OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Sandmeier, Rebekka"

Browsing by Author "Sandmeier, Rebekka"

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Open Access
Analysis of Summa by Arvo Pärt
(2011) Patrick, David; Watt, Martin; Sandmeier, Rebekka
This study presents a musical analysis using a process of pitch mapping. Pitch rows are presented graphically to demonstrate the visual design of the music. Description of the process is preceded by a discussion of some of the historical, and philosophical factors that are relevant to the development of Pärt’s tintinnabuli music. The musical and political history of Estonia and some of its other composers are presented as an important resource for understanding Pärt’s music. The use of proportions and formulas in the music is presented as being connected to a long line of similar practice in the fields of music, mathematics, physics and astronomy that has been used in the pursuit of an understanding of the Universe. Although informed by an extensive depth of spirituality, research and construction, the music remains an intensely personal expression of the composer. In this combination of structure and intuition it is able to resonate with people across many different cultures, and across many visible and invisible boundaries. Through the establishment of tonal stability in tintinnabuli music, extra-musical codes and symbols can be placed within its structure. This is achieved through a compositional process that includes both highly organized proportional formulas and creative intuition. The process of pitch mapping as a method of musical analysis demonstrates how this can be done. Pitch mapping is presented as a creative process of musical analysis. Visual images and animated visual images are used to add to an understanding of the music.
Open Access
Aspects of George Philipp Telemann's Nouvelaux quatuors, in particular their possible influence on the conversations galantes of Louis-Gabriel Guillemain
(2013) Oxtoby, Colleen Joy; Sandmeier, Rebekka
The two quartet-collections under consideration appeared within five years of each other, in the same city and, most significantly, for the same new combination of instruments. As the first was the work of an established and prolific composer, and the second, of a younger, lesser-known man with relatively limited output to his credit, I set out in this dissertation to examine the possibility that the one was modelled on the other. Was Guillemain influenced by the Nouveaux Quatuors of Telemann when he composed his Conversations galantes? Georg Philipp Telemann (1681â€“1767), a North German who typically absorbed foreign elements into his writing-style published what was probably the last of his chamber music in Paris in 1738, under the title Nouveaux Quatuors en Six Suites. They were called â€˜newâ€™ in relation to his earlier set, the Quadri, self-published in Hamburg in 1730. Because of their common scoring, and the assumption that the invitation to visit Paris was based on the strength and reception of the Quadri, the two sets were labelled collectively the â€˜Paris Quartetsâ€™, by Walter Bergmann in the 1960s. The Frenchman, Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (1705â€“1770) trained as a violinist in Italy, then returned to France where he was later employed at court. In 1743 he too published quartets for the same instruments as had Telemann. These were the Six sonates en quatuors ou conversations galantes et amusantes which also appeared in two groups of six - op. 12 (1743) and op. 17 (1756). The latter was an arrangement of his op. 13 accompanied keyboard sonatas. The former was chosen for this dissertation, being closer in time to the Nouveaux Quatuors and being original rather than an arrangement. It possibly is also the nearest replication, chronologically-speaking, of Telemannâ€™s scoring: that of traverso, violin, viola da gamba or cello, and basso continuo. It has to be noted, however, that Guillemain specifies the viol for the third obbligato line, whereas Telemann offers cello as an alternative. This in itself is of considerable interest. The relatively new quartet emerged towards the end of an era dominated by the solo and trio sonata genres, the addition of a third concertante instrument fleshing out the configuration of the latter.
Open Access
Conquering the Cape: the role of domestic keyboard instruments in colonial society and the colonisation process
(2021) Dippenaar, Erik (Gert Diederick Victor); Sandmeier, Rebekka
This thesis traces the history and usage of domestic keyboard instruments in the Cape Colony from 1652 until 1852, and brings to light the role that these instruments played in colonial society and in the colonisation process in the Cape Colony. Chapter 2 sketches the broader historical, social and cultural context within which domestic music making involving keyboard instruments took place in the Cape Colony. Chapter 3 presents an overview of the distribution of domestic keyboard instruments in the Cape Colony as well as historical evidence about the situations in which they were located and used. This chapter also describes importation and building trends during the period covered by this study, and sheds light on the various types of keyboard instruments that could be found in domestic settings in the Cape Colony. Chapter 4 draws attention to the types of repertoire that would have been played on these instruments and examines the presence (or often absence) of sheet music on premises where keyboard instruments were found in a domestic context. The concluding chapter of this thesis (Chapter 5) contextualises the historical evidence on domestic keyboard instruments in the Southern African colonial context (as outlined in Chapters 2, 3 and 4) within the broader framework of the global historical and cultural meanings associated with keyboard instruments. It does so by examining the cultural meanings attached to keyboard instruments in other contexts, and ascertaining how these meanings were played out, and sometimes transformed or enhanced, in the Southern African colonial context. This interpretation is then used to show that domestic keyboard instruments played a significant role in defining a cultural identity in colonial society, and contributed considerably to the colonisation process in a variety of ways. It also highlights how domestic keyboard instruments were involved in these processes, on the basis of five broad themes: domestic keyboard instruments and female respectability; keyboard instruments as a diplomatic tool and a display of technology; the ‘loud' absence of evidence pointing to slaves playing keyboard instruments; the totemic function of domestic keyboard instruments; and the sonoric and physical impact caused by keyboard instruments.
