Preferred Name
Yining Jiang
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Fall 2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
Department
School of Music
Advisor(s)
Eric Ruple
Lori Piitz
Eric Guinivan
Abstract
This document explores the connection between the visual arts and music, particularly focusing on the similarity between visual and aural artistic expression by analyzing two sets of piano pieces composed by I-Uen Wang Hwang, a contemporary Taiwanese-American composer and artist. The piano pieces are Dream Garden, Series I and II (2000-2004) and Preludes for Piano (2016). Series I of Dream Garden contains two piano solo compositions based on a series of Hwang’s own watercolor works. Each composition has an analogous painting: “The Horn of the Plenty” and “Butterfly Orchid”. Series II includes two compositions written for two pianos: “Red and White” and “Fireworks”, which are also based on her watercolor paintings of flowers. “Each piano part has its own individual character with different timbres and rhythms, as if each part represented a different color or texture of the painting.”[1] Preludes for Piano is a new composition set that Hwang composed in 2016. There are three preludes, each prelude based on an abstract acrylic painting. My intention is to explore the connection between paintings and music by discussing the historical background of the two art forms, analyzing the selected music of Hwang in detail, and referring to other composers whose musical compositions were related and inspired by paintings.
[1] I-Uen Wang Hwang, “Dream Garden”. Program notes for doctoral lecture recital. Yining Jiang. Harrisonburg: James Madison University Recital Hall, September 17, 2017.
Recommended Citation
Jiang, Yining Jenny, "Connection between visual arts and music: The painting and music of I-Uen Wang Hwang" (2017). Dissertations, 2014-2019. 164.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/diss201019/164
