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ProQuest Information and teaming 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI'

THE ART SWGS OF ANDRÉ PREVIN WITH LYRICS BY TONI MORRISON: HONEY AND RUE AND FOUR SOSGS FOR SOPRANO, CELLO AND PIANO A PERFORMER'S PERSPECTIVE

D.M.A. DOCUMENT

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Misical Arts in the Graduate School of the School of The Ohio State University

By

Stephanie McClure Adrian, B.M., M M *****

The Ohio State University 2001

D.M.A. Dissertation Comuoittee:

Dr. Robin Rice, Adviser

Professor Loretta Robinson

Dr. Graeme Boone UMI Number 3031162

UMI

UMt MiCFOform3031^t62 Copyright 2002 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Stephanie McClure Adrian 2001 ABSTRACT

In 1991 the song cycle H o n e y a n d R u e was commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation in New York City as part of its centennial celebration. That commission paired composer

André Previn, and writer Toni Morrison, for a collaboration that led to another work. F o u r S o n g s f o r S o p r a n o , C e l l o a n d Pi a n o .

This document is designed to be a resource for sopranos striving to produce a thoughtful interpretation of these two works. The six chapters include biographical information on both Previn and Morrison, a discussion of

Previn's musical style, information about the premieres of both song sets, and an analysis of text and music for H o n e y

AND Rue and Fo u r So n g s . The appendix contains a summary of

Previn's song style, lists of Previn's compositions, and a discography of his art songs. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the encouragement and insight of

all those who assisted me with this document and throughout

my degree. Many thanks to my outstanding teacher and

adviser. Dr. Robin Rice. I also greatly appreciate the

guidance of the other members of my D.M.A. Document committee; Dr. Graeme Boone and Professor Loretta Robinson.

Special thanks to both André Previn and Toni Morrison for taking the time to speak with me about their collaboration on these art songs. Many thanks to Ellyn

Kusmin, Martin Katz and Barbara Rigney. Special thanks to

G. Schirmer, Inc. for permission to reprint musical excerpts from both H o n e y a n d R o e and Fo u r S o n g s and to Toni

Morrison for allowing me to reprint her lyrics. Many thanks to my sisters, Jennifer McClure Gutierrez and

Shannon McClure. I must acknowledge my parents whose love and guidance have given me the character to achieve.

Infinite esteem to my first voice teacher and mentor. Dr.

Judith Auer. Great love to my husband. Matt, who intensifies and enhances my life. iii VITA

1973...... Born-Jefferson City, Missouri

199 5 ...... Young Artist Light Opera of Oklahoma Tulsa, Oklahoma

199 6 ...... B.M., University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma

1998...... M.M., Southern Methodist University Dallas, Texas

1996-1998...... Voice Instructor Berkner High School Richardson, Texas

1998...... Young Artist Opera North Hanover, New Hampshire

1998-200 0 ...... Graduate Teaching Associate The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio

1999-200 0 ...... Adjunct Voice Instructor Kenyon College Gambler, Ohio

2000-200 1...... Adjunct Voice Instructor & Lecturer Otterbein College Westerville, Ohio

FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Music

Studies in Voice, Vocal Pedagogy, Vocal Literature, Music History, Performance Techniques, Diction

tv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ii

Acknowledgments iii

Vita iv

List of Figures vii

Chapters :

1. Introduction 1

2. Chapter 1 - André Previn 7 3. Chapter 2 - Previn's Musical Language 16

4. Chapter 3 - Toni Morrison 22

5. Chapter 4 - Commissions, Premieres and Reviews 30

6. Chapter 5 - Text and Music in H o n e y a n d Ru e 44

5.1 First I'll try love 44 5.2 Whose house is this? 48 5.3 The town is lit 53 5.4 Do you know him? 59 5.5 I am not seaworthy 62 5.6 Take my mother home 66

