“Self-sustainable Programmatic Music”

The basis of this thesis is a portfolio of seven original compositions with analyses. Each composition serves as an exercise in utilising the various concepts discussed throughout this work in order to create programmatic music which can be experienced cohesively without knowledge of the narrative inspiration. The pieces are presented in chronological order, in terms of composition, with the intention of demonstrating the evolution of this idea over the course of the study. The accompanying thesis serves to explore the application of the various compositional considerations utilised in each piece in order to achieve music that is programmatically accurate and self-sustaining. Volume 1 This contains the thesis wherein each of the seven chapters focuses on one individual piece from the portfolio and examines the application of the aforementioned concepts as they appear in the respective works. Volume 2 This contains the scores to each of the seven pieces. Additionally, this volume contains the conclusion and bibliography.