sign in sign up
<<
Home , Brian Asawa, Carol Vaness, Chanticleer (ensemble), Constant Craving, Disappointed, Donald Hall

SONGS TO THE MOON: A CYCLE BY FROM POEMS BY VACHEL LINDSAY

D.M.A. DOCUMENT

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in

School of the State University

By

Carolyn E. Redman, B.A., M.M.

*****

The Ohio State University 2004

Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Eileen Davis, Adviser

Dr. C. Patrick Woliver ______Adviser Professor Loretta Robinson Graduate Program in Music

ABSTRACT

The entitled to the Moon, written by Jake Heggie, contains the texts of eight poems by the late American poet, Vachel Lindsay. The piece

was composed for American mezzo- , who premiered the

work with pianist at the on August 20, 1998. It is a

wonderful piece of music, worthy of in-depth musical study and continued performances.

This study is intended to serve as a resource guide for vocal coaches and singers

preparing to perform the piece. It should also be a helpful reference for scholars

interested in learning more about the life and vocal works of Jake Heggie.

Chapter one contains basic biographical information on Jake Heggie, while the

second chapter discusses the general style of his art songs and those who have influenced

his musical compositions. Chapter three focuses on poet Vachel Lindsay, and provides

interesting insight into his life and writings. Chapter Four includes biographical

information about the artists who premiered Songs to the Moon, as well as details about

of the song cycle, the premiere performance, and the resulting critical

reception. The fifth chapter provides an analysis of both the and music, while

chapter six includes a discussion of the unifying aspects of the cycle. The final chapter

contains performance suggestions gleaned from coaching sessions with Mr. Heggie and

Mr. Katz, as well as e-mail correspondences with Ms. von Stade. The appendix includes

ii

brief biographical information on Heggie’s most influential teachers, a summary of his song style, a list of his vocal compositions, and a discography of his works to date.

iii

In loving memory of my parents, Nancy Louise Sani and August John (Gus) Sani, Sr.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank my adviser and voice teacher, Prof. Eileen Davis, for her

guidance, encouragement, and the many practical suggestions she has given to me to help

make this project a reality. Her influence has helped shape me into the performer I am

today.

Thanks to OSU music faculty Dr. Woliver, Prof. Robinson, Dr. Peeler, Dr. Rice,

conductor Marshall Haddock, vocal coach/accompanist Barbara Brenton Sahr, and

former OSU director Noel Koran, who have supported and encouraged my talent over the years.

I also wish to thank Dr. Ching chu Hu of Denison University for his expertise and

guidance in my theoretical analysis of Songs to the Moon.

I am grateful to Martin Katz for coaching the pieces with me, and for providing

invaluable insight into performing Songs to the Moon. I also appreciate Frederica von

Stade for taking time out of her busy schedule to respond to my questions.

I am indebted and extremely grateful to composer Jake Heggie for his wonderful music and his openness to share his life and music with me. Without his input, this project would not have been possible.

Thanks to my good friend Jennifer Whitehead for her emotional support and encouraging words throughout this entire process. I am also indebted to my loyal friend

v

and “kindred spirit” Debbie Merki, who spent countless hours editing my document.

Over the years she has been, and continues to be, a true friend in every sense of the word.

I am very grateful to my in-laws Earl and Marguerite Redman and my church

family at the Newark Nazarene Church, who have supported me constantly through their

many prayers and words of encouragement.

I would also like to thank my siblings, Mary, Tina, and John, as well as my Uncle

Myers for their love and support over the years.

I am grateful for the legacy of my parents - my mother, who introduced me to the

wonderful world of music, and my father who, through his , showed me with a little hard work anything is possible.

I am also indebted to my Heavenly Father for the ultimate gift of grace and his love and power that sustain me daily.

And finally I would like to thank my husband, Brian, for his constant support

throughout this entire project. He has brought so much love and joy to me. I can’t

imagine my life without him.

vi

VITA

December 29, 1965……………….. Born, Sandusky, Ohio

1989………………………………. B.A., Mount Vernon Nazarene University

1989-95…………………………… Admissions Counselor/Asst. Director of Admissions Mount Vernon Nazarene University

1995-97…………………………… Music Teacher, Good Shepherd Christian Academy

1997……………………………… M.M., The Ohio State University

1997………………………………. Helen Swank Voice Scholarship, The Ohio State University

1997-2002………………………… Graduate Administrative Associate in Academic Advising, The Ohio State University

1998………………………………. 2nd Place, Regional NATS Competition

1998……………………………… 2nd Place, Competition

1998………………………………. Margaret Speaks Graduate Voice Scholarship, The Ohio State University

1999………………………………. Young Artist, Des Moines Metro Opera

1999………………………………. 1st Place, Regional NATS Competition

2000………………………………. Opera/Columbus Vocal Competition, 1st Place

2000-2002………………………… Graduate Teaching Associate, Music, The Ohio State University

2001………………………………. Young Artist, Opera

vii

2002………………………………. Graduate Outstanding Achievement Award, The Ohio State University

2002-present……………………… Adjunct Voice Instructor, Kenyon College

FIELD OF STUDY

Music: Vocal Performance

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………… ii

Dedication………………………………………………………………………………... iv

Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………v

Vita……………………………………………………………………………………… vii

List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………..... xi

Preface………………………………………………………………………………….. xiii

Chapters:

1. Biography of Jake Heggie…………………………………………………………….. 1

2. Musical Influences and General Style………………………………………………. 10

3. Biography of Vachel Lindsay……………………………………………………….. 18

4. Songs to the Moon: Commission, Premiere, and Reviews………………………….. 45

5. Poetical and Musical Analysis………………………………………………………. 52

Song 1: Prologue: Once More—to Gloriana………………………………….. 56 : Euclid…………………………………………………………………. 66 : The Haughty Snail-King………………………………………………. 77 Song 4: What the Rattlesnake Said…………………………………………….. 86 Song 5: The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky…………………………………. 93 Song 6: What the Scarecrow Said……………………………………………… 97 Song 7: What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said…………………………………... 104 Song 8: Yet Gentle the Griffin Be……………………………………….. 110

6. Cycle Structure and Song Similarities……………………………………………... 122

ix

7. Performance Notes…………………………………………………………………. 129

Song 1: Prologue: Once More – to Gloriana……………………………….... 131 Song 2: Euclid………………………………………………………………… 133 Song 3: The Haughty Snail-King……………………………………………... 134 Song 4: What the Rattlesnake Said…………………………………………… 136 Song 5: The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky………………………………... 138 Song 6: What the Scarecrow Said…………………………………………….. 139 Song 7: What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said…………………………………... 142 Song 8: Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be...……………………………………… 143

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………… 147

Appendix A: Teachers and who Influenced Heggie……………………… 150 ……………………………………………………….. 150 Johana Harris………………………………………………………150 Raymond Scott……………………………………………………. 151

Appendix B: Song Style Sheet………………………………………………………… 153

Appendix C: Heggie’s Classical Vocal Works………………………………………... 155

Appendix D: Discography…………………………………………………………….. 159

x

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

1. Gloriana, m.1-4…………………………………………………………………. 59 2. Gloriana, m.49-51………………………………………………………………. 60 3. Gloriana, m.5-8…………………………………………………………………. 61 4. Gloriana, m.54-55………………………………………………………………. 63 5. Gloriana, m.30-33………………………………………………………………. 64

6. Powerhouse, m.105-112………………………………………………………….69

7. Euclid, m.23-30………………………………………………………………….. 69 8. Euclid, m.1-4…………………………………………………………………….. 70 9. Euclid, m.5-8…………………………………………………………………….. 71 10. Euclid, m.11-14………………………………………………………………….. 75

11. Snail-King, m.1-4………………………………………………………………... 81 12. Snail-King, m.12-14……………………………………………………………... 82 13. Snail-King, m.18………………………………………………………………… 82 14. Snail-King, m.27………………………………………………………………… 84

15. Rattlesnake, m.1-2………………………………………………………………. 90 16. Rattlesnake, m.37-39……………………………………………………………. 91

17. Cooky, m.12……………………………………………………………………... 96

18. Scarecrow, m.4-6………………………………………………………………... 99 19. Scarecrow, m.36-45……………………………………………………………. 100

20. Fairy, m.1-2……………………………………………………………………. 107 21. Fairy, m.14-17…………………………………………………………………. 108 22. Fairy, m.10-13…………………………………………………………………. 109

23. Griffin, m.8-12…………………………………………………………………. 113 24. Griffin, m.29-35………………………………………………………………... 114 25. Griffin, m.70-75………………………………………………………………... 115

xi

26. Griffin, m.86-98………………………………………………………………... 116 27. Griffin, m.18-25…………………………………………………………………117 28. Griffin, m.3-4…………………………………………………………………... 118 29. Griffin, m.52-55………………………………………………………………... 118 30. Griffin, m.1……………………………………………………………………...119 31. Griffin, m.49-50………………………………………………………………... 120 32. Griffin, m.76-84………………………………………………………………... 121

xii

PREFACE

I was first introduced to the music of Jake Heggie while listening to a recording of

mezzo-soprano in 1998. Her compact disc recording, entitled My

Native Land, contained five of Heggie’s songs. There was something so simple, yet elegant, about his folk songs in particular, that immediately drew me in. Soon afterward, I tried to find out as much as I could about this relatively unknown composer. None of

Heggie’s songs were published at the time, but I was fortunate enough to acquire a handwritten copy of three of his folk song arrangements to perform in a recital.

Then, in 1999 and 2000, the Associated Music Publishers, Inc. published three volumes of Heggie’s art songs. Among his 52 songs is a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and , entitled Songs to the Moon. It is comprised of eight songs set to the texts of eight whimsical children’s poems by the late American poet Vachel Lindsay. Heggie’s tender, jazzy, and often humorous musical settings fit perfectly with the charming, childlike poems. I knew, when I sang through the song cycle, that it would prove to be a wonderfully expressive and theatrical vehicle, perfect as a light-hearted ending to a

recital. When I made the decision to focus on Heggie and this song cycle for my DMA

document, I wrote a letter to the composer requesting his assistance. His response has

been wonderful and overwhelming. He invited me to his home for a lengthy interview,

xiii

coached me on the songs, and since then has faithfully answered numerous e-mail

correspondences.

What a journey this whole process has been! It has been an incredible opportunity to converse with this gracious composer about his life, music, compositional and performance techniques. So many times I have studied music in the past wishing I knew what the composer really intended in his music. This time, I had the opportunity to ask. It was also a privilege to coach these songs with the one and only Martin Katz, who Ms. von Stade refers to as “one of the treasures of the music world.”1 Both Heggie and Katz

offered wonderful insight into these songs. Throughout this process I have learned that,

even though composers and talented coaches can provide wonderful tools to help

performers, it is up to the performer to take hold of these ideas, commit to the text and the

character, and make the performance uniquely his or her own. I have tried to offer some

insight into Heggie’s music, specifically this song cycle, in order to help other performers

achieve this goal. I hope this analysis of Jake Heggie’s Songs to the Moon will provide my fellow performers with the assistance so generously granted to me through these experiences.

1Frederica von Stade, e-mail to the author, 23 Jan. 2002. xiv

CHAPTER 1

BIOGRAPHY OF JAKE HEGGIE

American composer Jake Heggie has written more than 150 art songs as well as numerous chamber, choral, orchestral and instrumental solo works. His works have been performed by some of the most highly respected artists of our time, including singers

Frederica von Stade, Renèe Fleming, , Jennifer Larmore, ,

Dawn Upshaw and ; flutist Eugenia Zukerman; and conductors John

DeMain, Jonathan Sheffer and . His most well-known work to date is his first opera, entitled , which is based on the book of the same title written by Sister , CSJ. The opera premiered in October of 2000 to much critical acclaim. At the present time, 12 opera companies, both national and internationally, have already performed or have scheduled productions of this piece.

Jake was born to parents John and Judy Heggie in West Palm Beach, Florida on

March 31, 1961. His full name is John Stephen Heggie, but he has always gone by the name of Jake. His father was a medical doctor who enjoyed listening to big band and music, as well as playing jazz music on the saxophone. He was a first generation

American and the oldest son of Hungarian immigrants. At one point he had seriously considered becoming a professional musician, but decided to become a physician after his parents encouraged him to pursue a more lucrative profession. Through his father’s

1

interest in jazz, Jake was exposed from a young age to the music of great jazz artists such

as Artie Shaw, , , Jo Stafford, and Tommy Dorsey.

The family moved to Torrence, when Jake was very young and moved again two years later when a job transfer took the family to Bexley, Ohio. It was here that

Jake began studying piano at the age of seven. From his first lesson, Jake was completely enamored with the piano and its possibilities. He said, “I loved my lessons right from the start. On the first day we learned to play, Hot Cross Buns. I remember it so clearly. I ran home and said, ‘Mom, listen to this, I learned to play a song!’ From that time on I would practice the piano for hours, rather than play outside.” At age 11, he began to experiment with composing.

At the time I had been playing piano a lot and I was especially impressed with Liszt and Beethoven pieces that were full of black notes. I thought to myself, “I can do that!” So as a result, I started writing pieces to try and sound like these composers. They had no depth or meaning at all, because all I was trying to do was to be impressive by writing a lot of notes!2

He did not study composition formally until the family moved to Martinez,

California when he was 16 years old. It was at this time that he began to study

composition privately with composer Ernst Bacon (see Appendix A). Mr. Bacon worked

with Jake for two years and was the first person to encourage him to compose to texts.3

“He introduced me to the poems of and the joys of setting texts. That’s where it all started for me, really.”4

When Jake was 18, he moved to to try and find his own way musically and personally. He did not go to Paris to study with anyone in particular, but to see what

2 Jake Heggie, personal interview, 11 September 2001. 3 Heggie, personal interview. 4 David Mermelstein, “He’s Got a Song in His Art,” Times 10 Nov. 1996: 54. 2

would happen for him musically and to work on his own. At this time he was preparing to become a performer rather than a composer. While in Paris, he studied piano with a couple of different teachers, but it soon became clear that he needed a more structured plan of study and a more disciplined environment. At this time one of Jake’s friends

attended UCLA and studied with a teacher named Johana Harris. The Canadian-born

Harris was a gifted piano performer and teacher whose career spanned almost 70 years

(see Appendix A). His friend told him what an incredible musician and teacher she was

and encouraged him to enroll at UCLA. As a result, Jake made the decision to attend

UCLA specifically to study with Johana Harris.5

Jake was also influenced by his composition teachers at UCLA – Paul Des

Marais, David Rakskin, Roger Bourland and Paul Reale – but describes Johana Harris as

his most important teacher and greatest influence as a composer. “ She had an amazing

personality and was one of the most phenomenal musicians you could imagine. Music

was her language, and she brought an essential meaning to music that had been missing

for me.”6 After a year or so the relationship between Heggie and Harris intensified and

the two were married in 1982; he was 21, and she was 70.7 Jake admits the marriage was

somewhat controversial and unconventional but describes their relationship in the

following manner. “We just complemented each other so well. There was such a strong

spiritual connection. She was my best friend.”8 He continued to study with Harris, and

the two also performed duo piano concerts all over the country.

5 Heggie, personal interview. 6 Heggie, personal interview. 7 Tom Savage, “High Scorers: Jake Heggie,” Jan. 2000: 12. 8 Mermelstein, 54. 3

Jake graduated from UCLA in 1984 and continued to tour with Johana until he

developed problems with his right hand in 1988.9 He had been compensating for a

technical problem and because of his constant performing, it developed into a muscular

problem. Eventually, he was forced to give up performing. At this time, he basically gave

up on the idea that he would ever play or compose professionally again.10 In order to

support himself, he took a job in public relations with the UCLA Center for the

Performing Arts. Around this same time Johana Harris was diagnosed with cancer, and in the early 1990s her health began to fail. She passed away in 1995 at the age of 82.11

Feeling stifled and in need of a change, Jake made the decision to move from Los

Angeles to in 1993.12 He worked with a piano teacher who helped to

correct his muscular problem, but limited his playing from 1988 until 1994. “I did a little

composing, but I mostly stopped because I was so depressed from not being able to play

anymore.” He describes this time as the most difficult period in his life.13 Before he left

for San Francisco, he had only the promise of freelance public relations work at UC

Berkeley, but ended up getting a full-time public relations position with the San

Francisco Opera.14 Because of his position with the opera company, he was able to meet

several prominent singers. One of these singers was highly acclaimed American mezzo-

soprano Frederica von Stade. Their meeting in San Francisco proved to be a turning point

for Jake’s career as a composer. The two had met briefly a few years earlier when Jake

9 Heggie, personal interview. 10 Heggie, personal interview. 11 Mermelstein 54. 12 Savage 12. 13 Heggie, personal interview. 14 Mermelstein 55. 4

was running a private performing arts series in Beverly Hills.15 She came to the San

Francisco Opera to perform in the world premiere of Conrad Susa’s Les Liaisons

Dangereuses in 1994, and immediately remembered him from their previous meeting.

She had no idea, however, that he was a composer. For an opening night gift, Jake

presented her with three of his folk-song arrangements. When they sat down to go

through them, she was quite impressed.16 Feeling encouraged by her comments, Jake

entered the G. Schirmer American Competition with von Stade agreeing to sing

for his demo tape. He eventually went on to win the contest. Since that time, von Stade has become one of Heggie’s closest collaborators.17 Of their relationship, Jake says the following,

She began to ask me to play for her and commissioned pieces and also arranged commissions for me. She has been my biggest champion. She also came into my life right around the time that Johana died. Ms. von Stade had no idea, but one piece that Johana had always improvised on in recitals was Danny Boy. It just so happened that this was the very first piece Flicka (von Stade) asked me to arrange.18

Because of von Stade’s interest in Heggie’s music, other singers became interested as well.

Because I was working for SFO, I met all these wonderful singers who then began to ask me to compose pieces for them. Singers such as , Renèe Fleming, Jennifer Larmore, , and Bryn Terfel. Much to my surprise they started performing my songs nationally and internationally. It was because of these singers that other people began to pay attention to my music.”19

15 Heggie, personal interview. 16 Heggie, personal interview. 17 Savage 12. 18 Heggie, personal interview. 19 Heggie, personal interview. 5

A recording of Heggie’s songs was released in 1999 by BMG Classics on the

RCA Red Seal label and was titled, The Faces of Love. The disc features 26 of his songs

performed by some of the world’s most noted singers, including Frederica von Stade,

Renèe Fleming, Jennifer Larmore, Sylvia McNair, Carol Vaness, and . Five

of Heggie’s songs (including the three folk-song arrangements for von Stade) were also

featured on Jennifer Larmore’s 1998 recording of American songs entitled, My Native

Land. In response to winning the competition and the release of The Faces of Love, G.

Schirmer published 50 of Heggie’s songs in three volumes, also entitled, The Faces of

Love. The first volume was published in 1999, and the last two volumes were published in 2000.20

Jake’s commission for his first opera, Dead Man Walking, came to him very

unexpectedly. He was still working in the public relations department for San Francisco

Opera when general director called him into his office one day in 1996. “I

went into his office with my pad thinking he needed to see me about a speech or a press release or something like that. But instead he says, ‘I think I would like to ask you to

write this opera.’”21 Bobby McFerrin had been scheduled to write an opera for the

company but after being pushed back a few times, the whole commission eventually fell

through. As a result, there was an opening for a new opera during the 2001 season.

Because so many well-known singers were performing Jake’s music, Mansouri thought

he would be the perfect replacement. Heggie was to be teamed with the famous

playwright Terrence McNally. In one of the preliminary meetings with Jake, McNally

came up with a list of ten possible ideas for the opera’s subject matter. The very first one

20 The Official Website of Jake Heggie, 21 Heggie, personal interview. 6

on the list, Dead Man Walking, struck both Heggie and McNally as being the ideal

subject. When they talked to Mansouri about their idea, he was very surprised, thinking

that McNally would choose something light-hearted or funny, but was immediately sold

on the idea.22 The San Francisco performances were hugely successful, and the opera

continues to be performed both nationally and internationally.

In January of 1998, Mansouri named Heggie San Franciso Opera’s first CHASE

Composer-in-Residence. This two-and-a-half year residency included the commission for

the opera, which premiered in October of 2001. This production of Dead Man Walking was directed by , conducted by Patrick Summers and featured John

Packard and mezzo- Susan Graham and Frederica von Stade. The opera was recorded live by ERATO during its premiere run and was released internationally on

January 8, 2002. In addition, a documentary on the making of the opera was created by

KQED San Francisco for telecast on PBS throughout the during 2002.23

From 2000-2002, Heggie became the first composer-in-residence for the Eos orchestra in at the request of artistic director, Jonathan Sheffer. The residency included several commissions, among them: Cut Time, a work for piano and chamber orchestra that premiered in May 2001, and A Great Hope Fell: Songs from the

Civil War, a large song cycle for baritone Gordon Hawkins that premiered in February

2002.24

Heggie’s closest collaborator continues to be Frederica von Stade. Together they have performed three large-scale song cycles, two major works for chorus and mezzo

22 Heggie, personal interview. 23 The Official Website of Jake Heggie. 24 The Official Website of Jake Heggie. 7

solo, orchestral songs, and her featured role in Dead Man Walking as the convict’s

mother. The song cycles, On the Road to Christmas and Paper Wings, include lyrics

written by von Stade. In January of 2000, she sang Paper Wings with the Louisville

Orchestra in a new orchestral version commissioned by the orchestra and conducted by

Uriel Segal.

Von Stade, together with pianist Martin Katz, presented the world premiere of

Heggie’s song cycle, Songs to the Moon, at the Ravinia Festival, in 1998. The eight-song cycle is based on moon poems written by the American poet Vachel Lindsay, and is the primary focus of this document.

Another collaboration between Heggie and von Stade is Patterns, a work for female chorus, piano and mezzo-soprano soloist. This was commissioned by the San

Francisco Girls Chorus to celebrate its 20th anniversary and premiered in May 1999 with

von Stade as the featured soloist. In the same year, she also performed as a soloist with

Chanticleer in Heggie’s Anna Madrigal Remembers. This work was commissioned by

Chanticleer and is written for mezzo-soprano soloist and 12 male voices to be performed . A new set of songs with chamber orchestra for the Camerata Pacific in Santa

Barbara, California is planned for von Stade for sometime in 2004.

In a recent interview I asked Jake why he thinks he and von Stade work together so successfully. Heggie responded,

She is also very honest and open. There is nothing not to like about her. I think she is so amazing on stage, so vulnerable and raw because she puts it all out there. And she always starts with the text…she makes it something personal that she can commit to. I think that is how you really know a great singer. There is a commitment and an honesty to what they’re doing… There is a reason that they are singing that song. It is important to them, and it is coming from right inside.25

25 Heggie, personal interview. 8

Many other noted soloists have also commissioned Heggie to write specifically for them. A few of these singers include Jennifer Larmore, Brian Asawa and Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel. In 2001, Heggie wrote a song cycle for Terfel, which was performed in , throughout South Asia, London’s Barbican Hall, and New York’s

Carnegie Hall with pianist . The song cycle is entitled The Moon is a

Mirror, and like his song cycle Songs to the Moon, it features moon poems written by

Vachel Lindsay. Three of these five songs are also orchestrated for full orchestra.

Another song cycle worth mentioning is The Deepest Desire, written for mezzo-soprano

Susan Graham and flutist Eugenia Zuckerman, and based on texts by Sister Helen

Prejean, the author of the book Dead Man Walking. This work premiered during the summer of 2002 at the Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado (see Appendix C for complete vocal works to date).

Heggie’s second full-length opera, The End of the Affair, premiered in March

2004 with . It is based on the Graham Greene of the same name. Collaborators for the opera included playwright Heather McDonald (An Almost

Holy Picture and Faulkner’s Bicycle), director Michael Mayer, and conductor Patrick

Summers. At the present time, Heggie continues to make his home in San Francisco,

California.

9

CHAPTER 2

MUSICAL INFLUENCES AND GENERAL STYLE

Jake Heggie’s art songs are eclectic in style, ranging from broadly romantic to

subtly impressionistic, and often showing influences of jazz and popular music. His songs are characterized by an emphasis on melody with harmonies that contain interesting dissonances.

When asked to describe his overall song style, Jake Heggie says the following:

I am definitely a melodist. I would describe myself as an American melodist who is not ashamed of the American influences I’ve had. My influences range from the great classics of Europe, to TV commercials and the Carol Burnett show (laughs). Overall I hope my music sounds American and that it serves the characters in the poems well. I also want it to be something singers enjoy doing and that audiences enjoy being a part of.26

Heggie holds the texts of his songs in high esteem and his musical settings are

created to describe, comment on or illustrate the mood of the poetry. He believes strongly that if composers are going to write in English, then American audiences should be able to understand most of what the singers are singing.27 As a result, critics and performers

have noted that his songs are very “singer friendly” and are generally well matched to the

natural flow and rhythm of the text. Singer Jennifer Larmore comments on the

accessibility of his songs. “Heggie’s songs get right to the point. They are terrific to

sing…Sometimes modern song composers try too hard. Jake doesn’t have to try: he’s a

26 Heggie, personal interview. 27 Heggie, personal interview. 10

natural.”28 Frederica von Stade agrees that Heggie’s music is flattering to the voice. “The

key to Jake’s music is that he really loves the voice and that’s a big thing. That sounds

like such a given, but it’s not with some composers”.29

Heggie has been influenced over the years by both classical and popular music.

