Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2014 Influences and Musical Quotation in the Solo Piano Works of Aaron Jay Kernis Joy Thurmon Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC INFLUENCES AND MUSICAL QUOTATION IN THE SOLO PIANO WORKS OF AARON JAY KERNIS By JOY THURMON A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2014 Joy Thurmon defended this treatise on April 4, 2014. The members of the supervisory committee were: Read Gainsford Professor Directing Treatise Evan Jones University Representative Heidi Louise Williams Committee Member Eva Amsler Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the treatise has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For my mother   iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS   I would like to sincerely thank the members of my committee for their time and support in assisting me complete this document, particularly Dr. Read Gainsford, who directed this project. I am also grateful to Dr. Heidi Louise Williams for encouraging me to meet Mr. Kernis, Dr. Evan Jones, for accepting my request to join the committee more recently, and Professor Eva Amsler, for her teaching and encouragement. I am deeply indebted to Aaron Kernis for his incredible talent and as a musician and composer, his kind and supportive nature, and his willingness to answer my questions regarding his life and music. I would also like thank my former teacher, Professor Leonard Mastrogiacomo for challenging me, for guiding me, and most of all for sharing with me his love of music. I owe so much to Dr. Cliff Madsen for introducing his style of teaching to me and for his guidance in my life. Words cannot express how thankful I am to my dear friends, particularly Emily Whitson, whose love and support I thrived upon while writing this paper, and Aaron Seiler, who played hours of beautiful music for violin and piano with me since I have lived in Tallahassee, Florida. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Musical Examples ............................................................................................................... vi Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... viii 1. AARON JAY KERNIS ............................................................................................................... 1 Education and Early Influences ........................................................................................... 1 Career .................................................................................................................................. 2 2. MUSICAL QUOTATION AND POSTMODERNISM .............................................................. 6 3. A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSICAL QUOTATION ................................................................ 13 Direct Quotation ................................................................................................................ 13 Stylistic Quotation ............................................................................................................. 17 4. THE SOLO PIANO MUSIC OF AARON KERNIS ................................................................ 21 Before Sleep and Dreams (1987-1990) ............................................................................. 21 “Before” ................................................................................................................. 22 “Play Before Lullaby” ........................................................................................... 23 “Lullaby” ............................................................................................................... 26 “Lights Before Sleep” ............................................................................................ 29 “Before Sleep and Dreams” ................................................................................... 31 Three “Superstar Etudes” .................................................................................................. 32 “Superstar Etude No.1” (1992) .............................................................................. 34 “Superstar Etude No. 2” (2002) ............................................................................. 37 “Ballad(e) Out of the Blues (Superstar Etude No. 3)” (2007) ............................... 43 Shorter Works for Solo Piano ............................................................................................ 49 “Speed Limit Rag” (2001) ..................................................................................... 49 “Linda’s Waltz” (2003) ......................................................................................... 52 “Morningsong and Mist (Aubade sous Brume)” (2011) ....................................... 55 “Angel Lullaby” (2006/rev. 2012) ........................................................................ 60 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 64 APPENDIX: CORRESPONDENCE WITH COMPOSER .......................................................... 65 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 91 BIOGRAPHCIAL SKETCH ......................................................................................................... 96   v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES 1.1 Aaron Kernis, “Before,” from Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 1-5 ........................................ 22 1.2 Claude Debussy, La Cathédrale Engloutie, mm. 8-12 ............................................................ 22 1.3 Aaron Kernis, “Play Before Lullaby,” Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 28-31 ....................... 