In 1824, Schubert composed Octet in F Major, D.803, op. 166, for clarinet, bassoon, horn, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass. The Octet comprises six movements and lasts approximately an hour. The work represents the pinnacle of the genre in the nineteenth century. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide important resources needed for a cohesive and informed interpretation of Schubert's Octet. The historical perspectives, which include discussion of Beethoven's influence and the genesis of the Octet, provide the context from which to discuss the Octet's musical language and performance practice. In turn, the analysis of its musical language informs the expressive opportunities as well as raises awareness to some performance considerations. The analysis focuses on Schubert's thematic and harmonic procedures, and explores the musical elements, such as the cyclic motif with which Schubert unites the piece. The dissertation also addresses revisions in the first publication, general editorial issues and discrepancies among the different editions. Finally, the dissertation concludes with an investigation of the performance practice through examination of recordings, and research into the nineteenth-century performance practice.

Nadia Boulanger - composer, critic, impresario and the most famous composition teacher of the twentieth century - was also a performer of international repute. Her concerts and recordings with her vocal ensemble introduced audiences on both sides of the Atlantic to unfamiliar historical works and new compositions. This book considers how gender shaped the possibilities that marked Boulanger's performing career, tracing her meteoric rise as a conductor in the 1930s to origins in the classroom and the salon. Brooks investigates Boulanger's promotion of structurally motivated performance styles, showing how her ideas on performance of historical repertory and new music relate to her teaching of music analysis and music history. The book explores the way in which Boulanger's musical practice relied upon her understanding of the historically transcendent masterwork, in which musical form and meaning are ideally joined, and shows how her ideas relate to broader currents in French aesthetics and culture.

Structure and Style, first published in 1962 and expanded in 1979, fills the need for new ways of analysis that put 20th-century music in perspective. It spans forms in use before 1600 through forms and techniques in use today. Anthology of Musical Forms provides musical examples of forms treated in Structure and Style. Some examples are analyzed throughout. Most are left for the student to analyze. These books reflect Leon Stein's impressive background as student, musician, and composer. Stein studied composition with Leo Sowerby, Frederick Stock (conductor of the Chicago Symphony) and orchestration with Eric DeLamarter, his assistant. He earned M. Mus and Ph.D degrees at DePaul University and was associated with its School of Music as director of the Graduate Division and chairman of the Department of Theory and Composition until his retirement in 1976. He has composed a wide variety of works, including compositions for orchestra, chamber combinations, two operas, and a violin concerto.

Interprets an eighteenth-century musical repertoire in sociable terms, both technically (specific musical patterns) and affectively (predominant emotional registers of the music).