The function of the second viola in the string quintets of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Item
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Title
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The function of the second viola in the string quintets of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
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Identifier
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AAI3103156
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identifier
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3103156
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Creator
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Panner, Daniel Z.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Ruth DeFord
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Date
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2003
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music
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Abstract
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The string quintets of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart form a central part of the repertoire of eighteenth-century chamber music. Mozart's fascination with and mastery of this genre is unique among the major composers of the classical period. These works were written at a time when the major genres of chamber music were achieving the forms that they retained for over two centuries; an examination of the quintets, then, can offer perspective on some of the critical issues that surrounded chamber music writing as a whole. The present study is divided into five chapters. The first presents a historical survey of the developments in seventeenth and eighteenth-century chamber music. Chapter two examines the flexibility and variability of the string quintet texture; in chapter three, the specific functions of the second viola are examined in greater detail. Chief among these are its functions as bass voice; as initiator of harmonic and motivic events; and as a kind of independent observer. Chapter four deals with the expansion of dimensions Mozart achieves in the string quintets, and it focuses on the ways in which the second viola plays a role in this expansion. The final chapter considers some of the correspondences between the string quintets and Mozart's operatic works.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