Open Access
Contemporary musical expression in Anglican Churches of the Diocese of Cape Town developments since the liturgical, theological and social revolutions of the twentieth century
(2012) Bethke, Andrew-John; Bezuidenhout, Morn?; Sandmeier, Rebekka
The broader purpose of this study is to investigate musical change in relation to theological and liturgical change. The particular focus of this thesis is to explore the link between liturgial revision and musical development in the Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, between 1964 and 2010. This doctorate is situated in musicology but also embraces features of liturgical theology. Le Huray's account of musical change during the Reformation, in Music and the Reformation in England 1549-1660 (Cambridge, 1978), served as a model on which to view contemporary developments. Pass' definitions of the role of music in church (kerygmatic, koinoniac and leitourgic), contained in Music and the Church (Nashville, 1989), have also been used as a basis for the study. Additionally, the author developed a series of terms to distinguish the relationship between musical and liturgical change.
Open Access
Early radio broadcasting in South Africa: culture, modernity & technology
(2015) Mhlambi, Thokozani Ndumiso; Hamilton, Carolyn; Sandmeier, Rebekka
This thesis tells the story of the events that led to a broadcasting culture in South Africa. It then proceeds to show how listeners were gradually brought into the radio community, notwithstanding all the prejudices of the time. Africans were the last ones to be considered for broadcasting, this was now in a time of crisis, during the Second World War. Through a look at the cultural landscape of the time, the thesis uncovers the making of radio in South Africa, and shows how this process of making was deeply contested, often with vexing contradictions in ideas about race, segregation and point of view. The thesis is useful to scholars of history, culture and, more importantly, of music, as it lays the necessary groundwork for in-depth explorations of music styles played and the African artists who grew out of broadcasting activities. In its appeal to a broader audience of literate and illiterate, it sparked the formation of a South African listening public. It also facilitated the presence and domestication of the radio-set within the African home. Radio could account for a whole world out there in the presence of one's home, therefore actively situating African listeners into a modern- global imaginary of listeners. By bringing news from faraway places nearer, radio was a new kind of colonial modern encounter as it sought to redefine the nature of the local. The thesis therefore understands broadcasting as part of those technological legacies through which, in line with V Y Mudimbe (1988: xi), "African worlds have been established as realities for knowledge." Technology therefore appears as a recurring theme throughout this thesis. The primary material was gathered using archival methods. In the absence of an audio archive of recordings of the early broadcasts, the thesis relies to a large extent on written resources and interviews.
Open Access
The history of the clarinet in South Africa
(2016) Steltzner, Becky L; Sandmeier, Rebekka
This thesis explores and traces the history of the clarinet in South Africa. After discussing the problems of researching western European music history in South Africa from the arrival of the Dutch in 1652, and briefly summarising that music history up to the first clarinet reference, the thesis goes through the existing clarinet references. These have been sourced from travellers' journals, newspapers, military histories, other theses, etc., with particular emphasis on the 19th century, since the clarinet was introduced to South Africa near the beginning of it, and the most unknown part of the clarinet's South African history is within it. The references are noted, discussed, and where possible, the performers' biographical details are given and discussed. This carries through to the beginning of the 20th century, at which point South Africa got its first professional symphony orchestra, and first College of Music. From here, the clarinet is deemed to be more readily available, so at this point, the focus changes to South African compositions for clarinet. Finally, a case study is done on Ali-Ben-Sou-Alle, who was the first clarinet soloist to visit South Africa, as well as one of the most interesting and mysterious characters encountered in this research.
