Dissertation

HEARING HISTORY: MUSICAL BORROWING IN THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
WORKS, DUO CHOPINESQUE AND CHAMELEON MUSIC, TOGETHER WITH
THREE RECITALS OF SELECTED WORKS OF GEORGE CRUMB,
MINORU MIKI, ALEC WILDER, ERIC EWAZEN,
RAYMOND HELBLE, AND OTHERS
Stephen L. Fulton, B.M.A., M.M.
Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
December 1999
APPROVED:
Robert Schietroma, Major Professor

Deanna Bush, Minor Professor
Joseph Klein, Committee Member
William May, Dean of the College of Music
C. Neal Tate, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse
School of Graduate Studies
Tape Recordings of all performances submitted as dissertation requirements are on
deposit in the University of North Texas Library.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
RECITAL PROGRAMS
First Recital.......................................................................................................... iii
Second Recital ..................................................................................................... iv
Third Recital ........................................................................................................ v
Fourth Recital....................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................viii
LIST OF EXAMPLES..................................................................................................... ix
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………. 1
2. THE HISTORY OF THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE ……………………... 3
3. HISTORY OF MUSICAL QUOTATION IN THE TWENTIETH

CENTURY WITH EMPHASIS ON THREE COMPOSERS:
GEORGE ROCHBER, LUKAS FOSS, AND GEORGE CRUMB …… 27
4. MICHAEL HENNAGIN AND DAN WELCHER ………………………….. 52
5. DUO CHOPINESQUE ……………………………………………………… 58
6. CHAMELEON MUSIC …………………………………………………….. 75
7. COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION ……………………………………... 93
APPENDIX …………………………………………………………………………….. 98
BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………….. 104
vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Six families of noises that comprise the futurist orchestra …………………….. 4
2. John Cage’s percussion works from 1935-1945 ………………………………. 14
3. Commissioned works by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Program ….. 26
4. Rochberg compositions with quotations from other composers ……………… 38
5. Use of rhythmic motives throughout Duo Chopinesque ……………………… 61
6. Integration of Chopin material with rhythmic motives ……………………….. 61
7. Comparison of sections from Chameleon Music ……………………………... 78
8. Arch form in Chameleon Music ………………………………………………. 78
viii
LIST OF EXAMPLES
Example Page
1. Rochberg, Nach Bach, excerpt ……………………………………………... 38
2. Rocherg, Music for the Magic Theater, excerpt …………………………… 41
3. Foss, Baroque Variations, excerpt …………………………………………. 46
4. Crumb, Music for the Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III), excerpt ...…… 51
5. Duo Chopinesque, score notes, excerpt ……………………………………. 59
6. Duo Chopinesque, opening motive followed by imitative gestures, page 1,

mm. 1-4 ………………………………………………………………… 63
7. Duo Chopinesque, first complete statement, page 6, mm. 24-29 ………… 63
8. Duo Chopinesque, Chopin prelude excerpt, page 9, mm. 41-44 …………... 64
9. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive, page 10, mm. 45-48 ………………… 65
10. Duo Chopinesque, Chopin prelude excerpt, page 13, mm. 57-60 …………. 66
11. Duo Chopinesque, clave ostinato, page 15, mm. 64-65 …………………… 67
12. Duo Chopinesque, Chopin prelude excerpt, page 19, mm. 76-79 …………. 67
13. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive with Chopin, page 23, mm. 87-90 …... 69
14. Duo Chopinesque, Chopin excerpt, page 28, mm. 105-106 ……………….. 69
15. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive, page 35, mm. 129-130 ……………… 71
15a. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive, page 38, mm. 138-140 ……………… 71
16. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive, page 50, mm. 189-192 ……………… 73
17. Chameleon Music, free section excerpt, page 6, m. 26 …………………….. 80
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18. Chameleon Music, rhythmic motive in marimbas, page 13, mm. 50-51 …... 81
19. Chameleon Music, scattering bar, page 19, m. 79 …………………………. 82
20. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Adagio from Mozart’s K.280, page 26,
mm. 111-112 …………………………………………………………… 84
21. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Andante from Mozart’s K. 281, page 28,
mm. 119-122 …………………………………………………………… 85
22. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Andante from Mozart’s K. 330, page 30,
mm. 130-133 …………………………………………………………… 86
23. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Adagio from Mozart’s K. 332, page 31,
mm. 137-138 …………………………………………………………… 87
24. Chameleon Music, Mozart sonatas K.332 and K.281, page 33,
mm. 145-146 …………………………………………………………… 88
25. Chameleon Music, Mozart sonatas K.332 and K.330, page 35,
mm. 150-151 …………………………………………………………… 90
26. Chameleon Music, retreat motive, page 40, mm. 174-175 ………………... 91
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Little research has been done on the history of the Western percussion ensemble,
and even less has been written about what Dan Welcher in his composition, Chameleon
Music, calls the “mostly mallet” type of percussion ensemble. In this type of ensemble,
the mallet instruments, such as marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, and glockenspiel,
predominate. This dissertation will examine two mostly mallet works, Dan Welcher’s
Chameleon Music (1988) and Michael Hennagin’s Duo Chopinesque (1986). Both of
these compositions are unusual in percussion ensemble literature, because they are based
on music borrowed from other works. In the case of Chameleon Music, portions from
four Mozart sonatas are borrowed; in Duo Chopinesque, a Chopin prelude is quoted.
The historical legacy of twentieth-century composers borrowing and altering
musical quotations is formidable and well documented. However, there has been
virtually no scholarship about percussion ensemble pieces that use musical quotation as a
compositional device. This dissertation will focus on the compositional characteristics of
Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music, with particular emphasis on each work’s use of
borrowed material from the music of Chopin and Mozart, respectively. Each work will
be placed within the history of the percussion ensemble idiom, and in the larger historical
context of borrowed material in the twentieth century. Because these works are
twentieth-century compositions, the compositional techniques and timbres used by
1
twentieth-century composers are more relevant to percussion ensemble music than earlier
examples of musical quotation. In particular, the twentieth-century composers George
Rochberg, Lukas Foss, and George Crumb will be examined within the context of
twentieth-century quotation, because their treatment of borrowed material is similar to the
manner employed by Hennagin and Welcher in Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music.
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CHAPTER II
THE HISTORY OF THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
In the broadest sense, the percussion ensemble has existed for thousands of years,
as in the case of African communal drumming, Javanese and Balinese gamelan, and
Indian music. However, only since the 1930s has composed percussion ensemble music
emerged as an important genre in Western literature. With a history of approximately
sixty-eight years, the percussion ensemble as it developed in the West is relatively new
when compared to the percussion ensembles of many other cultures. The development of
percussion in all cultures is far too broad a subject to be covered within the scope of this
paper. Therefore, only the history of the twentieth-century Western percussion ensemble
will be discussed. It is to this narrower designation that the term percussion ensemble
will henceforth refer.
The rise of the percussion ensemble was due to increased interest in the medium
by composers, as a result of musical trends that occurred in the early twentieth century,
such as futurism and machine music. Futurism began as an Italian literary movement in
the early twentieth century, but soon spread to art and music, and by World War I, was
established in many countries. Concerned with establishing an art appropriate to an
industrial society, “futurism was a reaction against Romanticism and a response to the
3
new art of technology.”1 One important proponent of the futurist movement was the
Italian painter and musician, Luigi Russolo (1885-1947).
On March 11, 1913 Russolo published his manifesto L’Arte dei Rumori or The
Art of Noises. Concerned with expanding musical expression through the use of noise,
the manifesto contained fundamental laws, which Russolo believed should govern the
recently established futurist movement. Among the tenants of the document was the idea
that musical sound was too limited: the future of music rested in the organization of
sound. Toward this end, Russolo describes six families of noises that make up the
futurist orchestra (see table 1).
Table 1.
Six families of noises that comprise the futurist orchestra
I II III IV V VI
Booms Whistles Whispers Screams Noises made Voices of

Thunderclaps Hisses Murmurs Screeches by percussion Animals and
Explosions Snorts Mutterings Rustlings on metals, Men:
Crashes Bustlings Buzzes wood, stone, Shouts
Splashes Gurgles Cracklings terra-cotta, etc. Shrieks
Roars Sounds made Groans
by friction Howls
Laughs
Wheezes
Sobs
1
Stanley Sadie, ed., The Norton/Grove Encyclopedie of Music (London: MacMillan Press, ltd., 1988), 276;
quoted in Richard LeVan, “African Musical Influence in Selected Art Music Works for Percussion
Ensemble, 1930-1984” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1991), 32.
4
It is striking that the fifth family of noises is dedicated entirely to percussion, a
medium which Russolo uses to dramatic effect in his piece Four Network of Noises,
debuted on April 12, 1914 at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. The piece was the only
composition on the concert and included four movements entitled, “Awakening of the
Capital,” “Meeting of Automobiles and Aeroplanes,” “Dining on the terrace of the
Casino,” and “Skirmish at the Oasis.” Instruments called intonaromori (noise organs),
which produced a variety of sounds, were used for the piece, the result of which was a
riot at its debut in 1914.
The futurist movement continued into the 1920s in a somewhat altered form, and
under a new name, machine music. The differences between the futurist movement and
machine music were subtle but important. Vanlandingham relates:
Russolo and other futurists had deliberately avoided the use of

tonality, concord, melody, rhythmic balance, and conventional
instrumentation. In the 1920s, however, nearly all of the composers
of machine music employed the orchestral and tonal idiom. They
did not rely exclusively on percussion instruments, but incorporated
them prominently into their compositions.2
Like the futurists, composers of machine music emphasized percussion and explored the
recently discovered timbres of percussion instruments. Some important works in the
machine music genre were, Honegger’s Pacific 231 (1924), Prokofiev’s Dance of Steel
(1927), Chavez’s HP (1927), John Alden Carpenter’s Skyscrapers (1927), and
Mossolov’s Symphony of Machines: Steel Foundry (1928).
2
Larry Dean Vanlandingham, “The Percussion Ensemble: 1930-1945” (Ph.D. diss., Florida State
University, 1971), 3.
5
Another important work during this time period was Ballet Mécanique by George
Antheil. In 1925, Antheil collaborated with filmmaker, Fernand Leger on the musical
score for an abstract motion picture, but problems with synchronizing the soundtrack to
the film caused Antheil to consider the piece, Ballet Mécanique, as a separate
composition. The original score called for a wide range of instruments, including auto
horns, anvils, an electric doorbell, two airplane propellers, eight pianos, and conventional
percussion such as drum, xylophone, and glockenspiel. However, in the revised edition
(1954), taped sounds replaced the two airplane propellers, and substantial cuts by Antheil
significantly reduced the length of the piece. The first performance of Ballet Mécanique
was conducted by Vladimir Golshmann, and occurred at the Theâtre de Champs-Elysées
on June 19, 1926. Riots ensued and, as a result, Antheil took to carrying a pistol on
stage, which he would ceremoniously place on the piano before a performance.3
Despite the tumultuous response that Ballet Mécanique received, the work
became an important icon of machine music, even if the composer had no intention of
composing a machine music piece. Antheil states:
Interpretively speaking Ballet Mécanique was never intended to

demonstrate (as has been erroneously said) the beauty and precision
of machines. Rather it was to experiment with and thus to
demonstrate a new principle in music construction, that of time-
space, or in which the time principle, rather than the tonal principle,
is held to be of main importance.4
In addition to serving as a machine music icon, the work was also important in placing
percussion in a new light, due to its pairing of conventional percussion instruments with
3
Michael Rosen, “Focus on Performance: Ballet Mécanique,” Percussive Notes 28:1 (Fall 1989): 48.
4
LeVan, “African Musical Influence,” 40.
6
unconventional instruments.
Interest in machine music diminished after World War II as fascination with
technology subsided, and many began feeling a temporary aversion to technology after
witnessing its abuses in the war. With the rise of atonality and serialism, many
composers lost interest in the futurist movement and machine music genres. In addition,
there was widespread belief among composers that the futurist movement and machine
music, while useful to guard off tradition, were failed experiments. Henry Cowell
relates:
The pre-war Italian futurists gave the world what were then
considered earsplitting demonstrations. They also issued manifestos
on how important it all was. Few of us today have heard any of the
results of that effort; it seems to have consisted more of talk than
action. From report the music was vague in form, unbalanced in
sonority.5
Despite the criticism of Cowell and the short-lived span of machine music, the
composers of this genre were instrumental in bringing greater attention to percussion.
One composer who worked outside the futurist and machine music movements, but was
also crucial in bringing about increased interest in percussion, was Igor Stravinsky (1882-
1971).
Stravinsky began to stretch the parameters of percussion with such works as
Petrushka (1911), Le Sacré du Printemps (1913), Les Noces (1915-1923), and L’Histoire
du Soldat (1918). In Petrushka, a recurring side drum solo occurs with snare drum, while
in Les Noces, six percussionists are used along with a chorus, soloists, and four pianos.
In Le Sacré du Printemps, a gong is scraped with a metal beater, an antique cymbal is
7
used, and a triangle is struck with wooden sticks.6 Few pieces, however, were as
important to the recognition of percussion as L’Histoire du Soldat. Scored for one
percussionist, violin, contrabass, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, and bassoon, the piece calls
for the percussionist to play a multi-percussion set-up. This set-up includes snare drum,
field drum, bass drum, tambourine, triangle, cymbals, and two tom-toms, about which the
composer gives specific instructions on how to tune the drums. Stravinsky states:
The pitch of the drums is extremely important, and the intervals

between high, medium, and low should be as nearly even as
possible; the performer must also be careful that no drum exerts its
own ‘tonality’ over the whole ensemble.7
The importance of this piece lies not only in the use of a multi-percussion set-up, but also
in the responsibility of the percussionist to provide melody as well as rhythm. What
Stravinsky accomplished not only in L’Histoire du Soldat, but also in many of his other
works, was the liberation of percussion writing from the use of regular rhythmic patterns
to a focus on the melodic implications that percussion may produce. He paved the way
for future composers by considering percussion instruments for their own inherent sounds
rather than focusing just on the rhythmic or timbral possibilities of percussion.8
While Stravinsky was arguably one of the most influential composers in his use of
percussion, there were other composers whose works were also influential in this regard.
For example, in Kammermusik No.3 (1925), Paul Hindemith uses a percussionist who
employs a variety of instruments, and Henry Cowell uses two thundersticks along with
5
Henry Cowell, “Drums Along the Pacific,” Modern Music 18:1 (November-December 1940): 46.
6
Tim Peterman, “An Examination of Two Sextets of Carlos Chavez: Toccata for Percussion Instruments
and Tambuco for Six Percussion Players” (DMA diss., University of North Texas, 1986), 6.
7
8
two violins, a viola, and two celli in Ensemble (1925). In his Second Symphony (1927),
Alexander Tcherepnin devotes the entire second movement to a percussion ensemble,
while Milhaud’s Batterie et Petit Orchestra (1929) is the first concerto to feature multi-
percussion.9 A work of particular importance to the development of the percussion
ensemble is Shostakovich’s opera, The Nose (1929). Between scenes 2 and 3 in Act I,
there is a lengthy interlude for percussion ensemble alone that includes snare drum, bass
drum, cymbals, and timpani. Shostakovich’s interest in percussion stemmed in large part
from his interest in the futurist and machine music movements. The Nose is important
not only because of its use of percussion, but also because it predates the first percussion
ensemble piece by only two years.
Ritmica No.5 and Ritmica No.6 (1930) by Amadeo Roldán (1900-1939) are
considered the earliest extant works written for the western percussion ensemble. They
are based on the Cuban son and rumba, respectively, and both require a large array of
percussion instruments. Ritmica No.5 calls for eleven performers playing thirteen
instruments, all of which are indigenous to Latin America except for timpani and bass
drum. In both Ritmica No.5 and Ritmica No.6, Roldán is not concerned with harmony,
melody, or pitch, but rather with rhythm and timbre. Toward this end, Roldán divides the
instruments into two groups, one consisting of membranes and the other of wood, bone,
and metallic instruments collectively. The pieces did not receive much attention at the
time, and still are not widely appreciated or performed, due in part to the simplistic nature
of the compositions.
8
Paul Price, “Percussion Up-to-Date,” Music Journal 22:9 (December 1964): 32.
9
The work that is widely acknowledged as the first great percussion ensemble
piece is Ionisation (1931) by Edgard Varèse (1883-1965). Ionisation was premiered on
March 6, 1933 in New York City with an ensemble conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky.
The piece calls for thirteen performers using thirty-nine instruments of definite pitch
(piano, celeste, chimes) and indefinite pitch (bass drum, bongos, etc.). Ionisation is
composed in aggregates of sound, placing instruments of short duration (wood blocks,
snare drum, cowbell, etc.) against those of longer duration (suspended cymbal, siren,
string drum, etc.), and metallic instruments against non-metallic instruments. Unlike
Ritmica No.5 and Ritmica No.6, Ionisation requires players to perform more than one
instrument, however both pieces are concerned with rhythmic and timbral possibilities
rather than melodic or harmonic implications. Like Shostakovich, Varèse’s interest in
percussion stemmed in large part to his interest in the futurist movement. Henry Cowell
states:
(Ionisation)…perhaps the most famous percussion piece of the first