7. Chapter 6 - Text and Music in Fo u r S o n g s Fo r S o p r a n o , C e l l o a n d P i a n o 71

6.1 Mercy 71 6.2 Stones 76 6.3 Shelter 82 6.4 The Lacemaker 86

List of References 91 Appendix A - Style Sheet______37

Appendix B - Previn's Classical Vocal Works 100

Appendix C - Selected list of Previn's music 102

Appendix D - Discography 104

Degree Performances 105

Copyright Permission

vt LIST OF FIGORZS

Figure 1: First I'll try love m. 21-23 44

Figure 2: First I'll try love m. 1-5 45

Figure 3: First I'll try love m. 63-65 46

Figure 4 : First I'll try love m. 11-12 47

Figure 5: Whose house is this m. 2 50

Figure 6: Whose house is this m. 15-16 50

Figure 7: Whose house is this m. 8-13 51

Figure 8: Whose house is this m. 30-33 51

Figure 9: Whose house is this m. 51-54 52

Figure 10; Whose house is this m. 17-22 52

Figure 11: The town is lit: m. 175-177 55

Figure 12: The town is lit: m. 114-117 57

Figure 13: The town is lit: m. 32-35 57

Figure 14: The town ie lit: rtt. 131-133 5S

Figure 15: Do you know him m. 2-3 60

Figure 16: Do you know him m. 12-13 61

Figure 17: Do you know him m. 20-21 61

Figure 18: Do you know him m. 7-9 61

Figure 19: I am not seaworthy m. 1--7 63

Figure 20: I am not seaworthy m. 24-27 64 vu Figure 21; I am not seaworthy m., 31-32 64

Figure 22: I am not seaworthy m. 41-42 64

Figure 23: I am not seaworthy m. 43-45 65

Figure 24: Take my mother home m. 29-37 69

Figure 25: Take my mother home m. 10 69

Figure 26: Take my mother home m. 115-118 70

Figure 27: Mercy m. 33-36 73

Figure 28: Mercy m. 30-31 73

Figure 29: Mercy m. 42-45 74

Figure 30: Stones m. 52-55 77

Figure 31: Stones m. 34-36 78

Figure 32: Stones m. 20-24 79

Figure 33: Stones m. 23-25 80

Figure 34: Stones m. 94-97 81

Figure 35: Shelter m. 9-12 83

Figure 36: Shelter m. 40-42 84

Figure 37: Shelter m. 61-67 85

Figure 38: The Lacemaker m. 1-4 87

Figure 39: The Lacemaker m. 44-45 88

Figure 40: The Lacemaker m. 5-6 88

Figure 41: The Lacemaker m. 7-9 89

Figure 42: The Lacemaker m. 40-44 90

VIU INTRODUCTION

Today young American singers study and perform songs

rooted in the art song tradition of the nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries. They study the songs of

composers such as Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Gabriel

Fauré, and Claude Debussy. They learn the grammar and

diction of European languages in order to express the

poetic sentiment of each song. Arguably, American song is

not the focus of most developing singers. It is ironic that many American singers are oblivious of their own native music, for one might think that these singers would be most effective communicating music in their own language and from their own country. This will not happen, however, unless the music of American art song composers such as

André- Previn is promoted in music schools and on the concert stage.

Art song is a type of stylized song intended for one singer in which music and poetry have equal importance and are dependent upon one another. Typically, art song is sung by classically trained singers and performed within the context of a recital. Although American song stems 1 from a variety of sourcesincluding, niaeteenth ceatury

German lieder and French mélodie, it would be difficult to

define in simple terms the qualities that characterize

American art song as a genre. In fact, musical language

and style can vary greatly from one composer or generation

to the next. In a discussion of American song Carol

Kimball explains,

The American composers of the new generation continue to be eclectic in their song style. We have almost come full circle, from the popular idioms of Stephen Foster's parlor songs to the integration of popular music idioms into the art songs of Ricky Ian Gordon, Richard Hundley, and John Musto (Kimball, 1996, 228).

While some may find the song styles of the "new generation"

appealing, others criticize them. Pianist and vocal coach

Martin Katz believes that many composers "seem to be writing 'lounge' or 'easy listening' music which need not obey any rules or challenge anyone, merely entertain us at our lowest common denominator" (Katz, 2001). Anthony

Tommasini writes that the character and quality of American songs are problematic:

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, with 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 texts and the degrees to which their vocal lines showcase the specific voices of intended interpreters (Tommasini, 2000).

This "eclectic" American art song can and should be

evaluated by singers and music critics. But by what

standard can this be done? It would be unfortunate to

compare contemporary song only with that of the great

nineteenth and early twentieth century European song

composers. In his book. Song; Anatomy, Imagery, and

Styles, Donald Ivey states that the basic fallacy in

comparative criticism is that "it fails to take into

account the varying forces active in the artistic

environment of each. The composers were not heirs to the

same influences nor ideologies nor devices" (Ivey, 1970,

274). What's more - individual tastes differ concerning

style, melodic and harmonic vocabulary.