Open Access
How did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart adjust his compositional technique when writing for a Mezzosoprano en travesti? A comparison between the roles of Cherubino and Sesto
(2019) Pretorious, Ane Sophia; Sandmeier, Rebekka
Heroic male operatic roles were not always limited to what is today mainly known as male voices (tenor or baritone/bass). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries prepubescent boys were often castrated in order to keep their voices within the treble range. Some of these boys were extremely musical and after many years of vigorous training, went on to become renowned singers. The singing castrati were famous for their ethereal vocal abilities as well as ‘angelic’ vocal timbre. During the castrati’s reign, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote what is speculated to be the first operatic prepubescent boy role to be sung by a female en travesti, which set in motion a new opera tradition. Between 1790 and 1825 the convention of castration purely for the sake of voice preservation began to lose strength until the complete demise of these celebrated singers in 1922. From then on theatres began to substitute female singers, falsettists and countertenors into these heroic male roles. The repertoire of mezzo-sopranos today consists mainly of these prepubescent boy and adult heroic male roles. Based on the various physiological differences between the castrato and female body and larynx, this study focused mainly on proving how Mozart wrote idiomatically differently for the castrato and the female voice. The secondary aim was to determine the influence of socio-political climate on the perception of these roles by past and present audiences, as well as to uncover the various difficulties facing contemporary mezzosopranos. Recommendations aimed at mezzo-sopranos were formed from a mezzo-soprano’s perspective
Open Access
A performance guide of J.S. Bach's viola da Gama sonatas transcribed for viola
(2014) Isaacs, Azra; Sandmeier, Rebekka
As a viola player who is currently learning the viola da gamba sonatas, I have noted a significant dearth of literature in this focal area. This has been particularly evident when approaching the viola transcriptions of Bach’s solo cello suites and viola da gamba sonatas. My aim is to create a performance guide to J.S. Bach’s Three Sonatas for viola da gamba and Harpsichord (BWV 1027‐1029), transcribed for viola. I shall be comparing three editions of viola transcriptions to Bärenreiter’s Neue Bach Ausgabe, edited by Hans Eppstein. This comparison will focus on articulation markings and other editorial devices used to adapt the sonatas for the viola. An analysis of the articulation used by Bach and his copyists can only be undertaken if performance practice of the time is understood. The “Historically Informed Performance” (HIP) movement is central to this understanding, and has been the topic of much recent debate. Although the viola da gamba and viola are both string instruments, they differ in size and employ different techniques. Thus, should the articulation and timbre of the former be imitated in playing the latter? Or should the unique qualities of the viola be embraced to create a distinct sound? Thus, my interest in this research topic was piqued not only by the need for interpretative clarification; but also by the potential to address the specific technical difficulties arising due to the mechanics of the viola.
Open Access
Samuel Pepys' reception and perception of vocal music in seventeenth-century England : an analysis of selected diary entries from 1660 until 1669
(2013) Lubbe, Michelle Hester; Sandmeier, Rebekka
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was a late seventeenth-century diarist with a deep love of music, which he often compared to his love of women, as expressed in the previous quotation. Even though this quotation specifically refers to wind music, it also directly expresses Pepys' love of music as a whole. His diary stretches over a period of approximately nine years, 1660 until 1669. Among the discussions on a number of topics, in his diary Pepys expresses his views on music in various forms and from a range of perspectives. In this study Pepys' views on music from the point of view of a listener or audience member will be illustrated. The nature of Pepys' views on music and his reception thereof can be said to be ahead of his time. 'Theories of reception move historical enquiry away from questions of production and composition and towards issues related to response, audience, and what Carl Dahlhaus, following Walter Benjamin, called the 'after-life' of musical works.' The 'after-life' of a musical work is described by Mark Everist as a feeling that is evoked by the experience of it. This feeling that one gets during and after listening to a musical work could be seen as reception of the work. However, the term 'reception' is more readily referred to as critical responses to music in the form of public reviews that appear in written sources such as books, journals, newspapers, letters and diaries. Albert Roussel, a musician and French composer, believes that music is a language that composers and performers use to communicate with an audience. Music brings an audience to a deeper understanding, one that cannot be expressed in words, only felt, as Felix Mendelssohn states: '[Music] fills the soul with a thousand things better than words. The thoughts that are expressed to me by music I love are not too indefinite to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite.' It is necessary to address music reception from the audience's perspective because Samuel Pepys was a 17th century music lover and formed part of the audience at the time. He emphatically expressed his overwhelming love of music in his diary. The audiences are there to listen and experience, which is the inspiration behind this study.