half of this century, sprang from the composer’s association with
futurist aesthetics.10
Cowell goes on to say:
Only one composer can be said to have carried these (futurist)

experiments forward…(Varèse) came finally to Ionisation…It was
received with less disfavor by the public than any previous
exclusively percussion music and it made a genuine impression
among musicians.11
9
LeVan, “African Musical Influence,” 45-46.
10
Ibid., 50.
11
Cowell, “Drums,” 48.
10
Ionisation was not Varèse’s first percussion piece, he had composed others while
in Berlin and Paris, many in connection with the chorus he conducted in Berlin. These
pieces require special percussion instruments that Varèse himself collected and were
often played by singers rather than by trained percussionists. While it may not have been
the first percussion ensemble piece, or even Varèse’s first percussion ensemble piece, no
other piece written for this type of ensemble has received the attention of Ionisation.
Evidence of the importance Varèse placed on percussion may also be seen in several of
his works for larger groups. Representative works with significant usage of percussion
include Amériques (1920-1921), Offrandes (1921), Hyperprism (1922), Intégrales
(1924), and Arcana (1925-1927). These pieces use 10, 8, 16, 4, and 12 percussionists,
respectively, and the percussion parts are written and sound much like those used in
Ionisation. In the same decade that Varèse was writing Ionisation, a very different type
of percussion ensemble was also forming in America.
The marimba bands, which began in the 1930s, were entirely mallet-based
ensembles (usually only marimbas or xylophones) which generally played arrangements
of popular or classical tunes. The first attempt at such an ensemble occurred in 1930
when J.C. Deagan organized and directed an elaborate stage production featuring fifteen
marimbas and players. Three years later, at the Chicago’s World Fair, Clair Omar
Musser directed a marimba ensemble of 100 marimbas and players in arrangements of
classical music. The excitement that this group generated encouraged Musser to form the
International Marimba Symphony two years later. The orchestra was comprised of 100
marimbas and players, and performed at Carnegie Hall on May 16, 1935 to generally
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favorable reviews.12 An example of a typical marimba band of the time may be seen in
the group formed by Reginald Kehoe in 1930. His ensemble was comprised entirely of
women who combined singing, dancing, acrobatics, and skits (in addition to playing the
marimba) to create a sort of vaudeville act.13
In contrast to the marimba bands, there was also the rudimental, military type of
percussion ensemble, which typically used one or two field drums, bass drum, and
cymbals. This type of percussion ensemble performed music associated with marches
and military tradition. In light of the music being played by the marimba and military
style percussion ensembles of the 1930s, the impact of Ionisation is clear. The evolution
that began with Ionisation was carried further by a group of composers on the West Coast
in the late 1930s who continued writing works for percussion ensemble. This group of
composers is collectively known as the West Coast School.
The West Coast School initially centered around Henry Cowell (1897-1965) and
the New Music Society, which developed publishing and recording interests. The group
of composers associated with the West Coast School included John Cage, Lou Harrison,
Ray Green, Gerald Strang, J.M. Beyer, and (at times) William Russell. Many of these
composers became interested in percussion through their involvement with either modern
dance groups (which relied heavily on percussion to keep the rhythmic pulse), or non-
western music. The West Coast School gave performances and demonstrations dealing
with percussion, in addition to composing over forty new works for percussion between
12
Gordon Peters, The Drummer: Man, A Treatise on Percussion (Wilmette, Illinois: Kemper-Peters
Publications, 1975), 160-161.
13
David Eyler, “Development of the Marimba Ensemble in North America During the 1930s,” Percussive
Notes 34:1 (February 1996): 67.
12
1938 and 1942. Many of these new compositions included instruments that were
unconventional at the time, such as dinner bells, rice bowls, sheets of metal, bottles, tin
pans, and brake drums.14 One West Coast composer who was particularly known for
using unconventional instruments was John Cage (1912-1993).
Easily the most famous member of the West Coast School, John Cage began
writing percussion music in the late 1930s as a result of his long association with modern
dance, and his interest in non-western music. Cage studied oriental music with Henry
Cowell in 1932 at the New School of Social Research in New York, but in 1934 began
studying counterpoint with Arnold Schoenberg at UCLA. It was at UCLA that Cage first
worked with modern dance under Martha Deane, until moving to Washington to compose
for Bonnie Bird’s dance classes at the Cornish School. It was in Seattle, Washington that
Cage organized his first percussion group in 1938. This group was not made up of
trained percussionists, and as a result was somewhat limited in the types of pieces it could
play. The group had no trouble with rhythm, but certain techniques such as the snare
drum roll caused problems for the performers. Despite any technical difficulties, the
percussion group contributed a great deal in gaining exposure and new works for the
newly established percussion ensemble genre. Cage himself composed numerous
percussion ensemble pieces from 1935-1945, the majority of which were written before
1943 (see table 2).
These works contain many instruments that were unconventional at the time, but
which are now commonly used in the percussion ensemble. Several of the pieces
14
Levan, “African Musical Influence,” 61.
13
composed by Cage during this time period are still widely played, and are acknowledged
as some of the finest pieces ever written for percussion ensemble. These works include
the three Constructions, Imaginary Landscape No.2, and Living Room Music. Cage’s
compositions for percussion, and those works written by other composers for Cage’s
percussion group, were essential in establishing the percussion ensemble genre. One
composer who submitted works to Cage’s percussion group was the initial centerpiece of
the West Coast School, Henry Cowell.
Table 2.
John Cage’s percussion works form 1935-1945
Title of Composition Date of Composition Number of Players

Quartet 1935 four percussion
Trio 1936 three percussion
First Construction (in metal) 1939 six percussion
Living Room Music 1940 percussion/speech quartet
Second Construction 1940 four percussion
Double Music (with Lou 1941 four percussion
Harrison)
Third Construction 1941 four percussion
Credo in Us 1942 four percussion
Imaginary Landscape No.2 1942 five percussion
Amores 1943 two prepared piano/ two
percussion trios
She is Asleep 1943 four percussion
Forever and Sunsmell 1944 voice and percussion duo
Pulse and Return were written in 1939 by Cowell for John Cage, and, like many
of Cage’s pieces, require unconventional instruments. Some of these instruments include
Chinese toms, temple gongs, pieces of pipe, brake drums, rice bowls, and Japanese cup
14
gongs. Cowell’s most famous work for percussion ensemble, Ostinato Pianissimo
(1934), has somewhat more standard instrumentation: piano with two players, two
woodblocks, güiro, bongos, tambourine, three drums, three gongs, and eight rice bowls.
Although Cowell wrote only three works for percussion ensemble, the influence he
exerted on other composers of the West Coast School was significant.
A former student of both Cowell and Schoenberg, Lou Harrison (b.1917) wrote
more works for percussion than any other composer associated with the West Coast
School. Harrison first became interested in Cowell’s ideas after reading The Symposium:
American Composers on American Music and New Musical Resources. Harrison credits
Cowell with introducing him to percussion ensemble music before the 1930s, long before
he met John Cage.15 The long association between Harrison and Cage led to the
percussion piece, Double Music (1941) written as a result of their work with the Mills
College Dance Group. Cage wrote parts I and III, while Harrison wrote parts II and IV.
Harrison’s works for percussion ensemble are some of the most influential pieces in the
percussion idiom, and his importance as a twentieth-century composer in general is
significant. Brunner relates:
Harrison’s music is clearly an important contribution to the

twentieth century repertoire. His early pieces for percussion
ensemble, contributions to Just intonation, the melding of Eastern
and Western influences, and music for gamelan have, for some time,
received attention from contemporary critics and writers.16
15
Tom Siwe, “Lou Harrison,” Percussive Notes 18:2 (Winter 1980): 31.
15
While Lou Harrison’s output is significant, other composers of the West Coast School
also contributed greatly to the development of percussion ensemble music.
William Russell (b.1905), who was often associated with the West Coast School,
contributed works for percussion ensemble, such as March Suite, Three Dance
Movements, and Fugue for Eight Percussion Instruments (all dating from 1933).
Likewise, Gerald Strang’s (b.1908) Percussion Music for Three Players (1935), and Ray
Green’s (b.1908) Three Inventories of Casey Jones (1936) were both important
percussion works from this time period.
The impact that the West Coast School had toward encouraging composers to
write for the newly-established percussion ensemble genre could be seen as early as
1933. Henry Cowell relates:
Up to this year (1933), in my experience as a music publisher I have

never been offered any work for percussion instruments alone. This
season I have been offered fifteen different works for such
combinations…17
However, many percussion ensemble works were never published, or no longer exist.
Despite the lack of published or existing works from this time period, the enthusiasm for
percussion ensemble music generated by the West Coast School among other composers
and musicians continues to the present. While the West Coast School was the most
important group of percussion composers during the 1930s and 40s, other composers
working independently of the West Coast School contributed greatly to percussion
literature during this time period. One such composer was Carlos Chávez (1899-1978).
16
David Lee Brunner, “The Choral Music of Lou Harrison” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois Urbana-
Champaign, 1989), xi.
16
Chávez was Mexico’s foremost composer of his time, combining European
tradition with indigenous Mexican and Indian music to create a style that was unique
among twentieth-century composers. He was associated with the International
Composers Guild and the Pan American Association of Composers, where he mingled
with Roldán, Varèse, and Cowell. The International Composers Guild was begun by
Varèse, and gave only first performances of works. Varèse officially terminated the
Guild on November 7, 1927, because he believed the organization had accomplished its
goals. One year later, Chávez started a similar organization called the Pan American
Association of Composers, which included only composers of the Americas. Despite his
association with composers like Varèse and Cowell, Chávez took an entirely different
approach in his percussion compositions.18
Chávez studied with Manuel M. Ponce (the pioneer of Mexican nationalism), and
as a result, many of his works contain nationalistic undertones. A few such nationalistic
works are Adelita y La Cucaracha (1915), Adiós, Adiós (1919), Las Margaritas (1919),
and El Fuego Nuevo (1921), the latter of which contains a percussion soli. Toccata
(1942) and Tambuco (1964) are Chávez’s two pieces for percussion ensemble alone, and
show that at a time when many percussion composers were opting for unconventional
instruments, Chávez used primarily conventional instruments.
With the exception of two Indian drums, Toccata uses only conventional
percussion instruments such as snare drum, timpani, xylophone, and maracas. The piece
is divided into three movements with the first designated for membrane instruments, the
17
Henry Cowell, “Toward Neo-Primitivism,” Modern Music 10:3 (March-April 1933): 153.
17
second for metals and xylophone, and the final movement for membranes with a few
passages for glockenspiel. Toccata was written for John Cage, but never performed by
his percussion group. Chávez believed that Cage’s group never performed Toccata,
because “John wasn’t thinking of the traditional percussion but in the out-of-the-way
such as chains, rattles, anvils, and everything in the kitchen.”19 However, Cage wrote in
a letter:
He (Chávez) used conventional percussion techniques (particularly

rolls) which my players could not perform. I am glad that the piece
was written, grateful that he did it, and have always been sad that we
were unable to present it.20
Despite the fact that Cage’s group did not present the piece, Toccata remains one of the
standard works in percussion ensemble literature. Tambuco, however, has had much less
success.
Tambuco uses a wide range of conventional instruments such as bongos, cymbals,
toms, etc., which are interspersed with unconventional instruments such as a water gourd,
rasping stick, and Swiss brass bells. Even though unconventional instruments are used in
Tambuco, the number of conventional instruments far outnumber the non-standard
percussion instruments, thus confirming Chávez as a conventional composer in his use of
percussion instruments.
Two other influential composers during the 1930s and 1940s who used
conventional percussion instruments were Alan Hovhaness (b.1911) and Béla Bartók
(1881-1945). Hovhaness’s October Mountain (1942) uses conventional instruments such
18
Peterman, “An Examination,” 3-4, 9.
19
Herb Hardt and J.D. Sumner, “An Interview with Carlos Chavez,” Percussionist 13:1 (Fall 1975): 31.
18
as marimba, timpani, glockenspiel, and bass drum, while Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos
and Percussion (1937) also uses conventional instruments, albeit in an unconventional
way. As a result of composers such as Bartók, Hovhaness, Chávez, and the West Coast
School, excitement was generated about percussion ensemble pieces. This increased
interest in percussion led to important developments, particularly at the collegiate level,
during the 1950s and 1960s.
The most significant event in the development of the percussion ensemble in the
1950s, occurred at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). It was at the
University of Illinois that percussionist and composer Paul Price (1921-1986) established
the first accredited and continuing percussion ensemble in the United States. There had
been other scattered percussion ensemble performances like those of the West Coast
School. There had even been percussion groups that were affiliated in some way to
universities like those at Indiana University (Bloomington), and Julliard. However,
nowhere before had there been an ongoing and accredited ensemble like the one Paul
Price created at the University of Illinois.21 Price studied at the New England
Conservatory of Music where he had contact with Henry Cowell, and was clearly
influenced by the efforts of the West Coast School. Under Price’s direction, the Illinois
School performed works by members of the West Coast School such as Cage, Harrison,
and Strang, but also performed works by other composers such as Roldán, McKenzie,
and Colgrass.
20
Peterman, “An Examination,” 20-21.
21
19
Jack McKenzie (b.1930) was the first student to graduate from the University of
Illinois with a Bachelors degree in percussion performance. His works from the 1950s
include Introduction and Allegro (1953), Song (1953), Pastoral (1953-1954), Three
Dances (1954), Nonet (1954), and Rites (1957). In Rites, the influence of the West Coast
School is evident in the use of unconventional instruments such as iron pipes, brake
drums, and a water gong.22
Perhaps the most famous composer of percussion ensemble music from the
Illinois School is Michael Colgrass (b.1932), who graduated from the University of
Illinois in 1956. After completing his degree, Colgrass went on to study with Milhaud,
Riegger, and Ben Weber, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for his composition, Déjà
vu. His percussion ensemble works from the 1950s include Three Brothers (1951),
Percussion Music (1953), and Chamber Music for Percussion Quintet (1954). In these
works, Colgrass, much like Chavez, opted to work within the parameters of conventional
percussion instruments.23 Rosen states:
(Colgrass) is more interested in getting varied timbres from one