24 1.4 Aaron Kernis, “Play Before Lullaby,” Before Sleep and Dreams, m. 35 ............................... 25 1.5 Aaron Kernis, “Play Before Lullaby,” Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 79-82 ....................... 25 1.6 Aaron Kernis, “Play Before Lullaby,” Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 111-114 ................... 26 1.7 Frédéric Chopin, Berceuse, Op. 57, mm. 1-4 .......................................................................... 27 1.8 Aaron Kernis, “Lullaby,” Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 1-9 ............................................... 27 1.9 Aaron Kernis, “Lights Before Sleep,” Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 1-6 ........................... 30 1.10 Aaron Kernis, “Before Sleep and Dreams,” Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 1-7 ................ 31 1.11 Claude Debussy, La Cathédrale Engloutie, mm. 28-30 ........................................................ 31 1.12 Aaron Kernis, “Before Sleep and Dreams,” Before Sleep and Dreams, mm. 63-65 ............ 32 1.13 Aaron Kernis, “Superstar Etude No. 1,” mm. 13-16 ............................................................. 35 1.14 Aaron Kernis, “Superstar Etude No. 1,” mm. 79-82 ............................................................. 36 1.15 Theme from Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight” .......................................................... 38 1.16 Aaron Kernis, “Superstar Etude No. 2,” mm. 1-9 ................................................................. 39 1.17 Aaron Kernis, “Superstar Etude No. 2,” mm. 83-84 ............................................................. 41 1.18 Aaron Kernis, “Ballad(e) out of the Blues, Superstar Etude No. 3,” mm. 1-3 ...................... 45 1.19 Aaron Kernis, “Ballad(e) out of the Blues, Superstar Etude No. 3,” mm. 107-108 .............. 48 1.20 Frédéric Chopin, Ballade in F minor, Op. 52, mm. 202-210 ................................................ 48 1.21 Aaron Kernis, “Speed Limit Rag (a slow drag),” mm. 1-3 ................................................... 50 1.22 Aaron Kernis, “Speed Limit Rag (a slow drag),” mm. 28-29 ............................................... 51 1.23 Aaron Kernis, “Linda’s Waltz,” mm. 25-27 .......................................................................... 53 1.24 Theme from Bill Evans’ “Waltz for Debby,” mm. 1-6 ......................................................... 54 1.25 Alexander Scriabin, Sonata No. 9, Op. 69, mm. 1-5 ............................................................. 56 vi 1.26 Aaron Kernis, “Morningsong and Mist (Aubade sous Brume),” mm. 1-3 ............................ 57 1.27 Aaron Kernis, “Morningsong and Mist (Aubade sous Brume),” mm. 11-13 ........................ 58 1.28 Olivier Messiaen, “Regard de la Vierge,” No. 4, mm. 24-27 ................................................ 59 1.29 Aaron Kernis, “Angel Lullaby,” mm. 1-10 ........................................................................... 61 vii ABSTRACT This treatise will introduce the solo piano works of Aaron Jay Kernis to a wide audience, aimed at pianists interested in learning his music. I will show how Kernis’ influences and use of musical quotation constructs the musical content of these pieces through stylistic quotation, timbral quotation, and homage. I will describe the composer’s background, examine the question of postmodernism as a possible framework for viewing Kernis’ use of quotation, and provide a brief history of music that uses quotation. I will provide an analysis of Aaron Jay Kernis’ solo piano works by describing harmonic, textural, rhythmic, and structural features of his music and include performance suggestions for each piano work, addressed to the performer and teacher. The piano pieces chosen for this treatise span a twenty-year time period from 1987 to 2007. “Playing Monster” for solo piano is listed by the publisher but will not be discussed in this treatise as the score is not yet available. viii CHAPTER 1 AARON JAY KERNIS Education and Early Influences Aaron Jay Kernis was born on January 15, 1960 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Little information is known about Kernis’ childhood and his biographers begin when he was twelve years old: “he studied the violin as a child, (and) began teaching himself the piano at age twelve” (McCutchan, 235). “He first displayed creative talent by writing poetry and fantasy stories as a child” (Humphrey, 1992). Kernis says that his earliest experience with music was not at an instrument, but singing. “My primary instrument is piano, but I sang in chorus throughout high school” (McCutchan, 240). Aaron Kernis began his college studies in music at the San Francisco Conservatory. Following a year of study with John Adams in San Francisco, Kernis was accepted at the Manhattan School of Music where he studied composition with Elias Tanenbaum and Charles Wuorinen. Kernis described his study with Wuorinen as “. . . an intense experience and also formative to how I thought about language and what I wanted to do with my life” (Campbell, 2009). It was at the Manhattan School of Music that he met pianist Anthony de Mare, who later premiered and recorded Kernis’ most significant work for piano, Before Sleep and Dreams (Dalton, 2005). Kernis was accepted to Yale in 1981 and studied with Morton Subotnick, Jacob Druckman and Bernard Rands, receiving his master’s degree in 1983. He felt that “Yale was a special situation because, each semester, students had the opportunity to study with a different teacher and to be exposed to different points of view” (Campbell, 2009). Some of Kernis’ fellow 1