Open Access
Schubert s dramatic Lieder to Poems by Goethe: Technical and interpretive decision-making from a lyric baritone s perspective
(2024) Lodewyk, Aubrey; Sandmeier, Rebekka
This study explores the technical and interpretive challenges that a lyric baritone experiences when performing Schubert's dramatic Lieder set to Goethe's poems. Schubert's dramatic Lieder incorporates elements found in theatrical works, such as narrators, personae, recitatives and declamation, which pose interpretive challenges for the lyric baritone (Hirsch 1993. 2). The Lieder also consists of wide vocal ranges, sections with high tessitura, wide interval leaps and long phrases, each presenting notable technical challenges for the lyric baritone (Hirsch 1993. 2). Related technical aspects, specifically vowel modification in the zona di passaggio, breath management, and changes in vocal timbre, are also challenges that the lyric baritone must address, which this study examines (Brown 2018). Biographical knowledge of the lives and work of the composer and the poet is crucial for interpreting and performing their work (Miller 1999, 3). Therefore, overviews of Schubert and Goethe are provided, and a contextual examination is provided to define the dramatic elements within a Lied. This study adopts a qualitative research approach and interpretivist paradigm that combines practice-led and autoethnographic methods within a hermeneutic research design to interpret the Lieder. This combined approach, including reflexivity based on my own experience as a lyric baritone performing the Lieder, assists in analysing and interpreting the text of Schubert's dramatic Lieder set to Goethe's poems. The study identifies technical and interpretive challenges relating to the inherent dramatic elements in the words and the music and explores solutions to these challenges for the lyric baritone.
Open Access
The Development of a Violinistic Idiom in Early Violin Music: Violin Music and its Composers in the Early 17th Century in Italy
(2022) Cook, Shannon; Sandmeier, Rebekka
The objective of this study is to trace the emergence, development, and use of violinistic idioms within written violin music in Italy from the end of the 16th century to the mid-17th century. The aim of this study is to render a concise and integrated narrative of how the Italian violinist composers in early and middle 17th century created, developed, and used violinistic idioms within violin music. This study's time frame starts with the emergence and early development of instrumental and early violinistic idioms during the end of the 16th century. The time frame concludes with the middle decades of the 17th century when the first ‘violin virtuosi' in the Mantuan violin school – the first ‘violin school' – displayed far more advanced and specific violinistic idioms within their violin music. The study has two elements: A historical aspect and an analytical aspect. The historical aspect discusses the historical and musical aspects of the development of violinistic idioms within violin music at the time. In the analytical aspect of the study, musical examples from the works of the pertinent violinist composers are discussed in order to exam how violinistic idioms were utilised and development within their violin works. The study reaches the conclusion that: the early 17th century was an active period in the history of the development of violinistic idioms within violin music. Within a matter of decades, the violin grew from being one of various accompaniment instruments in the late 16th century to being the most popular treble instrument for musical expression, that even rivalled the voice by the middle decades of the 17th century. Throughout the early 17th century, the observable trend was that of an idiomatic development which lent itself to the pursuit of virtuosity and technical display. By the middle of the 17th century, a more advanced and complex awareness of the violin's capabilities allowed violinist composers to expand virtuosity, technicality, and expression within violin music. This expansion – especially observable through the violin music of the Mantuan violinist composers – formed the foundation for the transformation of development within violin music towards the late 17th century and onwards.
Open Access
The impact of having a choir in the community
(2020) Sithela, Abonga Will; Sandmeier, Rebekka
Choir singing is something that is enjoyed by many people around the communities, some are singing in church choirs, some are singing in school choirs and some are singing in community choirs. To sustain a church choir and a school choir is relatively possible because there is some sort of support coming from these institutions as the choir serves as the secondary purpose for both these institutions. People go to church to worship the Lord and decide to join the choir, so is going to school, the learners attend school to acquire knowledge and as an extra mural activity they join the school. For the community choir, the main purpose to join a community choir is to sing for the love of music and because they are not under any institution, community choirs face many challenges that include but not limited to, the money. Amongst those challenges is the lack of knowledge about the important reason why the choirs exist, which is to build unity amongst the communities and to teach individuals the soft skills that are needed to build one's career. This study will look at contributing towards civil societies in South Africa mostly in the townships where the main focus will be developing the communities through music activities such as working with choirs from the professional point of view. Turino (2008) states that in societies around the world, music creates and expresses the emotional inner life and it also can be an avenue of money and fame. I agree with Turino, as I am also a person looking to earn my living through music. Akuno (2008) mentions that in African societies, there is music for every activity, and it does not come as a surprise that there are a lot of community choirs. In addition, music as a work of art serves physical and emotional needs while cementing psycho-social and spiritual relationships (Akuno 2008) something that is forgotten and as a result choirs face difficulty and that leads to the dissolvement of the choirs.