instrument by the use of different mallets, the fingers or wire
brushes, than from a great variety of instruments. No attempt is
made to attain an exotic effect in Colgrass’ music, though he does
obtain polyrhythmic effects and often changes meter.24
For example, his most often performed percussion piece, Three Brothers is scored for
bongos, snare drum, timpani, cowbell, maracas, tambourine, cymbal, and three tom-toms,
22
Ibid., 117.
23
Ibid., 117.
24
Mike Rosen, “A Survey of Compositions Written for the Percussion Ensemble,” Percussionist 4:3 (1966-
1967): 143.
20
all of which are conventional percussion instruments. The percussion pieces of both
Colgrass and McKenzie (with the exception of Rites) were published by Music for
Percussion, Inc., a publication company started by Paul Price and dedicated to publishing
percussion works.25
There are far too many composers who wrote pieces for percussion during the
1950s and 1960s to mention them all. However, two of the most prolific composers were
Harold Farberman and Warren Benson. Farberman (b.1929) contributed works such as
Evolution-Music for Percussion (1954), Variations (1954), and Music Inn Suite (1958),
while Benson contributed Variations on A Handmade Theme (1957), Trio for Percussion
(1957), and Three Pieces for Percussion Quartet (1960). Both Farberman and Benson
composed in a conservative style using conventional instruments. Farberman went so far
as to say that he “should like to seen an end to pieces for percussion utilizing sirens,
whistles, glass plates, etc., which are nothing less than a debasement of, and cause for
embarrassment to percussion players.”26 While this view may seem extreme, countless
other composers, such as Robert Kelly and Saul Goodman, also wrote works for
percussion ensemble using conventional instruments.
The amount and type of music written for percussion ensemble has grown
immensely since the 1960s, in large part due to the rise of university programs. The
number of pieces written for percussion ensemble during this time period increased
drastically and composers increasingly chose varied compositional techniques. Some of
25
26
Rosen, “Survey of Compositions,” 190.
21
the commonly used styles and idioms include indeterminacy, non-western influences,
minimalism, electronic music, and popular music.
The repertoire of indeterminate pieces for percussion ensemble since the 1960s is
not as vast as those utilizing other approaches, but there are several composers who have
chosen this technique when writing for percussion. For example, Welcome to
Whipperginny (1961) and Four Feathers (1961) are both indeterminate works composed
by Barney Childs (b.1926) from the University of Illinois. Christian Wolff (b.1934) also
composed an indeterminate percussion ensemble piece entitled, Music for Bass Drum
(1964). Though there have been few lasting indeterminate works written for percussion
ensemble, composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen (b.1928) and Morton Feldman
(1926-1987) have contributed lasting indeterminate works in the solo percussion idiom,
namely Zyklus (1960) and The King of Denmark (1964).27
A more popular compositional approach has been to take elements of non-western
music and apply them to the western percussion ensemble. In the 1930s and 1940s,
composers frequently used ideas from non-western cultures, but they were often derived
from Indian or Asian music. In the period from the 1960s to the present, several
composers turned to other cultures, particularly Africa for their inspiration.
One such example is African Sketches (1964) by J. Kent Williams. LeVan asserts
that this piece was “probably the first work to display overt references to African-derived
musical elements-in combination with Western-to be widely accepted and performed by
concert percussion ensembles in the U.S. (aside from Roldan’s Ritmicas and their Afro-
27
LeVan, “African Musical Influence,” 137, 142-143.
22
Cuban blendings).”28 Written six years after African Sketches, Michael Udow’s African
Welcome Piece (1970) is another work which combines African influence with the
Western percussion ensemble. The piece calls for twelve percussionists divided into two
sections of six people each, with an optional chorus. Although heavily influenced by
African music, most of the instruments used are conventional in the West, with the
exception of clappers called “Spagane” and a Bull Roarer.29
Minimalism is a popular compositional style that is often influenced by other
cultures such as Africa, Indonesia, and India. Easily the most noteworthy minimalist
composer of percussion ensemble music is Steve Reich (b.1936). Reich’s interest in
minimalism stems in part from his exposure and study of non-western music, particularly
Asian and African music. In 1970, Reich studied drumming at the institute for African
Studies at the University of Ghana, and in the mid-1970s studied Balinese Gamelan
music in Seattle and Berkeley. Works such as Drumming (1971), Clapping Piece (1972),
and Music for Pieces of Wood (1973) all combine minimalist techniques with non-
western influences.30
Drumming is written for bongos, marimbas, glockenspiel, voice, and piccolo,
while Clapping Music is scored for two hand clappers. Music for Pieces of Wood is
written for five players, all of whom use tuned claves. All of Reich’s works for
percussion ensemble use the compositional procedure whereby a composite texture
results from the layering of many overlapping musical motives. To create a resultant
melody, many of Reich’s compositions also employ “phasing,” a technique whereby
28
Ibid., 154.
23
multiple instruments play identical musical material at different times, thus creating one
overriding melody from the separate melodic ideas.
As previously mentioned, the number and range of works written for the
percussion ensemble from 1960 to the present, has increased drastically. Many of these
works have not had a lasting impact, in large part because those writing for percussion
ensemble have often received little formal compositional training. However, since the
late 1970s, university percussion programs such as those at the University of Utah,
Central Michigan University, the University of North Carolina, and the University of
Oklahoma have been instrumental in commissioning seasoned composers to write new
works for the percussion ensemble medium. Perhaps no one has contributed more
commissions for percussion ensemble than the head of percussion at the University of
Oklahoma, Richard Gipson.
Gipson started teaching at the college level in 1973, and has been at the
University of Oklahoma since 1976. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees
from the University of Texas and his Doctorate from Pennsylvania State. The
commissioning program at the University of Oklahoma began in 1978, as a result of the
Oklahoma Percussion Arts Society (PAS) convention that was held there that year.
Gipson had scheduled world-renowned drum set artist, Ed Shaugnessy to perform and,
therefore commissioned a piece for drum set and percussion ensemble. The result was a
composition composed by John Beck (the head of percussion at the Eastman School of
Music) entitled Concerto for Percussion Ensemble and Drum Set (1978). This first work
29
Ibid., 159.
24
was the catalyst for a commissioning series that currently has 17 works dedicated to the
mostly mallet type of percussion ensemble (see table 3).31
The percussion program at the University of Oklahoma was perhaps the first
program to commission mostly mallet works. Gipson relates his reasoning for starting
the percussion commissions:
My feeling was and remains that the percussion ensemble is a

significant musical medium capable of the very highest and finest
musical expressiveness. I think a number of things have kept that
from happening prior to now. Among them are, obviously, we have
to have a concept existing with respect to the percussion ensemble
on the part of the players, conductors, and the public, etc., that it is
not a specialty medium so to speak. That it is a fully functional,
important musical medium. So that is what stimulated my
commissioning series. I wanted more good music for us to play,
because I believe in the medium.32
Two of the commissions, Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music, are the focus
of this dissertation, and are unique from other works in their use of quotation. While the
use of borrowed material is uncommon in percussion ensemble works, the history of
musical quotation in other genres is hundreds of years old. In fact, during the latter half
of the twentieth century, the use of borrowed material became a significant musical trend.
When viewed in the larger context of the history of quotation, particularly the history of
quotation in the latter half of the twentieth century, a greater understanding of both Duo
Chopinesque and Chameleon Music may be gained.
30
Ibid., 168.
31
Richard Gipson, interview by author, 2 July 1999, Oklahoma, tape recording, University of Oklahoma.
32
Ibid.
25
Table 3
Commissioned Works by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Program
Title Date Composer Publisher

1.Concerto for Drum Set 1978 John Beck Kendor Music
and Percussion Ensemble
2.Dirge and Alleluia 1978 Jerry Neil Smith (publication pending)
3.Suite for Keyboard Percussion 1979 J.Westley Slater OU Percussion Press
4.Diptych No.2 for Marimba and 1980 Gordon Stout OU Percussion Press
Percussion Ensemble
5.Portico for Percussion Orchestra 1981 Thomas Gauger Thomas Gauger
6.Two Movements for Mallets II 1983 William Steinhort OU Percussion Press
7.Canzona 1984 J.Westley Slater OU Percussion Press
8.The Manes Scroll 1984 Christopher Deane OU Percussion Press
9.Duo Chopinesque 1985 Michael Hennagin OU Percussion Press
10.Diabolic Variations 1985 Raymond Helble OU Percussion Press
11.Twilight Offering Music 1988 Blake Wilkins OU Percussion Press
12.Chameleon Music 1988 Dan Welcher OU Percussion Press
13.The Phantom Dances 1990 Michael Hennagin OU Percussion Press
14.Crown of Thorns 1991 David Maslanka OU Percussion Press
15.Percussonata 1992 David Ott (publication pending)
16.Compendium 1994 Blake Wilkins OU Percussion Press
17.Circadian Rhythms 1998 Carolyn Bremer OU Percussion Press
26
CHAPTER III
HISTORY OF MUSICAL QUOTATION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY WITH
EMPHASIS ON THREE COMPOSERS: GEORGE ROCHBERG,
LUKAS FOSS, AND GEORGE CRUMB
There has been little comprehensive research done about the use of musical
quotations across eras, perhaps due to the vast range of compositions with borrowings.
Numerous composers from the Renaissance to the present have used musical quotations
in their works. Renaissance composers used quotation in their imitation and cantus firms
masses, such as Dufay’s Missa L’homme armé and Josquin’s Missa Malheur me bat. J.S.
Bach’s use of borrowed chants in his church music is well documented, as are the
imitative bird calls in Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (Pastoral) (1808). Berlioz and Liszt
both used the Latin Dies Irae in their works Symphonie Fantastique (1830) and Totentanz
(1849), respectively. Messian’s transcriptions of bird songs and Mahler’s quotes of his
own music are two examples of the vast number of twentieth-century composers who
used musical quotation.
In the first half of the twentieth century, direct borrowing of other works was used
less frequently than would be the case in the 1960s and 1970s, in part due to the rise of
atonality and serialism. The serial techniques of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern attracted
the attention of many other composers who were intrigued by this new method of
composition. As a result, the use of musical quotation in the early twentieth century was
27
somewhat limited. When quotations were employed, they tended to be isolated and used
for parody. In addition, borrowed material was generally kept stylistically uniform with
the new composition by translating the quoted material into the language of the
composition and making it a part of the texture.1 Perhaps the most notable exception to
these rules in the early twentieth century was Charles Ives (1874-1954).
At an early age, Ives was exposed to the music of classical composers and the folk
music of his surroundings, such as hymn tunes, patriotic songs, ragtime, and college
songs. These musical influences would permeate his compositions, and often be
rehashed in the form of quotations. Ives’s first known piece, Slow March, uses quotation,
and over 150 quoted tunes have been found in his compositions, with more likely to be
discovered. When tunes are used together in a single composition, they are often related
melodically. For example, the hymn tune “Missionary Chant” is used in the Concord
Sonata because of its similarities to the opening motive of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.2
Other examples of Ives’s compositions that use quotation are Walking (based on an
anthem, 1902), Orchard House Overture (based on hymns, 1904), and Three Places in
New England (based on “Old Black Joe” and hymns, 1912). A clue to the reasoning
behind Ives’s extensive use of quotes, may be in remarks made by the composer to Henry
Bellamann:
You cannot set an art off in the corner and hope for it to have
vitality, reality, and substance. There can be nothing exclusive about
1
Bryan R.Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure (New york: E.C. Schirmer, 1986),
384.
2
Dennis Marshall, “Charles Ives’s Quotations: Manner or Substance?,” Perspectives of New Music 16
(Spring-Summer 1968): 45, 54.
28
a substantial art. It comes directly out of the heart of experience of
life and thinking about life and living life.3
Ives’s experiences were permeated with the folk music of his surroundings, and he chose
to use these experiences as the core for many of his compositions.
The rediscovery of Ives and his compositions may have been one reason why
many composers in the 1960s and 1970s chose to use quotation in their pieces. In
addition, many of the composers that turned to quotes during this time period, had been
serialists, and were reacting against what they viewed as the closed systems of the early
twentieth century. Some composers blamed serialism for the loss of musical audiences,
while others educated in the early twentieth century, simply wanted to return to older
styles. Stylistic consistency now seemed stifling to some composers, who believed using
quotation was one method of introducing multiple styles within one composition.
Griffiths states:
…the more significant reasons for such borrowings have been those
of an aesthetic or even a moral order: the need to test the present
against the past and vice versa, the desire to improve contact with
the audience by offering known subjects for discussion, the wish to
find musical analogues for the multiple and simultaneous sensory
bombardment in the world.4
Whatever the reasons, so many composers began using musical quotation in the 1960s
and 1970s that it became a significant musical trend.
There are, of course, numerous ways to use quotations in any piece. Some of the
more frequently used methods have been the following: 1) retain the original meaning of
3
Ibid., 56.
4
Paul Griffiths, Modern Music: The Avant-Garde Since 1945 (New York: George Braziliier, Inc., 1981),
200.
29
a fragment in a new context; 2) use a quotation in music of a different style; 3) develop
the quotation using a different method than the rest of the composition; 4) use the
quotation to affirm or reject the past. If the musical borrowings of the 1960s and1970s
had been restricted to stylistic recreations of earlier periods, a connection with the Neo-
Classics from the earlier part of the century could perhaps be made. However, the scope
of borrowings by composers in the latter half of the twentieth century was vast, and
included works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in addition to earlier works.5
Composers in the 1960s and 1970s used quotation differently than in the past.
Salzman states:
…the use of musical references in certain recent work represents a

kind of super-realism in which familiarity and association, strictly
ruled out of serialism and most forms of aleatory music, reappear
and are essential to the aesthetic. The juxtaposition of sound objects
previously unassociated, the experiencing of the familiar along with
the unfamiliar, the shock of recognition, and the recognition of
transformation produce new meanings and forms.6
In many compositions in the 1960s and later, borrowing was no longer referential, but
rather became the basic premise of the work, and therefore, much more significant.
Some works became fusions of the past and present, new creations using elements from
other sources. However, quotations were increasingly treated as foreign objects, distorted
to fit the purposes of the new compositions. Many composers began distorting and
juxtaposing borrowed material for varied emotional affect, often creating both a sense of
familiarity and remoteness.
5
Ibid., 207.
6
Eric Salzman, Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall,
1988), 200.
30
One new method that began to emerge was to overlay quotes upon one another,
thus creating what many historians have called “collage.” Some reprentative works that
use collage are Foss’s Baroque Variations (1967), Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King
(1969), Kagel’s Ludwig Van (1970), and Stockhausen’s Opus 1970 (1970). Virtually all
of Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King is based on quotation, with collage effect
particularly used in “Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye My People” in Song No.7. Kagel’s film
Ludwig Van, is comprised entirely of various Beethoven compositions that have usually
been distorted in some way. Kagel alters dynamics, changes tempos and articulations,
and overlays unrelated tunes to create a surrealistic portrait of Beethoven. Stockhausen’s
Opus 1970 uses recorded fragments of Beethoven’s compositions and writings (including
the Heilegenstadt Testament) in an electronic, improvisatory medium.7
Both Ludwig Van and Opus 1970 were part of a larger trend of compositions
written around 1970 to commemorate the 200-year anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. For
example, Ginastera’s Piano Concerto No.2 (1972) contains thirty-two variations on one
seven-note chord from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, while Michael Tippet’s Third
Symphony of the same year uses the Shreckensfanfare from the Ninth. Rochberg’s
Ricordanza (1972) is based upon Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in C major, op.102, and
Shostakovich’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (1975) integrates portions of the
“Moonlight” Sonata. These are just a few examples of the many composers in the 1970s
that paid homage to Beethoven’s legacy by quoting his works in their own.8
7
Elliot Schwartz and Daniel Godfrey, Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials, and Literature (New York: E.C.
Schirmer, 1993), 244-245.
8
Glenn Watkins, Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century (New York: E.C. Schirmer, 1987), 644-645.
31
While not connected with the Beethoven quotation fervor of the 1970s, Bernd
Alois Zimmerman (1918-1970) did quote a Beethoven Sonata in his Musique pour les
sóupers du roi Ubu (1966). In addition to Beethoven, the piece quotes Hindemith’s
Mathis der Maler, Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an
Exhibition, all of which are placed against a backdrop of Renaissance dances. Later in
the piece, Zimmerman quotes Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Wagner’s Die
Walküre, in addition to countless other works.
Zimmerman was one of the first composers to be recognized for his extensive use
of quoted material, but unlike many composers who used quotes, Zimmerman was also a
serial composer. One piece that demonstrates both compositional techniques is his work,
Die Soldaten (1964). The four acts and fifteen scenes of this work are all based on a
prime row that is permutated throughout to allow for various reworkings. However,
despite the piece’s serial organization, quotes are introduced from Gregorian chants, a
Bach fugue, and jazz tunes. The seemingly incongruous merger of quotations and serial
music is further enhanced by the variety of sound sources used, such as: an orchestral pit,
a stage group consisting primarily of percussion instruments, a jazz combo, and an
electronic tape.9
Other works by Zimmerman that use quotes include Monologue (1964),
Photoptosis (1968), and Présence (1961). In Présence (for piano trio), the characters Don
Quixote, Molly Bloom, and Ubu are represented by the violin, cello, and piano,
respectively. All of these characters are, in turn, framed against a backdrop of music by
9
Robert P. Morgan, Twentieth Century Music (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1991), 411-412.
32
Bach and Prokofiev (to name only two). While Zimmerman may have been one of the
first composers to be recognized for his extensive borrowings, perhaps one of the most
famous works to use musical quotation is Berio’s Sinfonia (1968).
Written for eight soloists and an orchestra, Berio, in Sinfonia, quotes
compositions of Mahler, Debussy, Strauss, Wagner, Bach, Schoenberg, and many others
within the context of the third movement of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. Mahler’s
work serves as a host, through which the other quotations may express themselves. Berio
explains:
The Mahler movement is treated like a container-rather, a generator-

