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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4964-6662

Date Available

5-8-2026

Year of Publication

2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

College

Fine Arts

Department/School/Program

Music Performance

Faculty

Dieter Hennings-Yeomans

Faculty

Martina Vasil

Abstract

This dissertation provides a technical and performance-oriented re-examination of the first four movements of Escarramán: A Suite of Spanish Dances from the XVIth Century (After Cervantes), Op. 177, by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. It argues that the suite embodies a fundamental tension between the composer’s original compositional and structural intentions and the ergonomic limitations of the guitar, and evaluates the proposed solutions by Angelo Gilardino in the 1979 Bèrben edition.

This research employs a comparative, practice-led framework to address the paradox of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s non-idiomatic writing. Its primary contribution is the development of a performance synthesis that maintains harmonic integrity while enhancing physical playability through original fingerings, corrective ossias, and note reordering. However, in specific scenarios, keeping the original notes outweighs the physical playability.

The study concludes with a dual-format performance edition of the suite’s opening movement, the "Gallarda," comprising a "clean copy" urtext and a detailed performance edition. This edition offers technical solutions for concert artists. By connecting the composer’s complex manuscript to contemporary instrumental requirements, the dissertation serves as both an analytical and technical resource. It enhances accessibility to this ambitious 20th-century work while preserving the composer’s intent as closely as possible to the original text.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.256

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