University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Owning overtones: The impact of spectral approaches on my music

Dennehy, Donnacha

This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/88860

Description

Title
Owning overtones: The impact of spectral approaches on my music
Author(s)
Dennehy, Donnacha
Issue Date
2014
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Associate Professor Stephen Taylor
Committee Member(s)
  • Professor Erik Lund
  • Professor William Kinderman
  • Associate Professor Emeritus Zack Browning
Department of Study
School of Music
Discipline
Music
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
A.Mus.D. (doctoral)
Keyword(s)
  • Donnacha
  • Dennehy
  • spectral
  • music
  • composition
  • composer
Language
en
Abstract
This dissertation concerns itself with the impact that spectral music had on my musical thought. It begins by examining classic French spectral music of the 1970s and 1980s as developed by the group of composers known as l’Itinéraire. The works and explanations of two composers in particular from l’Itinéraire, Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail, are examined in detail. Spectral music is not simply limited to this group of stylistically similar composers. In the second chapter, I concentrate on two radically different and deeply individual composers who have made significant use of spectral approaches in their music. In the case of James Tenney, his “spectral” music in fact pre-dated that of the Itinéraire group, and he was not aware of the music of these composers until as late as the 1990s. Vivier, though influenced by Grisey, concentrated on a very small aspect of technique – the addition of sum tones – to create work of poetic originality. Although my interest in a spectral approach to composition was first stimulated by hearing the music of Grisey, in a practical sense Vivier and Tenney have had a stronger influence on my incorporation of these ideas in my music. In the final chapter I examine the way that I make use of my own idiosyncratic spectral approaches to pitch and timbre in my compositions.
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/88860

Owning Collections

Doctoral Project Theses [Option 2] - Music PRIMARY