Open Access
The mediation and facilitation of a ‘living' landscape through the musical arts within the Clanwilliam Arts Project
(2022) Andrews, Brandon Hilton; Sandmeier, Rebekka; Baxter, Veronica
The Clanwilliam Arts Project, situated in Clanwilliam, Western Cape, South Africa, is a community arts initiative that has become a platform for many artists, scholars, and students. Gaining access to the town creates an opportunity to engage with the town's culturally rich history, knowing that the Clanwilliam region is often referred to as an archaeological gem with its archaeological field station housed at the Living Landscape, Park Street. The community arts project has also been known as a training centre for students and artists in community-based arts learning, exposing them to the practice of informing and enriching a community about its heritage. The objective of the study was to investigate the ways in which the mediation and facilitation of a ‘living' landscape took place through the arts with specific emphasis on the musical arts. The rich ancestral history of Clanwilliam, along with its own practices of community-making through the arts, were engaged with the lenses of tradition, culture, and heritage. To accommodate this culturally rich context provided by the Clanwilliam Arts Project, a multidimensional theoretical framework was implemented. The overall theoretical framework consisted of an amalgamation of three ‘theories' by three different authors: • Huib Schippers's Twelve Continuum Transmissions Framework (2010) • Meki Nzewi's principle of space within an African ensemble context (2005) • Sylvia Bruinders's perspective on ‘hidden subjectivities' (2017). For these three theories to form a conceptual whole, an additional theory was introduced to integrated them, namely Harry Garuba's Roots and routes: Tracking form and history in African diasporic narrative and performance (2010). Following a constructivist paradigm, this qualitative study made use of interviews, observations, and biographical questionnaires. The analysis of the qualitative data employed a grounded theory approach that enabled patterns and themes to emerge accordingly. Following the theoretical framework, findings from the review of literature and fieldwork data were used in collaborative form to assist the study's key findings. Analysing the processes involved in facilitating and mediating the ‘living' landscape in community-based learning through the musical arts context has revealed that the Clanwilliam community is to be considered as a peripheral field of learning. Key findings indicated that, with the mediation and facilitation of a ‘living' landscape, communities coexist and cohabituate in this peripheral field of learning when the past is reconnected and/or reimagined with the present.
Open Access
The Spohr fingering principles as manifested in his Violinschule
(2019) Shaw, Annien; Sandmeier, Rebekka; Bacharova, Farida
In 1832 the violinist, composer and pedagogue, Louis Spohr, published a treatise on violin technique entitled Violinschule von Louis Spohr. Of Spohr’s many publications, his treatise on violin technique has remained his most notable published work. This thesis determines the fingering principles implicit in Louis Spohr’s treatise that would manifest themselves in a violinist if his Violinschule were applied as a tutor. The opening chapter briefly summarises the development of violin fingering and the external factors that impact on such techniques. A background sketch of Louis Spohr’s career references the influences on him as a violinist, as well as his invention of the chin rest in approximately 1820. The Violinschule is then analysed to derive fingering principles ranging from the rudimentary to advanced expressive fingering. The principles (or rules) are manifested in the order of the skills and techniques a student would acquire through practising the exercises provided in the Violinschule. The retrieved principles are then sorted into a table of categorised rules. By applying the table of rules to the Theme and Variation exercise (No. 66) in the Violinschule, the underlying hierarchy of certain rules is revealed. The stylistic use of expressive fingering is highlighted in a chapter on performance and style. The influence of Spohr’s chin rest on his own fingering development is investigated in a brief chapter by comparing the fingering rules to works by Spohr composed before 1820. The table of rules is then applied to a comparison of five editions of Louis Spohr’s Violin Concerto No. 9, as presented in the Violinschule, edited by himself, his student (Ferdinand David) and his student’s students (Henry Schradieck and Friedrich Hermann), tracking the relevance of his fingering rules through the lineage of teacher to student. The study concludes that Spohr’s role in the development of violin fingering was not as significant as originally thought, nor did it have the expected or long-lasting results. Furthermore, his invention of the chin rest had no direct impact on his own fingering methods or those of his students.

Browsing by Author "Sandmeier, Rebekka"

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