When asked which specific composers influenced him, Heggie responds that early on it was the music of , , Frances Poulenc and

Benjamin Britten and later, , , , George

Gershwin, and Noel Coward.30 His contemporaries have impressed Heggie as well,

particularly . “Of living composers Stephen Sondheim is probably my

number one influence. Every one of his shows is great! I just saw Sweeny Todd, and I

have to tell you it is right up there with the Mozart . His music is so clear”.31

Regarding contemporary art song composers, Heggie admires

for his consistent lyricism, and John Musto. However, it is the genre of musical theater that has now captured his attention.

I really like a lot of musical theater writers out there now. I like Michael John LaChiusa, who wrote The Wild Party and Marie Christine. Also who wrote Ragtime and Seussical. I think there are more interesting things going on in musical theater than there is in the classical world in a lot of ways. Because it is a world where you have to keep writing to survive and you have to be thinking about your audience constantly. Also, because of the sheer quantity of material that has to be written, interesting things happen.32

Heggie credits performers with influencing him as well. Some of his favorites

include Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Horn, Ella Fitzgerald, ,

28 Marmelstein 54. 29 Marmelstein 54. 30 Savage 12-13. 31 Heggie, personal interview. 32 Heggie, personal interview. 11

Régine Crespin, Eleanor Steber, Frederica von Stade, Renèe Fleming, and Jennifer

Larmore.33 As a boy, what he enjoyed most about Julie Andrews and Barbra Streisand

was their unaffected manner of singing:

Julie Andrews was so influential in my life. When you watched her movies there was such a joy of singing and it seemed so natural when she sang…Didn’t seem affected, just a joy of singing and beauty of sound and real communication through the music…Barbra Streisand was really important to me because she was so amazing in Funny Girl and Funny Lady—there was all this natural singing as part of regular expression…34

Heggie says he enjoys beautiful singing more than any other type of musical

expression. He recently stated that when wonderful voices combine with great music,

great theater and great drama, the overall effect is pretty overwhelming.35

When asked which teachers most influenced him, Heggie names Johana Harris

and Ernst Bacon.

Ernst Bacon was the first person that suggested I try setting text, and I took to it like a duck to water”.36 “He was the one who first introduced me to serious poetry and got me started listening to classical voices. That’s when I fell in love with the classically trained voice.37

It is Johana Harris, however, whom Heggie says is his all-time greatest influence.

I learned more about composition from Johana than from any other teacher.38 Even though she was officially my piano teacher, she was my most important composition teacher in that she taught me to trust my instincts and to explore all the variety that lay within those instincts. She taught me to not be afraid of my instincts and not to feel like I had to stay with the lines. I never felt like she wanted to box me into a particular style. She was a phenomenal musician – probably the greatest musician I’ve ever known…It was an extraordinary experience knowing her and working with her.”39

33 Savage 12-13. 34 Heggie, personal interview. 35 Heggie, personal interview. 36 Heggie, personal interview. 37 Robert Wilder Blue, “Composer’s First Opera Is a Triumph,” U.S. Operaweb, July 2000 38 Savage 12. 39 Blue. 12

Heggie thinks trusting your instincts and “getting out of your own way” is the

most important thing for any creative artist to learn. He relates the story of the first time

he finally stopped trying to “control” his composing and just let it happen.

Previously, I was in a very academic environment where I was competing with other students and competing against my teachers. It was unhealthy, and I didn’t like it. I am not crazy about my music from that period because I don’t find it particularly meaningful or fun. The first big thing I wrote after I left the academic environment was a song cycle for Brian Aswaga. Since I went to school with Brian and knew what a cut-up he was, I just decided I’m not at the university anymore, and I wrote the piece just how I wanted to write it. It was the most liberating experience I ever had! It sounds jazzy, and it also has Broadway influences in it. I trusted my instincts, and it was hugely successful. So I just decided that this is how I would write in the future.40

In order to be successful, he says, a composer must learn to trust his own instincts

and ears and not be overly concerned with rules. “If you were locked into following the

rules all the time, I don’t know how anyone could write a note, certainly not anything that was interesting.”41

When beginning the composition process, Heggie does not start at the piano but

thinks things through first in his head. Initially, he reads through the poem and tries to internalize the character in order to discover the inner meaning of the words. He also considers why it would make sense for the character to sing the words rather than just speak them.42

40 Heggie, personal interview. 41 Blue. 42 Heggie, personal interview. 13

After that, he begins to think about the music.

I think about what kind of musical character best describes the psychological state that would compel the person to say those things. What is the impetus to even say those things? What state of mind are they in? And through all that, somehow music starts to happen and I just sort of stay out of the way. The idea happens, then a tune happens and then the texture that is behind the tune. So I work most of that out before I start writing anything down. Then I will start writing things down and check things on the piano as I go.”43

Heggie says a composition will only be successful if it communicates to people.

Communication is the most important part to me. Why perform a song if it doesn’t communicate? This is something I got from Johana and from learning about folk music. The reason folk music survives, no matter what arrangement it is, no matter if it is for full orchestra, with guitar, or a cappella, is that it somehow goes directly to your heart, and there is something magical there. The most essential thing is that a piece communicates, and that is what I try to do each time.44

One of Heggie’s favorite voice types to compose for is the lyric mezzo-soprano.

He has written more pieces for mezzo than any other .

The lyric mezzo-soprano is just so real. There is such a real sense of humanity and character in that voice. When it gets into those really high regions it’s strained, and that is real, too, but there is also something very earthy about it. I love the way a lyric mezzo can ‘fly-off’ too, but also how it can be very grounded. Mezzos also have a strong middle voice that expresses the text clearly. In a soprano voice, you don’t get very clear text in the middle.45

Heggie has set texts written by a variety of poets ranging from the classics to the

contemporary. These poets include Hart Crane, Emily Dickinson, Paul Laurence Dunbar,

A.E. Housman, Vachel Lindsay, , Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker,

Rainer Maria Rilke, Siegfried Sassoon, Sir Philip Sydney, , Gavin

Geoffrey Dillard, Kevin Gregory, John Hall, Philip Littell, , Heather

McDonald, Terrence McNally, Sister Helen Prejean, Gini Savage, Frederica von Stade,

43 Heggie, personal interview. 44 Heggie, personal interview. 45 Heggie, personal interview. 14

and Judith Walker. When asked which texts he enjoyed setting the most, he said the following:

I have enjoyed all the poets whose texts I’ve set. A lot of my choice of texts has to do with whether or not there is a commission involved. Sometimes the person will have a particular idea of something they would like. It has to be a poem that speaks to them, but it certainly has to speak to me as well. The only way I know if it is going to be right for me is if I feel music happening while I am reading it. The first time I read something, I immediately get a sense of whether or not it will work for me. I find myself constantly going back to Emily Dickinson, and I also enjoyed setting Vachel Lindsay very much.46

To date Heggie has composed more than 150 art songs that continue to be

championed and performed by some of the world’s most well-known performers of

, including Frederica von Stade, Jennifer Larmore, Renèe Fleming, Bryn

Terfel, Carol Vaness, Brian Asawa, Sylvia McNair, Dawn Upshaw, and Susan Graham.

Obviously singers enjoy performing his music, and for the most part, critical reception

has been positive. Some critics, however, have labeled his music “too eclectic” and criticize it for sounding too much like popular music.

One of these critics, of , puts Heggie in

the same category with composers John Musto and Daron Aric Hagen.

Yet for all the pleasure Mr. Musto, Mr. Hagen, and Mr. Heggie have given singers and audiences, there is an eerie similarity to their work: each writes in some variation of a pungently chromatic, sometimes modal, neo-Romantic harmonic idiom, varying echoes of pop songs, or outbursts of chunky cluster chords, or even brief fragments of tone rows, depending on how intense the particular song is supposed to be. The significant differences in their work come down to their choices of text and the degrees to which their vocal lines showcase the specific voices of intended interpreters.47

46 Heggie, personal interview. 47 Anthony Tommasini, “A Sudden, Facile Flowering of American Song,” New York Times, 11 June 2000. 15

Heggie expresses his frustration with critics who have labeled his music, “too popular.”

A lot of my compositional style has been influenced by , especially jazz.48 I get criticized for being influenced by pop culture, but I am not even particularly aware that this is happening in the music. I am just writing my honest response to the poem or the particular situation, and it just comes out! It is not like I am saying to myself, “Oh, I should do something jazzy there so it sounds more American!” That is not my intent at all. My intent is to have an honest response to what is going on in musical terms, and those are just all things that are part of me.”49 I do whatever I feel is necessary to tell the story in a way that is honest and direct and clear. If someone hears influences of other composers or pieces or styles, it’s rather unavoidable…I am wrapped up in the message of the text, and I’m trying to find the best and clearest way to tell it.50

Today Heggie’s vocal music continues to be performed by singers at various levels and stages in their careers. Since my interview with the composer three years ago, he has received commissions for a number of new works, including Winter Roses, a new set of songs for mezzo Frederica von Stade and Santa Barbara’s Camerata Pacifica, scheduled to premiere in November 2004. His opera Dead Man Walking has received more than a dozen performances worldwide, and additional performances are still being scheduled. Presently he is working on revisions for his newest opera, The End of the

Affair, which premiered in Houston in March 2004. He also has plans to write a new theater piece with Terrence McNally, currently scheduled for 2005. Obviously, his compositions have received, and continue to receive, much attention.

Whether or not his art songs will continue to be performed in the future is yet to be determined. With the positive responses they have received from performers and

48Heggie, personal interview. 49 Heggie, personal interview. 50 Blue. 16

audiences, I have no doubt that at least some will retain a place in the repertoire of the future.

Heggie made the following statement when asked about whether or not he thought his opera Dead Man Walking would be performed in the future. I think the same thing could be said of his art songs.

Everything we (contemporary composers) do is put up on against the great masters of the last 500 years. But if you look at these centuries, the works that are regarded as great masterpieces represent a relatively small amount. Only time will tell what will endure from our generation. Ultimately, I can’t think of that. I have to do the work and hope that it resonates, and hope there is a public open to it that won’t decry or deny it right away.51

51 Blue. 17

CHAPTER 3

BIOGRAPHY OF VACHEL LINDSAY

My Middle Name

My middle name rhymes not with satchel, So please do not pronounce it “Vatchel.” My middle name rhymes not with rock hell, So please do not pronounce it “Vock Hell.” My middle name rhymes not with hash hell, So please do not pronounce it “Vash Hell.” My middle name rhymes not with bottle, So please do not pronounce it “Vottle.” My name is just the same as Rachel, With V for R; Please call me Vachel.

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, relatively unknown today, was considered one of the

most famous American poets in the first third of the twentieth century.52 As a young man

he strove to bring poetry to people all across America and came very close to achieving his goal. He received critical acclaim with the publication of his poem, General William

Booth Enters Into Heaven, in 1913. For the next ten years, he toured the country reciting his poetry in colleges, universities, and high schools, to enormous crowds. It is estimated that at least a million people came to hear him in his lifetime.53 His manner of reciting was so compelling, that many believe the popularity achieved in his lifetime was due

52 Paul H. Gray, “Performance and the Bardic Ambition of Vachel Lindsay,” Text and Performance Quarterly 9 (1989); 216. 53 Mildred Weston, Vachel Lindsay: A Poet in Exile (Fairfield, Washington:Ye Galleon Press, 1987) 7. 18

more to his delivery than to the poems themselves. Lindsay’s most dependable biographer, Eleanor Ruggles,54 describes the reaction of his audiences.

As Vachel Lindsay came forward on a stage,” one critic was to write, “the force of his personality brought an immediate sense of expectancy in his audience.” Another spoke of his “electric presence…He set the throng on fire.”55 He also asked the audience to join in certain poems. They were to clap their hands, nod or shake their heads, exclaim, “No!” “Yes!” “We will!” The communication was intoxicating. Those who never saw him in his handling of an audience never knew the whole man.56

Lindsay published numerous works in his lifetime, including eight volumes of poetry: General Enters into Heaven and Other Poems (1913), The Congo and Other Poems (1914), The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems (1917), The Golden

Whales of California, and Other Rhymes in the American Language (1920), Going-to-the

Sun (1923), Going-to-the-Stars (1926), The Candle in the Cabin (1926), and Every Soul is a Circus (1929). His Collected Poems was first published in 1923. He also wrote several prose books, including The Golden Book of Springfield (1920), Adventures While

Preaching the Gospel of Beauty (1914), and one of the first books on film theory entitled,

The Art of the Moving Picture (1915).57

During his lifetime the majority of critics thought highly of Lindsay’s poetry. He was considered, along with and , to be one of the central figures of the Renaissance. Marguerite Wilkerson, in her influential anthology New Voices published in 1919, lists Lindsay, along with , as one

54 John Ward, “Walking to Wagon Mound: Composing Booth” Western Hum Rev 40 (Fall 1986): 240. 55Eleanor Ruggles, The West-Going Heart: A Life of Vachel Lindsay (New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1959) 237. 56 Ruggles, p.243 57 Balz Engler, Poetry and Community (Tübingen, Germany:Stauffenburg-Verlag, 1990) 101-102. 19

of the most notable recent poets in the United States.58 He was highly respected abroad as

well. When Lindsay visited England in 1920, a paragraph from the London Observer stated: “Mr. Vachel Lindsay is easily the most important living American poet. He is more that that. He is the voice and hope of that eager, generous young America, the goal of all kinds of frustrated peoples…”59

After years of reciting his most requested poems, which included Booth, The

Congo, and The Chinese Nightingale, Lindsay became weary of his public performances.

According to Mildred Weston, he often complained of “being high-browed to death” and had “heard enough talk to build ten thousand towers of Babel.” At the same time, he seemed to crave the constant admiration and praise from his audiences.60 Following his

mother’s death in 1922, Lindsay experienced a physical breakdown and began exhibiting unusual and often paranoid behavior.61 His nervous condition continued to deteriorate,

and he eventually took his own life by drinking poison at the age of 52.62

Today Vachel Lindsay and his writings are largely unknown. In the 1989 edition of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, there is not a single mention of

Lindsay or his poetry in more than 5,000 pages of text.63 Still, Lindsay is not completely

forgotten. He has obviously survived with some readers because in 1981, 50 years after

his death, his Collected Poems went into its twenty-fourth printing.64

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, called Vachel for most of his life, was born on

November 10, 1879 in Springfield, Illinois, the son of Dr. Vachel Thomas Lindsay and

58 Engler, Poetry and Community 99. 59 Weston 9. 60 Weston 10. 61 Weston 93. 62 Ruggles 432. 63 Gray 216. 64 Engler, Poetry and Community 99. 20

Esther Catharine Frazee Lindsay. Lindsay’s father was a country doctor originally from

Kentucky and a devout prohibitionist. It is said that he never forgave Lincoln for the Civil

War.65 Lindsay’s maternal grandfather, Ephraim Samuel Frazee, sympathized with the

North and worked as a Campbellite preacher and farmer. He was very close to his

grandson and died when Lindsay was 18. Lindsay’s mother was an artist, a highly

educated and socially conscious woman. Before her marriage she taught art in two small midwestern colleges. After her marriage she participated in numerous activities including giving presentations on art, urging civic reform, and writing short plays that contained religious and moral themes.66 Lindsay and his mother had a very close, but at times

tumultuous, relationship. He wrote the following about his mother, in a letter to his agent,

Professor Armstrong, shortly after her death.

She was never the mushy mellow and rabbit-like mother that appears in all movies. She was a holy terror to all those who were not prepared to dispute every inch of the way with her. To live with her was like being valet to the Pope in the Vatican and being a Protestant at the same time, making tactful efforts to conceal it.67

Vachel had two sisters that lived into adulthood, Olive, who was two years older and Joy, who was 10 years younger. He had three additional sisters: Isabel, Esther, and the baby Eudora, who all died within three weeks of each other when an epidemic of scarlet fever spread throughout the city.68

65 W.R. Moses, “Vachel Lindsay: Ferment of the Poet’s Mind” Profile of Vachel Lindsay, ed. John T. Flanagan (Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrel Publishing Co., 1970) 73. 66 Moses 73. 67 Robert F. Sayre, “Vachel Lindsay: An Essay” Adventures Rhymes and Designs, ed. Robert F. Sayre (New York: Eakins, 1968) 16. 68 Ruggles 25. 21

Due to his delicate nature, Vachel’s mother taught him at home until he was 11

years old.69 His love of poetry began at age eight when he read Milton’s Paradise Lost.

At 13 he discovered the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.70 In 1908 he wrote, “My first love

among the poets was Edgar Poe—when I first entered High School, I could have been

called a Poe-crank, for my whole High School period.” Of Poe’s poem, Ulalume, he

wrote, “It is one of the great works of art to me…I know of nothing in the catalogue of

beautiful things for which I have more respect.”71

Besides loving poetry, Vachel inherited his mother’s talent and interest in art. At

16 he decided he would pursue art as a profession.72 Because his mother had always encouraged Vachel’s artistic endeavors, he assumed that she would support his decision, however, in an act of “betrayal” as Vachel called it, she did not. Vachel’s father insisted that he study to become a doctor, and his mother agreed.73 Vachel was stunned and never

quite forgave her, although his sister Olive said that both parents had always talked

openly about their intentions for Vachel to become a doctor.74 At his high school

graduation, Miss Wilcox, Vachel’s teacher, inquired about his plans, and he responded,

“If I were an orphan, I’d be an artist. But I’m not, and so I’m going to college to be a

doctor.”75

Lindsay graduated from Springfield High School in 1897 and attended Hiram

College in Ohio to study medicine. After three years of struggling through math and

69 Weston 48. 70 Ruggles 42. 71 Vachel Lindsay, Letters of Vachel Lindsay, ed. Marc Chénetier (New York: Burt Franklin, 1979) 29. 72 Ruggles 48. 73 Ruggles 48. 74 Ruggles 43. 75 Ruggles 49. 22

science courses, it was clear to Lindsay that be would never become a doctor. So on

November 27, 1899, he wrote a letter to his parents that he called his “revolutionary

letter” and told them of his desire to become a professional illustrator or designer, and a writer.76 “No one can teach me, and nothing can discipline my mind but the pride of the

artist. Nothing so well at least. Let me try.”77 Dr. Lindsay was disappointed that his son

would not continue his practice, but told Vachel he would support him if he really felt he could succeed in an artistic profession. His mother wrote back, “His heart-ache is because

he fears you are throwing away a certainty of a very useful vocation for a very uncertain

dream.”78

So with his parents’ blessing, he entered the Art Institute in Chicago in January of

1901.79 He was discouraged to find that all the other students could draw better than he

could, but wrote home, “Oh, if I could only keep up with them, I can beat them entirely,

entirely!”80 Even with hard work, his talent proved to be mediocre. All the time he was in

art school he wrote poetry almost every evening, sometimes cutting class in order to write.

In October of 1903, he made the decision to leave Chicago and study painting in

New York City with the artist Robert Henri. His parents reluctantly gave their consent.81

While home for summer break in Springfield, Vachel began to write a series of poems and short stories about an imaginary cosmic system he envisioned, which he called, The

Map of the Universe. He eventually bonded his writings together into a book that was

76 Ruggles 66. 77 Ruggles 68. 78 Ruggles 69. 79 Ruggles 73. 80 Ruggles 74. 81 Ruggles 85. 23

never published entitled Where is Aladdin’s Lamp? When Lindsay returned to New York

after Christmas of 1904, he asked Henri if he thought he should pursue writing instead of art. When Lindsay recited his poem, The Tree of the Laughing Bells, Henri answered with an emphatic “yes.” Years later he wrote the following to Lindsay:

One of my great memories is the day long ago when you came to my studio and read to me The Tree of the Laughing Bells. As I have followed you in all the great work you have done, I have a kind of pride about that moment because I said to myself then, “This fellow is a poet—he is a singer of songs.”82

Lindsay was encouraged by Henri’s confidence in his ability and decided to have

100 copies of two of his poems printed. One night for an hour he walked about the city of

New York, selling copies of his poems for two cents apiece in order to “bring his poems

to the people.” He wrote in his diary the next day about his experience.

Now let there be here recorded, my conclusions from one evening, one hour of peddling poetry. I am so rejoiced over it and uplifted that I am going to do it many times. It sets the heart trembling with happiness. The people like poetry as well as the scholars or better.83

Eleanor Ruggles makes the following observation about why the experience

proved so positive for Lindsay.

He had made 13 cents, but he was not after money. Not even the refusals had much power to hurt him, and the glances of understanding, smiles of brotherhood and words of sympathy that had come his way flowed through him with a spreading warmth. What he was really seeking was love.84

His constant craving for love and acceptance would influence many of his decisions in his lifetime.

Vachel’s intense desire to take his poetry to the common man would result in three walking trips. His first trip began in March of 1906. He took a boat from New York

82 Ruggles 94. 83 Ruggles 97. 84 Ruggles 97. 24

to Florida, with the intention of traveling all the way to Washington on foot.85 He took no

money or resources with him other than his printed poetry to exchange for bread and

shelter along the way.86 Throughout his trip he met very interesting people, some who

turned him away and others who treated him kindly. Many times, it was the poorest who

treated him the best.87 The freedom of the open road, along with his various experiences,

inspired him to fill three blank notebooks with his writings.88 He eventually became physically exhausted, and after walking more than 600 miles in a two-month period, ended his trip prematurely at his Aunt Eudora’s home in .89

Vachel returned to New York in the fall of 1906, and when his money eventually

ran out, he decided to undertake another walking trip to inspire new material.90 He left

New York on April 28, 1908, with the intention of walking all the way home to

Springfield Illinois. When he reached in Ohio, where his sister Joy was a

student, he was bursting with ideas for new writing projects. He bought a train ticket for

the rest of the way home with money wired from his father.91

By age 30, Vachel was still living at home and financially dependent on his

parents. He had a few items published, but received many more rejection slips.92 His

parents were concerned that he would never be able to support himself. His mother

confessed to Olive, “Vachel’s self-centered life, indifference to the church, aloofness

85 Ruggles 113. 86 Ruggles 111. 87 Ruggles 113. 88 Ruggles 111. 89 Ruggles 113. 90 Ruggles 129. 91 Ruggles 133. 92 Ruggles 169. 25

from our family life and impractical ways make me very anxious.”93 For a while Vachel took a job as a day laborer, but after two weeks of getting up at five and hauling bricks in a wheelbarrow all day, he quit.94

In April of 1912, Vachel undertook his third and most demanding walking trip.

This time he traveled through the western part of America.95 The adventures of his third

trip are recorded in his prose book entitled, Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of

Beauty. In the book’s introduction, Lindsay describes what he labeled “The New

Localism,” which is the essence of his “Gospel of Beauty” he intended to share with the

people.

The things most worthwhile are one’s own hearth and neighborhood. We should make our home and neighborhood the most democratic, the most beautiful and the holiest in the world. The children now growing up should become devout gardeners or architects or park architects or teachers of dancing in the Greek spirit or musicians or novelists or poets or storywriters or craftsmen or wood-carvers or dramatists or actors or singers. They should find their talent and nurse it industriously. They should believe in every possible application to art-theory of the thoughts of the Declaration of Independence and Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. They should, if led by the spirit, wander over the whole nation in search of the secret of democratic beauty with their hearts at the same time filled to overflowing with the righteousness of God. Then they should come back to their own hearth and neighborhood and gather a little circle of their own sort of workers about them and strive to make the neighborhood and home more beautiful and democratic and holy with their special art…Their reason for living should be that joy in beauty which no wounds can take away, and that joy in love of God which no crucifixion can end.96

Lindsay promoted this throughout his lifetime. His goal was to

encourage people of all classes to promote greater cultural and political equality in their

93 Ruggles 165. 94 Ruggles 166. 95 Ward 234. 96 Vachel Lindsay, Adventures Rhymes and Designs, ed. Robert F. Sayre (New York: Eakins, 1968) 52-53. 26

communities.97 He felt that everyone could and should contribute in some way to help

transform their hometown into an ideal American town, where equality, religion, and

beauty were valued above everything else.

Lindsay started his third walk in Springfield and planned to keep walking for at

least a year.98 One of his planned stops was his Uncle Johnson Lindsay’s home in Los

Angeles, California. He managed to make it as far as Wagon Mound, (more than 1,200 miles) before his morale hit rock bottom. He wired his father for money for train fare to Los Angeles.99 According to Ruggles, as he boarded the train to Los Angeles,

he felt the worse defeat and self-contempt he had felt in years.100 When he arrived in Los

Angeles, he heard the news of the death of General William Booth, founder of the

Salvation Army. Not long after, he wrote his poem in honor of Booth, General Booth

Enters into Heaven.101 After staying with a friend in San Francisco, he came to the

conclusion that he simply could not continue his walking tour. He felt like a failure and

wrote that he “was ashamed to go home, hating to go home.”102 When he arrived back in

Springfield, after his father sent him money for train fare once again, he described

himself as “licked, down and out and wanting to die.”103 He didn’t know it then, but his

luck would soon change.

Lindsay finally achieved success through his association with . In

the summer of 1912, Monroe had founded a magazine in Chicago called Poetry, A

97 Ann Massa, Fieldworker for the American Dream (Bloomington:Indiana University Press, 1970) 231. 98 Ruggles 194. 99 Ruggles 196-97. 100 Ruggles 197. 101 Ruggles 197-98. 102 Ruggles 199. 103 Ruggles 199. 27

Magazine of Verse to promote contemporary poetry. She had read articles that Lindsay had written about his first walking tour and asked him to send her some of his poems.

Among the poems he sent was his General William Booth Enters Into Heaven. She selected this poem for her January 1913 issue of Poetry. The poem was praised by critics as well as the general public. His fame quickly spread, and his first book, General

William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems, was published in the fall of 1913.

