Imitation of an innovator: a comparative analysis of Agon by Igor Stravinsky and Dance movements for brass quintet by David Snow

Abstract

This dissertation will examine and chronicle the working life of composer David Snow. David Snow holds degrees in music composition from the Eastman School of Music and Yale University School of Music. His principal teachers were Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, Samuel Adler and Jacob Druckman. Snow is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Eastman School's Hanson, McCurdy, and Sernoffsky prizes, the Osborne-Kellogg Prize from Yale, two BMI Student Composers awards, an ASCAP Foundation grant, two composer fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, two Maryland State Arts Council grants and a fellowship grant from the Arts Council of Montgomery County. This dissertation will chronicle the education of David Snow from his time attending the Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music and the time spent at Brandeis University. This dissertation will also analyze his piece Dance Movements, and compare the piece to two works of Igor Stravinsky "Agon" and "Fanfare for a New Theatre". In addition, the dissertation will examine some historical and theoretical aspects of the ballet "Agon" by Igor Stravinsky; as well as analyze the historical and some compositional aspects of Igor Stravinsky's "Fanfare for a New Theatre" as they compares to "Dance Movements, for Brass Quintet" by David Snow.