within whose framework a large number of musical references and
characters is proliferated; they go from Bach to Schoenberg, from
Beethoven to Strauss, from Brahms to Stravinsky, from Berg to
Boulez, etc. The different musical “characters” are always
integrated into the flowing harmonic structure of Mahler’s Scherzo;
actually, they are signaling and commenting upon the events and
transformations. Therefore, the references do not constitute a
collage but, rather, illustrate a harmonic process.10
While Berio may not think of Sinfonia as a collage piece, the end result is very
similar to a collage. For example, references to Debussy’s La Mer occur in bars 4-5
(clarinets, oboe, bassoons, glockenspiel, harp, violins, cellos, and basses) of the opening
movement, while quotations from Mahler’s Fourth Symphony continue from bars 2-7
(flute and snare drum).11 Whether one chooses to call Sinfonia a collage piece or not, this
work is one of the foremost examples of musical quotation in the twentieth century.
Other twentieth-century works that use quotations include Stockhausen’s Adieu
(1966), Hymnen (1966-67), and Kurzwellen mit Beethoven (1969); Davies’s Revelation
10
Watkins, Soundings, 649.
11
Griffiths, Modern Music, 208.
33
and Fall (1966), Antechrist (1967),Vesalii icones (1969), Four Quartets (1972) and
Prelude and Fugue in C#minor (1972); Colgrass’s As Quiet As (1966); and Wourinen’s
Percussion Symphony (1976). In addition to these and countless other composers, three
composers, George Rochberg (b.1918), Lukas Foss (b.1922), and George Crumb
(b.1929) rely heavily upon quotation in their compositions. Rochberg uses quotations in
such works as Contra Mortem et Tempus (1965), Music for a Magic Theater (1965), and
Nach Bach (1966), while Foss borrows in A Parable of Death (1953), Symphony of
Chorales (1958), Baroque Variations (1967), and Renaissance (1986). Crumb uses
quotations in pieces such as Ancient Voices of Children (1970), Night of the Four Moons
(1969), Black Angels (1970), and Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening)
(1974).
The significance of Rochberg, Foss, and Crumb, and their works will be
examined more closely. These three composers were not selected because they are
deemed to be the most significant composers in their use of quoted material (although
their reputations as composers are well established). Rather, they were chosen because
each composer’s works manifest unique parallels with the percussion ensemble works
selected for this thesis. The goal of examining specific works by these three composers is
not to create specific comparisons between their pieces and Chameleon Music and Duo
Chopinesque. Rather, the goal of examining specific works by Rochberg, Foss, and
Crumb is to establish an historical basis for the way in which Welcher and Hennagin use
quotation in Chameleon Music and Duo Chopinesque. Just as the historical basis for the
general use of quotation has been established, examining particular works of Rochberg,
34
Foss, and Crumb, will establish the historical basis for the specific use of quotation as it
occurs in Chameleon Music and Duo Chopinesque.
George Rochberg was selected, in part, because his use of quotation in Music for
the Magic Theater is credited by Dan Welcher as heavily influencing his own use of
quotation in Chameleon Music. One of the most outspoken proponents of musical
borrowing, Rochberg’s use of quotation is quite extensive. In addition to sharing
important similarities to Hennagin’s Duo Chopinesque, Lukas Foss’s Baroque Variations
(1967) displays some of the most significant and often discussed uses of quotation in the
latter twentieth century. Finally, George Crumb was selected, in part, because his
composition Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening) is one of the few examples
of a percussion piece which includes quotation.
“I think borrowing is one of the essential traditions in music, an ancient one. And
if you are a borrower, as I am, then I see nothing to prevent borrowing from oneself.”12 It
is difficult to believe that the man who uttered this remark, George Rochberg, had been
one of the leading serial composers of the 1950s. From approximately 1952 to 1963,
Rochberg was largely associated with serial composition. His list of serial compositions
from this period is significant, including works such as Twelve Bagatelles for piano
(1952, later revised for orchestra and renamed Zodiac), Chamber Symphony for nine
instruments (1953), David the Psalmist for tenor and orchestra (1954), Symphony No.2
(1955-56), Sonata-Fantasia for piano (1956), Dialogues for clarinet and piano (1957-58),
Time Span I for orchestra (1960), Blake Songs for soprano and chamber ensemble
12
Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century, 394.
35
(1961), and Time Span II for orchestra (1962). His final serial work, Trio for Violin,
Cello, and Piano, completed in 1963, was the culmination of years of growing
dissatisfaction with serialism. Rochberg relates:
I had become completely dissatisfied with (serialism’s) narrow

terms. I found the palette of constant chromaticism increasingly
constricting, nor could I accept any longer the limited range of
gestures that always seemed to channel the music into some form or
other of expressionism. The over-intense manner of serialism and
its tendency to inhibit physical pulse and rhythm led me to question
a style which made it virtually impossible to express serenity,
tranquillity, grace, wit, energy.13
To Rochberg, serialism led to a closed, overly complex composition, lacking in
scope and variety. As a result, Rochberg went from being a strong proponent of serial
composition in the 1950s, to one the most outspoken supporters of quotation as a
compositional device. When one reads the writings of George Rochberg, he often uses
the word “renewal” when referring to his use of quotes. He views time as circular,
history repeats itself, and therefore allows for nothing truly original. Musical quotation
for Rochberg, is a bridge to the past, whereby the past can be renewed in the context of
the twentieth-century. Rochberg remarks:
I have had to abandon the notion of “originality,” in which the

personal style of the artist and his ego are the supreme values…; and
the received idea that it is necessary to divorce oneself from the past,
to eschew the taint of association with those great masters who not
only preceded us but (let it not be forgotten) created the art of music
itself… music can be renewed by regaining contact with the
tradition and means of the past, to re-emerge as a spiritual force with
reactivated powers of melodic thought, rhythmic pulse, and large-
scale structure.14
In one of his most famous excerpts, Rochberg goes on to say:
36
If one wipes the slate clean of others, in order to satisfy some
misguided notion of being “contemporary,” one’s own fate is, by the
same token, equally guaranteed null and void. There is no virtue in
starting all over again. The past refuses to be erased. Unlike
Boulez, I will not praise amnesia.15
In light of these remarks, it is readily apparent why Rochberg used quotation so
prevalently in his compositions during the 1960s and 70s. (Table 4 contains a list of
Rochberg’s compositions that use quotations from other composers).
Three of Rochberg’s most famous compositions from this time period include
Nach Bach, Contra Mortem et Tempus, and Music for the Magic Theater. In Nach Bach,
Rochberg borrows heavily from Bach’s keyboard Partita No.6 in E minor, but distorts the
work through fragmentation and juxtaposition of thematic material. Often, passages from
Bach’s Partita merge seamlessly with newly composed material, so that the distinction
between past and present is difficult to distinguish. For instance, a passage from Bach’s
Partita is interrupted with a fermata, which is followed by a pattern similar to the one in
Bach’s Partita, but with different pitches in the right hand and slower rhythm in the left
(see example 1). After the second fermata, newly-composed material takes over.
Therefore, a seamless transition occurs from material composed entirely by Bach, to a
merger of Bach’s material with that of Rochberg, and finally to newly-composed music.16
In Contra Mortem et Tempus, Rochberg merges different musical quotations with
such skill that it is often difficult to tell the newly-composed music from the borrowed
material. This is particularly impressive when one realizes that Boulez’s Sonatina,
13
Ibid.
14
15
Rochberg, “Reflections,” 76.
37
Table 4
Rochberg Compositions with Quotations from Other Composers
Title of Composition Date

Caprice Variations 1949
Carnival Muisc, Suite for Piano Solo 1953
Cantio Sacra 1953
Chamber Symphony 1953
Sonata-Fantasia 1956
Nach Bach 1964
Contra Mortem et Tempus 1965
Music for the Magic Theater 1965
Music for “The Alchemist” 1966-68
Symphony No.3 1966-69
Prelude to “Happy Birthday” 1969
Electrikaleidoscope 1972
Ricordanza 1972
Imago Mundi 1974
String Quartets No.4,5,6 1977-78
Slow Fires of Autumn 1979
Example 1. Rochberg, Nach Bach, excerpt
16
Morgan, Twentieth Century Music, 414.
38
Berio’s Sequenza, Varése’s Density, Ives’s Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, and
Rochberg’s own Dialogues are all quoted within Contra. With the exception of the Trio
for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, (which is nearly always heard unaltered) all other works
are changed so that the original pitch content is all that remains. By altering the rhythmic
structures of the quoted material, Rochberg is able to blur the distinction between
borrowed and newly composed music.
While the quotations in Contra Mortem et Tempus may be difficult to recognize,
such is not the case in much of Music for the Magic Theater. The Fromm Music
Foundation commissioned this work for the University of Chicago’s 75th Anniversary,
and it was premiered by the University of Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players on
January 24, 1967, Ralph Shapey conducting. The instrumentation for the piece includes
flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, Bb clarinet (doubling Eb clarinet), bassoon, two F horns,
C trumpet, tenor trombone, tuba, piano, two violins, viola, cello, and bass. The work
may also be performed by a small orchestra, wherein the usual number of string
instruments are used, as are four horns instead of the two indicated in the score.
The title of the work is taken from the last section of Hermann Hesse’s novel
Steppenwolf, wherein the character Harry Haller has been condemned to learn to live and
laugh. Haller says in the novel, “I knew that all the hundred thousand pieces of life’s
game were in my pocket. A glimpse of its meaning had stirred my reason and I was
determined to begin the game afresh.”17 Once again the idea of renewal is evident not
only in Rochberg’s use of quotation, but also in the title of the work itself.
17
George Rochberg, Music for the Magic Theater (Pennsylvania: Theodore Presser Company, 1965), 6.
39
The entire second act of the piece is a virtual transcription of Mozart’s
Divertimento K.287 with interjections from numerous other quotations written after
Mozart’s time. Rochberg states:
The centerpiece of my Music for the Magic Theater is a

transcription, that is, a completely new version, of a Mozart adagio.
I decided to repeat it in my own way because I loved it. People who
understand, love it because they know it began with Mozart and
ended with me. People who don’t understand think it’s by Mozart.18
Once again Rochberg questions the whole concept of “contemporary music,” specifically
how far that concept may be stretched before it is no longer considered “contemporary.”
In addition, Rochberg is forcing the listeners to question their own values about
“originality” in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He accomplishes this, in part, by
juxtaposing a variety of nineteenth and twentieth century quotations within the
framework of the Mozart transcription. Works quoted include Mahler’s Ninth
Symphony, Rochberg’s own Sonata-Fantasia, a trumpet solo from Stella by Starlight by
Miles Davis, Stockhausen’s Zeitmasse, Webern’s Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op.24,
Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 130, and Varése’s Déserts. At one point Mahler’s Ninth
is heard simultaneously with the trumpet solo by Miles Davis, and Stockhausen’s
Zeitmasse (see example 2). As will be seen later, this technique is identical to the one
used by Dan Welcher in Chameleon Music.
Since the 1970s, Rochberg has composed less music with quotation, and moved
more toward stylistic imitation and original tonal music. However, many of his
compositions from the 1960s and 70s are lasting icons of musical quotation. One could
18
David Cope, New Directions in Music, 6th ed. (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1993), 377.
40
Example 2. Rochberg, Music for the Magic Theater, excerpt
look at Rochberg’s career and differentiate between three very general style periods:
serialism, use of musical quotation, and stylistic imitation along with mostly tonal music.
41
Like Rochberg, Lukas Foss was also an ardent supporter of a compositional technique
that he would later disavow. For Rochberg, it was serialism; for Foss it would be
improvisation.
Foss’s experiments with controlled ensemble improvisation began in the period
from 1956 to 1961. In 1957 Foss formed the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble whose
members included Lukas Foss (piano), Richard Dufallo (clarinet), Charles Delancey
(percussion), and, eventually, Howard Colf (violoncello). The goals of the group were:
1) to allow a setting for ensemble improvisation, 2) to bridge the gap between the
composer and performer, and 3) to free the performers from the musical score. The third
goal was largely achieved when Foss began using diagrams and charts instead of scores.
In 1960, the group gave its first tour performing Foss’s Concerto for Improvising
Instruments and Orchestra, which met with mixed reviews. Two other works performed
by the group include Studies in Improvisation and Time Cycle. Time Cycle is actually a
completely notated work with no improvisation in the piece, itself; the improvisation
occurs in the interludes between movements, which were originally not meant to be
included in the performance. However, the interludes are kept in the orchestral version of
the score, and function as “commedia dell’arte;” a kind of comical break between the
other sections of the piece. The Improvisation Chamber Ensemble was dissolved in 1963
after Foss became dissatisfied with improvisation as a compositional device.19 Foss
relates:
Improvisation that works is improvisation made safe…When I

found this out, I dissolved my improvisation ensemble and returned
to composition, incorporating techniques I developed during my five
19
Karen L. Perone, Lukas Foss: A Bio-Bibliography (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), 5.
42
years of improvising. The performers began to improvise only what
they felt comfortable with, the danger that the jazz artist faces by
falling into an improvising routine.20
One of the techniques that Foss developed while working with the Improvisation
Chamber Ensemble, “niente playing,” was used in many of his later compositions.
“Niente” (or nothing) playing was the term given to the type of inaudible music
performance which Foss is credited with developing. In niente playing, no audible sound
is produced as the performers finger or mouth the pitches or words. It is the conductor’s
responsibility to cue the performers in and out of audibility. Works by Foss that use
niente playing include Geod (1969), Elytres (1964), Fragments of Archilochus (1965),
and Baroque Variations (1967),21 the last of which is perhaps Foss’s best known work.
Baroque Variations was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Fund of New York,
and was premiered on July 7, 1967 by the Chicago Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting.
The third movement, “Phorian,” was commissioned by the Association of Women’s
Committees of Symphony Orchestras, and was premiered earlier that same year on April
27, 1967 by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting. The
instrumentation for the work includes three flutes, two oboes, three clarinets in Bb,
bassoon, three horns in F, three trumpets, electric piano, electric guitar with foot pedal,
electric organ, percussion (vibraphone, two cymbals, chimes), violins, violas, cellos, and
basses.
20
Ibid., 6.
21
Ibid., 8.
43
Baroque Variations is written in three movements, each one of which is based on
one tonal composition from the Baroque period. All three movements are in E major,
and despite the fragmentation and distortion that each quotation undergoes, the sense of E
as the tonic is never lost. The piece represents an amalgamation of many of the
compositional techniques that Foss was interested in at the time. Foss’s respect for
Baroque music and his affinity for collage are perhaps most apparent when hearing the
piece. Foss also uses electronic instruments and improvisation in the piece, both of
which were common trademarks in many of his compositions. Finally, there is the
prevalence of “niente playing.”22
The first movement is based on the larghetto from Handel’s Concerto Grosso,
Op.6, No.12 which is heard in its entirety, but in greatly altered form. The technique of
niente playing is used immediately, as indicated by the letter N under the staves for
violins, viola, cellos, and basses. Throughout the first movement, niente playing is used
to create a kind of surreal silence, as if one is watching most of Handel’s Larghetto being
played, but only occasionally hearing the music. Although fragments are often
juxtaposed in different keys and at different speeds, Handel’s work is always discernible,
even if most of it is played inaudibly.
Based on Scarlatti’s Sonata K.380 for harpsichord (heard in its entirety), the
second movement of Baroque Variations, is surrounded and obscured by tone clusters,
glissandi, rhythmic distortions, and echoes of the original. As will be seen, this is very
similar to what Michael Hennagin does in Duo Chopinesque, which also uses a piece in
22
Schwartz, Music Since 1945, 371.
44
its entirety, and interrupts it with different motives. While not in three movements like
Baroque Variations, Duo Chopinesque uses all of Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, Op.28
(with the exception of three notes) and grafts different ideas and disruptions upon
Chopin’s work.
The third movement of Baroque Variations, entitled “Phorian,” (which is Greek
for stolen goods) was originally composed as a separate piece. Like the first two
movements, the third movement of Baroque Variations uses a work in its entirety, but
this time the piece borrowed is Bach’s Partita in E major for solo violin. Like the first
movement, niente playing is used, and like both movements, the borrowed material is
altered and distorted. Foss describes the third movement:
What I wanted can perhaps best be described as “torrents of Baroque