The General Booth poem, and some of his best-known poems, including The

Congo and The Kallyope Yell, were written in a style Lindsay referred to as “higher vaudeville.” During 1914 and 1915, American vaudeville was at its height of popularity and it continued to flourish until around 1930.104 Lindsay himself didn’t fully approve of vaudeville, but acknowledged that it successfully entertained the common man. In a letter to Jessie Rittenhouse, Lindsay explained that because Americans “hate and abhor poetry,” he invented a ragtime manner that would fool them into thinking they were at a vaudeville show. “And yet,” he said, “I try to keep it to a real art.”105 As a result, people were introduced to the art of poetry in a way that was exciting and entertaining. In many of his “higher vaudeville” poems, he would incorporate melodic lines and rhythms of hymns or well-known songs. In the margins of the Booth poem, for example, Lindsay wrote, “To be sung to the tune of ‘The Blood of the Lamb’ with indicated instruments.”106 He would also incorporate stage directions for recitations of these poems. Some examples are, “Begin with terror and power, end with joy” and “With the

104 Massa 231. 105 Ruggles 211. 106 Massa 229. 28

literal imitation of camp-meeting racket…”107 These poems usually contained heavy

accents, words rich in alliteration, recurring phrases and in some cases, encouraged

audience participation.

Although Lindsay wrote musical notations in the margins of many of his poems, he felt strongly that his poems should not be set to music. In 1923 he wrote:

It disturbs me when people write asking for permission to set my verses to music. It shows such misapprehension of the point of view from which they were written. It is like asking permission to rewrite the poems entirely, while pretending they remain the same. No musical notation ever invented can express the same musical scheme as the twenty-six letters of the alphabet…108

Six years later, in his introduction to Every Soul Is a Circus, he echoed his earlier

sentiments, “Setting poetry to music, even the best music, is the destruction of poetry and

the production of an amorphous and confused result. All poetry that has been set to music

has been blasted thereby.”109 His behavior didn’t always reflect his views on this subject,

because he gave permission to have his poems set musically on at least three occasions.

Sidney Homer, husband of famed contralto Louise Homer, received his permission to set

William Booth Enters Into Heaven for his wife to sing in 1926, and

composed an earlier setting of the same poem in 1914. Lindsay also gave his blessing to

John Alden Carpenter when he asked to compose a light opera based on The Congo.110

In addition to his “vaudeville” poems, Lindsay wrote poems that paid tribute to

American heroes. One of his most famous is the tender, Walks at

Midnight. From an early age Lindsay was a great admirer of Lincoln. As a child,

107 Massa 229. 108 Massa 236-37. 109 Marc Chénetier “‘Free-Lance in the Soul World:’ Towards a Reprisal of Vachel Lindsay’s Works” Prospects: Annual of American Cultural Studio 2 (1976) 498. 110 Ruggles 376. 29

Lindsay’s Uncle Johnson Lindsay lived next door to the Lincoln home, which was already a museum at the time. The custodian, Mr. Oldroyd, gave Vachel and his cousin

Rudy permission to roam through the museum whenever they wanted.111 In 1909,

Lindsay was selected to give a speech at the one-hundredth anniversary of Lincoln’s birth

conducted in his hometown. In his speech he spoke out against the lynching of two black

men that occurred in Springfield a few months earlier, “Until we have completely set the

Negro free, we are disloyal to Lincoln, and worse.”112 Lindsay wrote his poem about

Lincoln as World War I broke out in Europe. The poem describes Lincoln as a spirit

roaming his hometown of Springfield, too upset by the news of war to sleep. “It breaks

his heart that kings must murder still.”113 Lindsay also wrote tributes to William Jennings

Bryan, Andrew Jackson, Illinois Governor , , and

movie actress Mary Pickford, to name a few.

Less well known, but perhaps the most charming of all, are Lindsay’s whimsical,

childlike poems. The majority of these poems contain metaphors of the moon, which held

a special fascination for Lindsay. Lindsay is said to have grown tired of having his early,

delicately imaginative poems, such as his moon verses, ignored in favor of his “higher vaudeville” poems.114 All in all, he wrote more than 100 moon poems. Some of them are

humorous, some magical, and others profoundly serious.115 Lindsay used the metaphors

111 Ruggles 40. 112 Ruggles 142. 113 Ruggles 231. 114 Ruggles 211. 115 Rica Brenner, Poets of Our Time (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1941) 146. 30

to show how different people and different animals look upon the moon, showing that each creature finds in the moon his own mood and disposition.116 As a result the moon is:

A mirror on fair Heaven’s wall We find there what we bring.117

Examples of Lindsay ‘s moon metaphors include: to the Snowman the moon is a snowball; to the little girl, a cookie; to the miner in the desert, a water-keg; and to the forester,

The moon is but a candle-glow That flickers thro’ the gloom: The starry space, a castle hall: And Earth, the children’s room, Where all night long the old trees stand To watch the streams asleep: Grandmothers guarding trundle-beds: Good shepherds guarding sheep.118

Baltz Engler in his book Poetry and Community, suggests that Lindsay’s moon references can also be associated with dreaming and vision. An example of this can be found in Lindsay’s poem, The Flute of the Lonely. The text of the poem contrasts a dreamer with his workaholic neighbors, and his untidiness with their neatness. The dreamer fares better because his neighbors are exhausted and weary. He, on the other hand, has his music and his “moonlight thoughts” they cannot understand.119

From 1915 to 1920, Lindsay earned his living reciting his poems across the country, and his popularity was at an all-time high.120 In his early days of reciting, he seemed to enjoy and even thrive on the accolades he received. To Olive he wrote,

116 Dennis Camp, ed., The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1 (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984) 163. 117 Brenner 146. 118 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1 165. 119 Engler 162. 120 Ruggles 226. 31

“Reciting is a kind of love-making, a religious service.”121 However, after years of

reciting his most popular poems, especially Booth and The Congo, he wrote to his friend

Lawrence Conrad, “I have had to recite those two poems and those only since about

1913, till I have nearly cracked up the back!”122 What also bothered him a great deal was

that he no longer had much quiet time for writing new poetry. He was still coming up

with new ideas but did not have the time and energy to write most of them down. He longed to go back home and “write till my grey beard hangs out the window like Spanish moss, write what boileth within me.”123

To try and give new life to his recitations, Lindsay came up with the idea of using

pantomime and dance to accompany his poetry. Lindsay met dancer Eleanor Dougherty,

younger sister of actor Walter Hampden, who was also interested in combining poetry

with dance.124 The two would perform what he referred to as “poem-games.” He would

recite his poetry while Eleanor, in costume, would match her dance steps to the various

syllables of the text. Their early experiments included instrumental music, which he later

omitted because he believed it “blurred the English.”125 They gave their first public

performance in November of 1916 at the , to varying reviews.126

Examples of his poem-games include The Mysterious Cat, King Solomon and the Queen

of Sheba, The King of Yellow Butterflies, and The Potatoes’ Dance.127

121 Ruggles 243. 122 John T. Flanagan, “Vachel Lindsay: An Appraisal,” Profile of Vachel Lindsay, ed. John T. Flanagan (Columbus, Ohio:Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1970) 117. 123 Ruggles 239. 124 Ruggles 244. 125 Brenner 139. 126 Ruggles 245. 127 Brenner 139. 32

When America declared war on Germany in April of 1917, Lindsay had mixed

feelings and longed for peace. As a response he began to write, The Golden Book of

Springfield, which took him three years to finish. The book began as a collection of

poems about Springfield but ended up as a fictional account of the city in the year 2018.

Biographer Ruggles sums up the plot:

The story begins with a group of Springfield men and women called the “Prognosticators’ Club,” which included a Campbellite minister, a Christian Scientist, a Jew and a black man. They met together at Leland Hotel and exchanged their prophecies and visions of the mystic year of 2018, when they will all be reincarnated and witness the coming to their city of the Golden Book, a winged book of air that “gleams wit and spiritual gold.”128

A year into writing the book, Lindsay experienced the tragic death of his father.

The frail man had slipped into icy waters while on vacation and never recovered. Both

wife and son were at his side when he passed away a few days later. Lindsay suffered

another disappointment when his book was finally released. After pouring his “heart’s

blood” into the book, he was devastated to find that most critics hated it. It proved to be a

commercial flop as well.129

In 1920 Lindsay went to England for a reciting tour, accompanied by his mother.

He was extremely well received by the British audiences. One of his most successful recitations occurred at Oxford with a crowd of more than a thousand people. Robert

Graves said of the event:

Lindsay was a most staggering success! By two minutes he had the respectable and intellectual and cynical audience listening. By ten, intensely excited; by twenty, elated and losing self-control; by half an hour completely under his influence; by forty minutes roaring like a bonfire. At the end of the hour they lifted off the roof and refused to disperse…130

128 Ruggles 278. 129 Ruggles 281-83. 130 Ruggles 274-75. 33

Vachel would remember his time in England fondly, mainly because it was the first time his mother seemed to acknowledge his success.131

The only thing that bothered Lindsay about his time in England was that some of the newspapers began to refer to him as a “jazz poet.” This was because a British publisher had used Lindsay’s poem The Daniel Jazz as the title of a collection of

Lindsay’s poems which were already published in America. According to Lindsay, the publisher had named the volume without his consent while he was traveling to

England.132 Lindsay was furious and wrote the following in a letter to Harriet Monroe:

I have very much resented being called a “Jazz” poet, especially by the British Papers, because it was used to mean something synonymous with hysteria, shrieking and fidgets. I abhor the kind of Ball-Room dancing that goes with Jazz, and I abhor the blasphemy that Jazz has made of the beautiful slow whispered Negro …Jazz is hectic, has the leer of the bad-lands in it, and first, last, and always is hectic. It is full of the dust of the dirty dance. The Saxophone, its chief instrument, is the most diseased instrument in all modern music. It absolutely smells of the hospital.133

Lindsay felt strongly that jazz, like alcohol, was contributing to a national moral decline.134 He even wrote a poem called, The Curse of the Saxophone that described the instrument as being devised by Cain and played by John Wilkes Booth as he entered into

Hell.

131 Ruggles 275. 132 Ruggles 273. 133Lindsay, Letters of Vachel Lindsay 255. 134 Massa 196. 34

Twenty thousand pigs on their hind legs playing “The Beale Street ” swaying and saying:- “John Wilkes Booth, you are welcome to Hell,” And they played it on the saxophone, and played it well. And he picked up a saxophone, grunting and rasping, The red-hot horn in hot hands clasping, And he played a typical radio jazz…135

When Lindsay returned to America after his time abroad, there seemed to be a

noticeable decline in his popularity. According to Ruggles, “T.S. Eliot’s first volume of

poems had just been published. Quite suddenly it was becoming the fashion to feel a little

ashamed of Lindsay. Some fellow Americans were irritated by the high English estimate

of his work.”136 Also, Lindsay’s newest book, The Golden Whales of California, did not sell well and was assessed as “a disappointment” by the Yale Review.137

While on tour in Seattle in February of 1922, Lindsay received a frantic telegram

from his sister Joy saying that his mother had developed pneumonia and was dying. She

passed away before he could make it home.138 He was devastated by his mother’s death and wrote to Olive, “It seems utterly impossible to go on without her.”139

He continued with his rigorous touring schedule that spring but developed a hacking cough that wouldn’t go away. He sometimes experienced severe heart palpitations after his recitals as well. In January of 1923, he caught the flu while touring in Texas and collapsed after one of his recitals. His recovery kept him in bed for the next three weeks. During this time he wrote a letter to his agent A.J. Armstrong saying,

135 Massa 196-97. 136 Ruggles 283. 137 Ruggles 284. 138 Ruggles 295. 139 Ruggles 300. 35

“Touring is killing me. I am getting old and burnt out, body, mind, and imagination. This

treadmill is simply wrecking me.”140

On January 29, while reciting at Gulf Junior College for Girls near Gulfport,

Mississippi, Lindsay again became completely exhausted. The president of the college,

Dr. Richard Cox, had been a student and friend of Lindsay’s at Hiram College and

insisted he stay with him and his wife until he completely recovered. When Lindsay felt

strong again, Dr. Cox offered him a position teaching poetry at the college. Lindsay was

extremely grateful for the offer.141 It was right around this time, however, that Lindsay began to show signs of unusual behavior.142

The changes were first noticeable to his sister Olive and her husband Dr. Paul

Wakefield, one of Vachel’s best friends at Hiram College. The Wakefields had served as

missionaries to for several years and were now back in Springfield for the first

time since 1918. Vachel came to visit them during his Christmas break, and they noticed

a dramatic change in him. He would suddenly fly into “mad rages of temper from

misunderstanding,” Olive observed, so different from the gentle boy she remembered.143

When Vachel returned to Gulfport, he sent several letters and telegrams to Paul complaining that the faculty disapproved of him and were watching every move he made, even peeping at him through keyholes. Paul hurried down to Gulfport at Vachel’s request and found him to be “a wreck nervously and physically…utterly beside himself with all

140 Ruggles 308. 141 Ruggles 314. 142 Ruggles 321. 143 Ruggles 321. 36

kinds of hallucinations…” Paul found that the “persecutors” Vachel complained of were

actually some of his best friends there.144

Paul finally persuaded Vachel to see a doctor at the Mayo Foundation in

Minnesota in June of 1924. The doctors there diagnosed him with petit mal, which is a

form of epilepsy. Vachel was quite surprised by the diagnosis and refused to accept it.145

During the summer of 1924, Lindsay relocated to Spokane, Washington. It was

here that he met and married 23 year old Elizabeth Conner. Elizabeth was an extremely bright young woman who taught English at Spokane High School. The two married after dating only a few months and were very much in love. Elizabeth wrote the following to

Paul Wakefield shortly after her marriage:

Life with Vachel is a poem and unceasing adventure and surely more of beauty and of joy than I ever thought this tired old star, the earth, could hold for me. Twenty-three is painfully cynical, and I had thought the Galahad species extinct. Then I discovered myself married to a husband who is worthy of the old Siege Perilous, every way.146

Elizabeth seemed to have a calming effect on Vachel at least for a while, but flashes of his paranoid behavior continued to surface. Helen McMillin of the Boston

Transcript interviewed Lindsay shortly after his marriage and wrote the following:

Yes, Mr. Lindsay is married, much married, happily married…Compared with the buoyant young man, Mr. Lindsay today is weary, worn and inexpressibly sad. His smile is the same-that big wrinkled smile that literally wreathes his face and send his eyes completely out of sight. But his face in repose has lines of suffering. Instead of roving the platform, he stands almost still behind the reading desk, kept here, one feels by rigid determination. And most strikingly sad of all the changes—the old spirit of comradeship between poet and audience has given place to restraint, distrust, something that at times borders on definite antagonism.147

144 Ruggles 322. 145 Ruggles 324. 146 Ruggles 344. 147 Ruggles 353-54. 37

In May of 1926, Elizabeth gave birth to a baby girl, Susan Doniphan Lindsay.

Lindsay continued to tour because of financial necessity. When Harriet Monroe received

a letter from Vachel with news of Susan’s birth, she thought it was odd that he wrote

more of his “old grudges” than his excitement at being a new father.148

One episode while on vacation in Glacier Park was particularly frightening for

Elizabeth. Vachel, Elizabeth, and her sister had been horseback riding one day with

guides from the park leading the way. On the return trip, Vachel insisted on walking back

alone, even though Elizabeth pleaded with him to return with the rest of them. Even after

the guides warned him of the dangers, he refused to listen. Vachel did not return back that

evening and was still missing the next morning. When the guides finally found him after

a day and a half of searching, Vachel was rambling and incoherent. When he recovered,

he was adamant that the guides had deliberately abandoned him.149

Vachel continued touring, but now sent less and less of the money home for

Elizabeth. He used to send all he earned, but now he would only send about $90 out of a

$250 fee, with the agent’s commission still to be paid.150 In September of 1927, Elizabeth

gave birth to a son, Nicholas Cave Lindsay. When she came home from the hospital and

paid the nurse who looked after Susan, they were completely broke. Elizabeth confided to

Harriet Monroe about their financial difficulties:

If he will just be sensible—even half-way—write prose articles for a month or so every year, speak for a month or so, compile a book or two from his articles and cut down a few extravagances (par example—a bill at the Davenport for $600— tea, room, barber, etc.—giving away $850 worth of books this Christmas, without telling me) we should make it.151

148 Ruggles 362. 149 Ruggles 368. 150 Ruggles 405. 151 Ruggles 379. 38

The family left Spokane to return to the family home in Springfield in April 1929.

To help with the family’s mounting expenses, Elizabeth gave lectures herself and accepted typing jobs.152

Vachel’s odd behavior continued. A few minutes before a lecture in Asheville,

North Carolina, he viciously insulted the headmaster at a school for boys who had asked

Vachel to recite The Congo. Vachel refused to do it and made a horrible scene.

Fortunately, the incident did not occur in front of the students. He wrote the following to

Elizabeth the day after the incident, “I know you are a bit ashamed of me. I get so angry

at myself for being angry.”153 After a while his anger became directed toward his family.

When Olive and Paul came for a visit, Vachel was extremely rude, though he later

apologized.154 He also began to threaten Elizabeth physically and wrote a scathing letter

to her filled with ridiculous accusations.155 She showed the letter to Paul, who was

becoming more and more concerned. He consulted other doctors, including a well-known

psychiatrist who believed Vachel could prove to be dangerous. They tried to get Vachel

to see a psychiatrist, but he refused. The only doctor Vachel agreed to see in Springfield

was Dr. McMeen, his general physician. Paul wrote to Dr. McMeen about his concerns

and even about the possibility of having Vachel legally committed. Dr. McMeen thought

the idea was absurd and recommended that Vachel take an extended vacation in the

country.156 While Vachel was away, Elizabeth confided everything to her father. He was

152 Ruggles 406 & 408. 153 Ruggles 411. 154 Ruggles 412. 155 Ruggles 412. 156 Ruggles 415. 39

deeply concerned for her safety and the safety of the children.157 When Vachel returned home he became obsessed with the idea that his father-in-law was trying to kill him and even refused to let him come into his house.158 On December 3, 1931, Vachel ran into

Rev. Conner on the street and began to cause a scene by swearing and shouting out that he knew he was trying to kill him. When Vachel left, Rev. Conner went straight to Dr.

McMeen’s office.159 The next evening Elizabeth and her father had a secret meeting with the doctor, who acknowledged the situation was getting worse. He was convinced, however, that Vachel was incapable of harming anyone.160 When Elizabeth came home that evening, Vachel was ranting and raving, first with complaints of a lonely childhood and later with accusations against Paul and his father-in-law. Ruggles says, “At random moments, he would criticize her and then cry out that she was indeed the best, the kindest and the noblest human being he had ever known.”161 His tirade continued for three hours before he went upstairs.162 When Elizabeth went to bed, Vachel seemed very calm and peaceful. He got out of bed as she came in and began to arrange pictures of her and the children on the dining room table. She had followed him down and asked if he was all right. He replied, “Yes, dear, I’m quite all right. I’ll be up in a while.” She then went back to bed. Ruggles recounts what happened next:

She was awakened about fifteen minutes later by a loud crash. She saw Vachel crawling up the stairs on his hands and knees with great force and speed. Elizabeth’s first thought was that he was having some horrible seizure and that he might harm her or the children. However, the moment she saw him running through the upstairs hall with his hands raised, she knew that he was the one in

157 Ruggles 416. 158 Ruggles 424. 159 Ruggles 428. 160 Ruggles 429. 161 Ruggles 430. 162 Ruggles 431. 40

danger. His eyes were distended: his face was white, wild, and terrified. She screamed a second time, wordlessly, and at the sound Lindsay fell, just outside the nursery door. He rose by himself, and with both arms around him, she got him into bed, where he asked for water, and when she brought it managed to say, in reply to her anguished questioning, “I tried to kill myself by drinking Lysol.”163

Vachel soon stopped breathing and passed away a few minutes after Dr. McMeen arrived. The doctor thought it would be best for the family to report the cause of death as heart failure.164 As a result, only Vachel’s sisters and their husbands were told the true

story.165 The news of Lindsay’s death spread quickly. The next day, Carl Sandburg wrote a tribute to Lindsay in the Chicago Daily News, “With such a stride, Vachel Lindsay

might cross to the after-world. He deserves a lullaby such as he wrote to Altgeld, ‘Sleep

softly, eagle forgotten.’ As Lindsay so surely remembered Altgeld, there will be others

coming after who will remember Lindsay.”166

The true account of Lindsay’s death would not be publicly known until four years

later when Edgar Lee Masters published his biography on Lindsay.167 The news was a

surprise to many of his friends because of Lindsay’s moral views against suicide. But

obviously, Lindsay’s mental health had deteriorated to such a point that he was not in his

right mind. Today it is speculated that Lindsay’s problems were due to a manic- depressive disorder, or even the result of his prolonged use of a sedative called luminal, which he took for his petit mal. The drug is now known to have damaging effects on the nervous system.168

163 Ruggles 431-32. 164 Ruggles 432. 165 Ruggles 434. 166 Ruggles 434. 167 Weston 92. 168 Weston 92-93. 41

After Lindsay’s death, his hometown city of Springfield, Illinois dedicated “The

Vachel Lindsay Memorial Bridge” in his honor. The bridge connects the western and

eastern shores of Lake Springfield. On the western side there is a bronze bust of Lindsay

near a table inscribed with the final words of his poem, On the Building of Springfield.

We must have many Lincoln-hearted men. A city is not builded in a day. And they must do their work, and come and go, While countless generations pass away.169

Who knows what Lindsay could have accomplished had his life not ended so

tragically? Yet reading through his numerous volumes of poetry, there are certainly

treasures to be found among the more unsuccessful attempts. In my opinion, the gentler

poems are the most effective. John Flanagan made the astute assessment that “critics of

Lindsay’s work often overlook the poet’s gentler side, his attention to little things, his

softness, and his tender romanticism,”170 Lindsay himself seemed frustrated with the lack

of attention his quieter poems received. In 1915 he wrote, “for seventeen years I wrote

poems as quiet as one would wish to see and it is only in the last three years I have

written half a dozen loud ones, which, whatever their appeal, certainly do not represent

the bulk of my work.”171 Regardless of what one thinks of Lindsay’s work, there is certainly a freshness and an emotional rawness about Lindsay’s poetry that connects to the basic emotions in all of us, even if not all of his poems are successful. Herbert

Gorman expresses the appeal of Lindsay this way:

His heart is always exposed. His passions are unveiled. He is unique in his spontaneous giving of himself to the casual reader. There is a clean, childlike quality about him and it comes most naturally when we observe him fashioning

169 Weston 94. 170 Flanagan 118. 171 Massa 226. 42

dance poems for children or moon poems which are first of all children’s rhymes and only secondarily meant for adults…It is true that he has lapses as a poet. Sometimes his thought outruns his content and the result is a ragged poem…But Lindsay must be taken as he gives himself, wholeheartedly…He just pours out everything until the whole man is before the reader. No other American poet has so given himself to his readers.172

Lindsay wrote the following introduction for a manuscript of poetry written by a

friend of his named Franz Lee Rickably. The same words should be applied to Lindsay’s

poetry today.

There is a foolish delusion that a poem has no right to thrill until it has thrilled ten thousand others, until it has been brought from afar, until it has been endorsed by some literary mogul, until the author is dead and we have forgotten he ever ate bread and butter and meat. But when we trace down the history of any poem, it began just like this; a youth was possessed by a song. He put it down on paper. He chanted it to his neighbors, easy and quiet around the open fire. Some of them did not like it. Some of them did. The sullen objectors did not really count. Pretty soon they went on being sullen about something else. The neighbors that like the chant asked for copies. It haunted them. They memorized it. They taught it to their babies. They sang it at the tavern revel, or the prayer-meeting. More taverns or prayer-meetings took it up. The total of prayer-meetings and revels made that thing called Fame. In the next generation the children of the people who did not like the poem said, “Yes, it’s famous. I haven’t time to read it, but Willie studies it in school.” Pretty soon they think they have read it. They try to quote a line with an enthusiastic air. They are always pretending—poor things. With each new poet this tale must be told again. Read these verses with your souls, not your blue-glass spectacles. Your neighbors be hanged! Do you like these songs yourself? Or are you ashamed to have a soul? Or to confess that any love or hate resides therein except when it appears to be the fashion?173

Vachel Lindsay’s poetry is certainly no longer “in fashion.” But he wrote many

beautiful and heartfelt poems that still have the power to inspire today. They are

definitely worthy of our attention and closer inspection. So as Lindsay asks, don’t just

172 Herbert S. Gorman, “Vachel Lindsay: Evangelist of Poetry,” Profile of Vachel Lindsay, ed. John T. Flanagan, (Columbus, Ohio:Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1970) 14-15. 173 Dennis Camp, introduction, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, ed. Dennis Camp (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), xx & xxi. 43

listen to the critics, read the poems for yourselves, and read them with your soul. All readers should decide for themselves, “your neighbors be hanged!”

44

CHAPTER 4

SONGS TO THE MOON: COMMISSION, PREMIERE, AND REVIEWS

The song cycle, Songs to the Moon, was composed by Jake Heggie and contains

the texts of eight poems by American poet Vachel Lindsay. It was written for mezzo-

soprano and piano and includes the following eight songs: Prologue: Once More to

Gloriana, Euclid, The Haughty Snail-King (What Uncle William Told the Children),

What the Rattlesnake Said, The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky (What the Little Girl

Said), What the Scarecrow Said, What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said, and Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be (What Grandpa told the Children.)

The song cycle was composed specifically for American mezzo-soprano

Frederica von Stade, who premiered the work with pianist Martin Katz in 1998.

Ms. von Stade’s professional singing career has spanned more than thirty years.

