Content area
Abstract
This dissertation, focusing on Elliott Carter's Enchanted Preludes, presents a methodology that allows for data garnered from music theoretical analyses, musical recordings, real-time listener narrative contextualization, and longer-term narrative analyses to be meaningfully compared in a single analytical framework. Chapter 1 presents the relevant existing literature on presenting music theory analysis by narrative means in the larger Elliott Carter literature. Chapter 2 engages with the existing literature relevant to Enchanted Preludes. Chapter 3 presents my music theoretical analysis of the piece. Chapter 4 presents the structure and findings of a study focused on capturing participant's narrative impressions of Enchanted Preludes. Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation, presenting ideas to contextualize the findings of the study and analysis as well as expand the presented analytical framework. Virgula Divina, the composition component of this dissertation, is a chamber opera composed for three vocalists and five instrumentalists. The piece focuses on combining traditional operatic conventions and newly designed software. This software allows for the easier execution of real-time stochastic operations within the limitations imposed by traditional operatic performance.