sixteenth-notes, washed ashore by ocean waves, sucked in again,
returning”- a Bach dream- abruptly changing situations. Some
humorous (two flutes racing each other- xylophone spelling out
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH in Morse code, etc.), some
frightening (as the organ-percussion duel at the end.)23
However, unlike the first two movements, the third movement uses improvisation
as a performance device. Each player is given a page of the Bach prelude, and detailed
instructions on which fragments to choose from and when and how to choose them.
Some of the time, the performers are given only rhythm, and are left to decide what
pitches to use. The result is a kind of game, where chance and improvisation ensure that
each performance is different (see example 3). What Foss accomplished in Baroque
Variations is a merger of the past and present. By using modern techniques such as
23
45
niente playing, improvisation, distortions, and collage within the context of Baroque
pieces, Foss creates a work that transcends historical boundaries.24
Example 3. Foss, Baroque Variations, excerpt
Baroque Variations is actually one of three works written between 1953 and 1967
to borrow from Bach’s compositions. The first work, Parable of Death (1953) was
commissioned by the Louisville Symphony and included a solo narrator. The narrator
tells the legend of a man, woman, and death, which the chorus and tenor solo comment
upon. The text Foss chose for the work is Geschichten vom lieben Gott (Stories of the
Dear Lord) by Rainer Maria Rilke, which he accompanies with fragments from Bach’s
Passions. The second work by Foss written during this time period that borrows from
24
Schwartz, Music Since 1945, 372.
46
Bach, is Symphony of Chorales (1958), premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony. This
four-movement work pays homage to Albert Schweitzer and is based on the chorales of
Bach. It includes a cycle of choral preludes and a fugue based on the B-A-C-H motive
(where H is German for Bb). The third work is, of course, Baroque Variations.
Another composer who borrowed from the works of Bach in many of his own
compositions was George Crumb. Crumb’s first published work was the String Quartet
(1954), but he is perhaps best known for his settings of writings by the Spanish poet,
Federico Garcia Lorca (1899-1936). Works such as Night Music (1963), the four books
of Madrigals (1965-69), Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968), Night of the Four
Moons (1969), and Ancient Voices of Children (1970) were all composed using the
writings of Lorca.
Much of Crumb’s music from this period and following is known for its eastern
influences, diverse timbres, and exotic instruments. Some of the instruments called for in
Crumb’s compositions include water-tuned glasses, toy piano, musical saw, Tibetan
prayer stones, Japanese Temple Bells, banjo, sistrum, and the jaw bone of an ass. A few
of the timbres that the performers are required to create include bowing between the left
hand and the peg board of a violin, trilling on a string instrument with thimbles, taking a
chisel to the strings of a piano to bend the pitch, threading paper through a harp and piano
strings, singing into the piano, and various vocalizations.
Crumb is not a prolific composer, but many of his works (the majority of which
are chamber pieces) have received widespread success. Since the 1960s, Crumb has
borrowed extensively from other composers in works such as Night of the Four Moons
47
(1969), Black Angels (1970), Ancient Voices of Children (1970), and Music for a
Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) (1974). In Night of the Four Moons for alto, alto
flute (doubling piccolo), banjo, electric cello, and percussion, Crumb directly quotes from
Bach, Schubert, and Chopin within the framework of newly composed music.
Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land for electric string quartet was
commissioned by the University of Michigan and premiered by the Stanley Quartet in
Ann Arbor at the Contemporary Music Festival. The piece makes numerous allusions to
good and evil, most notably in the work’s title, which is a reference to a technique that
early painters used to symbolize the fallen angel. The work is in arch form with three
sections entitled, “Departure” (fall from grace), “Absence” (spiritual annihilation), and
“Return” (redemption). The significance of the numbers seven and thirteen is
emphasized with the pitches A and E ascending from D# (the distance between D# and A
is seven notes, and the distance between D# and E is thirteen notes). The tri-tone, which
in the past was known as “Diabolus in Musica” (the devil’s tone) and, therefore, avoided
by early composers, is used predominately for obvious symbolic reasons. In addition,
ritualistic counting in German, French, Russian, Hungarian, Japanese, and Swahili adds
to the troubled spiritual mood of the piece.
Further adding to the ominous undertones of the work is Crumb’s use of
quotations from Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” quartet and the Latin Dies Irae (Day
of Wrath). The quotation of Death and the Maiden occurs in the “Pavana Lachrymae”
section of Black Angels and again at the end of the piece, but never reaches above a pp
dynamic. The underplaying of quoted material further adds to the ominous mood of the
48
work, and is a technique that he would use again in Ancient Voices of Children and
Music for a Summer Evening.25
Ancient Voices of Children for soprano, boy soprano, oboe, mandolin, harp,
electric piano, and percussion, was written in the same year as Black Angels, four years
before Music for a Summer Evening. It was commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague
Coolidge Foundation and premiered at the Library of Congress. One of the many works
by Crumb based on the writings of Lorca, Ancient Voices of Children is a setting of
fragments from different texts by the poet. Only two of the work’s movements are purely
instrumental, “Dances of the Ancient Earth” and “Ghost Dance,” both of which (in the
composer’s words) are “dance interludes,” and “not remarks on the text.” In this piece,
Crumb quotes from Mahler and Bach’s Bist du bei mir, which is played on toy piano with
Baroque ornaments and never rises above a mf dynamic.26
Another piece by Crumb that borrows from the music of Bach, is Music for a
Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) written for two pianos and two percussion. The
piece is particularly important in relationship to Dan Welcher’s Chameleon Music and
Michael Hennagin’s Duo Chopinesque, because, like these works, Makrokosmos III
represents one of the very few percussion ensemble pieces with quotations from other
music. Written over a decade before either piece, Makrokosmos III is also an important
precursor to Welcher’s and Hennagin’s compositions.
Crumb’s work is written in five movements, entitled I.“Nocturnal Sounds” (The
Awakening), II.“Wanderer-Fantasy,” III.“The Advent,” IV.“Myth,” and V.“Music of the
25
George Crumb, Black Angels (New York: C.F. Peters Corporation, 1970), performance notes.
49
Starry Night.” Like most of Crumb’s works, the piece calls for a variety of instruments
and timbres ranging from Tibetan prayer stones, an mbira (African thumb piano), and
recorders, to the jaw bone of an ass and a sistrum. The players are also called upon to
make various sounds with their voices, including shouts, whispers, and “sizzle” noises.
The three quotations from Bach all occur in the fifth movement, and all are from
the Well-Tempered Clavier Book II, (Fugue VIII). The fugue is always played by piano
II (prepared with paper in the strings) and vibraphone (which starts in canon three beats
later than the piano). The quotations are always preceded and followed by newly-
composed music, which is used primarily for timbre and color rather than for harmonic or
melodic purposes.
Each time the Bach fugue is played, it is surrounded by long pauses making it
clearly recognizable. The pauses add to the “ghostly-surreal” quality of the quotations
(as the composer calls it) by further separating Bach’s music from the newly- composed
material. Adding to this effect is the pp dynamic indication in the piano, and the use of
bits of paper in the strings of the piano. In addition, the vibraphone never plays above
ppp until the end of the final quotation, and the pedal on the vibraphone is held down
throughout the passage, thus blurring the sound of Bach’s fugue. The result is an effect
similar to the one created in Foss’s Baroque Variations; the listener feels like he/she is in
a dreamlike state when the quotations from Bach are heard, but awakens to reality with
the newly-composed music (see example 4).
26
George Crumb, Ancient Voices of Children (New York: C.F. Peters Corporation, 1970), performance
notes.
50
Example 4. Crumb, Music for the Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III), excerpt
Crumb’s Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III), Foss’s Baroque
Variations, and Rochberg’s Music for the Magic Theater all have unique ties with the
pieces that are the focus of this dissertation. The quotations in Chameleon Music are
used in a very similar way to those in Music for the Magic Theater, and the borrowings in
Duo Chopinesque are employed similarly to those in Baroque Variations. In addition,
Crumb’s Music for a Summer Evening sets an important precedent for quotation in
percussion ensemble pieces. However, the importance of the many other composers,
particularly in the 1960s and 70s, who used quotation as a compositional device, cannot
be overstated. The legacy of musical quotation that began in the Renaissance, and
became a significant musical trend in the 1960s and 70s, was well established by the time
that Welcher and Hennagin began composing Chameleon Music and Duo Chopinesque.
51
CHAPTER IV
MICHAEL HENNAGIN AND DAN WELCHER
Michael Hennagin
Michael Hennagin was born on September 27, 1936, in The Dalles, Oregon.
Music became an important part of Hennagin’s life at an early age when he began taking
piano lessons at age seven. It was through these keyboard studies that Hennagin first
became interested in twentieth-century music, particularly the works of composers such
as Prokofiev, Bartók, and Gershwin. His aunt, Ruth Holloway, a professional singer for
CBS radio in Los Angeles, furthered his interest in music. Holloway took the young
Hennagin to the studios, showed him scripts, and introduced him to various aspects of
production, all of which elevated his interest in commercial music.1
In 1956 Hennagin began his college career at UCLA, but one year later
transferred to Los Angeles City College where the classes were much smaller. While at
Los Angeles City College, Hennagin studied piano and composition with Leonard Stein.
Through lessons with Stein, Hennagin was exposed to the more recent works of Berio,
Boulez, Stockhausen, and others. Hennagin attended Los Angeles City College for four
years, but did not earn a degree, as he desired to learn about music exclusively.
1
Duncan Jay MacMillan, “The Piano Music of Michael Hennagin: An Introductory Examination” (DMA
diss., University of Oklahoma, 1987), 2.
52
Throughout this period, the young composer did copying and orchestration work
for his brother-in-law, Jerry Goldsmith (a music writer for CBS), and in 1959, left school
to work full time in the Los Angeles and Hollywood studios. Works completed by 1959
include Three Sandburg Songs, Sonata for Flute and Piano, The Barren Song, Theme,
Variations, and Finale, and Three Inventions, many of which were influenced by the
serial techniques of Schoenberg.
In the summer of 1960, Hennagin studied composition with Aaron Copland and
Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Music Festival. At Aspen, Hennagin composed Passacaglia
for Orchestra, Children’s Suite, and Concertino for Oboe, Strings, and Piano, the latter of
which won the Fromm Music Foundation Award for Music Composition. That same
year, Hennagin enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied composition
with Constance Vauclain.
Upon receiving his Bachelor of Music degree from Curtis, Hennagin attended the
Tanglewood Music Festival, where he studied with Aaron Copland and Lukas Foss. By
this time (1963), Foss had abandoned his experiments with ensemble improvisation, and
had already written Parable of Death and Symphony of Chorales, both of which borrow
from other works. It is safe to assume that Hennagin’s studies with Foss impacted his
own compositional style, and may have influenced the use of quotation in Duo
Chopinesque.
After Tanglewood, Hennagin moved back to Hollywood where he spent the next
two years (1963-1965) freelancing as a commercial composer. While in Hollywood,
Hennagin composed a great deal of music for television, motion pictures, and stage
53
productions. Despite having some success in Hollywood, Hennagin grew tired of both
the economic difficulties and the time constraints that forced him to compose music in a
sometimes haphazard manner.
As a result of his dissatisfaction with the commercial music business, Hennagin
took a position as composer-in-residence for the Detroit area public school systems.
After completing his residency there, Hennagin was offered and accepted a similar
position in Kansas. However, unlike in Detroit, in Kansas, Hennagin was the composer-
in-residence for area colleges rather than secondary schools. During this period, the chair
of the composition faculty at Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State
University) left for another job, and Hennagin took over his position from 1969 to 1972.
In 1972 Hennagin accepted a position at the University of Oklahoma until 1992, when he
retired from teaching to pursue composing full time. Unfortunately, just one year after
retiring from the University of Oklahoma, Hennagin passed away in June 1993 at age
fifty-seven.
Despite his brief life, Hennagin’s compositional style evolved significantly.
Many of his early works were influenced by the serialist techniques of Schoenberg, but
Hennagin’s approach to twelve-tone compositions was unique in that tonality remained
an important aspect. Examples of serial works by Hennagin include pieces such as the
Second String Trio and Theme, Variations, and Finale. Hennagin’s use of rhythmic
manipulation in almost all of his compositions during this time period, and throughout the
rest of his career, was heavily indebted to Copland and Stravinsky.2
2
Ibid., 5.
54
After studying with Aaron Copland and Lukas Foss at Tanglewood in 1963,
Hennagin’s compositional style underwent a major change. Hennagin stated that “from
this time forward (he) was strongly inclined to back off from a heavily chromatic and
serialized style of composition…”3 As a result of this change, his compositions often
began employing rapid tonal shifts, polychords, and the simultaneous use of two or more
tonal areas.4 Works form this period include A Summer Overture, The Bells of Rhymney,
Go ‘Way From My Window, Jubilee, Five Children’s Songs, and The Unknown.
After 1969, Hennagin’s compositional style further evolved to express a kind of
duality, which combined serialism with diatonic writing as a way to “symbolize the
expressive struggle which every composer faces.”5 This focus on the duality of artistic
expression remained a central element in Hennagin’s compositions until his untimely
death. Works that reflect this duality include Variations On An Oh So Familiar Tune
(1970), The King Must Die (1972), Piece in the Form of a Game (1972), Songs of Man
(1982), Ascension (1981), and, Duo Chopinesque (1986).
Dan Welcher
Dan Welcher was born in Rochester, New York on March 2, 1948. Welcher
studied with Samuel Adler and Warren Benson at the Eastman School of Music, where
he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1969. He continued his education at the
Manhattan School of Music, and received his Master of Music degree in 1972 under the
instruction of Ludmilla Ulehla. In addition to being an accomplished composer, Welcher
3
Ibid., 8.
55
is also an excellent bassoonist. From 1968 to 1969, Welcher was second bassoonist for
the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, before moving on to become the principal
bassoonist and arranger for the U.S. Military Academy from 1969 to 1972. While
playing and arranging for the U.S. Military Academy, he won first prize in the First
International Gebrauchmusik for Recorders contest (1970). After finishing his obligation
to the academy, Welcher auditioned for, and won the principal bassoonist position at the
Louisville Orchestra in 1972. That same year, he joined the faculty at the University of
Louisville where he remained until 1977. Since 1978, Welcher has been on faculty at the
University of Texas.
Dan Welcher’s compositional style has not developed in clearly definable stages,
as had that of Michael Hennagin. According to Welcher, the techniques that he employs
when composing are dictated largely by the piece itself, and any programmatic content
that is involved in the work.6 However, many of Welcher’s earlier works reflect that he
is a bassoonist, and are written for some combination of bassoon with other instruments.
A few works that include bassoon are Pieces for bassoon and orchestra (1968),
Elizabethan Variations for four recorders (1967), and Concerto da Camera for bassoon
and chamber orchestra (1975).
Many of Welcher’s pieces also use quotation as a compositional device. For
example, in Vox Femina for solo soprano and five instruments (1984), Welcher sets the
texts of different popular poets from several generations. To accompany the text, quotes
from music that the poet might have heard during his/her life are borrowed. In Zion for
4
Ibid.
56
wind ensemble (1994), much of the composition is comprised of revivalist hymns from
the Mormon Church, which were chosen for their programmatic connection to the title.
Likewise, in his First Symphony, Welcher borrows from several composers to create
many different collages, which are linked by a twelve-tone row comprised of pitches
from the quoted material. Chameleon Music is Welcher’s only work for percussion
ensemble, and according to the composer, his only work that separates the bulk of the
quoted material from the rest of the piece. According to Welcher, many of his
compositions have been “influenced especially by (George) Rochberg in their use of
quotation,” but none more so than Chameleon Music, which is “heavily influenced by,
and similar to, Music for the Magic Theater.”7
5
Ibid., 13.
6
Dan Welcher, interview by author, 17 July 1999, Denton, phone conversation, Denton, Texas.
7
Ibid.
57
CHAPTER V
DUO CHOPINESQUE
The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble commissioned Michael
Hennagin’s Duo Chopinesque in 1986, and premiered the piece that same year. The only
instructions given to the composer by Richard Gipson (the director of the percussion
program at the University of Oklahoma) were that the piece should be written for ten to
twelve players in the “mostly-mallet” type of percussion ensemble idiom. Duo
Chopinesque requires ten performers on the following instruments:
Percussion I: orchestra bells, temple blocks, piccolo snare drum
Percussion II: chimes, crotales, medium suspended cymbal, two wood blocks, tom-
tom
Percussion III: xylophone, small suspended cymbal, small brass wind chimes,
tambourine, bass drum (shared with player VI)
Percussion IV: vibraphone, cowbell
Percussion V: vibraphone, six concert tom-toms, two brake drums, claves
Percussion VI: marimba, bass drum (shared with player III)
Percussion VII: marimba, ratchet
Percussion VIII: marimba
Percussion IX: bass marimba, large suspended cymbal, small gong, bongos
58
Percussion X: four timpani, snare drum, tam-tam, medium suspended cymbal
glass wind chimes
In Duo Chopinesque, Hennagin uses three additional sound sources: rim shots,
foot stomps, and hand claps. There are three different types of rim shots ranging from
high to low pitches, which are designated by an x instead of a note head on the pitches E,
F, and B on the treble clef staff. Foot stomps and hand claps are also notated with an x,
but on the pitch C below the staff, and A above the staff, respectively (see example 5).
Example 5. Duo Chopinesque, score notes, excerpt.
Mallet choices are indicated throughout the score using the abbreviations: s.m.- soft
mallets, m.m.- medium mallets, h.m.- hard mallets, and v.h.m.- very hard mallets.
Finally, motor speeds for the vibraphones are indicated as follows: I- slow motor speed,
II- medium motor speed, and III- fast motor speed.
Duo Chopinesque is composed in arch form; the center section functions as the
climax of the piece. There are a total of nine distinct musical sections and an
introduction, which are delineated by two principal factors: use of borrowed material and
distinct rhythmic motives. The musical sections are delineated in this paper by the letters
59
A through I, and do not correspond with the rehearsal letters used in the score of Duo
Chopinesque by Hennagin.
The newly composed materials are used primarily for their rhythmic and timbral
possibilities, and not for harmonic or melodic purposes. A clear pattern from separation
to integration and back to separation occurs in Hennagin’s use of borrowed material.
Likewise a clear pattern as to the organization and importance of rhythmic motives
emerges. Both the newly-composed rhythm based ideas and the quoted material are
interdependent, generally maintaining a symbiotic relationship.
The borrowed material from Chopin’s prelude and the rhythmic motives are
increasingly integrated until the climax of the piece where a noticeable drop off occurs.
The following section’s use of quoted material and rhythmic motives is more integrated,
but thereafter, a steady decline takes place through the end of the piece. The prominence
of the rhythmic motives increases throughout the piece, with the exception of the
climactic section where rhythmic motives are less important. The highest point of
rhythmic interest occurs in the final section of the piece (see tables 5 and 6).
In Duo Chopinesque, Michael Hennagin borrows Chopin’s Prelude in E minor in
its entirety (see appendix A), with the exception of three notes. These three notes are the
only pitches from Chopin’s Prelude that are not quoted in Duo Chopinesque. Portions of
Chopin’s composition are repeated in immediate succession in Duo Chopinesque, but the
prelude is, nevertheless, heard intact and in the original key. In fact, if one were to
remove all of the newly-composed material, the Prelude in E minor would be heard from
beginning to end, with the exception of three missing notes, a few repetitions of
60
Table 5
Use of rhythmic motives throughout Duo Chopinesque.
100
80
60
Rhythmic motives
40
20
0
Intro A B C D E F G H I
*Letters indicate sections from Duo Chopinesque, while numbers are assigned arbitrarily to designate
increased use of rhythmic motives.
Table 6
Integration of Chopin material with rhythmic motives.
70
60
50
40 Chopin and Rhythmic
30 integration
20
10
0
Intro A B C D E F G H I
*Letters indicate sections from Duo Chopinesque, while numbers are assigned arbitrarily to designate the
integration of Chopin material with rhythmic motives.
61
measures, and occasional fragmentation of motives. Like Lukas Foss’s use of complete
quotations from the works of Handel, Scarlatti, and Bach in Baroque Variations, Michael
Hennagin borrows Chopin’s entire Prelude in E minor for his composition.
The quoted material in Duo Chopinesque is in fragmented form, sometimes
integrated with the newly composed music, and sometimes kept distinct from the rest of
the piece. Chopin’s prelude is occasionally distorted through octave displacement,
rhythmic changes, variations in instrumentation, and juxtaposition of newly-composed
music with quoted material. However, despite the fragmented form of the original and
numerous distortions and alterations, Chopin’s Prelude in E minor is always recognizable
to the listener.
The introduction of the piece lasts through m.24, but only the first three notes of
Chopin’s prelude are borrowed in this section. This three-note motive begins the piece,
and is played by marimba I (player VI). The opening three-note theme might lead the
listeners to believe they are hearing an arrangement of the Prelude in E minor, were it not
for the sixteenth-note imitative gestures that occur in m.3-4 in the other marimbas (see
example 6). It is as if Chopin’s work begins, but is constantly interrupted by newly-
composed material, which will not allow the prelude to be heard.
In section A of the piece, the marimbas (players VI, VII, and VIII) play the first
complete statement of the opening to Chopin’s prelude, which is repeated twice (see
example 7). The second time that the quotation is heard, the last measure is altered by
displacing the B natural up an octave in the marimba part (player VI). In addition, the
bass marimba sustains an E natural, clashing with the Eb in the original, which is played
62
Example 6. Duo Chopinesque, opening motive followed by imitative gestures, page 1,
mm1-4.
Example 7. Duo Chopinesque, first complete statement, page 6, mm. 24-29.
63
by the second marimba (player VII). As before, this statement dissolves into newly-
composed music. The principal difference between the quoted material and the original
work, in this section and throughout most of the piece, is that the rhythm is altered to
create greater syncopation.
Section A closes with fragments from the first five measures of the Prelude in E
minor played by bells, crotales, and vibraphone. On beat four of m.41 in Duo
Chopinesque, the bells and crotales quote the melody from m.3-4 in the prelude, but
displace the C natural to the lower octave. The vibraphone then interrupts this statement
with m.4-5 of Chopin’s prelude, the A natural in the melody of the prelude played by the
bells and crotales. Measure five of the Chopin work is then arpeggiated by the
vibraphones (see example 8).
Example 8. Duo Chopinesque, Chopin prelude excerpt, page 9, mm. 41-44.
There are no distinct rhythmic themes in this section, as most of the newly composed
material is used sporadically for its timbral qualities. The quoted material is made
64
separate from the newly composed music, and there is virtually no overlap between the
two ideas.
Section B begins the next portion of the piece, and a distinct rhythmic theme is
heard for the first time (see example 9). Played by the snare drum and marimbas, this
motive actually begins on beats three and four before letter B, and is heard three times in
this section. Between each utterance of the two-measure rhythmic theme, quoted
material from Chopin’s prelude occurs.
Example 9. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive, page 10, mm. 45-48.
65
The most interesting use of quotation in section B occurs in m.58-59, where the
ninth measure of Chopin’s prelude is borrowed. The rhythm played in the melody of the
original is altered from eighth-notes to quarter-notes, which are rolled by two marimbas
(players VI and VIII), while the original harmony is rolled by the remaining two
marimbas (players VII and IX). With the exception of rhythm, the quoted material is
unaltered until the F# resolution takes place, wherein marimba III plays a written
accelerando. As before, the borrowed music is not integrated with the other material, and
the rhythm is more syncopated than the original (see example 10). In section C of Duo
Chopinesque, which begins in m.63, a new rhythmic motive is introduced and dominates
(see example 11).
In only ten bars of the twenty-three measure section, is the rhythmic motive not
played. The rhythmic motive functions as an ostinato that is played by all of the
instruments with the exception of the marimbas, which interrupt twice with borrowed
66
material from Chopin. The first interruption borrows from m.10-11 of the prelude, while
the second statement borrows from m.10-12. In the second statement of the quoted
material, m.12 of the prelude is altered significantly.
Example 11. Duo Chopinesque, clave ostinato, page 15, mm. 64-65.
In this statement, three notes of the prelude are left out entirely, and are never
played in any other portion of the piece. The reason for this anomaly is not clear, but is
perhaps due to the dissolution into sporadic ideas that occur on F#, the last note of
Chopin’s prelude quoted in this section. Hennagin may have felt that the D, C, and B
natural leading of the original was too much of a resolution to create the melodic
breakdown that occurs in m.79-81 of Duo Chopinesque (see example 12).
67
The breakdown of quoted material into sporadic, fragmentary ideas is a common
technique used by Hennagin throughout the work. When the quoted material does not
merge into one of the rhythmic themes, it generally dissolves into chaos, created by short
bursts of rhythm played by instruments which are chosen primarily for their timbral
qualities. In essence, there are three distinct ideas that occur throughout Duo
Chopinesque: driving rhythmic motives, quotations of Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, and
sporadic, fragmentary material. When these ideas do not merge seamlessly into one
another, they are generally juxtaposed to create a collage effect. An excellent example of
the juxtaposition of rhythmic motives with quoted material occurs in section D, which
begins in m.87. In this portion of the composition, m.13-17 of Chopin’s prelude are
quoted, while the three-note opening of the prelude interjects sporadically. In addition,
various rhythmic motives are layered over the borrowed material (see example 13).
Another interesting use of quotation occurs in m.105. The marimbas in m.105
contain the same pitch content as m.16 of Chopin’s prelude, with the exception of an A
natural that is added on beat three (see example 14). The borrowed material then
continues with the same pitch content as the original, but now the melody is played in
canon between two marimbas (players VI and VII). Certain pitches from the original are
left out in the second marimba part (player VII), but go unnoticed because the listener has
just heard the missing pitch in the first marimba.
Throughout this portion of the piece, rhythmic motives are constantly overlaid
onto the borrowed material. This section represents the first instance where quoted
material is actually integrated with the newly-composed music. Before this section, it
68
Example 13. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive with Chopin, page 23, mm. 87-90.
Example 14. Duo Chopinesque, Chopin excerpt, page 28, mm. 105-106.
69
had been as if two separate pieces were being performed, the Prelude in E minor and a
newly-composed work, both of which were constantly interrupting one another. Now,
with the rhythmic motives more numerous and varied, and the Chopin prelude much
more integrated into the piece as a whole, the dual ideas begin to merge, thereby
generating greater tension. Adding to the tension, the borrowed material is often heard in
canon and is much more sporadic than in previous portions of the piece.
The tension generated culminates in the climax of the piece (m.113-128), which
occurs approximately half of the way through the piece, and is signaled by the unison
“strained” idea in m.115. This idea occurs three separate times in the section, and is
interrupted by various fragments of the Chopin melody played in the marimbas and
vibraphones. The now familiar opening three-note melody of the prelude is heard in
canon between the marimbas throughout this section, but on different pitches. In each of
these cases, the familiar Chopin melody is resolved down a half step to create a newly-
composed resolution.
Two bars after the opening melody of the Chopin prelude is heard, the missing
notes from the Chopin quotations in the previous section are played in the vibraphones
and marimba III (player VIII). The rhythm of the Chopin prelude is highly syncopated in
Hennagin’s version and juxtaposed with the “strained” motive, thus making it more
difficult to recognize the borrowed material. However, in general, the quoted material is
not as thoroughly integrated as in the previous section of the piece, and the rhythmic
motives are not as dominant, due in large part to the homophonic unison ideas which
predominate this section.
70
The remaining half of the piece after the climax is essentially an extended
resolution and relaxation of ideas, but there is still considerable tension for sometime.
This is evident in section F the work (m.129-137), where rhythmic motives dominate and
are overlapped onto an expanded quotation from m.19 of Chopin’s prelude. This
borrowed material continues into section G of Duo Chopinesque (mm. 138-153) and
repeats numerous times, while imitative rhythmic motives interject. The rhythmic
motives continue to dominate and are added to the marimbas, leaving only the bass
marimba to play the borrowed material for much of this section (see examples 15 and
15a). The rhythmic motives finally disperse, and the marimbas are left to play the
uninterrupted melody from m.20-21 of the prelude, thus bringing the section to a close.
Example 15a. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive, page 38, mm. 138-140.
71
The importance that rhythmic ideas will play in the final two sections of the work
is made clear by the ff sixteenth-note solo played by the brake drum at the start of the
penultimate section. From the brake drum solo to m.167, rhythmic ideas dominate,
making it more difficult to hear the quoted material from m.22-23 of Chopin’s prelude.
This continues until a grand pause at m.167, and the introduction in the following
measure of quoted material from the end of the Chopin prelude. From m.168 to the end
of section H at m.175, the final two bars of Chopin’s prelude alternate with rhythmic
ideas which never interject until all of the quoted material is heard. The quoted material
in this section is highly integrated at the outset, but then suddenly kept separate from the
rhythmic motives. The domination of the rhythmic motives and the separation of
borrowed material from newly-composed music continues through the end of the piece.
Pedal tones from the last measure of Chopin’s prelude are quoted sporadically
throughout the final portion of the piece (section I), but are continuously interrupted by
bombastic rhythmic motives. The pedal tones would go unnoticed were it not for the
moment of silence that always precedes the fragmented quotations. The rhythmic
motives, which occur as short, loud bursts of sound, are the primary interest in the closing
measures of the piece (see example 16). So while quotations from Chopin’s prelude
become less important, the newly-composed material grows louder and more syncopated.
The final utterance of borrowed material occurs after a fermata in m.200, and is once
again the opening of Chopin’s prelude played only in the bells, and at a pp dynamic. A
bar later rhythmic motives at a fff dynamic finish the piece.
72
The reintroduction of the opening to Chopin’s prelude at the end of Duo
Chopinesque is an enigmatic moment: one might ask why Hennagin brings back the
opening of the Prelude in E minor at this point. Perhaps the reason for this anomaly lies
in the previously discussed evolution of quoted material and rhythmic motives in the
piece as a whole. In addition, one could view Duo Chopinesque as a kind of duel
between newly composed rhythmic motives and borrowed material from Chopin’s
prelude.
73
Many of Hennagin’s compositions have been described by the composer himself
as an effort to express the “duality of the creative impulse.” He has described this
perceived duality with various metaphors: classical vs. romantic, yin vs. yang, or
intellectual vs. emotional. Works that Hennagin felt were reflective of this duality
include The King Must Die (1972), Piece in the Form of a Game (1972), Songs of Man
(1982), Ascension (1981), and, the work which Hennagin felt was the culmination of this
issue, Duo Chopinesque. In the composer’s own words, Duo Chopinesque represents a
conflict or duel between two opposing forces.1 Were it not for the final utterance of
Chopin’s prelude at the end of Hennagin’s composition, the newly-composed rhythmic
motives would clearly have won this duel. Therefore, the quoted material heard at the
end of Duo Chopinesque could be viewed as a mocking gesture, in that the newly-
composed music has somehow been victorious.
The genius of this last quotation is that it forces the listener to ask a whole series
of questions, not just about the piece, but about the relationship between music of the past
and present. In the larger context, the listeners are forced to analyze their own beliefs
about whether or not music of the past has overshadowed music of the present. In Duo
Chopinesque, Hennagin poses the commonly debated question about the value of modern
music, when compared to compositions from the past. The final quotation at the end of
Duo Chopinesque seems to be Hennagin’s way of saying that no modern composer can
ever escape the past. In the words of George Rochberg, “The past refuses to be erased.”2
1
Duncan Jay MacMillan, “The Piano Music of Michael Hennagin” (DMA diss., University of Oklahoma,
1987), 13.
2
George Rochberg, “Reflections on the Renewal of Music,” Current Musicology 13-14 (1972): 76.
74
CHAPTER VI
CHAMELEON MUSIC
The University of Oklahoma commissioned Dan Welcher’s Chameleon Music in
1988, just two years after the premier of Duo Chopinesque. As with Duo Chopinesque,
Richard Gipson’s only request was that the piece be written for ten to twelve players in
the mostly mallet type of percussion ensemble. The University of Oklahoma premiered
Chameleon Music at the University of Oklahoma on November 8, 1988 with Richard
Gipson conducting.
Chameleon Music is written for ten players divided into three sections on the
following instruments:
Stage Left
Player 1: crotales (upper octave), glockenspiel, xylophone
Player 2: vibraphone, glass wind chimes, crotales (shared with player 1)
Player 3: marimba, ceramic wind chimes, glockenspiel (may be shared with player 1)
Player 4: marimba, tom-toms (may be shared with player 6)
Stage Center
Player 5: 3 suspended cymbals, bell tree, cricket-call, flexatone, castanets, auto spring
coil, high triangle, bass drum, tam-tam, brake drums
Player 6: 5 tom-toms, 5 brake drums (shared with player 5), 3 suspended cymbals, 5
temple blocks, cricket-call, low triangle, 2 pitched high gongs, tam-tam
(shared with player 5)
75
Stage Right
Player 7: crotales (lower octave), glockenspiel, xylophone
Player 8: vibraphone, metal wind chimes, crotales (shared with player 7)
Player 9: marimba, vibraphone (shared with player 8)
Player 10: bass marimba, bamboo wind chimes
Welcher based Chameleon Music on the story by Truman Capote, entitled “Music
for Chameleons.” The story describes a visit by Capote to the home of a woman living
on the edge of the jungle in Martinique. The woman had a grand piano on her terrace
that had been played by a number of famous visitors, but on this occasion she played for
Capote. The composer she chose was Mozart, and the effect was surprising. It seems
that the lizards living in the jungle had become accustomed to her playing, and preferred
Mozart to other composers. Whenever she played a Mozart sonata, the chameleons
would sneak up to the piano and lie at her feet. When she finished playing, the woman
stamped her feet, and the lizards would “scatter, like the shower of sparks from an
exploding star.”1 Welcher goes on to say:
The music describes this scene, but more than that. It attempts to
show in a rather abstract fashion how music-Mozart’s music,
specifically- can cast a spell over otherwise uncivilized beings.2
Chameleon Music has four larger sections entitled: “The Jungle at Night,” “The
Chameleon Circle,” “The Spell,” and “The Retreat.” In the first section, the marimbas
1
Dan Welcher, Chameleon Music (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988), composer’s notes.
2
Ibid.
76
provide sustained chords while various wind chimes set the atmosphere of the jungle.
The second section, “The Chameleon Circle,” immediately follows, and establishes the
cast of characters in the form of three different motives (played on the xylophone,
glockenspiel, and marimba, respectively). These motives represent some of the
chameleons waiting at the edge of the jungle, who “carry with themselves the seeds of the
music of their ‘favorite composer’.”3 In the third large section, “The Spell,” four
different Mozart sonatas are quoted. In the score of Chameleon Music, it states that the
quoted sonatas are K.279, K.281, K.330, and K.332; however, the indication that K.279
is quoted, is either a misprint, or a mistake, as K.279 is Mozart’s Sonata in C major,
which is never found in Chameleon Music. Instead, the score should indicate K.280,
Mozart’s Sonata in F major, which is one of the quoted sonatas in Welcher’s piece. As
the quoted material is overlapped and submitted to collage technique, various percussion
instruments portray the sounds of the jungle. At the height of integration between the
various Mozart sonatas, there is a stamping of feet, and the chameleons scatter to the
jungle. Finally, the sounds of the jungle at night return with the faintest echoes of Mozart
still heard in the distance.4
The four larger sections of Chameleon Music are divided into several
distinguishable smaller sections which reflect an arch form. Including an introduction
and codetta, there are nine distinct sections. The climax occurs in the central smaller
section (within “The Spell”) at the point of greatest integration in the Mozart quotes, thus
creating an overall arch form. The four larger sections delineate the programmatic
3
Ibid.
77
content of the work, and show the general evolution from non-Mozart material, to the
quoted music of Mozart, and back to non-Mozart material. The nine smaller
sectionsdelineate the specific evolution of particular Mozart fragments, various rhythmic
motives, and the complete statements of the Mozart themes, all of which are interrelated
(see tables 7 and 8).
Table 7
Comparison of sections from Chameleon Music
Larger sections Smaller sections
The Jungle at Night Introduction