She graduated from the Mannes School of Music and made her debut with the

Metropolitan Opera in 1970. Since then, she has performed almost all of her major roles with the company, which, in January of 2000, celebrated the 30th anniversary of her debut

by mounting a new production of . She has also performed leading

roles at all the major opera houses in America and Europe. She has been praised for her

dramatic characterizations of Rossini heroines, the French heroines, Mélisande and

Marguerite, and various ‘pants’ roles, including Cherubino and Octavian.

45

She is equally at home on the concert stage and is regarded as “an expressive

performer with a rare gift of communication.” Her concert repertoire is very diverse,

ranging from the baroque to the contemporary, and including the popular repertoire of

Broadway. In addition, she has made more than 70 recordings and has received six

Grammy nominations as well as “Best of the Year” citations by Stereo Review, Opera

News and other journals.174

Pianist Martin Katz has been the Chair of the ’s School of

Music accompanying and chamber programs, since 1983.175 In addition to instructions in

ensemble for pianists, Mr. Katz coaches singers, teaches vocal repertory, and is a

frequent conductor of the school’s opera productions.176 He studied piano with

Gwendolyn Koldofsky at the University of Southern California and is respected around

the world as a first-rate accompanist.177 He has collaborated regularly, in recitals and for

recordings, with artists such as , , , Cecilia

Bartoli, David Daniels, Jose Carreras and Frederica von Stade. Musical America presented Mr. Katz with the “Accompanist of the Year” award in 1998.178 He is also

regarded as an expert in Baroque and music, and his editions of Handel, Vivaldi

and Rossini operas have been used by the Metropolitan, Houston, and Ottawa opera

companies.179

The song cycle was commissioned for Ms. von Stade in the fall of 1997 by Music

Accord, Inc., a consortium of music presenters including the Boston Orchestra

174 The Official Website of Frederica von Stade, 175 Music Academy of the West Website, 176 University of Michigan Website, 177 Music Academy of the West Website. 178 University of Michigan Website. 179 University of Michigan Website. 46

at ; the Chamber Music Society of , New York City; The

Krannert Center, University of Illinois, Urbana; The , Washington,

DC; The Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL; San Francisco Performances, San

Francisco, CA; Spivey Hall, Clayton State College, Morrow, GA; University Musical

Society, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and the Wolf Trap Foundation, Vienna,

VA.180 Ms. von Stade was free to pick a composer of her choice, whose work she would

then perform at the various places associated with the co-commission. Von Stade selected

her good friend, composer Jake Heggie. When asked about her decision, she replied, “I

always request Jake if given the option…I think he is unbelievably talented and has a

great heart and soul that shows in his music.”181

Heggie and von Stade had collaborated previously on several occasions, including

Three Folk Songs performed in 1995, On the Road to Christmas in 1996, Paper Wings

and an orchestrated version of Three Folk Songs in 1997. Ms. von Stade even wrote some

of the lyrics for On the Road to Christmas and the complete texts to Paper Wings. When

asked why Heggie enjoys collaborating so much with Ms. von Stade, he said the

following:

One thing is that we are really good friends, and I know her voice pretty well. I know what she likes to do and what she can do, and she trusts me. We are very sympathetic to each other artistically and personally. It has been just the right collaboration so many times.182

Ms. von Stade thought that the subject of fairy tales would prove an interesting

topic for the song cycle. When Heggie heard this, he immediately thought of the moon

poems of Vachel Lindsay. Johana Harris had introduced him to the poetry of Vachel

180 The Offical Website of Jake Heggie. 181 von Stade, e-mail. 182 Heggie, personal interview. 47

Lindsay 15 years earlier when she gave him a book of his poetry entitled The Congo and

Other Poems. The volume contained 20 short, whimsical moon poems written

specifically as “fairy tales for children.” Heggie sent a copy of the poems to Ms. von

Stade, and she loved them right away.

She told him to go ahead and pick the ones he wanted to use. After reading

through all of them, he chose poems with a wide range of characters that he thought

would form the best set. For the eight songs of the cycle he selected seven poems from

The Congo and Other Poems and one (What the Scarecrow Said) from Lindsay’s General

William Booth Enters Into Heaven and Other Poems.

Heggie was familiar with Lindsay’s reputation for reciting his poetry in a way that was both theatrical and entertaining. Because of this, he thought Lindsay’s poems were

perfectly suited for Ms. von Stade.

Because Flicka (von Stade) is so theatrical, I wanted to give her a stage piece that she could inhabit…It made sense for me to choose Lindsay’s poems because he liked his poems to be read aloud. Because of this, I really theatricalized them and gave them a wide range of character and sense of drama and fun. Knowing Flicka as well as I do, these are all things she loves and does very well!183

Besides being theatrical, Heggie wanted his musical settings to express the

childlike quality of the poems. “Because of the nature of the poems, I wanted the settings

to be very simple, direct and clear; as clear and clean as possible in the accompaniments

and in the vocal lines. The poems are simple, and I didn’t want to confuse or complicate

them.”184 Ms. von Stade approved of the finished product. “I think Jake set the music so

well that you really just have to follow the directions in his music. He has made the

183 Heggie, personal interview. 184 Heggie, personal interview. 48

colors evident, and the poetry is so simple and accessible that if you just tell the stories, it

will work.”185

Heggie took a little more than a month to complete the song cycle, finishing it in

January of 1998. Frederica von Stade and pianist Martin Katz premiered the cycle during

the Ravinia Festival, on Aug. 20, 1998, in Martin Theatre. The first half of the recital

consisted of songs by Gabriel Fauré and as well as ’s

Five Argentine Popular Songs. The second half included the world premiere of Songs to

the Moon as well as Joseph Canteloube’s arrangements of French folk songs.

Here is what John von Rhein, music critic of the , had to say

about von Stade’s performance in an article printed on August 22:

The great American mezzo-soprano has reached the stage of her career where she can sing anything she wants to and know exactly how it will sound and the effect it will produce in her adoring listeners. Yet, paradoxically, the effect is never of calculation but of the utmost spontaneity, as von Stade reaches across the stage to gather her audience in the warmth, charm and simple candor of her singing. She inspires instant affection, a gift given to very few singers.186

The following is von Rhein’s reaction to Songs to the Moon:

Songs to the Moon, a cycle of children’s fairy tales drawn from writings by Vachel Lindsay, is the third and latest in a series of collaborations between the San Francisco composer and von Stade. Musically, the idiom slips in and out of classical, blues and jazz styles; song, speech, scat-singing and rhythmic clapping made surprisingly happy bedfellows. Never mind that the cycle boasts more theatricality than musical substance. Heggie has captured von Stade’s personality, as artist, entertainer and mother. The performances of the singer and pianist were just like the songs—clever, charming, amusing, eager to please. The composer was present to share in the audience’s enthusiastic response.187

185 von Stade, e-mail. 186 John von Rhein, “Von Stade beguiles with the charm, candor of her singing” Chicago Tribune, 22 Aug. 1998 1:22. 187 von Rhein, 1:22. 49

Obviously the song cycle was well received by Mr. von Rhein and the audience.

Accompanist Martin Katz recently commented on his partnership with von Stade as well

as his memories of the premiere performance.

I have accompanied von Stade for over 30 years now, and it has been a distinct pleasure, delight and privilege from the beginning. I am proud to be her partner. I remember the songs were received well and with significant enthusiasm. They didn’t change anyone’s life, but they entertained and prettified.188

Since the premiere performance, other critics have responded positively to the

work. William Glackin of the Sacramento Bee said the following:

A cycle of eight Songs to the Moon by the talented San Francisco composer Jake Heggie was wonderfully full of fun, both in the singing and in Heggie’s exploration of the possibilities of the original poems from Fairy Tales for the Children by the American poet Vachel Lindsay. The ideas are witty, both as comedy and music, and full of the unexpected. Lindsay, who believed in strong rhythms and gestures, would probably have been pleased (April 27, 2000).189

Olin Chism of the Dallas Morning News wrote an article entitled, “Composer

Heggie Alive and Thriving.”

Voice of Change recital honors the creator of Dead Man Walking. The most immediately appealing of Heggie’s works was a vocal cycle called Songs to the Moon. These are witty, charming verses closely matched in tone by Heggie’s music. The melodies are attractive and seem much closer to Broadway than to European art songs. By turns jazzy, folksy and bluesy, they are backed by clever and by no means predictable piano accompaniments (February 26, 2002).190

In 1999 Heggie released a CD entitled The Faces of Love that contained 26 of his art songs. Four of these songs were from the Songs to the Moon cycle, specifically Once

More to Gloriana, Euclid, The Haughty Snail King, and What the Gray-Winged Fairy

Said. Most of the reviews of the CD have been favorable. One music critic for USA

Today wrote:

188 Martin Katz, e-mail to the author, 4 Sept. 2003. 189 The Official Website of Jake Heggie. 190 The Official Website of Jake Heggie. 50

Clearly Heggie is a young talent with more original things to come. But these friendly songs have an open-heartedness not often heard since Samuel Barber and a what-the hell-let’s-try-it quality usually found only in the early summer of a composer’s creativity.191

F. Paul Driscoll’s review of the CD in Opera News is the only one to specifically mention Songs to the Moon:

Von Stade is at her very best in the Vachel Lindsay cycle Songs to the Moon: it’s a delight to listen to one of opera’s blue bloods, bump, grind and growl her way across the rather louche landscape of The Haughty Snail-King.192

John Boyer’s review in the American Record Guide is perhaps the most critical:

This is simply not classical music. It is popular music—sophisticated popular music—more akin to or Stephen Sondheim than or John Duke. This is stylish music for the high-end night club, not the concert stage…But I must admit that most of this is good music, even if much of it is not good classical music.193

Perhaps the point could be made that the song cycle is not musically

“sophisticated,” but, nevertheless, it does contain musical substance. I don’t necessarily

think sophistication was Heggie’s intention. His main goal was to musically enhance

Lindsay’s childlike poems in a way that would do them justice while providing a

theatrical outlet for Ms. von Stade. In this regard, he was very successful. I think this

song cycle works best as a light-hearted ending to a recital of more serious music. It is

sure to leave the performers and audience members with smiles on their faces. I agree

with Martin Katz’s final assessment of the cycle:

I believe Songs to the Moon to be among Heggie’s best efforts, and it surely is my favorite of the songs of his I’ve played. I think it has a good chance for obtaining a place in the repertoire for the future.194

191 D.P.S, “Classical Review of Jake Heggie: Faces of Love,” USA Today, 28 Sept. 1999. 192 Savage 74. 193 John Boyer, “Heggie:Songs,” American Record Guide, Volume 63, no. 1, (Jan./Feb. 2000), 109. 194 Katz, e-mail. 51

CHAPTER 5

POETICAL AND MUSICAL ANALYSIS

This chapter contains both a poetical and musical analysis of Songs to the Moon

that will provide performers with a solid base from which to build their own

interpretations. The poetical analysis will begin with a basic summary and explication of

each poem. In his book, How to Read a Poem, poet and author defines

explication as “an explanation with complications.” He elaborates by saying that “an

explication tries to account for the whole poem by attending to its sounds, and its minute suggestions of meaning…” “A good explication,” he continues, “comes close to noticing and naming everything in the poem that affects us.”195 The explications of the eight poems of Songs to the Moon will concentrate on Lindsay’s use of imagery and metaphor.

Other aspects of the poetry to be discussed are allusion, assonance, alliteration, personification, meter, and tone.

The musical analysis will show how the music relates to the poetry and how

Heggie’s settings interpret and illustrate the poems. Specific musical aspects to be discussed include motive, harmony, chromaticism, jazz elements, tempi, text painting, melody, and form. The overall objective of the musical analysis is to show how the

195 Donald Hall, To Read a Poem, 2nd ed. (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1992) 1. 52

musical setting supports and illustrates the text, in order to assist the singer in the preparation and performance of the song cycle.

Vachel Lindsay wrote more than one hundred “moon” poems throughout his lifetime. In an unpublished letter to Harriet Monroe in 1912, he explained how he wanted his moon poems to be published in a series, “as a set of waves, each separate piece a new wave of fancy dashing upon the reader, and not quite like the one before.”196

The majority of these poems were written as the result of an experience during his walking tour of 1912. Lindsay records the story in his prose book, Adventures while

Preaching The Gospel of Beauty, published in 1914. On July 31, 1912, Lindsay found himself wandering in the town of Orchard Park, Colorado. He had been refused lodging at three different shanties, and it was getting late. Around 9:00 pm, he came upon a country hotel run by a friendly man with a Scandinavian accent who had a wife and five small children. Lindsay offered the man a choice of an evening’s entertainment or half a day’s work in the morning in exchange for one night’s stay. The man chose the evening’s entertainment, and the children sat near Lindsay with eager expectation.197 Here is

Lindsay’s account of the event:

To of the fathomless, friendless dark and almost in an instant to look into such expectant fairy faces! They were laughing, laughing, laughing, not in mockery, but in companionship. I recited every child-piece I had ever written-(not many). They kept quite still till the end of each one. Then they pounded the table for more with their tin spoons and their little red fists. So with misgivings, I began to recite some of my fairy-tales for grown-ups…I decide to recite six jingles about the moon, that I had written long ago…The success of the move was remarkable because I had never pleased either grown folks or children to any extent with those verses. But these children, through the accumulated excitements of a day

196 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3, 857-58. 197 Lindsay, Adventures Rhymes and Designs, 198. 53

that I knew nothing about, were in an ecstatic imaginative condition of the soul that transmuted everything.198

After Lindsay retired for the evening he was awakened by the sounds of the children running through the hallway repeating the poetry, “in horrible solemn tones, pretending to scare one another.”199 As a result of the children’s enthusiastic response,

Lindsay wrote, “Thereupon I made a mighty and a rash resolve. I renewed that same resolve in the morning when I woke. I said within myself, ‘I shall write one hundred poems on the moon!’”200 Within a month he had written fifty new moon poems and reached his goal within two years.

The eight moon poems Heggie chose for his song cycle were written during the summer of 1912 or a short time afterward. Seven of the poems were published in The

Congo and Other Poems in September of 1914. All seven are listed in a sub-section of the book titled, “Twenty Poems in Which the Moon is the Principal Figure of Speech.” An additional heading above the poems reads, “First Section: Moon Poems for the

Children/Fairy-Tales for the Children.” The sixth poem in the song cycle, What the

Scarecrow Said, is the only one of the eight to be included in General William Booth

Enters Into Heaven and Other Poems, published in November of 1913. The five moon poems included in this book are introduced with the following statement. “How different people and different animals look upon the moon: Showing that each creature finds in it his own moon and disposition.”201

198 Lindsay, Adventures Rhymes and Designs, 199-201. 199 Lindsay, Adventures Rhymes and Designs, 202. 200 Lindsay, Adventures Rhymes and Designs, 203. 201 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, 163. 54

The first poem in the song cycle, To Gloriana, was written in May 1914 and

alludes to the poet , who was Lindsay’s love interest at the time. There

were two earlier versions of the title, the first one being, For Gloriana, Poet of St. Louis,

and the second, Once More—For Gloriana. The final version was published in his 1915

Collected Poems. In the first published version, line five reads “mists and clouds” instead

of “snowy clouds.” This is the only variation in the body of the poem. In all three

publications, Lindsay used this poem as an introduction to his other moon poems.202

Vachel Lindsay and Sara Teasdale wrote letters to each other before they were actually introduced by Harriet Monroe. At the time, Sara was 29 years old and living with her wealthy parents in St. Louis, Missouri. She had an oval face with red-gold hair and wide-set brown eyes that Lindsay referred to as golden.203 She wasn’t considered to be beautiful, but she had unique charm and a quick wit that drew others to her.204 After they

met, Lindsay was quite taken with her and commonly called her his “Gloriana.” Sara had

feelings for Lindsay, but eventually chose another suitor after laboring over the decision

for three months. Lindsay was naturally upset by her final decision, but never developed bitter feelings toward her, and the two remained friends. He wrote to Harriet Monroe,

“She has kept my deep respect and love. Certainly the God that made her sent me an authentic message about ladyhood through her that I cannot forget.”205

202Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3, 857-58. 203 Brenner 217. 204 Ruggles 220. 205 Ruggles 231. 55

1. Prologue: Once More – to Gloriana

Girl with the burning golden eyes, And red-bird song, and snowy throat: I bring you gold and silver moons, And diamond stars, and mists that float. I bring you moons and snowy clouds, I bring you prairie skies tonight To feeble praise your golden eyes And red-bird song, and throat so white.206

Poetical Analysis:

Lindsay wrote the poem as an expression of his love for Sara Teasdale. He begins

by describing three physical characteristics he admires about her, specifically her eyes, the sound of her voice/laughter, and her throat. Next he lists many majestic scenes in nature that he will give her, in an attempt to pay tribute to her and her admirable qualities.

He implies that the incredible beauty found in nature cannot compare to the wonderful qualities he finds in Sara.

The physical qualities he mentions at the beginning and end of the poem seem to offer an accurate description of Sara. Photographs reveal her large deep-set eyes, pale complexion and long slender neck. Also, in reading about her life there are many references to her soft-spoken voice and ready laugh. Lindsay makes mention of Sara’s laughter in some of his other writings. One of his poems describes the sound of her laughter as “pulsating, and delicate,” which are certainly qualities associated with a bird- song.207

206 Dennis Camp, ed., The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 228. Used by Permission. 207 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, 219. 56

Lindsay frequently uses visual imagery in this short poem. The use of the

somewhat exaggerated images, effectively communicates the writer’s intense and

romantic feelings. Lindsay cannot literally “bring” Sara “gold and silver moons” and

“prairie skies” but these images help to convey the depth of his feeling for her. The

phrases “burning golden eyes” and “snowy throat” describe so much more than just the

colors of yellow and white—they include all the emotions associated with these words.

Other visual images include the phrases “diamond stars” and “snowy clouds.” It is

interesting to note that he also describes the clouds as “mists that float. “ This gives us

not only a visual image but a tactile one as well because the reader can image how the mist’s condensation feels on the skin. An image of sound is also found in the description of her laughter as a “red-bird song.”

The use of imagery helps to create the overall tone of the poem, which is both

romantic and magical. Other contributing aspects are the use of alliteration, assonance,

and meter. While alliteration generally refers to repeating consonant sounds at the

beginning of words, it can also be used to refer to repeating consonant sounds in the

middle and at the end of words.208 Lindsay uses both types of alliteration together with

assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds, to help the words sound as romantic and

magical as their meanings. Examples can be found in all .

Lindsay also uses meter to contribute to the romantic tone of the poem. The poem

contains one stanza with eight lines that has the rhyme-scheme of ABCB/DEFE. Each

line is consists of eight syllables, arranged as iambic tetrameter. The first foot of the

opening line contains an initial inversion, which is quite common in English poetry. (An

208 Hall 69. 57

iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, while an inversion is a sudden reversal of the stressed and unstressed syllables for a rhythmic and dance-like effect.)209 The gentle iambic lines give a graceful, flowing rhythm to the poem.

Musical Analysis:

Heggie knew from the onset that he wanted the poem, Prologue: Once More to

Gloriana, to be the first song in his cycle Songs to the Moon.210 Even though Lindsay

wrote the poem to express romantic love, Heggie chooses to view it as an expression of

maternal love. The mother enters her daughter Gloriana’s bedroom at bedtime, sees the

moonlight shining through the window and hears a redbird singing in the distance. To

help her fall asleep, she begins to sing a lullaby with genuine love and affection for the

child. By the end of the first poem, Gloriana is still awake, and the remaining seven

poems in the song cycle become the various stories the mother and other family members

tell as they attempt to entertain her. By choosing this basic premise, Heggie is able to

thematically connect all eight poems together for a coherent song cycle. The idea of the

relatives trying to entertain the child also lends itself nicely to a very theatrical, dramatic

presentation, well suited to the light-hearted poetry.

Musically, Heggie ushers the listener into the mood of the poem through the use

of a two-part “redbird/moon” motive that occurs twice in the first four measures of the

piece. The “birdcall” is expressed in the accompaniment with the pitches Eb and A in the

right hand and A and D in the left hand and is in the form of a sixteenth-note/dotted

eighth-note rhythmic pattern. The “moon” portion of the motive is reflected in the drone-

209 Hall 81. 210 Heggie, personal interview. 58

like Eb of the left hand, intended by Heggie to be a musical expression of the moonlight

pouring into the little girl’s window.

Fig. 1: Gloriana, m.1-4211

In measure 50, the redbird motive returns a final time in the accompaniment at the

precise moment the singer is singing, “redbird song”. The motive is identical to the

earlier statement except for a slight rhythmic variation.

211 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Music by Jake Heggie, Words by Nicholas V. Lindsay, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 59

Fig. 2: Gloriana, m. 49-51212

Harmonically speaking, the piece is extremely ambiguous, which is characteristic

of many of Heggie’s songs. He writes in the key of G major, but does not follow

traditional harmonic progressions and occasionally borrows chords from the parallel key

of G minor. This ambiguity is heard immediately with the introduction of the 4 4 “redbird/moon” motive, which is built on the viiº 3 and the V 2 of G major. Because

the chords are similar in their basic structure, they move fluidly from one to another.

These unresolved seventh chords give a very mystical or ethereal quality to the piece and

effectively express the text. The viiº7 and V7 chords occur several times, sometimes

consecutively as in the opening statement and sometimes separately. Examples of this are

found in measures 31-33 with the text “silver moons and diamond stars, and mists that

float,” and again in measure 48 as the mother is commenting lovingly on “the golden

eyes” of the child.

212 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

60

Heggie’s use of the bVI M7 chord, heard several times throughout the piece, is

another example of how he toys with tonal ambiguity. It is important because it is built

on Eb, the pitch associated with the moon motive, and also because of its unique

harmonic color. Like the V7 and viiº7 chords, it has a magical, or mystical quality that sounds unfinished or in need of resolution.

The bVI M7 chord is first found in the accompaniment of measure 5. The chord is

borrowed from the key of G minor but it can also be analyzed as the Neapolitan chord of

V (D). The Neapolitan chord (a major triad built on a bII,) would normally resolve to the

dominant (A). Instead of leading to the A chord, Heggie makes the interesting choice of

resolving the chord to a G major tonic. This occurs specifically in measures 5 through 8,

8 through 10, 18 and 19, as well as 22 and 23.

Fig. 3: Gloriana, m.5-8213

213 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 61

One of the few exceptions to this is found at the very end of the piece in measures

58 through 60. In these measures the bVI M7 leads to a viiº7 chord instead. Heggie maintains a sense of tonal ambiguity by choosing to end the piece on an unresolved viiº7 chord, instead of the G major tonic one would expect.

It is not until measure 8 that the first hint of a G major tonic appears with the introduction of the B§ in the left hand of the accompaniment. Finally, the G major tonic is heard in root position in measure 12, the measure before the voice enters. The strength of the tonality is emphasized in this measure, as the left-hand accompaniment drops from the treble to the clef.

To keep the piece somewhat grounded in the key of G major, Heggie makes use of a G major pedal. It is present in the right-hand accompaniment throughout much of the piece while many interesting and unusual harmonic changes occur around it. The alternating Ds and Gs first found in the right-hand accompaniment of measure 5 begin to function as a G major pedal in measure 14 and continue until measure 29. The pattern again functions as a pedal in the final measures of the piece (58 and 59.)

In addition to using the tonality of the piece to communicate the text, Heggie uses the technique of having the piano accompaniment completely drop out while the voice continues. By having the voice continue unaccompanied, Heggie highlights the mother’s emotional vulnerability. This is a technique Heggie employs in order to pull the listener into the text and into the world of the singer:

It is a deliberate musical and theatrical choice. Just as in the opera (Dead Man Walking) there were times when the music just stopped and there was a single a cappella line or spoken line. It suddenly jolts you into a different place and

62

theatrically that is a very important thing to be able to do, and to have at your disposal.214

Heggie uses this technique three separate times in this song. The first one is on

beat three of measure 49, the next one on beat three of measure 51, and the final example

is on the word “so” in measure 54.

Fig. 4: Gloriana, m.54-55215

All three examples occur in the final section of the song as the mother becomes

overwhelmed by her feelings of love for the child.

Heggie also uses the technique of text painting. The first example is found in

measures 31 and 32. In these measures he sets the word “float” on a D that is held for

three beats before moving up a half-step to Eb. The Eb is held for another four beats and is

marked with a fermata.

214 Heggie, personal interview. 215 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 63

Fig. 5: Gloriana, m.30-33216

By setting this word on a high pitch that ascends a half-step and sustains, Heggie

creates a clear aural picture of the floating mists. The other example of text painting is the

previously mentioned “birdcall” heard in the accompaniment of measure 50.

The texture of the piece is very transparent and fits the context of the poetry well.

The syncopated legato accompaniment contrasts with the even, melodic line of the voice

and gives the piece a gentle/rocking effect well suited to a lullaby. Quite often, Heggie

sets both hands of the accompaniment in the treble clef, which gives these sections a

tender and childlike quality.

The tempo changes also contribute to the overall mood by giving fluidity to the

piece. He tends to use poco ritardano and a tempo markings to segue gracefully between

sections. Instances of this can be found in measures 11 and 12 right before the voice

enters, and also in measures 32 through 34, and measures 43 and 44.

The phrases of this piece are long and legato, which is typical of Heggie’s style.

The vocal line generally moves stepwise, although he does make use of ascending and

216 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 64

descending fourths and fifths and even an ascending major seventh, which is found in measures 24 and 25. In this case, the major seventh is used to express the excitement the mother feels about bringing her daughter the gift of “silver moons”.

