An Overview of Select Compositional Techniques in David Maslanka's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 9

Abstract

American composer David Maslanka (1943-2017) was a well-known wind band composer, who composed nine full-length symphonies, seven for wind band. Though well-known to many performers and conductors, little theoretical scholarship has been written about the composer. This thesis analyzes two of his works, Symphonies Nos. 4 and 9, with a particular focus on the composer’s use of musical quotation, form, harmonic ideas, orchestration, and motivic development. One of the most important compositional techniques used by Maslanka in his wind band symphonies is the use of musical quotation. The use of this technique stems from the composer’s anxiety surrounding the compositional process and led to a compositional ritual, including daily singing and playing of Bach chorales. While this process eased his anxiety, it also made its way into his compositions in the form of quotations. Maslanka also used several common-practice techniques such as sonata-rondo form and motivic construction in his themes. By contrast, he also veers away from some common-practice period techniques by using more modern harmonic ideas.