Visual art made musical: Issues of shape, proportion and large-scale form in 'Escher Sketches'

This dissertation examines the relationship between the orchestral work, Escher Sketches, and the two graphic prints by M.C. Escher on which its music is based, Regular Division of the Plane I and Regular Division of the Plane VI. Chapter 1 provides background information on the two visual works and, generally, on Escher's work with the "regular division of the plane." Chapter 2 discusses how Escher Sketches, a 12-tone piece, utilizes a regular division of the octave in the construction of the prime row forms behind its two movements. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 explain how Movement I, "Birds and Fish," and Movement II, "Lizards," share structural similarities with Escher's prints at the background, middleground and foreground levels of the music.