The overall form of the piece can be described as ABA¹. Heggie has notated the end of each major section with double bar-lines. The A¹ section is much shorter than the opening section and contains previously stated and new melodic material in the accompaniment and vocal line.

65

2. Euclid

Old Euclid drew a circle On a sand-beach long ago. He bounded and enclosed it With angles thus and so. His set of solemn greybeards Nodded and argued much Of arc and of circumference, Diameter and such. A silent child stood by them From morning until noon Because they drew such charming Round pictures of the moon.217

Poetical Analysis:

Lindsay’s Euclid was written in the summer of 1912 and first published in Poetry

Magazine, July 1913. The poem contains an allusion to Euclid of Alexandria (ca. 325

BC-ca. 270 BC) a Greek geometer who is considered to be the most prominent

mathematician of antiquity. He is credited for writing The Elements, the world’s most

definitive text on geometry. This treatise was used as a mathematical textbook in Western

Europe for centuries.218

The poem shows the difference in perspectives between the intellectuals and the

child. The first eight lines of the poem focus on the brilliant Euclid and his fellow

mathematicians. The old men are drawing geometrical shapes in the sand, arguing and

pontificating over various mathematical theories. The child, on the other hand, is silently

watching them. He is awed and amazed at the beautiful “moon pictures” they have

created. The poem reflects Lindsay’s belief that viewing life from a creative and artistic

217 Camp, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 228. Used by Permission. 218 Eric Weisstein’s World of Science Website, 66

perspective is often more rewarding and beneficial than taking a merely intellectual

approach.

Unlike many of Lindsay’s moon poems, Euclid does not contain metaphor or imagery. Instead, Lindsay draws the reader to his conclusion by contrasting the differences between the men and the child in two short, narrative scenarios. One obvious difference between the men and the child is age. Lindsay describes Euclid as “old” and his associates as “greybeards” which literally means “old men.”219 Another difference is

how they choose to express themselves. The men have been talking and arguing for hours

while the child is silently observing. They also perceive the world around them quite

differently. The “solemn” men are only concerned with diagrams and proving theories,

while the child finds in the same diagrams, beautiful works of art. Together, the two

separate scenarios form a wholly satisfying epigram.

The poem contains twelve lines that have a rhyme-scheme of

ABCB/DEFE/GHIH. The lines alternate between seven and six syllables and are

arranged as iambic trimeters. All of the seven syllable lines, except line two, have

feminine endings. (A feminine ending is an extra, unaccented syllable at the end of a

line.)220 Line two ends this way because it begins with a three syllable anapestic foot. (An

anapestic foot has three syllables, two unaccented syllables followed by an accented

syllable.)221 The use of meter and rhyme-scheme gives a rhythmic lilt that works well

with the conclusive epigram.

219 The Merriam Webster Dictionary (Springfield, Massachusetts:Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, Publishers, 1995) 227. 220 Hall 82. 221 Hall 78. 67

Alliteration is another element that contributes to the rhythmic flow of the poem, though it is used rather sparingly. A particularly pleasing example is line five’s “his set of solemn greybeards.”

Musical Analysis:

The music of Euclid contains a quotation from a song entitled, Powerhouse,

written by composer Raymond Scott (see Appendix A). Many of Scott’s tunes are easily

recognizable because they were used extensively in Warner Brothers’ cartoons. In 1943 the studio’s music director, Carl Stalling, began using adaptations of Scott’s Quintette compositions to underscore the studio’s Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts. In time, Scott’s music became synonymous with cartoons and continues to be associated with them today.222 Scott’s popular Powerhouse is made up of two distinct and unrelated sections described by Scott scholar, Irwin Chusid, in the following manner,

“the first, uptempo passage evokes a coyote-chasing –Roadrunner melee; the second, slower passage suggests a menacing assembly-line-gone-haywire.”223

Heggie’s quotation of Scott’s music, borrowed from measures 105-112 of

Powerhouse, can be found in measures 23-30 of Euclid.

222 Irwin Chusid, “Raymond Scott: Accidental Music For Animated Mayhem,” Animation World Magazine, Issue 4.4, July 1999. 223 Chusid. Animation World Magazine. 68

Fig. 6: Powerhouse, m.105-112224

Fig. 7: Euclid, m.23-30225

224 Excerpt from Powerhouse, Composed by Raymond Scott, © Music Sales Corporation/ASCAP, All Rights Reserved, Used by Permission, Special thanks to Irwin Chusid. 225 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

69

The music from both is similar in that it uses the same basic melodic material.

When it is understood that Scott’s music is meant to be performed “swung” in the

standard jazz pattern of “two eighth notes equal a dotted eighth note/ sixteenth note,” it

becomes clear that they are also similar rhythmically, especially in the right-hand

accompaniment.

The main differences between the two are found in the left hand of the

accompaniment. In the original, Scott uses a two-measure ostinato chromatic bass pattern

that continues to repeat throughout the entire statement of the melody. Heggie, on the

other hand, uses a tonic pedal that sometimes contains the leading tone for added color.

The keys of the pieces differ as well, with Heggie’s Euclid in G minor and Scott’s

Powerhouse beginning in C minor and later sequencing into F minor.

From this quotation, Heggie creates a chromatic motive that is developed

throughout the piece. This motive is first introduced in the opening measure and repeated

in measure 3.

Fig. 8: Euclid, m.1-4226

226 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 70

Rhythmically, the motive consists of a dotted eighth/sixteenth pattern followed by

two eighth notes, with the final eighth note tied to a dotted half-note. This is similar to the

rhythm found in the quotation in measure 24. Melodically, the motive begins on beat

three with the pitch D. It then moves to a C# on beat four, and finally to C§ on beat four

and a half. The same melodic pattern is found in the quotation beginning in measure 23 on beats two and three and on the downbeat of measure 24. Harmonically, the three

chords of the motive are similar to chords found in the quotation, though not identical. In

the motive, a G minor chord moves to A major and then to a Neapolitan chord. In the

quotation, a G diminished chord replaces the A major chord.

Elements of this chromatic motive can be found throughout the piece. In measures

5, 6, 7, and 8, Heggie elongates the motive by lengthening the three chords over a four-

measure span.

Fig 9: Euclid, m.5-8227

227 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 71

Rhythmic elements of the motive are also present in much of the piece, and the

dotted eighth-note/sixteenth-note pattern is found in measures 9, 14, 16, 19, and 20.

Examples of additional chromatic movement can also be found in measures 14, 21, 22

and 36 through 39.

In addition to chromaticism, Euclid contains jazz elements reminiscent of Scott’s

music, that are used to express the text and overall character of this piece. They include

vocal scatting, use of the dotted eighth/sixteenth note rhythm pattern, syncopation,

walking bass lines, “bouncing” octaves, and accents and slurs indicated in both the

accompaniment and vocal lines. There are many obvious examples of these elements

throughout the piece.

Heggie acknowledges that much of his compositional style has been influenced by pop music and especially jazz music:

What has influenced me most about jazz was the sort of freedom of line. What you see on the page is not what you hear. I think this is a very important aspect to the performance of my songs. It is not about a metronomic beat with everything falling on the right beat. It is about freedom of interpretation, pushing here, pulling there and being comfortable enough with the character and the style of the piece that you really make it your own.228

Not only does Heggie use compositional techniques associated with jazz, but he

also creates the “freedom of line” by varying the tempo markings to highlight the poetry.

Through the use of the chromatic motive, jazz elements and tempo changes, Heggie

successfully captures the essence of the characters and creatively communicates the text.

The overall form of the piece can be described as AB. Even though the basic

melody of the vocal line is similar in both sections, the musical treatment of each varies

in order to reflect the profound differences between the old men and the child and how

228 Heggie, personal interview. 72

they view the world around them. In the first section, we are introduced to the character

of Euclid, the brilliant mathematician, and his following of ancient scholars described as

the “solemn greybeards.”

Heggie musically depicts the old men in the following manner. First, he uses the

chromatic motive heard at the beginning of the piece to represent both Euclid and his

colleagues as they argue and philosophize together. It is interesting that he uses such light-hearted and “cartoonish” music to express their intellectual ramblings, but this is

Heggie’s humorous way of telling the listener not to take the men too seriously. Then, when the singer first mentions the “solemn greybeards” in measure 14, the tempo broadens into “half-tempo,” and Heggie notates “rather heavy” in the accompaniment. By making these changes, he portrays quite accurately the slow, methodical and pompous intellects. The slur added on the word “greybeard” and marcato accents on the word

“argued” also help to point up the text.

As their intellectual ramblings continue, Heggie responds with an increase in musical intensity through the doubling of the tempo in measure 18. In addition, he creates a more complex accompaniment and adds a crescendo to help convey their excitement.

The building momentum leads to the climax of their quarreling, which is musically represented in the quotation from Powerhouse. During this section, the singer doubles the melody of the quotation on various scatting syllables added by Heggie to the original poetry. Heggie adds the scatting to communicate the excessive noise made by the greybeards.229

229 Heggie, personal interview. 73

In the B section of the piece, which begins in measure 31, we are introduced to

the character of the child. Like the first section, Heggie expresses the basic nature of the

character through his treatment of the music. Though the first four measures of the B

section are virtually identical to the opening measures of the piece, slight musical

variances project an entirely different mood. First of all the piano accompaniment is

taken up an octave, in both hands, and the child is heard for the first time on a

contemplative hum, above the chromatic motive of the quarrelling men. The piano

accompaniment continues in this higher tessitura throughout the remainder of the piece,

which contributes to the peaceful, tender and childlike mood of this section. Also, when

the tempo switches to “half-tempo” in measure 35, this setting is light and gentle

compared to the heavier feeling associated with the previous “half-tempo” section.

The childlike mood in this section is reinforced by changing harmonies in the accompaniment on strong beats and by the discontinuation of syncopated rhythms. The high bell-like G6 in the right-hand consistently sounds on beats two and four. Because it

is such a high pitch, it produces the same kind of magical quality heard in the

“birdcall/moon motive” of the previous piece. As the bell sounds, the rest of the

accompaniment smoothly shifts on the first and third beats of each measure. The steady,

slow rhythms and the treble-clef tessitura give a gentleness and tenderness to the final

section, perfect for expressing the child and her love of the beautiful “moon” pictures.

When the “greybeards” motive returns in the final measures of the piece, it is

appropriately written in the higher octave associated with the child. It is also interesting

to note that Heggie halts the accompaniment when the singer sings about the “pictures of

the moon” in order to emphasize the importance of these final words.

74

Heggie utilizes text painting in measures 12 through 14 as the singer sings about

the various mathematical angles the men are discussing. The octaves in the piano

accompaniment, marked with accents and slurs, provide a musical representation of the

angles.

Fig. 10: Euclid, m.11-14230

The short, choppy melodic phrases in the piece are appropriate for this light-

hearted poem and communicate the text well. This is especially true when expressing the humorous and “off-beat” characters of Euclid and his followers.

The harmonic make-up of the motive gives the piece its unique chromatic color.

One of the chords in the motive is the Neapolitan chord. It is found in the quotation of

Powerhouse (beat one of measure 24) and is a chord that Heggie often uses in his songs.

In this piece, it is used not only as a passing tone in the motives, but also as an actual harmonic progression. This can be seen first in measure 8 as Heggie elongates the

230 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 75

motive. It resolves to a g minor tonic in measure 9, which is the same type of unusual resolution he used in the previous piece. The Neapolitan chord has a jazzy quality that suits the piece well.

The most colorful harmonies are found in measures 36 through 41 during the child’s main section. The harmonies switch every two beats and move for the most part by intervals of major or minor seconds. These harmonic changes, with the bell-like G sounding above, produce an ethereal quality still grounded in the tonic.

A few times throughout the piece, Heggie uses the pitches F# and G together (the

leading tone and tonic) to create an interesting and jazzy dissonance. The first time this occurs is in beat four of measure two, right after the first statement of the opening motive.

Also, in the final measures of the piece (45 and 47), the pitch G is heard on the first three beats of each measure in the left hand of the accompaniment, while the final beats of both measures end on an F#. The piece ends similarly to the first song in the cycle in the sense

that both end with an unresolved chord.

76

3. The Haughty Snail-King (What Uncle William Told the Children)

Twelve snails went walking after night. They’ d creep an inch or so, Then stop and bug their eyes And blow. Some folks…are…deadly..slow. Twelve snails went walking yestereve, Led by their fat old king. They were so dull their princeling had No scepter, robe or ring— Only a paper cap to wear When nightly journeying.

This king-snail said: “I feel a thought Within…It blossoms soon…. O little courtiers of mine…. I crave a pretty boon… Oh, yes…(High thoughts with effort come And well-bred snails are ALMOST dumb.) “I wish I had a yellow crown As glistering…as…the moon.”231

Poetical Analysis:

According to Lindsay researcher Dennis Camp, The Haughty Snail-King (What

Uncle William Told the Children) was written sometime between 1912 and 1914. It was

first published in Reedy’s Mirror, June 12, 1914. Reedy’s Mirror was a liberal literary

magazine published weekly in St. Louis, Missouri.

The subtitle (What Uncle William Told the Children) is important to the

explication of the poem because it tells us that Lindsay viewed this poem as a story for

entertaining children. The fictional character of “Uncle William” creates for the reader an

image of a good-natured uncle enjoying his storytelling the way Lindsay must have

231Camp, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 228-29. Used by Permission. 77

enjoyed reciting to the five children in Colorado. The main title, The Haughty Snail-King,

is informative as well, because it gives the reader a picture of the Snail-King’s

personality before the poem even begins. The word “haughty” is defined as “disdainfully

proud, overbearing or arrogant.”232

The story begins with the twelve snails taking a walk after dark. They move

extremely slow and have to rest often. After traveling a little over an inch, they have to stop and catch their breaths. When they do, their eyes’ bulge, and they pant and gasp from exhaustion. The corpulent and aging king leads the way as they travel. Uncle

William (acting as narrator) comments that the snails are so dull of sensibilities that their king doesn’t even have proper royal attire. Instead of a crown, he wears a ridiculous paper hat. When the king has a thought, the words come very slowly. After a long time, in grandiose language, he earnestly asks his court attendants for the gift of a golden crown, a crown that sparkles like the moon. As the king struggles to collect his thoughts,

Uncle William comments that the pompous snails are practically inarticulate. It is clear the arrogant king and his snail friends have no idea how silly they must appear to the rest of the world. Perhaps Lindsay wanted his poem to remind children, in a humorous way, that acting arrogant and conceited does not impress others but makes people look silly instead.

The poem is narrative in form and humorously relates the mannerisms and actions of the snails, in order to provide an effective character study. He achieves this by using personification (language that humanizes the nonhuman.)233

232 The Merriam Webster Dictionary 238. 233 Hall 35. 78

One of the main attributes Lindsay expresses is their extreme slowness. After

“creeping an inch or so” the snails are so exhausted, they have to stop. Lindsay uses the phrase, “Then stop and bug their eyes and blow” as a successful alliteration to describe their physical reaction to the exhaustion.

Lindsay’s use of rhythm and linebreak also reflects the snails’ slowness. One way this is done is through the practice of enjambment. Enjambment is when the sense of the sentence of a poem runs over into the following line.234 An example of this is found in

lines four and five, “Then stop and bug their eyes (next line) and blow.” When reading an

enjambment one generally makes a slight pause before preceding to the next line, but

maintains the energy and dynamic so that the continuity of the line is retained. The slight

pauses affect the overall rhythm and flow of the poem. In this case, it is fitting because it illustrates the slow nature of the snails. Other examples of enjambment are found in the final stanza when the snail-king is delivering his speech. A specific example is found in lines twelve and thirteen, “I feel a thought (next line) within.” Lindsay also indicates pauses by the use of ellipses. Both practices depict the king’s painfully slow and labored manner of expressing himself.

The physical account of the snail-king, along with the words of his impromptu

speech, reveal much about his character. Physically, he is old and fat and dons a funny-

looking paper hat. In his speech, the “haughty” essence of the king’s personality comes across quite convincingly in Lindsay’s choice of grandiose words. Phrases like, “I feel a

thought within…It blossoms soon” and “I crave a pretty boon,” are indicative of the

snail’s pompous ways.

234 Hall 64. 79

The poem contains mostly eight-and six-syllable lines, arranged in the form of

iambic tetrameter or iambic trimeter. The overall rhyme-scheme is

ABABBCCDCEC/FGHGIIGG. In this particular poem, meter does not contribute

significantly to the rhythmic flow because of Lindsay’s use of enjambments and ellipses,

which purposefully slow the overall pace. These various poetical aspects contribute to the

light-hearted and humorous tone of the poem.

Musical Analysis:

For The Haughty Snail-King (What Uncle William Told the Children), Gloriana’s

Uncle William arrives on the scene and assumes the role of storyteller. He tries his hand at entertaining the child with his delightful tale of the arrogant snails. What makes the story even more entertaining is that Uncle William has had a bit too much to drink. As a result, the singer has the daunting task of portraying the tipsy Uncle William as he acts out his story of the pompous snail.

Heggie clearly depicts the characters of the Snail-King and his courtiers in his musical setting. In the left hand of the accompaniment, Heggie writes “dull and heavy” over the heavily accented chords meant to resemble snails cumbrously trudging along. In the right hand, he uses ascending and descending chromatic patterns to illustrate the slippery/sliding movement of the snails. The result is a very humorous and accurate portrayal of the snails. This accompaniment pattern begins in the first measure and continues for the most of the piece.

80

Fig. 11: Snail-King, m.1-4235

Heggie communicates the action of the story, or lack of it, through text painting.

This occurs first in measure 8 on the word “stop.” The word itself is accented and

followed by a rest with a fermata, in order to illustrate the snails suddenly coming to a

halt. While this is happening the left-hand chords and right-hand chromatic patterns stop

as well. The accompaniment does not start again until the snails resume their movement

in measure 10. A few measures later, Heggie writes a glissando and crescendo on the

word “blow” that stretches over three measures. This illustrates the increasing size of the

bugging eyes and blowing cheeks of the snails. Heggie then has the accompaniment drop

out to emphasize the phrase, “Some folks are deadly slow.” He stresses the word

“deadly” by writing a glissando that takes the singer from an E4 all the way to a low G3,

which is not only the lowest pitch of the piece, but of the entire cycle. On the word

“slow,” Heggie indicates that the singer take a “big gasp for air” and that the word be

“half-spoken” to emphasize the lethargic movement of the snails.

235 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 81

Fig. 12: Snail-King, m.12-14236

In the accompaniment of measure 18, Heggie thickens the texture by employing

contrary motion in order to portray the “fat old king.”

Fig. 13: Snail-King, m.18237

236 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 237 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 82

Throughout the piece, Heggie writes descriptive phrases or sub-text above certain phrases to communicate exactly how he wants the phrases to be performed. Examples include “pompously,” “as though reading a royal proclamation,” and “thinking very hard.” They are extremely helpful to the singer for dramatic interpretation.

The harmonies of the song also reflect the snails. Like the conservative physical progression of the snails, harmonically the piece does not move very far from the tonic.

6 By progressing from i minor chord to the ii half diminished 5 chord instead of V, Heggie illustrates the slow progression of the snails who can’t quite reach their destination of the dominant. This same progression occurs often in measures 1 through 7,

10 through 17, 23 through 26, and 41 through 50.

In measure 27, Heggie changes the key to d minor and makes some interesting harmonic choices. In the left hand of the accompaniment, we find an A major chord, the dominant in the key of d minor, and at the same time the supertonic chord, an e diminished triad (iiº) is found in the right-hand accompaniment. In the previous section, he used the ii half-diminished chord in c minor to substitute for the dominant (G major).

Now that we are in a different key, we hear the iiº and the V sounding at the same time.

This is Heggie’s way of showing that essentially, these chords are interchangeable in representing the dominant.

83

Fig. 14: Snail-King, m.27238

This not only occurs in measure 27 but also in measures 29 and 31.

Like the previous piece, this song contains many elements of jazz music. Heggie even writes above the singer’s opening line that the piece should be performed “with a

jazzy, bluesy feel.” The jazz elements include extensive use of chromaticism, accents and

slurs, walking bass lines, flexible tempi, fermata, and phrases marked “ad lib.”

Heggie’s use of chromaticism is prevalent in the piece, not only in the right hand of the accompaniment, but harmonically as well. Chromatic harmonic movement begins in measure 33 with an a minor chord, then progresses to a Bb major triad, C major triad,

Bb major seventh, and ends on a minor seventh chord in measure 37.

The vocal line contains relatively short, jazz-styled phrases that move mostly

chromatically, stepwise or in intervals of thirds. Heggie also makes use of the flatted fifth

of the scale (the pitch of Gb), which adds to the melody’s bluesy sound. The B section

238 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 84

contains the snail-king’s proclamation and is recitative-like in its structure. Similar to

operatic recitative, the vocal line closely matches the pitch and rhythmic structure of the

spoken phrase.

The form of the piece is ABA¹ with a three-measure transition between the B

section and the final A¹. Heggie separates the major sections and the transition with

double bar lines. Just like the previous piece, the final A¹ is much shorter than the initial

A section.

After the vocalist’s final phrase, there is a five-measure piano postlude with the

direction “the snails march out of sight into the night” written above. To illustrate this

musically, the melody of the singer’s opening line, “twelve snails went walking after night,” is heard in the right-hand accompaniment.

85

4. What the Rattlesnake Said

The moon’s a little prairie-dog. He shivers through the night. He sits upon his hill and cries For fear that I will bite.

The sun’s a broncho. He’s afraid Like every other thing, And trembles, morning, noon and night, Lest I should spring, and .239

Poetical Analysis:

What the Rattlesnake Said was written during the summer of 1912 and first

published in The Congo and Other Poems in 1914. The original title found in Lindsay’s

unpublished hiking journal was simply, The Rattlesnake.240

The poem is a brief commentary on how the conceited rattlesnake views the

world around him. To the snake, the enormous and iridescent moon is as harmless as a

common prairie-dog, barking and shaking with fear. During the day he sees the powerful

and awe-inspiring sun as a horse so terrified of the snake that all he can do is tremble. He

not only assumes the sun and moon are frightened of him, but everything else as well.

Somehow he has convinced himself that all living creatures are afraid of him. Perhaps

Lindsay is making another light-hearted statement about the dangers of arrogance and

conceit through the snake’s absurd conclusion.

The central poetic elements in this short poem are Lindsay’s use of metaphor and

imagery. Metaphor is defined as a figure of speech in which a word for one idea or thing

239 Camp, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 229. Used by Permission. 240 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3, 858. 86

is used in place of another to suggest a likeness between them.241 We find the first

metaphor, “the moon’s a little prairie-dog,” in the opening line. At first reading, the

metaphor seems unexpected and rather unusual. What could these two things have in

common? Metaphors, however, work by contrasts as well as comparisons. Hall makes the

statement that differences usually affect readers more strongly than similarities. If the

poet can take two seemingly incomparable things and show compatibility, the result is

quite gratifying.242 In this poem, Lindsay chooses to emphasize the incompatibility of the

ideas in order to show that the snake has a distorted perception of reality. By saying the

enormous moon is really just a lowly prairie-dog, the snake makes himself appear more

important and powerful than he actually is. Perhaps he is really afraid of the moon, but by pretending it is something less frightening, he can overcome his fear. Maybe the snake is reacting the same way an insecure person might by “talking big” to overcompensate for

his insecurities.

The same logic applies to “the sun’s a broncho.” Again, the snake takes a

powerful force and reduces it to something much less intimidating. In the final stanza, his

perception of himself becomes so exaggerated, he is convinced that every living thing is afraid of him.

A clear picture of the prairie-dog is created mostly through visual images but also

by images of sound and motion. The visual image in the first stanza is of the prairie-dog

sitting on a hill. An image of motion is created by the verb “shivers” and an image of

sound through the crying or howling of the prairie-dog. Visual imagery and images of

motion are also found in the second stanza with the description of the trembling broncho.

241 Hall 34. 242 Hall 35. 87

Images of motion related to the snake are created by the verbs “spring” and “sting.” Like the poem about the snails, personification is used to project human qualities on the animals.

Lindsay also makes effective use of alliteration. One interesting example can be found in lines three and four. Note the flow of the “s’s” and “h’s” in “He sits upon his hill and cries.” Another particularly pleasing example is found in lines seven and eight. The

“m’s” and “n’s” trip nicely on the tongue in “And trembles, morning, noon, and night,”

The “s’s” of line eight are especially interesting because they create the hissing sound of a snake, “Lest I should spring, and sting.”

Meter, like alliteration, contributes to the strong rhythmic flow of this poem. The eight lines alternate between eight and six syllables. The eight-syllable lines are in the form of iambic tetrameter, while the six-syllable lines are arranged as iambic trimeters.

There are no variations to the forms, so the flow of the rhythm is steady throughout. The rhyme-scheme is ABCB/DEBE. All these various aspects contribute to the poem’s humorous and ironic tone.

Musical Analysis:

Like the second and third songs of the cycle, Heggie’s setting of What the

Rattlesnake Said reflects the central character of the poem, in this case the conceited rattlesnake. The right hand of the accompaniment is constantly moving either chromatically or step wise, giving a slithering “snake-like” quality to the line. Heggie also uses the tango/dance rhythm of the left-hand accompaniment to illustrate the confidence of the self-satisfied snake.243

243 Heggie, personal interview. 88

Chromaticism is a very important harmonic element in this piece. Many of the chromatic sonorities are not meant to function in a traditional harmonic sense. In other words, the harmonies themselves don’t specifically lead anywhere, but exist for color and character. For instance, from measure 3 until the key change in measure 26, the piece is in the key of f minor and alternates mostly between I major triads and V7 chords. These chords, however, contain many chromatic-sounding, non-chord tones that help create a unique harmonic color. Even though the key changes to Db major in measure 26 and back to f minor in measure 40, the chords continue to alternate between the i/I and V7, with chromatic non-chord tones added for color.