Chameleon Circle Free-A-B-C
The Spell Mozart sonatas-C’
The Retreat B’-A’-Mozart theme-Coda
Table 8
Arch form in Chameleon Music
Intro A B C D C’ B’ A’ Coda
There are no distinguishable sections within “The Jungle at Night,” as this
segment of the piece establishes the atmosphere of the jungle. As a result, “The Jungle at
Night,” which lasts until m.25, really functions as introduction, and will henceforth be
4
Ibid.
78
designated as such. In this section of the piece, no substantial themes or ideas are heard,
as marimbas fade in and out of audibility with sustained chords. Various wind chimes
and suspended cymbal entrances give the effect of wind through the leaves of trees, thus
adding to the overall mood. As the introduction ends, marimbas fade to nothing, as the
glockenspiel and vibraphones strike f chords that usher in “The Chameleon Circle.”
“The Chameleon Circle,” is comprised of four smaller sections: a free section, and
three thematic sections designated A, B, and C. The free section begins “The Chameleon
Circle,” and lasts approximately one minute, where the instruments are cued in and out of
repetitive patterns. Several of these patterns in the xylophone, glockenspiel, and bass
marimba contain fragments from the Mozart sonatas. The xylophone enters first with a
fragment from Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, K.281, followed by the glockenspiel, which
plays a fragment from the Sonata in C Major, K.330. Finally, the bass marimba enters
with a fragment from the Sonata in F Major, K.332. These fragments are played at
separate tempos and juxtaposed over one another, while a brake drum, spring coil, and
two vibraphones interject newly composed sporadic ideas at will (see example 17). As
these ideas fade away, the chords heard at the beginning of the piece occur again to
herald the start of the next section.
The three remaining sections of “The Chameleon Circle” each reflect a trend of
growing rhythmic tension and drive, and the increased use of fragments from the quoted
material of Mozart. In section A (mm.27-47), introductory material is heard again, but
with greater rhythmic drive provided by sixteenth-note hocketed patterns in the tom-toms
79
and bass marimba. However, no fragments of the Mozart sonatas are ever heard in this
section.
Example 17. Chameleon Music, free section excerpt, page 6, m. 26.
Section B (mm.48-78) intensifies the rhythmic drive with different ostinato
patterns played by the marimbas. The marimbas create a poly-rhythmic layering of two
against three against five (2:3:5) by playing ostinato cross rhythms. The result is a fabric
of rhythm which appears to bounce around the stage, as all of the marimbas are in
different areas (see example 18). In addition to greater rhythmic drive, three fragments of
the Mozart quotes are heard in this section.
80
Example 18. Chameleon Music, rhythmic motive in marimbas, page 13, mm. 50-51.
The first fragment occurs in m.55 in the xylophone, and is only a grace note
followed by one note from Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, K.281. The second fragment
first occurs in m.64 in the glockenspiel and is a quote from Mozart’s Sonata in F Major,
K.330. Again, only the grace-note figure from Mozart is quoted before the idea runs off
into a newly composed idea. The final fragment is from Mozart’s Sonata in F Major,
K.332, and is first heard in the bass marimba in m.70. In this instance, only three notes
of Mozart are quoted. Despite the brevity of the quotes, they are all easily recognizable,
in part because Welcher introduced them previously in the free section of “The
Chameleon Circle.” To enhance the effect, Welcher chose very familiar quotes, and
placed them in a soloistic context. All of the fragments continuously enter and exit the
81
texture in a pointillistic fashion, until the foot stomp in m.79, where all of the
“chameleons” scatter (see example 19).
Example 19. Chameleon Music, Scattering bar, page 19, m. 79.
The scattering bar leads into the next section of “The Chameleon Circle,”
(mm.80-110) where even greater rhythmic drive and more frequent use of quotations
occur. The time signature changes to 3/8 and the marimbas supply a rhythmic foundation
of thirty-second notes on different portions of the beat in imitation. Quotes from the
Sonata in Bb Major, K.281 and Sonata in F Major, K.330 are again heard, but in this
instance, the borrowed material from K.330 is much longer and played in canon by the
82
two vibraphones. In addition, the quoted material is much more frequent and imitative
than in the previous section. Another scattering bar (where a foot stomp is followed by
quick bursts which fade away to symbolize the retreat of the lizards) divides this section
into two parts. The section ends when quoted material from the Sonata in F
Major, K.330 (played by the vibraphones) fades into chords in the vibraphones and
crotales, which then lead into “The Spell.”
The section subtitled, “The Spell,” (m.111-172) includes complete themes from
all four Mozart sonatas in addition to a return of the C section in modified form. The first
Mozart theme is heard immediately from m.111 to the first half of m.118, and is played
by all four marimbas (see example 20). The borrowed material is from the first eight
measures in the Adagio of Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K.280, and is heard in the
original key signature. However, in the eighth measure of Chameleon Music, as the
marimbas resolve the phrase, crotales and suspended cymbals play a variety of newly-
composed ideas in shortened free section. This free section (approximately ten seconds
in duration) creates an effect whereby the first Mozart quote dissolves into the next
Mozart quote, which is heard immediately in m.119.
From m.119-129, a complete phrase from the Andante of Mozart’s Sonata in Bb
Major, K.281 is quoted in the original key signature (see example 21). Two xylophones,
vibraphone, and (later) glockenspiel play the borrowed material. While the sonata is
quoted, two cricket calls occur on the downbeat of m.120 and 122, and the crotales
continue their sporadic ideas from the shortened free section.
83
Example 20. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Adagio from Mozart’s K.280, page 26, mm.
111-112.
From the last beat of m.129, through m.136, a complete phrase from the Andante
of Mozart’s Sonata in C Major, K.330 is borrowed (see example 22). The phrase is
played by the two vibraphones and bass marimba, but in E minor rather than the original
key of F minor. The reason for this change lies in the necessity of a smooth transition
84
Example 21. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Andante from Mozart’s K.281, page 28, mm.
119-122.
from the previous quotation of Mozart, which ends on A natural, into the current
borrowed material. By changing the key signature of the original to E minor, the A
natural of the previous quote resolves (one beat later) a fourth down to E minor, rather
than a major third down to F minor. As a result, the quoted material in the previous
85
section seems to resolve into Mozart’s Sonata in C Major, K.330.
Example 22. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Andante from Mozart’s K.330, page 30, mm.
130-133.
The final sonata borrowed by Welcher is heard in m.137-152, and consists of
several complete phrases from the opening of the Adagio in Mozart’s Sonata in F major,
K.332. This quote lasts eight measures (m.137-144), and consists of only the first phrase
of the Adagio (see example 23). The marimbas and crotales play the quote in the first
four measures, followed by marimbas and vibraphones in the last four measures. As in
the previous quote, the key signature is altered, but this time from the original key of Bb
86
Example 23. Chameleon Music, excerpt of Adagio from Mozart’s K.332, page 31, mm.
137-138.
major to B major. The reason for this change lies again in the necessity of a smooth
transition from the previous borrowed material into the current Mozart sonata.
87
From m.145-152, the Mozart sonatas are submitted to collage technique. The
borrowed material from the Adagio of Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K.332 heard in the
previous section continues through m.152, but is overlaid with the quotation from Mozart
Sonata in Bb Major, K.281 through m.148 (see example 24). The borrowed material
Example 24. Chameleon Music, Mozart sonatas K.332 and K.281, page 33, mm. 145-
146.
from the Sonata in Bb Major, K.281, is the same as before, but now played by two
88
xylophones, crotales, and vibraphone, and in B major instead of Eb major. Further
increasing the rhythmic density, the quote from the Sonata in Bb Major, K.281 is in 12/8
while the quote from the Sonata in F Major, K.332 is in 4/4; thus, only the larger beats of
the borrowed material coincide. On beat three of m.147, the quotation from the Sonata in
Bb Major, K.281, dissolves into glissandos, but is immediately followed in the next
measure by the reemergence of the Sonata in F Major, K.330.
The quotation from Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K.330 begins on beat four of
m.148, and is overlaid against the borrowed material from the Sonata in F Major, K.332,
still continuing. Unlike the first time the Sonata in F Major, K.330 was heard, it is now
presented in F# minor rather than E minor, and in 12/8 rather than in 3/4 time. The
vibraphones through m.152 play the quotation from K.330. In m.148 and 149,
continuous triplets are kept by the brake drum, while crotales enter in m.149 with random
newly-composed material, continuing to the end of this section (see example 25). What
occurs from m. 145-152 is a collage created by overlaying three of the four Mozart
themes: from m.145-147, the fourth Mozart theme is overlaid with the second theme;
from m.148-152, the fourth theme is overlaid with the third theme. These themes then
dissolve into the scattering bar, which leads into a return of section C in 3/8 from m.154-
172.
In the return of the C section, fragments are again heard from the Sonata in Bb
Major, K.281 and the Sonata in F Major, K.330. However, the return of the C section is
much shorter than when originally heard, with the end of the section heralded by two
scattering bars, separated only by one measure. The close placement of these two
89
Example 25. Chameleon Music, Mozart sonatas K.332 and K.330, page 35, mm. 150-
151.
scattering bars at the end of the section seems to imply that the “chameleons” are leaving
for good this time. In fact, these two scattering bars lead directly into the final section of
the piece, “The Retreat.”
A transition into the return of the B section occurs in the first four bars of “The
Retreat.” However, this transition carries with it the rhythmic motive that is heard
90
throughout the final section, and seems to represent the retreat of the lizards, as it is
constantly interjected at softer dynamic levels. The “retreat motive,” as it will now be
referred to, is hocketed in the marimbas throughout m.174 and 175 (see example 26).
The return of the B section occurs in m.177-191, in a much shorter form, and with the
retreat motive played in imitation by the bass marimba and toms. A distortion of the
retreat motive in the brake drums and toms from m.189-191 dissolves into a return of the
A section.
Example 26. Chameleon Music, retreat motive, page 40, mm. 174-175.
91
In the return of the A section (mm.192-203), the sustained chords in the marimbas
accompanied by the sounds of the jungle occur again. However, this time the sounds of
the jungle dissolve into Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, K.281, heard in the original key of
Eb major. The quotation is played by the two xylophones and bass marimba (but at a
significantly slower tempo than in previous sections), and also fades into the final
scattering bar before the phrase can resolve. Following the scattering bar is a brief
codetta with sporadic cricket-calls and wind chimes imitating the sounds of the jungle.
As the piece concludes, the two xylophones play the faint sound of the grace-note figure
from Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, K.281.
92
CHAPTER VII
COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION
As in Duo Chopinesque, Chameleon Music reintroduces a brief segment of the
borrowed material at the end of the piece, thus forcing the listener to confront the music
of the past in the context of the present. By ending their compositions with echoes of
quoted material, both pieces seem to imply that, no matter how hard a composers may
try, modern works are never fully devoid of the influence of the past. In addition to the
reemergence of quoted material at the end of their works, Michael Hennagin’s Duo
Chopinesque and Dan Welcher’s Chameleon Music share many similarities.
Some of the most fundamental similarities include the following: both were
written for the mostly mallet type of percussion ensemble, both require ten players, and
both were commissioned by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble. In
addition to the obvious similarities, both works have an introduction, which employ
numerous sporadic sound effects. Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music are also both
composed in arch form; each center section functions as the climax. Perhaps the most
obvious compositional similarity is the use of quotation as the foundation for both pieces.
In both works, the quoted material is first heard in the original key and then transposed to
different keys. However, in Duo Chopinesque, only small fragments are transposed,
where as in Chameleon Music, entire themes are played in different keys. In addition to
these similarities, both pieces have distinct rhythmic motives that evolve in a symbiotic
93
relationship to the borrowed material. Despite these general similarities, these materials
are used in very different ways by the two composers.
The most obvious difference between the borrowed material in the works, is the
music selected for quotation. In Duo Chopinesque, one complete work (Chopin’s
Prelude in E minor) is borrowed, while in Chameleon Music portions from four separate
Mozart sonatas (K.280, K.281, K.330, and K.332) are quoted. In Duo Chopinesque, the
whole prelude is borrowed with the exception of three notes, and the quoted material is
thoroughly integrated into the rest of the piece. Due to this integration, much of the
borrowed material is altered in both rhythmic and pitch content (primarily through octave
displacements and the addition of foreign notes) in order to merge the new composition
with the quotation. This is a key difference from Chameleon Music.
In Chameleon Music, with the exception of a few brief fragments, the quoted
material is not integrated with the rest of the piece. Even when the quotation from
Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, K.281 re-enters at the end of the piece, it is kept separate
from the newly-composed music. The quotations of the Mozart sonatas, however, are
integrated with each other, when various themes are merged at the climax of the piece to
create a collage effect between the borrowed material. Because the Mozart themes are
kept largely distinct from the rest of the piece, they are much less altered than the quoted
material used in Duo Chopinesque. The exception to this rule occurs in a few of the brief
fragments from the Mozart themes, which are combined with newly-composed music to
create some sense of integration.
94
Just as the use of quotation differs in Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music, so
does the relationship between the quoted material and the rhythmic motives. With the
exception of the climax, the rhythmic motives in Duo Chopinesque grow in intensity,
organization, and drive to the end of the piece. This is despite the fact that the point of
highest integration between the quoted material and the rhythmic motives occurs in the
central section of the piece. In effect, as the Chopin prelude fades away, the rhythmic
motives grow stronger. This is very different from Chameleon Music where the rhythmic
intensity mimics the evolution of the Mozart quotations. In other words, rhythmic
intensity grows with the heightened use of quotation to the center of the piece, where the
overlaying of quoted material also creates the greatest amount of rhythmic interest. As
the borrowed fragments fade away toward the end of the piece, so does the rhythmic
intensity.
Both Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music represent a significant step in the
evolution of the percussion ensemble. They both represent a growing trend among
university programs to commission seasoned composers to write for the percussion
ensemble. In addition, both works are written for the mostly mallet type of percussion
ensemble, a medium that more composers of percussion ensemble music are choosing for
its variety. In the mostly mallet setting, composers have the freedom to work with
melodic and harmonic elements rather than being restricted to rhythm and timbre. In
essence, composers feel they have more possibilities when working with both pitched and
non-pitched instruments, rather than non-pitched instruments alone.
95
Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music are also significant for their use of
quotation, a technique that is extremely rare in the percussion ensemble medium. When
quotation is used effectively in the percussion ensemble, it has the potential to attract a
wider audience to the idiom because the audience has some sense of familiarity. The
unique timbres of a percussion ensemble, and the instruments themselves, are widely
unknown to most people; using quotation is one way to bring something recognizable
into this situation. However, when using quotation, there is the danger of creating a work
that is perceived as less successful than the original. Gipson relates:
Using quotation sources in any modern work is a challenge, because

