Boss, JackSchroeder, Joy2020-12-082020-12-082020-12-08https://hdl.handle.net/1794/25913This dissertation is a study of borrowed melodies, harmonies, and formal structures in six representative works from the organ literature of the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. These works, by composers François Couperin, J. S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Charles Ives, Jehan Alain, and John Cage, exhibit different methods of varying the borrowed material by addition of elements as well as subtraction. It focuses on how composers stayed within the normative practices of their eras by enhancing the tonal implications of their original sources, or (in the twentieth century) by obscuring or even erasing them. J. Peter Burkholder’s work on borrowed material is the foundation of this study. His work is illustrated through my considerations of these six examples, and also used to step further into a discussion of how each composer either stays within the boundaries of tonality or pushes beyond them. In addition, I consider how composers either elaborate the texture of the original, or (in Cage’s case) remove and fragment large parts of it timbrally to make it sound more random. My assertions about tonality and texture are supported by Schenkerian and post-tonal analyses, and in places I also consider rhythmic and metric alterations through the use of detailed tables.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Charles IvesJehan AlainJohann Sebastian BachJohn CageMusic borrowingorgan literatureElectronic Thesis or Dissertation