Another harmonic aspect worth mentioning is Heggie’s use of two augmented chords that occur three separate times in the piece. They first appear in measures 1 and 2 and were written to immediately indicate a change of mood.244 These augmented chords help create a sense of tonal ambiguity yet can be tied to the two keys of the piece, f minor and Db major.

244 Heggie, personal interview. 89

Fig. 15: Rattlesnake, m.1-2245

The chords are also found in measures 37 and 57. The first augmented triad is

built on an Fb, which is just a half-step away from the f minor triad. The second

augmented triad relates to the key of Db major because it contains the Db and F§ from a

Db major triad as well as a Bbb (A§), which is one-half step away from an Ab normally

found in a Db major triad. Heggie also uses half-step relationships between the two

augmented chords. The Fb in the first triad leads to an F§ in the second, the Ab in the first

to a Bbb in the second, and the C in the first to a Db in the second. By using the chords in

this way, Heggie ties together the two separate keys of the piece while continuing his

theme of chromaticism.

The vocal line, like the right hand of the accompaniment, also mimics the snake.

The intervals are generally small, with chromatic and step-wise motion. Heggie also uses

slippery sounding trills and slides as well as sharp syncopated rhythms. Glissandos occur

in measures 13, 18, and 50, and rhythmic trills can be found in measures 13, 36, and 51.

245 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 90

Heggie’s use of text painting in measures 18 and 19 includes an accent and a

glissando on the word “cries,” which creates the effect of someone actually crying. In the

phrase, “Lest I should spring” found in measures 38 and 39, the word “spring” is

emphasized by allowing three full beats on the pitch of Fb5, which is the highest note of

the song. The accompaniment also helps reflect the springing snake by using ascending,

chromatic triplet figures that crescendo to a double forte.

Fig. 16: Rattlesnake, m.37-39246

Heggie’s final use of text painting comes on the word “sting” in measures 42

through 44. The singer is asked to speak/hiss the “sss” sound of “sting” for three beats as

she crescendos to an accented G on the second half of the word, effectively expressing a

hissing snake.

246 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 91

The form of the piece is ABA¹. The B section begins in measure 26 as the key changes to Db major, and the final A¹ section begins in measure 40 with the return to f minor. Like many of Heggie’s songs in this cycle, the A¹ section is extremely short.

92

5. The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky (What the Little Girl Said)

The Moon’s the North Wind’s cooky. He bites it, day by day, Until there’s but a rim of scraps That crumble all away.

The South Wind is a baker. He kneads clouds in his den, And bakes a crisp new moon that…greedy North…Wind…eats…again!247

Poetical Analysis:

The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky, (What the Little Girl Said) is probably the

most well known of Lindsay’s moon poems. It continues to be popular in American

culture decades after Lindsay’s death. The poem appeared in the nationally syndicated

comic strip, “B.C.” on Sunday March 29, 1981. In recent years, inspired by the poem,

artist Sara Morton created a digital collage entitled Moon Cookie. In 2003 Lindsay’s

poem returned to print in the children’s book, Lullaby Moons and a Silver Spoon: a book

of Bedtime Songs and Rhymes, compiled and illustrated by Brooke Dyer.

The poem was written in the summer of 1912 and first published in Reedy’s

Mirror on June 12, 1914. The original title was What the Little Girl Said. In the first

printing of the poem, line seven contained the word “hungry” instead of “greedy.” This

was the only change to the body of the poem after its first publication.248

This short poem tells us what the clever little girl thinks of the moon. The moon,

she says, is really an enormous cookie in the sky. The mean old North Wind nibbles away

247 Camp, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 229. Used by Permission. 248 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3, 858. 93

at it little by little until the pieces are so tiny they crumble and completely disappear.

When this happens, the kind South Wind bakes another cookie, with clouds as the main ingredient, and puts it in the sky once more. When the selfish North Wind sees the crisp new cookie, he begins to eat it all over again! The child’s delightful story gives a creative and reasonable explanation for the various phases of the moon.

Lindsay primarily uses metaphor, imagery and personification to create this imaginative poem. The metaphor comparing the moon to the cookie is exceptionally clever. On the surface, the objects are extremely different. Lindsay, however, with his imaginative storyline creates plausible similarities. For instance, the shape of a full moon is as round as the cookie at the start of the story. He then “personifies” the North Wind by giving him an appetite for the cookie. As he nibbles away at the cookie, its shape changes like the various moon phases until it reaches its “new moon” phase and completely disappears. By the end of the first stanza, Lindsay has shown how the two very different objects are quite similar after all.

The visual images created by the cookie/moon metaphor in the first stanza are also very effective. The phrase “a rim of scraps” in particular is a wonderful description of the crescent-shaped moon.

In the second stanza, Lindsay compares the South Wind to a baker. The South

Wind is “personified” like the North Wind in the first stanza. He takes on a human occupation and bakes away, until the cookie is crisp and full once more. The newly baked cookie signifies the completion of one lunar cycle, and the whole process starts over as the “greedy North Wind” (another example of personification) begins to nibble again.

94

One of the most interesting examples of imagery in the second stanza is in the personification of the South Wind as the baker. The phrase, “he kneads clouds in his den” uses both visual imagery and images of motion to create an imaginative picture. Lindsay chose to italicize the words in the phrase, “that greedy North Wind eats again” and add ellipses in order to slow the pace and emphasize the punch-line ending.

The meter of this poem has the strong rhythmic feel of a child’s rhyme. The number of syllables in each line varies from six to nine. The first line in each stanza contains feminine endings and all of the lines are arranged as iambic trimeter, except for lines three and seven, which are iambic tetrameter.

Musical Analysis:

Heggie uses the subtitle of the poem, The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky (What the Little Girl Said) to give Gloriana an opportunity to tell a story of her own. When the child remembers an interesting rhyme she learned on the school playground, she enthusiastically begins to sing it for her mother. The performer should assume the character of the child, treating the two A sections as “a hopscotch or jump-rope” song in a “singsong” fashion without definite pitches.

Chromaticism is a very important aspect of this piece. Harmonically, it is relatively simple and consists primarily of f minor tonic and C major dominant chords.

What gives the chords their chromatic flavor is Heggie’s inclusion of the minor second interval. In measure 12, on beat two, the pitch Ab moves down a half-step to a G in the left-hand accompaniment. At the same time he uses half-steps vertically in the chord with an Ab against the A§. As a result we essentially have an f minor chord and an F major chord sounding at the same time.

95

Fig. 17: Cooky, m.12249

This same situation occurs several times throughout the piece in measures 13, 14,

15, 18, 19, 34, 35, 36, and 37. Heggie also ends the piece chromatically by writing both an Ab and A§ in the final chord.

Elements of jazz are also found throughout the piece. Some examples include

syncopated rhythms, flexible tempi, use of accents and, of course, vocal scatting. Heggie

also indicates in the music that the B sections be performed “freely, with an easy, jazzy

feel.”

The overall form of the piece is ABAB¹ with the major sections divided by double bar lines. The A sections are unique in the sense that the pianist does not accompany the singer on the piano but uses rhythmic foot stomps and hand claps instead. The result is both humorous and effective. The audience is taken by surprise and instantly transported into the child’s world. The two B sections contain piano accompaniment as well as jazzy vocal lines set to scatting syllables not found in Lindsay’s original poem.

249 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 96

6. What the Scarecrow Said

The dim-winged spirits of the night Do fear and serve me well. They creep from out the hedges of The garden where I dwell.

I wave my arms across the walk. The troops obey the sign, And bring me shimmering shadow-robes And cups of cowslip-wine.

Then dig a treasure called the moon, A very precious thing, And keep it in the air for me Because I am a King.250

Poetical Analysis:

What the Scarecrow Said was written sometime during 1912 and 1913. The

Illinois State Register printed the poem in its September 19, 1913 issue with the title, The

Proud Scarecrow. Lindsay changed the title to its present form when his book, General

William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems, was released two months later.251

The original title gives us important insight into the scarecrow’s character.

The poem is narrative in form and expresses the scarecrow’s idealized view of the

world around him. He refers to the crows as “spirits” of the night that live only to please

and serve him faithfully. They live in the shrubbery that surrounds the garden and when

the scarecrow waves his arms, they do whatever he pleases. They bring him glittering

robes made of shadows and cowslip-wine, made from flowers. But best of all, they dig up

a piece of treasure called the moon and place it in the sky for him. They do all these

250 Camp, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 164. Used by Permission. 251 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3, 850. 97

things just to show how much they honor him as their king. In reality, the proud

scarecrow has created a world to rationalize why he isn’t scaring any of the crows away. Instead of admitting he is a failure, he creates his own version of the truth to make him feel better about himself.

This light-hearted poem primarily uses imagery and personification to give a magical feel to the scarecrow’s dream world. Lindsay refers to the crows as “dim-winged

spirits of the night,” and this phrase creates a wonderful and mysterious visual image.

The assonance present in the phrase, “dim-winged spirits,” makes it sound appealing as

well. The verb “creep” in line three refers to how the spirits move. This word adds to the

poem’s mysterious feel by conjuring up a ghostly image of motion.

Two of the most effective phrases in the poem are found in lines seven and eight,

“shimmering shadow-robes” and “cups of cowslip-wine.” The first phrase romanticizes

the image of the birds flying overhead, casting silver moonlight shadows on the

scarecrow below. Both phrases paint beautiful visual images and contain effective

alliteration.

In the final stanza, Lindsay refers to the moon as buried treasure, retrieved and

held up by the spirits in the sky. The result is another magical visual image.

Personification is also used throughout the poem to humanize the kingly scarecrow and

the servant crows.

The meter of the poem remains the same for all three stanzas. The twelve lines

alternate between eight and six syllables, arranged as iambic tetrameters and iambic

trimeters respectively. The rhyme-scheme is ABCB/DEFE/GHIH. The rhythmic flow is

similar to the pattern of What the Rattlesnake Said and contains no variations from start

98

to finish. The strong and steady rhythm of the poem helps reflect the scarecrow’s

confidence.

Musical Analysis:

Heggie’s musical setting of What the Scarecrow Said contains elements of

Debussy’s music and is rather understated compared to his settings of the previous four

poems. Instead of depicting the character with strongly defined musical imagery, he

chooses to create the overall atmosphere of the poem instead. This is done primarily with

his treatment of the piano accompaniment. In the opening A section (measures 1-28), the

accompaniment consists of a series of ascending octatonic scales that sound like wind

blowing through stalks of corn in a field.

Fig. 18: Scarecrow, m.4-6252

The repetitive scales also create a feeling of fluidity and timelessness. As the

sonorities begin to change with the B section in measure 28, the ascending scale passages

252 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 99

continue, but the vocal line becomes more declamatory in order to express the

scarecrow’s various commands in the text. Beginning in measure 37, the ascending scale passage changes to a two-measure ascending/descending curve pattern to effectively express the magical imagery of the words, “shimm’ring shadow robes.” This in turn becomes the vocal climax of the piece.

Fig. 19: Scarecrow, m. 36-45253

The shortened A section returns in measure 51 with the same sonorities and

ascending scale patterns of the earlier section. In measure 67, the accompaniment

completely stops in order to emphasize the scarecrow’s final words, “Because I am a

King.” The three rolled chords that finish the piece, especially the final D major, have a

253 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 100

regal sound that complements the text. Above the final chord, we hear the scale passage

that occurred at the beginning of both A sections, resulting in another unresolved ending.

With the exception of the two short declamatory phrases in the B section, the

vocal lines are constructed of long flowing phrases moving mostly by intervals of

seconds and thirds. At times there are wider intervals, some as large as a major seventh.

Like many of Heggie’s songs, this piece is tonally ambiguous and difficult to

describe in terms of functional harmony. To create his choice of harmonic coloring,

Heggie uses shifting sonorities, dueling sonorities, half-step relationships and an A§ to G

4-3 suspension throughout much of the piece. He also emphasizes the sixth scale degree

and sometimes uses it as a pivot pitch in order to shift to a related sonority.

Heggie sets up tonal ambiguity by introducing dual sonorities at the beginning of the piece, repeating them in measures 5, 7, and throughout most of the song. However in the beginning, the hands alternate with a D and a G in the left hand and an Eb and a Bb in

the right hand. The Bb in the right hand blends with the G to make a G minor chord,

while the G§ from the left hand blends with the Eb and Bb to make an Eb major triad. We

can only tell if the chords are major or minor when both hands are played together.

Heggie changes the accompaniment after the opening statement in order to make it easier

for the pianist.

There are numerous examples of half-step movement in the accompaniment

throughout the entire song. In measure 4 alone, there are three examples that include low

D to Eb, A to Bb and high D to Eb. The A§/G suspension occurs extensively

throughout the two A sections heard first on beats two and three of measures 4 and 5

(refer back to Fig.18).

101

Heggie also chooses to emphasize the sixth scale degree of a particular sonority.

For instance, the piece begins in g minor, and the Eb is consistently stressed through the

first 28 measures. In measure 37, the sonority changes to D major, and once again Heggie

uses the sixth scale degree to color the harmony (in this case the non-chord tone of B natural). Also, the singer’s highest and longest note of the piece, the A5, (the sixth scale degree of C) is heard in measures 41-45 and used as a pivot pitch to change into the

sonority of C major in measure 46. This high A occurs numerous times in the piano part as a non-chord tone.

In this song, Heggie utilizes many compositional techniques of composer Claude

Debussy. One aspect is in the area of rhythm and meter. In Debussy’s music the feeling of bar line is often erased, and the piano accompaniments are generally flowing with unaccented rhythmic patterns. Heggie’s piano accompaniment is extremely fluid, and there is a definite freedom of line in both the accompaniment and vocal line. Debussy also uses elements of polyrhythms, which Heggie uses as well. Specifically, Heggie uses hemiola rhythms. This three against two pattern between the vocal line and piano accompaniment is present throughout the entire piece.

Harmonically, Debussy tends to move away from a fixed key or tonal center, especially in his middle and late songs. His harmonic structures are very fluid with tonalities that are constantly shifting. In Heggie’s song, the sonorities change so often and remain for such a short period of time that they can’t really be classified in a specific key.

Another harmonic characteristic of Debussy’s music is his use of whole-tone, chromatic, diatonic and pentatonic scale patterns. While Heggie doesn’t use these scales specifically in this piece, he does use a lot of chromatic movement and octatonic patterns that mix

102

diatonic and chromatic scale patterns. The cumulative effect creates a subtle musical atmosphere similar to Debussy’s impressionistic style.

103

7. What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said

The moon’s a gong, hung in the wild, Whose song the fays hold dear. Of course you do not hear it, child. It takes a FAIRY ear.

The full moon is a splendid gong That beats as night grows still. It sounds above the evening song Of dove or whippoorwill.254

Poetical Analysis:

What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said was written during the summer of 1912 and was first published in Reedy’s Mirror on June 12, 1914.255

The mysterious gray-winged fairy narrates the poem to an attentive child. The

moon, she says, is really an enormous gong. The beautiful sounds of the gong create little

songs loved by fairies everywhere. Its music is so magical and mysterious that mere

mortals can’t hear it at all, only fairies. The gong beats throughout the night and drowns

out the songs of the doves and whippoorwills.

This magical poem is narrative in form and uses elements of metaphor and

imagery.

The central metaphor compares the moon to a magical gong. The premise is

logical because Lindsay creates a believable world of fairies that can see and hear things

mere human beings cannot.

The moon/gong metaphor helps create an effective visual image. The reader can

easily picture the silver gong beating against a black sky. The poem also uses images of

254Camp, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 230. Used by Permission. 255 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3, 858. 104

sound to communicate the story of the poem. The beating of the gong creates the haunting fairy songs heard over the faint birdcalls of the doves and whippoorwills.

Meter contributes to the steady, lilting rhythm of the poem and suits the text. The

eight lines alternate between eight and six syllables, and are arranged as iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. Like the poems about the snake and the scarecrow, the

meter of this poem contains no variations and remains constant throughout. The rhyme- scheme of the poem is ABAB/CDCD. It is the only poem of the song cycle that rhymes every single line. All of these aspects contribute to the magical and mystical tone of the

poem.

Musical Analysis:

Like songs one and six, Heggie’s setting of What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said is

rather subtle and “atmospheric” in its expression of the text.

His main influence in setting this poem was Mélisande’s aria from Act III, scene

1 of Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande. The aria takes place on a summer evening as

Mélisande combs her long hair in front of a window near the top of the tower of the castle she shares with her husband Golaud. As she combs her hair, she begins to sing a haunting tune. Golaud’s half-brother Pelléas comes out from beneath her window and

is enchanted by her singing. As the opera progresses, the two fall in love. Eventually,

Golaud discovers their secret and murders his brother in a jealous rage.256

Heggie associates the character of Mélisande with Ms. von Stade because she has performed this operatic role numerous times. While reading the poem, the image of the

256 Richard Osborne, liner notes, Pelléas et Mélisande, by Claude Debussy, CD, Philharmonic, EMI, 1978. 105

austere tower in the moonlight came to him and inspired his musical setting. As a result, his song contains elements of Debussy’s aria.

The harmony in Debussy’s tower aria is similar to Heggie’s in that both are

tonally ambiguous. In Debussy’s aria, the tonalities are constantly shifting between the

keys of G major, E minor, and E major. The soprano’s a cappella sections are even built

on a G Lydian mode. Heggie, however, stays in the key of F minor, but uses colorful major seventh chords difficult to describe in terms of functional harmony. These major

seventh chords are used throughout the song to create a magical dissonance well suited to

a poem about fairies and enchanted gongs.

Two of these major seventh chords, the VI M 4 and VII 4 , make up the gong 3 3 motive heard on beats two and three of the opening statement. The chords mimic the

ethereal, resonating quality of the gong. Preceding the gong motive is a motive

representing the moon. It occurs on the first beat of the statement and consists of low

octave Fs, with a Bb and Cb pedal tones sounding high in the treble clef. The treble

quality and dissonance between the Bb and Cb , reflect the starkness of the moonlight.

106

Fig. 20: Fairy, m.1-2257

These chords return several times throughout the song. The gong chords are heard

again on beats two and three of measures 4 and 5, beats nine and eleven of measure 6,

beats two and three of measure 7, and beats two and four of measure 18. The moon

motive occurs on beat one of measures 5, 7 and 16.

In addition to the chords in the gong motive, Heggie uses other major seventh

chords that are more difficult to analyze. They give a sense of tonal ambiguity and help

create the song’s specific harmonic color. The chords are generally written in succession

and move in parallel motion. Examples can be found in measures 5 through 9 and

measures 15-21.

Unlike Heggie, Debussy does not use major seventh chords, but he often uses the

clash of seconds, which creates a dissonance similar to seventh chords.

In order to portray the suspense the child feels as the mysterious fairy tells her

tale, Heggie creates a sense of anticipation and timelessness by altering tempi, using

fermata and by adding beats to measures 3, 6, and 13. He also indicates that the singer

257 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 107

should “take time” in specific places and to sing “freely” and in a “chant-like” fashion.

His use of quarter-note rhythms adds to the feel of time passing slowly. This occurs quite

effectively in measures 13-19 of the accompaniment, as the octave Cs imitate the ticking

sound of a clock.

Fig. 21: Fairy, m.14-17258

Debussy’s aria contains a similar freedom of line that carries over the bar lines

and contributes to its static feel.

Heggie utilizes text painting to emphasize specific words. One example is found

in measure 11 in the accompaniment, in which a quarter-note/eighth-note figure imitates

the sound of a beating heart, as the singer sings the word “beats”. Another example, in

measure 12, highlights the word “still” when the singer sings about the night growing

still, by halting the steady rhythm of the previous measure until the last beat of measure

13.

258 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 108

Fig. 22: Fairy, m.10-13259

The final example reflects the sound of the whippoorwill’s call in the vocal line of

measure 16. The singer imitates the call of the bird with a sixteenth-note G/Bb/G motive

(see Fig. 21). This minor third pattern returns in the final two measures on different

pitches, finishing the song in an unresolved fashion.

The vocal lines of this song are long and sustained. They move primarily in

intervals of seconds, thirds and fifths. The interval of the fifth occurs mostly from F4 to

C5, and helps give the chant-like melody a haunting quality, similar to Mélisande’s solo.

The overall form is ABA¹ with the B section beginning in measure 8 and ending

in measure 13. The vocal line of the first A section is shortened in the A¹ section, but is

followed by a lengthy postlude.

259 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 109

8. Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be (What Grandpa Told the Children)

The moon? It is a griffin’s egg. Hatching tomorrow night. And how the little boys will watch With shouting and delight To see him break the shell and stretch And creep across the sky. The boys will laugh. The little girls, I fear, may hide and cry. Yet gentle will the griffin be, Most decorous and fat, And walk up to the Milky Way And lap it like a cat.260

Poetical Analysis:

Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be (What Grandpa Told the Children) was written

during the summer of 1912 and first published in Poetry Magazine on July 13, 1913. The

title was altered to The Moon’s a Griffin’s Egg in the Illinois State Register a couple

months later, but was changed back to its original form when The Congo and Other

Poems was published in September of 1914.261

The poem contains an allusion to a mythological creature called the griffin, which

is described as a monster with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.262

The subtitle of the poem introduces the reader to the character of Grandpa, who serves as the poem’s narrator and chief storyteller. Like Uncle William of The Haughty

King-Snail, Grandpa is enjoying his storytelling as much as the children. By adding the character of Grandpa, Lindsay gives added energy and excitement to the poem.

260 Camp, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, (Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984), 230. Used by Permission. 261 Camp, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3, 858. 262 Webster Dictionary Website, 110

The poem begins with Grandpa telling the children that the moon is really a

griffin’s egg on the verge of hatching. Just think how excited all the boys will be to see the shell break and the enormous griffin begin to walk across the sky! The boys, he continues, will all laugh, and the little girls might even become so frightened they start to cry. But the giant griffin will not be vicious or scary, but sweet and gentle instead. He will act like a gentleman and gracefully walk up to the Milky Way and begin to lap it up like a cat drinking milk.

This imaginative poem is narrative in form and contains elements of metaphor,

imagery, and personification. The opening metaphor compares the moon to a griffin’s

egg almost ready to hatch. Grandpa then proceeds to tell the children exactly what will happen when it does.

The imagery created as the story progresses is extremely vivid. In one of the most picturesque phrases, “to see him break the shell and stretch and creep across the sky,” the verbs “stretch” and “creep” conjure a clear visual image of the scary beast moving across the night sky. The “s’s” create an example of alliteration that sounds pleasing as well.

Images of sound are also used in the description of the laughing boys and crying girls.

When the griffin hatches, we realize that he is not ferocious after all, but “gentle” and “decorous.” This is a clear example of personification. The final phrase in lines eleven and twelve creates another example of effective imagery. In a very calm manner, he “walks up to the Milky Way and laps it like a cat.” Not only does the phrase create a magical image of motion, but it uses both alliteration and assonance as well. Alliteration is found in line eleven with its repetition of “w’s,” and assonance is found in line twelve

111

with the short [a] sound in “laps” and “cat.” As a result, the sound of the phrase is as pleasing as its meaning.

Once again the meter of the poem contains alternating eight-and six-syllable lines, arranged as iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. The only variation consists of an initial inversion on the word “hatching” in line two. The rhyme-scheme is

ABCB/DEFE/GHIH. The lilting rhythm gives energy to the magical poem. All of these aspects contribute to the poem’s mysterious and magical tone.

Musical Analysis:

In his setting of the final poem, Yet Gentle will the Griffin Be, Heggie uses the alternative title (What Grandpa Told the Children) to introduce the final performer of the song cycle, Gloriana’s fun-loving grandfather. Having overheard some of the bedtime stories, Grandpa enters Gloriana’s room determined to top them all with his spooky tale of how the moon is really a griffin’s egg on the verge of hatching.

In his music, Heggie expresses the characters and action of the story by utilizing text painting, varying tempi, glissandi and accents. He also expresses the story harmonically by using chromatic ascending motion and half–step dissonances.

The piece is divided into four major sections, ABCB¹, that are marked with the descriptive phrases “rather creepy, ” “rather wild (spooky),” “mysterious,” and “fast.”

The accompaniment of the opening section alternates between “creepy-sounding” ascending/descending triads and subtle mystical sounding harmonies. When the vocalist enters in measure 8 with the question, “The moon?,” the bell-like octave Cs in the right hand of the accompaniment in measure 10 and 11 create a musical representation of the moon.

112

Fig. 23: Griffin, m.8-12263

While the first section’s tempo is rather slow and free, the B section is suddenly

fast and “rather wild” as Grandpa launches into his exciting story. To help convey his

excitement, Heggie adds accent marks and glissandi throughout the vocal line. An

example of his use of glissandi as text painting is found in measures 32-35 on “delight.”

The word begins on a middle C and then slides up the octave and a half-step as it

crescendos. This expresses the excitement the boys feel as they watch the egg begin to

hatch.

263 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 113

Fig. 24: Griffin, m.29-35264

Heggie has also added additional text to Lindsay’s original poem to express the

emotional reactions of various characters in the story. After the text, “and how the little

boys will watch with shouting and delight,” he adds a line of “Ha-has!” On these words

he uses glissandi and accent marks to help simulate the sound of laughter. The melody

used in the vocal line for the added laughter returns in the piano accompaniment of

measures 57-60 immediately preceding the phrase, “The boys will laugh.” After the text,

“The little girls, I fear, may hide and cry,” he adds a line of “wahs!” which are marked

with descending glissandi, effectively mimicking the sound of the sobbing girls.

