Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Parr, Sean M.
URN	etd-11172003-033041
Title	Musical Fire: Literal and Figurative Moments of "Fire" as Expressed in Western Art Music from 1700 to 1750
Degree	Master of Music
Department	Music, School of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Charles E. Brewer Committee Chair Jeffery Kite-Powell Committee Member Roy Delp Committee Member
Keywords	Fire Affect Rage Aria Stile Concitato Word Painting Baroque Text Painting Madrigalism
Date of Defense	2003-08-20
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This thesis will describe the quality of musical fire and how the representation of fire in music began and progressed during the Baroque period. In addition to hearing beautiful sonorities, experiencing a visceral thrill is one of the basic aesthetics that makes music such an affecting art in Western culture. For the purposes of this thesis, I will define a "musical fire moment" as a musical passage in which the composer's language elicits the quality of some fiery context. These contexts will be defined in this thesis. In music of the Baroque period, I consider fire to be an affect which is utilized by composers to attain moments of heightened, fire-like intensity. There are certain musical works which have texts, characters, or titles including the actual word, "fire," or related words, such as "burn," "flame," etc. Composers set such words in different ways in attempting to reflect the appropriate dramatic meaning or emotion musically. These techniques usually yield feelings of excitement, heightened intensity, and/or agitation in the listener. Clearly, such feelings are not limited to vocal music. Purely instrumental music can and does similarly affect listeners. However, these instrumental fiery moments are not as immediately evident without the word cues of fiery moments in vocal music. Nevertheless, one can certainly feel moments of musical "fire" in high intensity moments in pieces such as the "Summer" concerto of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The origins of the musical expression of fire lie in the stile concitato of Monteverdi and the generally rhetorical approach to the expression of passion in music during the Baroque period. Early representations of fire represented in music show that a key fire-like word was more often painted by itself rather than presented as an affect lasting for an entire section of a piece. By the late Baroque, fire is presented more affectively, in complete sections, movements, and entire arias. This thesis will propose a framework which will serve to categorize musical examples of fiery affect.
Files	Filename       Size       Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)     28.8 Modem   56K Modem   ISDN (64 Kb)   ISDN (128 Kb)   Higher-speed Access    01_smp_prelims.pdf 86.15 Kb 00:00:23 00:00:12 00:00:10 00:00:05 < 00:00:01   02_smp_fire1.pdf 266.20 Kb 00:01:13 00:00:38 00:00:33 00:00:16 00:00:01   03_smp_fire2.pdf 842.22 Kb 00:03:53 00:02:00 00:01:45 00:00:52 00:00:04   04_smp_fire3.pdf 1.59 Mb 00:07:22 00:03:47 00:03:18 00:01:39 00:00:08   05_smp_fire4.pdf 1.76 Mb 00:08:10 00:04:12 00:03:40 00:01:50 00:00:09   06_smp_fire5.pdf 307.70 Kb 00:01:25 00:00:43 00:00:38 00:00:19 00:00:01