Research Projects

The Musical Dispute: Exploring Concertāre in the Formal, Thematic, and Modulatory Techniques of Vivaldi and Bach

Maryrose’s senior thesis research was originally inspired by the characterization of the Italian style and sound. When searching for a piano piece to learn for her capstone recital, Maryrose wanted to perform something by Bach but was also curious to understand how music and sound can be regionally categorized. Upon discovering the Italian Concerto BWV 971, Maryrose was excited to delve into the prominent history of Italian style and music in Western history, how it produced the concerto form, and how that form was borrowed and altered by other cultures.
Determined to learn at least one movement of the piece, Maryrose quickly discovered that the fast and complex final movement was her favorite, and that she would learn it for her senior recital. This third movement of the Italian Concerto BWV 971, because of this complexity and advanced style, was discovered to have been written later in Bach’s career than the preceding two movements. This movement is analyzed in extreme detail within Maryrose’s senior thesis paper.
Maryrose’s thesis paper intends to recount the arguments of those who took on the task of researching the etymology of ‘concerto’ and point to examples of its correct meaning; ‘to dispute’, within Bach’s Italian Concerto BWV 971 and other Baroque concertos by Vivaldi. Maryrose provides theory analyses of multiple concertos by Vivaldi to demonstrate how a concerto can sound like a dispute and how Bach directly borrows Vivaldi’s concerto and ritornello structures.