264 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 114

Fig. 25: Griffin, m.70-75265

The third section is marked “much slower” and “mysterious.” The text reveals

that the newly hatched griffin is not mean and ferocious as one would expect, but actually

very gentle. The magical innocence of the griffin is reflected quite nicely in Heggie’s

choice of dissonant harmonies as well as the treble piano accompaniment.

Heggie employs text painting once again to depict the griffin “walking up to the

Milky Way” by setting the words on an ascending vocal line. He also uses his technique

of having the accompaniment drop out in order to emphasize the final line of the original

poetry, “like a cat.”

265 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 115

Fig. 26: Griffin, m.86-98266

The last section of the song is marked “fast” and contains additional “Ahs!” set to

a shortened version of the music that previously accompanied the boy’s laughter in the

first B section. Heggie intended these final “Ahs!” to represent Grandpa’s laughter and

delight in teasing Gloriana with his scary tale.267

Heggie’s choice of harmony, specifically his use of chromatic ascending motion

and half-step dissonances, is another important aspect of expressing the text and overall

mood of the song. The ascending chromatic movement is effective in building tension

and increasing the suspense as the story enfolds. A clear example of this can be found in

the accompaniment in measures 18-25.

266 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 267 Heggie, personal interview. 116

Fig. 27: Griffin, m.18-25268

Other examples can be found in measures 68 and 69 and 100-102. The

“creepiness” of the first section is depicted with ascending chromatic movement that

consists specifically of a group of parallel ascending and descending triads over a tonic F

minor chord (measures 3, 4, and 7, 8).

268 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 117

Fig. 28: Griffin, m.3-4269

The result is a very spooky sounding motive that is effectively menacing. A similar version of this motive is found in measures 53-55, appropriately as the singer

sings of the griffin “creeping across the sky.”

Fig. 29: Griffin, m.52-55270

269 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 270 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 118

Heggie’s half-steps dissonances also create a magical and mysterious quality that

suits the whimsical poetry well. The first example is found in the very first measure of

the piece. Here we find an F minor triad that contains an added E§. In this case the E§ is

not functioning as the seventh of the chord but just adds color.

Fig. 30: Griffin, m.1271

In measure 6, we also find half-step dissonance between the Bb/B§ of the vii°7

chord. Additional examples in the first section include Bb/B§ in measure 10, E§/Db in

measure 11, as well as E§/Eb in measure 12 (see Fig. 23). Many more examples can be

found throughout the song and are too numerous to mention. Some even include multiple

half-step dissonances in a single chord. For instance the chord in measures 49 and 50

contains half-step tensions between the E§/Db, Ab/B§, and F/E§.

271 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 119

Fig. 31: Griffin, m.49-50272

In the beginning of the C section, Heggie continues to experiment with the idea of

half-step tensions by moving from a tonic F minor chord to an E major chord, which is

built on the leading tone. The third of both chords is enharmonically the same (Ab in the

F minor chord and G# in the E major chord). In measures 77-83, the vocalist sings an Ab

while the harmonies in the accompaniment alternate between these two chords. As a

result, the Ab/G# becomes the pivot pitch that connects these dissonant tonalities together.

272 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 120

Fig. 32: Griffin, m.76-84273

273 Excerpt from Songs to the Moon from The Faces of Love, Copyright © 1999 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI), International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 121

CHAPTER 6

CYCLE STRUCTURE AND SONG SIMILARITIES

This chapter will discuss the overall structure of the song cycle and compositional

similarities between the individual songs. The purpose is to show how the songs fit

together to form a coherent song cycle.

The eight songs of Heggie’s Songs to the Moon can be divided into two separate

categories in terms of basic style. The first category consists of songs that are

impressionistic and subtle in tone, namely songs one, six and seven. Their musical

settings suggest the text by creating the overall mood and atmosphere of the poem. The

second category includes songs that are strongly descriptive in their musical depiction of

the text. The characters and actions in these poems are vividly and specifically portrayed

in the music. The songs in this category include three, four, five and eight. Song two is

unique in the sense that it contains aspects of both styles.

The impressionistic songs are similar in the sense that all have fluid accompaniments and long flowing vocal lines; however, the accompaniments differ slightly in their rhythmic construction. Song one has a syncopated, legato accompaniment, while song seven and the B section of song two have accompaniments with slow, steady rhythms moving mostly on the strong beats. Song six varies from the previous pieces in the use of rapid moving, eighth-note passages. All four

122

accompaniments include sections in which both hands are written in the treble clef to

help create a tender and/or childlike quality, which complements the text.

Influences of Debussy’s music are clearly heard in these songs. Parallel motion, a

device often used by Debussy, is found in song seven as well as the B section of song

two. While Debussy used whole tone, pentatonic, and chromatic scale passages, Heggie

creates a similar tonal quality by using octatonic scales. These scales occur in song six,

and are constructed of alternating whole steps and half steps. Another influence of

Debussy’s music can be seen in Heggie’s use of hemiola rhythms. Generally, all four

accompaniments contain a flexibility and freedom of line often associated with

Debussy’s music.

Tonal ambiguity is another device shared by Debussy and Heggie. The harmonies

of Heggie’s songs are dissonant and difficult to analyze in terms of functional harmonies.

Each song differs slightly in harmonic make-up. Songs one and seven generally favor

seventh chords. Song one primarily uses the viiº7, V7 and the bVIM7 chords to create its

dissonance, while song seven consists almost entirely of major seventh chords. The

colorful, chromatic harmonies in the B section of song two are created by a group of

triads and seventh chords moving in intervals of minor and major seconds. Song six, on the other hand, uses dueling sonorities, suspensions, and chords (mostly triads) with added chromatic non-chord tones. The common denominator is that the harmonies provide colorful dissonances that create an ethereal or magical quality to all four songs.

Despite his use of exotic harmonies in the accompaniments of these pieces, the vocal lines of all four are essentially tonal and fit within the general harmonic structure.

123

These vocal phrases are mostly long and sustained, with the exception of the first two

phrases of the B section in song six.

The descriptive songs, which include the A section of song two as well as songs

three, four, five and eight, have recurring motives that represent the central characters of

the humorous text, as well as short vocal phrases. Heggie also uses elements of

chromaticism and jazz in the construction of these motives and in the musical settings in general.

The A section of song two features the chromatic motive derived from the

Powerhouse quotation, musically representing the characters of Euclid and the greybeards. The motive contains the jazzy sounding Neapolitan chord set to a dotted eighth/sixteenth pattern, which is a standard jazz rhythm. Other jazz elements include vocal scatting, syncopation, walking bass line, bouncing octaves, and accents and slurs in both the accompaniment and vocal lines. The vocal line consists of short, choppy phrases, which help portray the humorous old men.

In song three, the snails are musically represented through heavily accented chords in the left-hand accompaniment with a chromatic ascending and descending

motive in the right hand. Together they depict the laborious, slippery/sliding movement of the snails. Chromaticism is used in the motive as well as the overall harmonic structure. The many elements of jazz found in this song include accents, slurs, walking bass lines, flexible tempi, flatted fifth degree of the scale, and the use of fermata and phrases marked “ad lib.” The vocal line contains relatively short, jazz-styled phrases that move mostly chromatically, stepwise or in intervals of thirds.

124

In song four, the snake is illustrated in the slow chromatic or stepwise movement of the right-hand accompaniment, as well as the rhythmic tango motive found in the left hand. Both reflect the slithering movement and self-confidence of the snake. The piece not only contains chromaticism horizontally, but harmonically as well. Although the harmonic structure alternates between i/I and V7 chords throughout most of the piece,

they contain numerous chromatic non-chord tones that give the song its unique chromatic

color. Overall, the song has more of a Latin than a jazzy feel, but includes some aspects

of jazz such as syncopated rhythms, glissandi, and accents, flexible tempi. The song

consists of short vocal phrases that mimic the snake through its use of trills, slides and

sharp syncopated rhythms.

In song five, the childlike nature of the little girl is expressed through the rhythmic foot stomps and handclaps in the A sections. Her spoken text, together with the rhythmic accompaniment, effectively imitate a typical jump-rope song performed by a child at play. The B sections are basic in their harmonic construction, with mainly f minor tonic and C major dominant chords, but as in song four, they are chromatically colored through the addition of non-chord tones. Elements of jazz are also found in these

B sections and include vocal scatting to be performed “freely, with an easy jazzy feel” as well as rhythmic accents in both the accompaniment and vocal lines.

Song eight contains ascending and descending triads to reflect the spooky and mysterious griffin. Harmonically, the piece contains much chromatic motion occurring primarily in the accompaniment, which effectively builds tension and increases suspense as the story enfolds. The piece sounds more mysterious than “jazzy” but makes use of heavy accents, glissando and strong accented rhythms associated with jazz.

125

Heggie uses several compositional techniques that are found in almost all of the

songs in the cycle. These techniques include text painting, unaccompanied singing, spoken text, repetition of the opening statement and unresolved endings. Text painting is used in all of the songs with the exception of song five. Spoken text is used in songs three, four, five, six and eight, while all but six and seven contain instances of

unaccompanied singing. Most of the pieces repeat the opening statement, except for

songs three and five. Heggie says he uses the repeated opening statement to allow the listener to “step over the threshold and suddenly enter into the new music and story of

each song.”274 Song eight is the only one in the cycle that ends on a resolved chord and

gives an appropriate finality to the cycle.

The form of the individual songs of the cycle is similar in the sense that the final

sections of each contain previously stated material. Heggie tends to repeat melodic

material, especially when the messages of the poems are simple, like those in Songs to

the Moon. “Because these songs are little jewels and short statements trying to say one thing, I will tie the lyrical material together to show that they are expressing one

thought.”275 Songs one, three, four, six and seven, have the same ABA¹ construction, in

which the second A section is a shortened version of the first. The structure of both five

and eight is ABAB¹ and, like the previous pieces, the final sections of each are

abbreviated. Even though the form of the second song is AB, the final section contains

music heard earlier in the song. Specifically, the final four measures of the B section

contain the greybeard motive, which is first introduced in the opening measures of

section A.

274 Heggie, personal interview. 275 Heggie, personal interview. 126

The keys of the eight individual songs are listed in the order they appear in the

cycle: G major, G minor, C minor, F minor, F minor, G minor, F minor, and F minor. For

the most part, the songs progress to closely related keys. The only exception is the F

minor/G minor relationship between songs five/six and six/seven. Heggie admits he

doesn’t consider the overall key structure ahead of time, but likes the pieces to flow

naturally together.276

Heggie arranges the songs in a logical order to give interest and continuity to the

song cycle. For the first song, he chooses the poem Once More to Gloriana to set up the

scenario for the rest of the song cycle. It establishes that the mother has come into her

daughter’s room at night to sing her a lullaby. The following songs in turn become the

various bedtime stories told by the mother and other relatives in an attempt to entertain the child. The texts of the songs are also similar in that they all contain references to the

moon.

The impressionistic first song is an effective opener, which expresses the tender

bond between the mother and child. This song is followed by the humorous story of

Euclid, a vivid contrast with its jazzy, descriptive opening section and subtle,

impressionistic final section. The third and fourth songs are both descriptive in style, with

humorous texts about the arrogant snails and the confident snake. Uncle William’s tipsy

rendition of the third song provides added variety and interest. The fifth song is

appropriately positioned in the middle of the song cycle when the audience’s attention

span has the potential to waver. It is so interesting and unexpected with the handclaps and

chanting of the little girl, the audience has no problem staying engaged. This song is

276 Heggie, personal interview. 127

followed by the two impressionistic settings about the scarecrow and the gray-winged

fairy. By placing them sixth and seventh in the cycle, Heggie provides an effective

contrast to the more energetic songs. The final song about the mysterious griffin,

performed by the vivacious Grandpa, is the most suspenseful and exciting song of the cycle. It is very descriptive in style and provides a theatrical and satisfying ending to the

piece.

In conclusion, Heggie’s Songs to the Moon is well-constructed. The texts and

musical settings of the individual songs are composed and organized in such a way that they form a dramatically and musically coherent song cycle.

128

CHAPTER 7

PERFORMANCE NOTES

Jake Heggie says the most important aspect of performing Songs to the Moon is to

effectively communicate the characters in each song. “These pieces are all about

character…You should sing them as though they are the most important thing in the world to you. To really have a sense of character, you shouldn’t put on the character but be the character.”277

In order to gain a true sense of character, the performer must first read and study

the poetry. In this particular song cycle, it is helpful to understand not only Lindsay’s

conception of the poems, but Heggie’s interpretations of the poems as well. After reading

both views, the performer can then create her own interpretation and make an informed

decision as to how she will portray each character. The more specifics the performer

understands about the character and text, the more fully realized and successful her

performance will be.

Heggie was pleased with Ms. von Stade’s interpretation of his song cycle. Of the

premiere performance, he said, “Flicka was so into each song. She put all the character

that I knew she would put into them.” He then shared how Ms. von Stade prepared for the

performance:

277 Heggie, personal interview. 129

She starts with the text, and she really thinks about it. She told me once that if it says in a song that the leaves are falling off the tree then she would ask, “What color are the leaves?” Also, “Is the tree dead? Is it because of the time of year? Is it in my imagination that it is happening?” She wants to know what all of it means and why it is important to the song. She really goes way inside. And by doing this she makes it something very personal that she can commit to. As a result her performances are extremely committed.278

Answering specific questions about the text helps the performer create a solid foundation for her performance. By employing this technique to construct a very specific and detailed world, the artist is more apt to fully commit herself to the performance and connect in a believable way with the audience.

Unfortunately, this does not always happen in a performance situation. Heggie makes the following observations:

I think that one of the big problems in recitals today is that so often you will go and be bored out of your mind because you are sitting in a theater and nothing theatrical is happening. If the performer is not having a good time, then no one else is. And the only way you are going to have a good time is if this means something to you…If you are not committed to it and feel that there is no real reason why you have to sing these songs, then there is no point to do them.279

Martin Katz agrees with Heggie that the performer should have a clear

understanding of the text and character of each song in order to give a successful

performance. In his coaching session, he explained that the music alone is not enough to

carry the performance—the singer must pay a great deal of attention to text and character

and develop an overall plan. To help get a true sense of the text, he suggests the performer speak the poetry to a child. He recommends a child of about six or seven who

still believes in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. When reciting the poetry, the performer should try to do whatever is necessary to keep the child’s attention. Through this

278 Heggie, personal interview. 279 Heggie, personal interview. 130

exercise, the performer can get a true sense of how her presentation connected with the

child. What she learns from reciting the poetry can be transferred and included in the

sung performance.280

This song cycle is just pages of music that has to be brought to life… The story telling is the most important aspect. A special kind of story telling that is unlimited. Especially a fantastic world like this! It is like the world of The Wizard of Oz where scarecrows talk and walk about… What is interesting is that nothing in these stories could really happen; they are complete fantasy. So what can you do wrong? The only thing the performer can do wrong is not to do anything.281

The rest of the chapter will address performance suggestions as they pertain to the individual songs of the cycle. The information was gained from coaching sessions and e- mail contact with Mr. Heggie, Mr. Katz, and Ms. von Stade. Other suggestions included are from my own personal work on the songs. These suggestions are intended to aid singers in the performance of the song cycle.

1. Prologue: Once More –to Gloriana

Both Heggie and Katz stress the importance of expressing the deep bond of love the mother has for her child. Katz recommends creating a scenario that allows the performer to experience these feelings. He suggests that perhaps Gloriana is feeling badly about herself because she is different from other children. Because of this, the mother is singing to her in order to build her self-esteem.282 I found this suggestion to be helpful. I

envision the little girl as having a physical disability that causes the other children to treat

her differently. As her mother, I want to convince her that to me she is the most special

little girl in the world. At the same time, I want to give her all these magical and make- believe gifts to cheer her up and help her feel better about herself.

280 Katz, coaching session with author, 16 Sept 2003. 281 Katz, coaching session. 282 Katz, coaching session. 131

Heggie encourages the performer to take time through the transitions in the song.

It should never feel like you are in a hurry. It should be sung, he says, as a lullaby to a

beautiful child who you love more than anything else in the world. Also, the singer

should wait for the accompaniment to completely stop before coming in with the phrase,

“I bring you gold” in measure 23. Extra time should also be taken to bring out the word

“eyes” in measure 49, and on the three fermati on the word “so” in measure 54.283

Heggie gives further instruction by saying the text in the B section should be sung as if the mother is coming up with the words immediately before she sings them. (Katz recommends really making something of the breaths during the unusual rests in this section to clearly convey this idea.) Also, the final section beginning with the phrase, “to feebly praise your golden eyes” in measure 44, should be full of a resigned and overwhelming love for the child.284

Katz agrees with Heggie that the piece should be performed with rhythmic

flexibility. Since the singer’s entrance is difficult to judge, Katz recommends listening for

the quarter notes in the left-hand of the accompaniment in measure 12. I found this

suggestion to be helpful. Also, the syncopation of the accompaniment can cause

ensemble problems, so he concludes it should be the pianist’s job to follow the singer in

this piece and not vice versa.

The vocal range and tessitura of this song is ideal for the lyric mezzo-soprano

voice. The vocal range is from D4 above middle C to high G5 at the top of the staff, yet

the melody stays mostly in the mezzo’s comfortable middle range.

283 Jake Heggie, coaching session with author, 11 Sept 2001. 284 Heggie, coaching session. 132

The song, as well as the others in the song cycle, is relatively easy for the singer

to learn, especially when compared with atonal twentieth-century art songs. Despite

Heggie’s use of chromatic and unusual harmonies in the accompaniment, the vocal line is

very lyrical and closely tied to the overall harmonic structure of the accompaniment.

2. Euclid

Since the mother is singing this song in an attempt to entertain Gloriana, Martin

Katz says the performer should begin the piece as if she is telling the greatest story in the

world.

Really make a lot out of the words and exaggerate everything you are saying. Really stress the words “arc” “circumference” and “diameter” since these terms were new during Euclid’s time. Don’t say them like you would an ordinary word like “supermarket.”285

It is also important, he says, to have a clear subtext for the scatting phrases.

According to Heggie, the scatting sections were intended to represent the old greybeards arguing loudly with one another.286 With this subtext in mind, I decided to

perform these sections as a pompous old professor delivering a lecture. The effect of an intense professor expressing himself with scatting syllables is quite humorous, and provides a strong contrast with the innocent character of the child.

Heggie says the performer should transition into the character of the child beginning with the hum in measure 3. The subtext on this hum should be, “I have no idea what these men are saying, but aren’t these circles beautiful!” He also wants the singer to

285 Katz, coaching session. 286 Heggie, coaching session. 133

ignore the phrase marking that connects measures 30 and 31, and take a breath after the fermata. This will help make a clean break into the child’s section.287

Both Heggie and Katz recommend that the B section should be performed as childlike as possible. Katz says that, even though the breath after the word “because” in measure 40 may seem awkward, it makes sense because this is what an excited child might do. He also encourages the singer to only use natural speech-like rhythms from measure 40 to the end. If the rhythms are too accurate, he says, it won’t sound like natural

English. For instance, the performer shouldn’t hold the fermata on the last syllable of

“pictures” like it is written, but put it on the entire phrase instead. He also advises against taking too much time on the words “of the” in measure 43. “The performer should reject anything that doesn’t sound natural.”288

From the singer’s standpoint, this song is very easy to learn. The vocal range extends from D4 to F5, and is well within the lyric mezzo’s comfortable range. The challenging aspect for the classically trained vocalist is to freely express the “jazzy” singing style of the piece.

3. The Haughty Snail-King (What Uncle William Told the Children)

In this song, Gloriana’s intoxicated Uncle William replaces her mother as storyteller. To express the character of Uncle William, Heggie suggests the performer give a “sluggish feel” to the performance rather than attempting to slur the words.

Specifically, he recommends exaggerating the “bl” of the word “blow” in measure 10 and to “think drunk” on the glissando on the same word in measures 10 through 12. He also

287 Heggie, coaching session. 288 Katz, coaching session. 134

says to point out the “sh!” in measure 26 as if the audience is making too much noise for

poor intoxicated William’s sensitive ears.289

Martin Katz warns that the drunken interpretation of the song can lead to sloppy

diction. Because of this, the singer must do whatever is necessary to make sure the words

are clearly understood.290

Ms. von Stade tried various vocal colors for the Snail-King’s text, in order to

express his arrogant personality. In the premiere, she used a “covered” and “hooty” sound, but in later performances she used a brighter, more operatic sound. According to

Heggie, both were effective in portraying the pompous snail.291

Heggie also like the way Ms. von Stade performed the final “sh!” at the end of the

piece.

She sat on a stool for the entire song and at the end just stared in front of her like she was actually watching the snails walking across the stage. At the same time she put her hand out to the audience as if to say, ‘Wait until they are gone.’ The effect was very humorous.292

Heggie says the more character the singer can work into the piece, the better the

performance will be.293 Martin Katz agrees. “This piece is not very challenging vocally.

You have to use your imagination and sell it. The piece will not sell itself.”294

The song is easy to learn, especially in terms of pitches and rhythms. The vocal

range extends from low G3 below middle C to F#5. The low G may prove problematic

289 Heggie, coaching session. 290 Katz, coaching session. 291 Heggie, coaching session. 292 Heggie, coaching session. 293 Heggie, coaching session. 294 Katz, coaching session. 135

for sopranos or mezzos without a strong low register. Dramatically, the most difficult

aspect of the performance is to portray the intoxicated Uncle William with clarity and

confidence.

4. What the Rattlesnake Said

In this song, Gloriana’s mother resumes the role of storyteller. Heggie said the

music in the first two measures is very different from the rest of the song, because he

intends these measures to transport the audience into the world of the new poem. Martin

Katz says that, for these two measures, the mother is considering which story she should

tell. She makes up her mind at the first hint of the new music in measure three, and

immediately assumes the character and personality of the snake.295

Heggie is very specific about how he would like the piece to be performed. The character of the snake, he says, should be portrayed in a way that is both self-confident and seductive. “Just envision this sexy and self-satisfied snake who thinks he owns everything and that everyone is afraid of him.”296 He was pleased with Ms. von Stade’s

interpretation of the character. “The first time we read through the piece together, she was

able to get the character right away. She just started doing this motion with her shoulders,

and it was perfect. Her whole body was into the performance.”297

Knowing Ms. von Stade’s physical portrayal helped in my own interpretation of

the character. Another idea that worked for me was to think of the snake as the character

of . This image helped me to convey a sense of confidence and sensuality that felt

natural with the “Spanish feel” of the tango rhythm.

295 Katz, coaching session. 296 Heggie, coaching session. 297 Heggie, coaching session. 136

Other interpretive suggestions from Heggie include the following comments. The

performer should speak the word “bite” in measure 23 as a “sexy whisper reminiscent of

Rita Hayworth.”298 Also, the “ah’s” in the last ten measures of the piece are meant to

communicate a sense of sorrow, in order to show that beneath the snake’s confident exterior there is a core of loneliness.299

In my practicing I found it difficult to make this “lonely” subtext work

dramatically. It felt awkward to suddenly switch from very confident to lonely. When I

expressed my concern to Martin Katz, he said the following: “I would say that is almost

impossible to do…There is nothing in the text or the piano part during the final section to

make the audience think the character should be feeling anything differently.”300 He suggested I keep the feeling of pride and arrogance through to the end of the song.

Dramatically, this felt much more natural to me.

I think it is important for performers to be open to, and at least try, all of the composer’s suggestions. If a particular concept fails to work for the singer after several attempts, then the performer should feel free to explore other possibilities. If a singer does not identify with the composer’s dramatic ideas, yet stays with them instead of developing her own, it would not be enough to secure a convincing performance. I think most composers, including Heggie, would be open to other interpretations of their music, knowing it would result in a more committed performance. Ultimately, the performer must find the ideas that work best for her in order to ensure a believable performance.

298 Heggie, coaching session. 299 Heggie, coaching session. 300 Katz, coaching session. 137

The song is relatively easy to learn in terms of basic rhythms and pitches. The vocal range is very comfortable for the singer and extends from middle C4 to an Fb5. The most challenging aspect of this song, like the previous piece, is in the area of communication and character portrayal.

5. The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky (What the Little Girl Said)

This song is the only one in the cycle that is performed by the character of

Gloriana. Heggie indicates that the performer should chant the spoken text as “a

‘hopscotch’ or ‘jump-rope’ song” in a way that is both childlike and energetic. He also says the accompanist can feel free to vamp the opening measures if the singer needs a little extra time before her first entrance. I noticed that Mr. Katz did this on the premiere recording.

When asked about his subtext for the scatting sections, Heggie replied that the first scatting section should communicate the child’s pride at how well she is chanting and playing the “jump-rope” game. The second scatting section should express the excitement she feels from winning the game. In this section, Heggie uses a softer dynamic level to show the girl is attempting to subdue her emotions in order to spare the other children’s feelings.301

To give more punch to the ending text, Heggie encourages the accompanist to hit the piano, either on the top or underneath, on the third beat of measure 31, instead of clapping. He suggests the singer do so as well in an effort to make as much noise as possible.302 Martin Katz suggests this same text, “that greedy…North

Wind…eats…again!,” be performed as a child on the verge of a temper tantrum. The

301 Heggie, coaching session. 302 Heggie, coaching session. 138

emphatic delivery will help communicate the child’s frustration and give appropriate finality to the punch line.303

A practical suggestion by Katz is for the singer to do something with her hands as

she speaks the word ‘kneads” in order to communicate the meaning to the audience.