you obviously have the original, which by any measure has been
successful or you would not be quoting it. So, I think when you use
quotation, you run the risk of comparison with the original in terms
of its effectiveness. In both of these cases, (Welcher and Hennagin)
did incredibly good work in not having the quoted material sound
trite or in any way diminish the importance of the original. In both
of these pieces, (Welcher and Hennagin) did a wonderful job
making the quoted material tremendously, musically substantive.1
The use of quotation in Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music is unique in the
percussion ensemble medium. However, the widespread success that these pieces have
enjoyed is due to the compositional skills of the composers. While quotation can be
useful in gaining a wider audience to percussion literature, it is not essential to the
development of the genre. However, commissioning high caliber composers to write for
the percussion ensemble is essential. The percussion ensemble, and in particular, the
mostly mallet type of percussion ensemble, has become an integral part of university
percussion programs. However, much of the music composed for this idiom has not been
1
Richard Gispon, interview by author, 2 July 1999, Oklahoma, tape recording, University of Oklahoma.
96
widely received due largely to the lack of skilled composers writing for the genre. Such
is not the case with Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music, where two widely
acknowledged composers, Michael Hennagin and Dan Welcher, contributed works to the
medium. By continuing to commission established composers to write for this medium,
major works such as Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music will elevate the standards
of quality repertoire for percussion ensemble.
97
APPENDIX A
PRELUDE IN E MINOR BY FREDERIC CHOPIN
98
99
APPENDIX B
BORROWED MATERIAL FROM MOZART’S SONATAS
100
From the Adagio of Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K.280
From the Andante of Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, K.281
101
From the Andante of Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K.330
102
From the Adagio of Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K.332
103
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books and Articles
Antokoletz, Elliot. Twentieth Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,

