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During the 1980s, the Darmstadt Summer Course for composition gave rise to a body of works engaged with the topic of complexity, often referred to under the label “New Complexity.” This complexity involves many aspects, the most observable of which comes from the notation. These scores, often replete with intricately woven rhythmic strands, abrupt dynamic changes, and spectacular shifts in pitch register present a plethora of technical and interpretational challenges for the performer and an equally daunting perceptive task for the listener.

Roger Redgate has suffered under this epithet more than others included in this group. The musicologist Richard Taruskin boldly claims that in their compositions “the notational detail was significant, even if the music was not; for its intricacy set a benchmark that is never likely to be equaled, let alone surpassed” (Taruskin 2009, 457-476). Yet in Roger Redgate’s  Genoi Hoios Essi, moments of complexly  weaving  rhythmic strands  give way  to perceptual transparency -an approach that is not the product of some eclectic notational strategy. Rather, the struggle between these two extremes lays at the heart of the narrative of Genoi, building an awareness of “things becoming themselves,” the translation of the title. Friedrich Nietzsche originally intended to use the title for the work now known as Ecce Homo. The rhetorical function of this title within the work is significant, for as well as asserting a struggle in the way various things attempt to “become” in Redgate’s music, Nietzsche’s ultimate rejection of the title suggests that such an attempt will never bear fruit.  Awareness of this aesthetic will inform an analysis of the perceptually salient moments in the work, and contrary to Taruskin, allow us to  move beyond a superficial examination of the notes-per-inch towards the overall process of “things becoming themselves.”

Over the past quarter century, commentators have lamented the lack of detailed discussion of Haydn's opus 50 string quartets. W. Dean Sutcliffe, in his monograph on the quartets, notes that opus 50, "finding itself in the middle of the oeuvre … has received a disproportionate amount of inattention." 1 More recently, in their 2006 volume, Floyd and Margaret Grave have suggested that the tendency to overlook op. 50 is understandable given "the works' absorption in structural and textural complexity, their unrelenting attention to motivic process, and certain peculiarities of their melodic idiom." 2 Indeed, the majority of commentators, finding themselves in the difficult position of balancing the larger picture of Haydn's work with the analysis of individual opuses (and consequently individual works and movements), have tended to provide only a brief evaluation of op. 50. 3 Furthermore, the first movement of op. 50 no. 3 has re-1 W. Dean Sutcliffe, Haydn: String Quartets, Op.50 (Cambridge:

, orchestration with Paul Edlin, and theory with Eva Mantzourani, during which time he received the Canterbury Festival Composition Award. In 2006, he received a Master's degree with distinction in composition from Goldsmiths College, University of London, under the guidance of Roger Redgate, before crossing the pond to study for his doctorate at Cornell University. At Cornell, Duncan has studied composition with Steven Stucky and Kevin Ernste and organ performance with Annette Richards. During his time at Cornell, Duncan's music has been performed by Cornell's Festival Chamber Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony, the latter an educational outreach project for two simultaneous orchestras involving a children's band. In 2007 his Spiral Density Waves was performed at the North American Saxophone Alliance. The following year, the Johnson Art Museum hosted a non-staged performance of Duncan's chamber opera Abyssinia. Further afield, Duncan's works have been performed across the US, UK and continental Europe. He participated in the 2006 Deal Music Festival, where he was an invited composition tutor, working with students on joint projects, one of which was performed by the King's Singers. Mats and Johannes Möller have performed Duncan's works for flute and guitar across Europe, and his 501.567nm for 19-division trumpet, performed by Steve Altoft, is due for CD release in 2010. iv Dedicated to David Brewer (1937-2010) v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the members of my committee, Steven Stucky, Kevin Ernste and Annette Richards, for all their support and guidance over the past four years. In particular, I must thank Professor Stucky for giving me the opportunity to realize my dream to study in America, an experience that has shaped both my scholarly and compositional aspirations. I also wish to thank Keith Hjortshoj for the countless readings he made of the thesis and his aid in translating from British to American English… two countries indeed separated by a common language! Thanks must go to Bonna Boettcher, whose skills as a librarian and researcher made the path to the thesis that much smoother, obtaining countless scores, recordings and hard-to-find texts. Richard Toop's analytical insights were indispensible in developing the final chapter on Roger Redgate's Genoi Hoios Essi. Thanks must be extended too, to Roger, for his willingness to explore the "dreaded attic" for the sketches of Genoi and for his guidance in developing a critical stance on the composition process, which have no doubt left their mark on my own music.

Benjamin Britten's vocal music of 1943–1945 represents an apex in the composer's captivation with metric conflict. The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (1943), the Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1945), and Peter Grimes (1945), diverse in their musical construction and distinct in the types of texts set, share a central compositional concern: the employment of sustained metric conflict as a means of emphasizing structural junctures or poetic ideas. Although this music has been the subject of form- and pitch-based analyses (Whittall, Stroeher, Rupprecht), it has yet to be examined from a metric perspective.
This paper explores how vocal entries problematize meter, generating local and hypermetric conflicts with the accompaniment for expressive and text-interpretative purposes: in Musgrave, metric conflict acts as a commentary on Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard's intention to fulfill their illicit affair; in the Holy Sonnets, metric conflict intensifies the relationship between the sonnet's protagonist (often considered as Donne himself) and the antagonists of sin, death, and an impending Day of Judgment; and, in Peter Grimes, the metric stability of the Borough's "Old Joe has Gone Fishin'" is disrupted as Grimes enters mid tune, reinforcing his alienation from the Borough. These analyses demonstrate the strength of a metric-based approach on a new body of musical works, not only providing fresh insights into Britten’s texted music, but also laying the foundation for further research into notated versus perceived meter in twentieth-century music.

Over the past quarter century, commentators have lamented the lack of detailed discussion of Haydn's opus 50 string quartets. W. Dean Sutcliffe, in his monograph on the quartets, notes that opus 50, "finding itself in the middle of the oeuvre … has received a disproportionate amount of inattention." 1 More recently, in their 2006 volume, Floyd and Margaret Grave have suggested that the tendency to overlook op. 50 is understandable given "the works' absorption in structural and textural complexity, their unrelenting attention to motivic process, and certain peculiarities of their melodic idiom." 2 Indeed, the majority of commentators, finding themselves in the difficult position of balancing the larger picture of Haydn's work with the analysis of individual opuses (and consequently individual works and movements), have tended to provide only a brief evaluation of op. 50. 3 Furthermore, the first movement of op. 50 no. 3 has re-1 W.