Otherwise the word “kneads” might be mistaken for the more common “needs.”304

The piece is very easy for the singer to learn in terms of notes and rhythms. The pitches range from a comfortable C4 to F5. Like so many of Heggie’s songs, character portrayal should be of utmost importance. If the character of the little girl is not convincing, the performance will not be effective. The singer should be willing to sacrifice beautiful tone in order to stay true to the character.

6. What the Scarecrow Said

In this song, Gloriana’s mother acts out the story of the arrogant scarecrow.

Heggie says it is important for the performer to know that the “dim-winged spirits” refer to the crows that are flying around the scarecrow’s cornfield. “He is so arrogant that he actually thinks he’s in charge of them.”305 The performer should maintain an arrogant

attitude until the final line of the song, “Because I am a King.” At this point, the

scarecrow’s insecurities begin to surface. He doesn’t believe the words are really true, but

speaks them aloud in an attempt to try and convince himself they are. Because of the new

subtext, Heggie encourages the singer to take time on the final phrase. “Wait a bit before

303 Katz, coaching session. 304 Katz, coaching session. 305 Heggie, coaching session. 139

you begin the last statement. Also, take your time as you speak the phrase because they are expecting you to sing it. The audience needs time to get it.”306

Even though Heggie thinks the singer should stress the word “am” in the final

phrase, Martin Katz disagrees. He doesn’t think the “insecure” subtext works well with

the rest of the song.

When you stress the word “am” it sounds like he doesn’t believe it, and although that is the subtext Heggie intended, it isn’t promoted by the music or text. Stressing “am” almost sounds like someone is threatening him and up until now, the crows have done everything he asked. They even created a moon and put it up in the sky for him! I suggest stressing the word “I” or “King,” but to stress “am” doesn’t make sense to me.”307

When I first heard Ms. von Stade on the recording, I thought the final phrase

sounded a bit odd. When I met with Mr. Heggie and discovered his intended subtext, I

tried incorporating it into my practicing, and stressing the word “am” of “I am” as he

suggested. It still seemed unnatural to me. After meeting with Mr. Katz, hearing his

opinion, and working some on my own, I came to the conclusion that I would borrow

from both Katz’s and Heggie’s suggestions. After working with a mirror, I decided it was

most natural for me to say the final statement with confidence, stressing the word “King”

as Katz suggested, but then using the music immediately following the statement to

express my insecurity over the statement. This way I can perform the song in a way that

makes sense to me from a dramatic standpoint, yet still stay true to Heggie’s subtext.

I found the hemiola rhythms to be the most challenging aspect of the song,

especially in terms of ensemble. When mentioning this to Heggie, he recommended

306 Heggie, coaching session. 307 Katz, coaching session. 140

thinking of the measures in beats of one instead of three. However, he says the rhythms

don’t have to be too literal.

Don’t worry. It doesn’t have to be perfectly two against three. I really don’t care about that…It is more important that it has freedom so that the words are clear. Whatever works best for you. I don’t want it sung like a robot, strictly in tempo. You have to make sure that is very natural and speech-like.308

Martin Katz agrees that the song needs rhythmic flexibility. “You have to have a little flexibility, especially in the measures with four words in it, like measure 29. You can’t just sing it like a machine.”309

This piece is definitely the most difficult of the entire song cycle, both rhythmically and in terms of vocal production. The vocal line ranges from an Eb4 above

middle C to a high A5. The problem is not with the range itself, but with the way the

pitches occur in the context of the phrase. One of the most challenging phrases of the

song is “and bring me shimm’ring shadow robes” in measures 33 through 45. This

lengthy phrase ascends to the climactic A, which is held for five measures. This A can be

difficult for the mezzo-soprano voice to sustain with an acceptable quality, especially at

the end of such a lengthy phrase. To help the singer, Heggie has added an accelerando.

“The singer should feel free to accelerando through the tough phrase with the high A. The

pianist can move it as much as needed.” He also gives the singer the option of singing the

alternate pitch of E§ instead of the high A. When asked if he prefers singers to take the

original note, he responded, “Not at all. They should sing whatever note sounds best and

feels best to them. You wouldn’t want to suddenly distract the listener and take them out

308 Heggie, coaching session. 309 Katz, coaching session. 141

of the world that you’ve created because something awkward has happened.”310 As

previously mentioned, the song is also challenging in terms of ensemble. I found it

helpful to follow Mr. Heggie’s suggestions of thinking the measures in beats of one.

Knowing the rhythms can be flexible was helpful as well.

7. What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said

In this song, the mother continues as the storyteller. Heggie’s inspiration for the

song was Mélisande’s tower aria from Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande.311 The performer can capture the mood of the song by envisioning herself as the mysterious fairy sitting at the window of a tower with the moonlight shining in.

Martin Katz says the key to singing this piece is to be as free as possible.

Don’t be afraid to make it free. Some of the other songs in the cycle have complicated accompaniments and specific directions, but this is the only one that is marked ‘freely’. Enjoy being free! English is not a straight language like French or some other languages. It is very up and down. If you make it too steady, it doesn’t sound like English.312

He believes the best way to do this is by speaking the phrases aloud and deciding

which words are the most important. When singing, the performer should stress the

important words by giving them more length. By all means, he says, don’t stress

unimportant words, or treat all words the same.313 By speaking the text, I was able to

determine which words should be stressed for a more natural delivery.

310 Heggie, coaching session. 311 Heggie, coaching session. 312 Katz, coaching session. 313 Katz, coaching session. 142

Heggie encourages the performer to take time throughout. “Above all, don’t rush.

It is such beautiful text, so make sure you fight the temptation to speed up. There has to

be magic in those words.”314

Both Heggie and Katz offer some practical suggestions. Heggie asks that the

performer sing a glottal on the word “ear” in measure 7 so the word can be clearly

understood. He also encourages the singer to emphasize the “f” of “fairy” to stress the

magical quality of the word.315 Martin Katz recommends breathing before the word “is”

in measure 9 and carrying it through to the word “beats.” Doing this, he says, will help the breath after “beats” make sense.316

This song is relatively easy to learn in terms of pitches and basic rhythms. It is

also within the mezzo’s comfortable range (Eb4 to G5). The most challenging part is in

committing to the free style of the song as well as maintaining a fine legato line in the

long and flowing phrases.

8. Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be (What Grandpa Told the Children)

Gloriana’s fun-loving grandpa is the storyteller for this song. He is thoroughly

enjoying his attempt to scare Gloriana with his tale of the spooky monster. For a successful performance, the singer should embody Grandpa’s high level of energy and excitement.

When asked about the subtext for the “ahs,” Heggie responded that those beginning in measure 36 are the boys’ response, whereas those from measure 100 until the end are Grandpa’s response.

314 Heggie, coaching session. 315 Heggie, coaching session. 316 Katz, coaching session. 143

Grandpa is still a boy, a very old boy! He is having fun scaring Gloriana…The sliding “ahs” in particular are really representative of Grandpa teasing Gloriana— maybe he is even trying to tickle her. The story is creepy, but you know Grandpa is just teasing and having fun.317

At first, I found these sliding “ahs” to be somewhat awkward to produce. They

became more comfortable when I thought about the menacing subtext and used a

crescendo through the glissando to the high G. As a result, the G did not sound “tight” or

“choked” but was much more energetic. On the other hand, Katz says the purpose of the

“ahs” is not necessarily to sound beautiful, but as Heggie suggested, to imitate the teasing

Grandpa.318

Katz says the whole story would be extremely entertaining to a child. Imagine

watching a monster of an enormous egg! Because of this, the singer should take

time on the phrase “and walk up to the Milky Way” because the audience has no idea

what is going to happen next. This will help build the suspense so the punch line really

works.319

This song is well within the mezzo’s comfortable range (middle C to Ab5) and is

relatively easy to learn in terms of rhythms and pitches. The only rhythmic challenges are

Grandpa’s syncopated “ahs” in the final measures of the piece. Martin Katz gave me a

wonderful suggestion to help manage this difficult section. Beginning in measure 107

through 109, he recommends drawing a bar line every second beat so the beats are

divided into groups of two instead of groups of three. As a result the singer’s “ahs” will

always be on beat two, and the entrances will be much easier to manage.

317 Heggie, coaching session. 318 Katz, coaching session. 319 Katz, coaching session. 144

Above all, text and character portrayal should be the most important aspects to consider when preparing this song for performance

This piece is all about character, character, character! That is what is really important along with the words. So make sure they are clear and really exaggerate the consonants.320

When asked to rate the overall difficulty of Songs to the Moon for the average pianist, Mr. Katz responded that it is slightly above average difficulty, both technically and in terms of ensemble. He responded that the most challenging aspect of the cycle was dealing with Heggie’s occasional bouts of un-pianistic writing.321

When I asked Ms. von Stade what was most challenging for her, she said the following:

The transitions are a little tricky, and at one point I thought it would be fun to say the title of the song before each song. I think you might consider sitting on a stool and pretending that you are singing for children, so that everything can be a little larger than life.322

Mr. Katz thinks her idea is an interesting possibility. He says speaking the titles before all the songs, with the exception of the first one, could be helpful in setting each scene and “stringing the separate experiences together.”323

In my practicing, I sang through the song cycle both with the spoken titles and without. I came to the conclusion that I preferred it without speaking the titles. Part of the reason for my decision had to do with the opening measures in songs 4 and 6. Because these measures have music that is different from the music that follows, the singer can give the impression, as Mr. Katz suggested, that she is still coming up with the idea for

320 Heggie, coaching session. 321 Katz, e-mail. 322 Frederica von Stade, e-mail to author, 17 Jan 2002. 323 Katz, e-mail. 145

the next story. If the singer speaks the titles before the song, it wouldn’t make sense that

she would be coming up with the idea after the fact. Since I enjoyed having this dramatic tool at my disposal, I decided not to speak the titles. Also, since the audience would have a program, they would already know what’s coming next, so speaking the titles might prove to be redundant. Each performer should decide which approach works best for her.

I also decided that it works better for me to stand rather than sit during the song cycle, with the exception of The Haughty Snail King. Because the singer is acting intoxicated, pulling up a stool for support makes sense for this character. This prop helped me to keep my body relatively stable while acting drunk. For the other songs, it felt more comfortable to remain standing, especially from a vocal standpoint. This is what Ms. von Stade chose to do at the premiere performance.

The final question I put to Ms. von Stade in our e-mail interview was, “What advice would you give to a young mezzo planning to perform this song cycle?” Here is her response.

Jake has made the colors evident in his music, and the poetry is so simple and accessible. All that the singer really needs to do is just tell the stories and it will work…Above and beyond all, have fun!!! If you do, everyone else will. This cycle can be very touching as well, so really relish those moments.324

324 von Stade, e-mail. 146

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boyer, John.“Heggie:Songs.” American Record Guide 63.1(Jan./Feb. 2000):108-110.

Brenner, Rica. Poets of Our Time. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1941.

Camp, Dennis, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1 Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984.

Camp, Dennis, ed. The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 3 Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984.

Chénetier, Marc. “‘Free-Lance in the Soul World:’ Towards a Reprisal of Vachel Lindsay’s Works.” Prospects: Annual of American Cultural Studio 2 (1976): 497- 512.

Chusid, Irwin. “Raymond Scott: Accidental Music For Animated Mayhem.” Animation World Magazine. Issue 4.4, July 1999.

“Classical Review of Jake Heggie: The Faces of Love.” USA Today 28 Sept. 1999. 1970.

Debussy, Claude. Pelléas et Mélisande. Philadelphia: Elkan-Vogel Co., Copyright by E. Fromont, 1902.

Dennis Camp, Dennis. Introduction, The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay, vol. 1, ed. Dennis Camp. Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984. xx-xxii.

Engler, Balz. Poetry and Community. Tübingen, Germany: Stauffenburg-Verlag, 1990.

Flanagan, John T. “Vachel Lindsay: An Appraisal,” Profile of Vachel Lindsay. Ed. John T. Flanagan. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1970. 114-122.

Fry, Stephen M. “Johana Harris: IN Memoriam (1913-1995).” International Alliance for Women in Music Journal (June1996) 48-49.

147

Gorman, Herbert S. “Vachel Lindsay: Evangelist of Poetry.” Profile of Vachel Lindsay. Ed. John T. Flanagan. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1970. 10-15.

Gray, Paul H. “Performance and the Bardic Ambition of Vachel Lindsay.” Text and Performance Quarterly 9 (1989): 216.

Hall, Donald. To Read a Poem. 2nd ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1992.

Heggie, Jake. Coaching session with author. 11 Sept 2001.

Heggie, Jake. Personal interview. 11 Sept. 2001.

Heggie, Jake. The Faces of Love: The Songs of Jake Heggie, book 2. Milwaukee: Associated Music Publishers, Inc., 2000.

Katz, Martin. Coaching session with author. 16 Sept 2003.

Katz, Martin. E-mail to the author. 4 Sept. 2003.

Kimball, Carol. Song: A Guide to Style & Literature. Seattle: Pst…Inc., 1996.

Lindsay, Vachel. Adventures Rhymes and Designs. Ed. Robert F. Sayre. New York: Eakins, 1968.

Lindsay, Vachel. Letters of Vachel Lindsay. Ed. Marc Chénetier. New York: Burt Franklin, 1979.

Massa, Ann. Fieldworker for the American Dream. Bloomington:Indiana University Press,

Mermelstein, David. “He’s Got a Song in His Art.” 10 Nov. 1996: 54.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, Publishers, 1995.

Moses, W.R. “Vachel Lindsay: Ferment of the Poet’s Mind.” Profile of Vachel Lindsay. Ed. John T. Flanagan. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrel Publishing Co., 1970.

Osborne, Richard. Liner notes. Pelléas et Mélisande. By Claude Debussy. CD. , 1978.

148

Ruggles, Eleanor. The West-Going Heart: A Life of Vachel Lindsay. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1959.

Savage, Tom. “High Scorers: Jake Heggie.” Opera News Jan. 2000: 11-13.

Sayre, Robert F. “Vachel Lindsay: An Essay.” Adventures Rhymes and Designs. Ed. Robert F. Sayre New York: Eakins, 1968.

Tommasini, Anthony. “A Sudden, Facile Flowering of American Song.” New York Times 11 June 2000.

von Rhein, John. “Von Stade beguiles with the charm, candor of her singing.” Chicago Tribune 22 Aug. 1998 1:22.

von Stade, Frederica. E-mail to author. 17 Jan 2002.

von Stade, Frederica. E-mail to the author. 23 Jan. 2002.

Ward, John. “Walking to Wagon Mound: Composing Booth.” Western Hum Rev 40 (Fall 1986): 230-244.

Weston, Mildred. Vachel Lindsay: A Poet in Exile. Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press,1987.

INTERNET RESOURCES:

Blue, Robert Wilder. “Composer’s First Opera Is a Triumph.” U.S. Operaweb July 2000 .

Eric Weisstein’s World of Science Website. .

Music Academy of the West Website. .

The Official Website of Jake Heggie. .

The Official Website of Frederica von Stade. .

University of Michigan Website. .

Webster Dictionary Website .

149

APPENDIX A

TEACHERS AND COMPOSERS WHO INFLUENCED JAKE HEGGIE

Ernst Bacon (1898-1990)

Ernst Bacon was an American composer who was born May 26, 1898 and died

March 16, 1990. He was the recipient of three Guggenheim Fellowships and a Pulitzer

Prize for his First Symphony. His body of works includes , piano concertos,

chamber music, ballets and more than 250 songs. He also wrote several books about

music. His chief aim as a composer was to express the spirit of America in music as

Whitman, Emerson, Melville and others did in literature. According to the New Grove

Dictionary of American Music, Bacon is best known for his songs, especially his settings of texts by Emily Dickinson and , which show sensitivity to the color and inflection of words and his speech-like use of syncopation.

Johana Harris (1913-1995)

Canadian-born Johana Harris was a gifted piano performer and teacher whose career spanned almost 70 years. She performed on more than 200 recordings, was seen on television productions, composed piano works and accompaniments for folk song collections and was a devoted teacher of hundreds of advanced piano students, including her second husband, composer Jake Heggie.325 She attended conservatories in Canada,

325 Stephen M. Fry, “Johana Harris: IN Memoriam (1913-1995),” International Alliance for Women in Music Journal, June 1996 48-49. 150

New York and Berlin, and was the youngest student to be accepted at Julliard in the mid-

1920s. In 1928 she was appointed as a faculty assistant before her 16th birthday. She

taught piano at Cornell and other institutions, and in 1969 she came to UCLA. She met

and married composer while at Julliard. Their marriage lasted 43 years until

Roy’s death in 1979.326

Raymond Scott (1908-1994)

Composer Raymond Scott was born in on September 10, 1908 and died

February 8, 1994. His name at birth was Harry Warnow, but he changed his name early

in his career. As a child, he was gifted on the piano and fascinated with the subject of

science. He continued to pursue both interests as an adult. He eventually became a pianist/composer/bandleader, as well as an engineer/inventor/electronic music pioneer.

One of the musical inventions he created is the Clavivox, which is a keyboard that allows a player to glide from one note to another without a noticeable break.327

Scott was the leader of the Raymond Scott Quintette (RSQ) from 1937-1939. The

group consisted of six musicians including Scott, who played the piano, and five others

who played sax, , trumpet, drums and bass. They performed Scott’s original

compositions and were extremely popular on the radio, as well as the concert stage. He

also wrote musical scores for several films. Scott scholar, Irwin Chusid, wrote:

His music was difficult to categorize, drawing on jazz, pop, classical, ethnic, and fourth dimensional elements. Although the RSQ sold millions of 78s, they were not highly regarded by jazz purists, one of whom dismissed their offerings as “screwy, kittenish pseudo-jazz.”328

326 Fry 48-49. 327 Chusid, Animation World Magazine. 328 Chusid, Animation World Magazine. 151

Scott’s song titles were very descriptive and as unusual as the compositions themselves. Some titles include Dinner Music For a Pack of Hungry Cannibals, New

Year’s in a Haunted House, and Celebration on Planet Mars.

Many of Scott’s tunes are easily recognizable because they were used extensively in Warner Brothers cartoons. In 1943 the studio’s music director, Carl Stalling, began using adaptations of Scott’s Quintette compositions to underscore the Looney Tunes and

Merrie Melodies animated shorts. In time his music became synonymous with cartoons and continues to be associated with them today.329

329 Chusid, Animation World Magazine. 152

APPENDIX B

STYLE SHEET

Jake Heggie (b. 1961)

MELODY

• phrase length alternates between long and flowing and short and jazzy (chromatic),

depending on text/character of the song

• vocal articulation ranges from lyric to popular/jazzy, and includes declamatory

passages

• uses text painting, spoken text, vocal scatting, and unaccompanied singing

HARMONY

• essentially tonal with lots of chromatic dissonance

• many seventh chords, Neapolitan chords, and chromatic non-chord tones

• tonal centers occasionally shift in impressionistic songs

RHYTHM

• tempo markings included in most songs along with descriptive phrases indicative of

mood

• songs are written in simple, compound, and irregular meter, and many of his more

sophisticated songs change meters throughout

153

• vocal lines contain relatively simple rhythms

• uses syncopation, dotted rhythms, accents, ostinati in order to set the mood or reinforce

text

ACCOMPANIMENT

• variety of figures used to express the text

• textures are generally light and clear but will thicken to enhance the drama of the text

• uses musical quotations occasionally

• uses melodic and rhythmic motives that recur throughout the song

• describes, comments, or sets the mood of the text

• slightly above average difficulty

POETS and PROSODY

• returns to Emily Dickinson and Vachel Lindsay

• uses a wide range of traditional and contemporary poets, including Hart Crane, Paul

Laurence Dunbar, A.E. Housman, Amy Lowell, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy

Parker, , Siegfried Sassoon, Sir Philip Sydney, Maya Angelou,

Gavin Geoffrey Dillard, Kevin Gregory, John Hall, Philip Littell, Armistead Maupin,

Heather McDonald, Terrence McNally, Sister Helen Prejean, Gini Savage, Frederica

von Stade, and Judith Walker

• musical settings follow the natural flow and rhythm of text, but occasionally

unimportant words will be stressed

FORM

• text dictates song form

• songs usually contain modified return of original material

154

APPENDIX C

HEGGIE’S CLASSICAL VOCAL WORKS

OPERA

The End of the Affair (2004) by Heather McDonald; based on the novel by Graham Greene

Dead Man Walking (2000) Libretto by Terrence McNally; based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ

Again (2000) Operatic scene in 10 minutes; libretto by Kevin Gregory; four solo voices with chamber orchestra

WORKS WITH CHORUS

He Will Gather Us Around (2003) SATB a cappella; an arrangement of the original hymn tune from the opera Dead Man Walking

My Grandmother’s Love Letters (2000) Full chorus (SATB) and orchestra; poetry by Hart Crane

Anna Madrigal Remembers (1999) Mezzo-soprano solo and 12 male voices (SATB) a cappella; new text by Armistad Maupin (based on his character from )

I Shall Not Live In Vain (1995, rev. 1998) Mezzo-soprano solo with girls chorus (SA), hand bells and piano; poetry by Emily Dickinson

Patterns (1999) Mezzo-soprano, female chorus (SSAA) and piano; poetry by Amy Lowell

155

Faith Disquiet (1987) SATB chorus a cappella; three poems by Emily Dickinson

SONG CYCLES WITH PIANO

Soprano

Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia (1999) Four songs for soprano; text by Heggie and Edna St. Vincent Millay

Natural Selections (1997) Five songs for soprano; poems by Gini Savage

Eve-Song (2000) Eight songs for soprano; poetry by Philip Littell; (3 of the songs orchestrated for chamber orchestra, 2001)

Mezzo-Soprano

The Deepest Desire (2002) Four songs for mezzo-soprano, flute and piano; text by Sister Helen Perjean

The Starry Night (2001) Seven songs for mezzo-soprano; poetry by Ann Sexton, Emily Dickinson, A.E. Housman, with texts by Vincent Van Gough

Of Gods and (2000) Two songs for mezzo-soprano; poetry by Gavin Geoffrey Dillard

Songs to the Moon (1998) Eight songs for mezzo-soprano; poetry by Vachel Lindsay

Paper Wings (1997) Four songs for mezzo-soprano; lyrics by Frederica von Stade

Countertenor

Encountertenor (1995) Three songs for countertenor; lyrics by John Hall

Medium Voice

Three Folk Songs (1995) Three songs for medium voice

156

Baritone

A Great Hope Fell: Songs for baritone and chamber orchestra; Songs from the Civil War (2002) poetry and texts by authors including Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Stephen Foster

The Moon Is a Mirror (2001) Five songs for baritone and piano (three songs orchestrated for full orchestra); poetry by Vachel Lindsay

Thoughts Unspoken (1996) Four songs for baritone; lyrics by John Hall

Trois Poemes Interieurs Three French songs for baritone; poetry de Rainer Maria Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke

Songs with Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra

Paper Wings (2000) Four songs for mezzo-soprano and full orchestra; lyrics by Frederica von Stade

On the Road to Christmas (1996) Seven songs for mezzo-soprano and string orchestra; texts by various authors

Three Folk Songs (1994, orch. 1997) Three songs for mezzo-soprano and full orchestra

So Many Notes (1997) Eleven solo singers and full orchestra; texts by Jake Heggie

From Emily’s Garden (1999) Four songs for soprano with flute, and ; poetry by Emily Dickinson

Before the Storm (1998) Four songs for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano; texts by various authors

My True Love Hath My Heart (1996) Song for soprano, cello and piano (also arranged as a duet for soprano, mezzo, cello and piano); poetry by Sir Philip Sidney

157

Individual Songs with Piano

My True Love Hath My Heart (1996) Song for soprano; poetry by Sir Philip Sidney

Ample Make This Bed (1999) Individual songs for soprano; poetry by The Sun Kept Setting (1999) Emily Dickinson It Makes No Difference Abroad (1998) I Shall Not Live in Vain (1995) As Well as Jesus? (1995) At Last, to Be Identified! (1995) If You Were Coming in the Fall (1987) Why Do I Love You, Sir? (1987) Here, Where the Daisies Fit My Head (1987) In Lands I Never Saw (1987) She Sweeps with Many-Colored Brooms (1987) All That I Do (1987)

Sophie’s Song (1998) Song for mezzo-soprano; text by Frederica von Stade

Dixie (1997) Song for medium voice; arrangement of traditional song

White in the Moon (1990) Song for medium voice; poetry by A.E. Housman

To Say Before Going to Sleep (1988) Song for medium voice; poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke

Away in a Manger (1986) Song for medium voice; arrangement of traditional song

Everyone Sang (1998) Song for baritone; poetry by Siegfried Sassoon

158

APPENDIX D

DISCOGRAPHY

Dead Man Walking – A Complete Live Recording of the World Premiere at (ERATO), 2000. Patrick Summers conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Susan Graham (Sister Helen), John Packard (Joseph de Rocher), Frederica von Stade (Joseph’s Mother), and others.

The Faces of Love – The Songs of Jake Heggie (BMG/RCA Victor 63484), 1999. Features Renée Fleming, Sylvia McNair, Jennifer Larmore, Frederica von Stade, Nicolle Foland, , Kristin Clayton, Carol Vaness, Brian Asawa, Jake Heggie, piano and Emil Miland, cello.

Holy the Firm – Essay for Cello and Orchestra, 2002. World Premiere recorded live at Oakland’s Paramount Theater. Emil Miland, cellist and the Oakland East Bay Symphony, Michael Morgan, .

My Native Land – A Collection of American Songs (WEA/Atlantic/Teldec 16069), 1996. Mezzo-soprano, Jennifer Larmore and pianist Antoine Palloc. Includes five songs by Jake Heggie.

159