Masters Degrees (Music)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Music) by Author "Claassen, Magdalena"

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    A performance-based research on the Fourteen Stations of the Cross by Alan Ridout
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-12) Claassen, Magdalena; Kohler, Ralph; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Stations of the Cross is an ancient Roman Catholic devotional ritual. True to the conviction of the Roman Catholic Church that art has the ability to communicate theological ideas, works of art that depict the passion of Christ stand central when this ritual is performed. Very rarely this story is told through music. In this thesis, which was inspired by my performance of The Fourteen Stations of the Cross (a suite for organ) by Alan Ridout, I analysed this work with the specific objective to establish how this composition relates the story and communicates it to the audience. My intention was to apply the knowledge that I gained through my investigation to render an insightful and spiritually rewarding performance. The specific line of analysis of the work was prompted by Ridout’s note that this work was a set of variations that concludes with the theme. Considerations taken into account were whether he started with an identifiable theme from the religious repertoire, or whether the result of the developing theme was realised in the last Station. Despite the specific association of the Stations of the Cross devotion with the Roman Catholic faith, Ridout composed his work on commission for the Anglican Canterbury Cathedral. I also investigat-ed the possibility of the liturgical use of musical renderings of the Fourteen Stations of the Cross in Protestant churches. Ridout also states in his composer’s note that the work was suggested by the sculptured relief works which can be seen in the Altenberg Cathedral, Westphalia, Germany. I identified Emil Sutor as the artist of Der Kreuzweg and studied photographs of these images. I also questioned why these par-ticular images were the source of Ridout’s inspiration. I searched for similarities in the style of expression of the two artists with the objective to combine their works in performance, the organ music with a simultaneous PowerPoint presentation of these images. As the goal of the Stations of the Cross is to communicate spiritual and theological con-cepts, I was interested in the first place in the response of the devotees who will be my audience. With the knowledge that I acquired by practising this work as well as by reading relevant literature I hope to contribute information that will provide insight to future performers of this work.