1992.
Blades, James. Percussion Instruments and Their History. London: Faber, 1975.
Borroff, Edith. Three American Composers. New York: University Press of America,
Inc., 1986.
Brunner, David lee. “The Choral Music of Lou Harrison.” Ph.D. diss., University
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1989.
Burkholder, Peter J. “The Uses of Existing Music: Musical Borrowing as a Field.”

Notes 50:3 (March 1994): 861-870.
Chavez, Carlos. Toward a New Music. Translated by Herbert Weinstock. New York:
W.W. Norton, 1937.
Cope, David. New Directions in Music, 6th ed. Prospect Heights, Il.: Waveland Press,
1993.
Cowell, Henry. “Drums Along the Pacific.” Modern Music 18:1 (November-
December 1940): 46-49.
________. “Toward Neo-Primitivism.” Modern Music 10:3 (March-April 1933): 149-

153.
Deviney, Chris. ”Interview with George Crumb.” Percussive Notes 28:4 (Summer
1990): 61-64.
Dixon, Joan DeVee. A Bio-Bibliographic Guide to His Life and Works. Stuyvesant,
New York: Pendragon Press, 1992.
Ewen, David, ed. Composers Since 1900, First Supplement. New York: H.W. Wilson
Co., 1981.
Eyler, David. “Development of the Marimba Ensemble in North America During the
1930s.” Percussive Notes 34:1 (February 1996): 66-70.
104
Fierz, Stephen. “Lou Harrison and Harry Partch: A Brief Comparison.” Percussive
Notes 35:2 (April 1997): 74-75.
Freedman, Russell. ”Metamorphosis of a Twentieth Century Composer.” Music Journal

34 (March 1976): 12-13, 38.
Gagne, Cole and Caras, Tracy. Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers.
London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1982.
Gipson, Richard, coordinator of percussion, University of Oklahoma. Interview by

Author, 2 July 1999, Oklahoma. Tape recording. University of Oklahoma,
Oklahoma.
Griffiths, Paul. Modern Music and After. London: Oxford University Press, 1995.
________. Modern Music: The Avante-Garde Since 1945. New York: George
Braziliier, Inc., 1981.
Hardt, Herb and Sumner, J.D. “An Interview with Carlos Chavez.” Percussionist 13:1
(Fall 1975): 29-35.
Hatten, Robert S. “An Evening With Lukas Foss.” Indian Theory Review 1:1
(September 1977): 44-47.
LeVan, Richard. “African Musical Influence in Selected Arts Music Works for
Percussion Ensemble, 1930- 1984.” Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1991.
Machlis, Joseph. Introduction to Contemporary Music. New York: W.W. Norton &
Co., 1979.
MacMillan, Duncan Jay. “The Piano Music of Michael Hennagin: An Introductory

Examination.” DMA diss., University of Oklahoma, 1987.
Marshall, Dennis. “Charles Ives’s Quotations: Manner or Substance?,” Perspectives of

New Music 16 (Spring-Summer 1968): 45-56.
Morgan, Robert P. Twentieth Century Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1991.
Perone, Karen L. Lukas Foss: A Bio-Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.
Peterman, Tim. “An Examination of Two Sextets of Carlos Chavez: Toccata for
Percussion Instruments and Tambuco for Six Percussion Players.” DMA diss.,
University of North Texas, 1986.
105
Peters, Gordon. The Drummer: Man, A Treatise on Percussion. Wilmette, Ill.: Kemper-
Peters Publications, 1975.
Price, Paul. “Percussion Up-to-Date.” Music Journal 22:9 (December 1964): 32-33, 67.
Rameaka, Mary Campbell. “Tonal Reform or Radical Tonality? A Study of

Neoromanticism in American Music, with an Emphasis on the Music and
Thought of George Rochberg, David Del Tredici, and Stephen Albert.” Ph.D.
diss., University of Connecticut, 1994.
Ringer, Alexander. “The Music of George Rochberg.” The Musical Quarterly 52:4
(October 1966): 409-430.
Rochberg, George. “Reflections on the Renewal of Music.” Current Musicology 13-14

(1972): 75-81.
Rosen, Michael. “Focus on Performance: Ballet Mécanique.” Percussive Notes 28:1

(Fall 1989): 48-50.
Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: Oxford University Press,
1956.
________. Rhythm and Tempo. New York: W.W. Norton, 1953.
________. “A Survey of Compositions Written for the Percussion Ensemble.”

Percussionist 4:3 (1966-1967): 137-143.
Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London:
MacMillan Publishers limited, 1980.
________. The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music. London: MacMillan

Press, ltd., 1988.
Salzman, Eric. Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:

Prentice Hall, 1988).
Schwartz, Elliot and Godfrey, Daniel. Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials, and
Literature. New York: E.C. Schirmer, 1993.
Sharp, Mary. “A Survey of Musical Quotation From 1940-1975.” M.M. thesis,

Baylor University, 1976.
Simms, Bryan R. Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure. New York:
E.C. Schirmer, 1986.
106
Siwe, Tom. “Lou Harrison.” Percussive Notes 18:2 (Winter 1980): 30-33.
Vanlandingham, Larry Dean. “The Percussion Ensemble: 1930-1945.” Ph.D. diss.,

Florida State University, 1971.
Watkins, Glenn. Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century. New York: E.C. Schrimer,
1987.
Welcher, Dan, composer of Chameleon Music. Interview by author, 17 July 1999.

Phone interview. Denton, Texas.
Williams, Michael. “The Early Percussion Music of John Cage, 1935-1943.” Percussive
Notes 31:6 (August 1993): 60-67.
107
Music
Chopin, Frederic. Twenty-five Preludes for Piano, New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, no date
given.
Crumb, George. Ancient Voices of Children, New York: C.F. Peters Corporation, 1970.
________. Black Angels, New York: C.F. Peters Corporation, 1970.
________. Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III), New York: C.F. Peters
Corporation, 1974.
________. Night of the Four Moons, New York; C.F. Peters Corporation, 1971.
Foss, Lukas. Baroque Variations, New York: Carl Fischer, Inc., 1967.
Hennagin, Michael. Duo Chopinesque, Norman, Oklahoma: OU Percussion Press, 1986.
Mozart, Wolfgang. Sonatas, Vol.1, New York: C.F. Peters Corporation, no date given.
________. Sonatas, Vol 2, New York: C.F. Peters Corporation, no date given.
Rochberg, George. Contra Mortem et Tempus, Pennsylvania: Theodore Presser Co.,

1967.
________. Music for the Magic Theater, Pennsylvania: Theodore Presser Co., 1967.
________. Nach Bach, Pennsylvania: Theodore Presser Co., 1967.
Welcher, Dan. Chameleon Music, Norman, Oklahoma: OU Percussion Press, 1988.
108

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HEARING HISTORY: MUSICAL BORROWING IN THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE

WORKS, DUO CHOPINESQUE AND CHAMELEON MUSIC, TOGETHER WITH

THREE RECITALS OF SELECTED WORKS OF GEORGE CRUMB,

MINORU MIKI, ALEC WILDER, ERIC EWAZEN,

RAYMOND HELBLE, AND OTHERS

Stephen L. Fulton, B.M.A., M.M.

Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS

Robert Schietroma, Major Professor

deposit in the University of North Texas Library.

2. THE HISTORY OF THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE ……………………... 3

3. HISTORY OF MUSICAL QUOTATION IN THE TWENTIETH

4. MICHAEL HENNAGIN AND DAN WELCHER ………………………….. 52

5. DUO CHOPINESQUE ……………………………………………………… 58

6. CHAMELEON MUSIC …………………………………………………….. 75

7. COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION ……………………………………... 93

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………….. 104

1. Six families of noises that comprise the futurist orchestra …………………….. 4

2. John Cage’s percussion works from 1935-1945 ………………………………. 14

3. Commissioned works by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Program ….. 26

4. Rochberg compositions with quotations from other composers ……………… 38

5. Use of rhythmic motives throughout Duo Chopinesque ……………………… 61

6. Integration of Chopin material with rhythmic motives ……………………….. 61

7. Comparison of sections from Chameleon Music ……………………………... 78

8. Arch form in Chameleon Music ………………………………………………. 78

1. Rochberg, Nach Bach, excerpt ……………………………………………... 38

2. Rocherg, Music for the Magic Theater, excerpt …………………………… 41

3. Foss, Baroque Variations, excerpt …………………………………………. 46

5. Duo Chopinesque, score notes, excerpt ……………………………………. 59

6. Duo Chopinesque, opening motive followed by imitative gestures, page 1,

7. Duo Chopinesque, first complete statement, page 6, mm. 24-29 ………… 63

8. Duo Chopinesque, Chopin prelude excerpt, page 9, mm. 41-44 …………... 64

9. Duo Chopinesque, rhythmic motive, page 10, mm. 45-48 ………………… 65

17. Chameleon Music, free section excerpt, page 6, m. 26 …………………….. 80

19. Chameleon Music, scattering bar, page 19, m. 79 …………………………. 82

the mallet instruments, such as marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, and glockenspiel,

The historical legacy of twentieth-century composers borrowing and altering

compositional device. This dissertation will focus on the compositional characteristics of

twentieth-century compositions, the compositional techniques and timbres used by

examples of musical quotation. In particular, the twentieth-century composers George

twentieth-century quotation, because their treatment of borrowed material is similar to the

THE HISTORY OF THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE

emerged as an important genre in Western literature. With a history of approximately

will henceforth refer.

established in many countries. Concerned with establishing an art appropriate to an

Italian painter and musician, Luigi Russolo (1885-1947).

futurist orchestra (see table 1).

Six families of noises that comprise the futurist orchestra

Booms Whistles Whispers Screams Noises made Voices of

Capital,” “Meeting of Automobiles and Aeroplanes,” “Dining on the terrace of the

riot at its debut in 1914.

machine music were subtle but important. Vanlandingham relates:

Russolo and other futurists had deliberately avoided the use of

recently discovered timbres of percussion instruments. Some important works in the

(1927), Chavez’s HP (1927), John Alden Carpenter’s Skyscrapers (1927), and

Mossolov’s Symphony of Machines: Steel Foundry (1928).

was conducted by Vladimir Golshmann, and occurred at the Theâtre de Champs-Elysées

stage, which he would ceremoniously place on the piano before a performance.3

composing a machine music piece. Antheil states: