Date of Award
2026
Degree Type
Open Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Music, PhD
Program
School of Arts and Humanities
Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair
Robert Zappulla
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
David Rentz
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Anne Dorothy Harley
Terms of Use & License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Rights Information
© 2026 Ruth Ballenger
Subject Categories
Composition | Music
Abstract
This dissertation provides a rich primary source for future scholars interested in the music of American composer Dr. Nick Strimple. A complete catalog of Dr. Strimple’s works and more than thirty transcribed interviews with the composer offer broad insight into Dr. Strimple’s motivations, inspirations, and sources for his own compositions. Primary sources – that is, firsthand evidence created in real time by a participant or observer – offer what musicologists might colloquially describe as the “gold standard” for citation and understanding of their musical subjects. As the field of musicology evolved, primary sources have come to be highly valued as foundational to musicological research. Thus, musicologists lament those instances when a lack of primary sources exists for important compositional figures. For example, devotees of Johann Sebastian Bach are aware of only limited examples of Bach’s writings about his own work. This lack of primary material stymies any attempts to understand what Bach thought about his own work, including circumstances from which he may have drawn inspiration, or sources which might have influenced him. Although Bach’s correspondence, works, and contemporaneous treatises by other writers and composers certainly provide some information about Bach’s musical world, scholars can only speculate about Bach’s personal views, because he himself wrote so little about his own work. Since the early days of musicology, however, scholars have found increasing numbers of primary sources to consult as they study later composers; these sources provide invaluable insight into those artists and their work. One example of the value placed on primary sources by musicologists comes from noted musicologist Richard Taruskin, in Music in the Nineteenth Century. Taruskin wrote, regarding Richard Wagner, “We are in an unusually favored position to investigate his aims, since he wrote so prolifically about them.” (Italics added.) Taruskin’s words exemplify the value placed on primary sources by musicologists. Acknowledging the importance of primary sources to future researchers, this dissertation will provide a wealth of information about Dr. Nick Strimple’s views and the pertinent circumstances relating to his own compositions, thus compiling a primary source for future scholars who wish to research his work. Transcriptions of more than thirty in-person interviews I conducted with Dr. Strimple from 2001 through 2025 will provide insight into every work he has written to date, providing a valuable resource for future scholars. Dr. Strimple has not offered such extended access to anyone other than the author, making this document an unparalleled primary source on his work. The dissertation begins with a brief biography of Dr. Strimple, including personal, educational, and professional activities. An exploration of Strimple’s interest in music of the Holocaust is also included. Further, information is provided about Strimple’s compositional process and general style. Then, tracking his compositions in chronological order, the document provides titles, voicing, instrumentation, and other notable information for every piece, along with a brief summary of the piece and commentary directly from Dr. Strimple about the genesis and circumstances under which the music was written. Where available, initial performance information is also given. Text sources, dedications, and commissioning information are also included in most cases. The result is a document which provides a rich source of information about Dr. Nick Strimple’s compositional output, often in the composer’s own words.
ISBN
9798247918998
Recommended Citation
Ballenger, Ruth. (2026). Catalog of the Music of Nick Strimple (B. 1946). CGU Theses & Dissertations, 1087. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1087.
