinfónicos colombianos más importante del siglo xx y obras de otros tantos tanto de ese siglo como del xxi. Su colección incluye diversas tendencias musicales, entre las que se destacan las obras sinfónicas creadas sobre temática indígena. La mayoría de estas se encuentran aún inéditas. Este trabajo presenta una mirada general al contenido orquestal indigenista de los archivos del patronato y propone una perspectiva que invita a valorar la información que las peculiaridades de dicho contexto musical y archivístico aportan accidentalmente a los documentos.

In the literature for solo instrument, etudes typically present different kinds of technical and expressive challenges. In fact, they often focus on unique and problematic aspects of performance on a specific instrument. The short group of piano etudes presented here has the same purpose, although, in some cases, it recalls writing techniques and melodic-rhythmical modules usually associated with composers and styles of both the past and present times. In this article in particular, four etudes (Scales, Expressive Fingering, Parallel Thirds and Broken Octaves) are briefly described and analyzed from both a compositional and an interpretive approach, given the case that both the composer and the interpreter were in contact during the creative and learning process of the pieces. The result of this kind of collaboration is twofold: a composition whose playability and effectiveness are warranted by the practice of the interpreter, and a performance with a better understanding of the dir...

Firefly Elegy uses a 12-note melodic theme, which through the course of the piece undergoes a series of transformations - mirroring the metamorphosis that takes place over a firefly's brief life span. The piece comprises four sections that reflect the four life stages of the firefly. During the motionless egg stage, some types of fireflies glow dimly; the opening section of the piece (following a short fanfare of flashing-light) is likewise static and calm, while at the same time features an internal motion hinting at subdued energy. The following groovy section is at times aggressive, not unlike the firefly during its larva stage, when it is hunting and digesting insects using special enzymes. The firefly hibernates through the pupa stage - reflected in the third section of the piece by seemingly everlasting sustained chords in the strings. Like a flash of light, each new phrase begins with an ascending scale, while the harp provides groups of repeated notes, recalling the sync...

Trasmissione e recezione delle forme di cultura musicale, Atti del XIV Congresso della Società Internazionale di Musicologia (Turin, 1990), pp. 175-181.
Studies the ancestry of a particular branch of imitative instrumental music of the late 16th and early 17th century.  Adds to the branch a collection of manuscript ricercars now housed in Regensburg and proposes to correct a misattribution for these ricercars.