While a song may be accessible or immediately

appealing as many contemporary American songs are, the

quality of a song should be assessed according to several different criteria. Is the song written in a manner

idiomatic to the voice? Does the natural speech inflection reflect in the text setting? Does its atmosphere convey the meaning of the text? Is the music creative and

3 compelling? How is the song org^anized and what gives-_it logic and coherence?

On April 18, 2001 I had the opportunity to interview

André Previn in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was preparing to conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony in a performance of

Mahler's Ninth Symphony. During the interview I told

Maestro Previn that my intention was to create a

"performance guide for singers" regarding his art songs.

Previn was pleased that I took interest in his vocal music, but was visibly discouraging about the idea of a performance guide.

As my research progressed, I came to better understand

Previn's negative reaction. He believes that the composer provides all necessary information directly to the performer in the score. The performer should come to his own conclusions, on that basis, and interpret the music in an individual way. Furthermore, Previn is similarly skeptical of program notes and scholarly writing about music. In a book that he co-authored with Antony Hopkins,

Previn recounts a telling story:

I am not musically intelligent enough to understand program notes and I am the first person to admit it...Mel Powell, the composer, and I, were talking about this, and he suddenly got up and fetched a program and said, 'I am going to read to you the program notes of a work that you know very well and I want you tp tell me what, the work,.i&^/ And ha reacLma. the program notes...all about the reversal of the stretto coda half-based on the germinal motto...I said, 'I haven't the faintest idea.' Mel screamed with laughter and said, 'It's your own piece!' (Previn, 1971, 74)

In another interview with Piano and Keyboard magazine in

February 1999, Previn talks about the original instruments

movement. Previn states that it's important to play Haydn

and Mozart in a scholarly way, but he doesn't want to be

told how to interpret the music.

I don't believe in curtailing the interpretation of music. Great music can never have just one interpretive option. It's not possible. Yet these fellows get on their musicological high horses and claim, 'No, this is the tempo. Bach didn't use vibrato. Mozart didn't use more than six people... (Distler, 1999, 29).

Previn's disregard of formal writing on the subject of

music and issues of authenticity in performance practice

reveals a perspective that presumes education. It

discounts the value of pedagogy► In fact, Previn's view

takes pedagogy for granted. He assumes that an

understanding of music and skilled musicianship is natural.

I respectfully disagree with André Previn. There is a

need for scholarly writing about music. Through reading, study, and practice a student can become a more skilled musician and better understand a musical score. The

5 following document* The Art_Spnq3 of André Previn with.

Lyrics by Toni Morrison: Homr a n d Roe and F our Songs f o r So p r a n o ,

Ce l l o , a n d Piano is important because it provides the singer with pertinent information about these songs and its collaborators. This document primarily discusses musical aspects of the songs but it also highlights Previn's stylistic orientation and gives an interpretative guide to

Toni Morrison's texts. CHAPTER 1

ANDRÉ PREVIN

André Previn - pianist, conductor, composer - was born

Andréas Ludwig Priwin in Berlin on April 6, 1930. His

musical training began early at the Berlin Hochschüle fur

Musik where he studied the piano. His parents. Jack and

Charlotte Previn, were both of Russian descent and of the

Jewish faith, but considered themselves German. Although

the Previn family did not follow strict Jewish observances,

the election of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and the growing

alienation of the Jewish people impelled Previn's father to

take the family to Paris. There he made preparations for

emigration and secured an American visa for his family.

André Previn passed the time studying at the Paris

Conservatory. In 1&3& the Previn family immigrated to the

United States via passage aboard the S.S. Manhattan and

eventually settled in Los Angeles, California.

André Previn attended Beverly Hills High School and simultaneously began his career as a professional musician by working as a rehearsal accompanist for Metro-Goldwyn-

Mayer in 1945. He came to compose and arrange film scores 7 as well. Previn found the film studio to be a goldeir opportunity.

What I learned from a practical point of view in Hollywood was, I think, enormous. I learned what the orchestra is capable of, I learned how to orchestrate, I learned how to write on a deadline, I learned how to change things quickly, without too much fuss (Myers, 1998, 36).

In California he began his piano studies with Max

Rabinowitsch, who achieved his fame in Tsarist Russia accompanying the famed bass, Feodor Chaliapin. The young

Previn was also initiated into chamber music by violinist

Joseph Szigeti, playing weekly sessions of Beethoven,

Brahms, Schubert, and Mozart (Bookspan, 1981, 66). Previn states.

What Szigeti didn't know about chamber music playing is not worth knowing. The education I got at his hands I'd never have gotten at any university in the world. I'll never forget what he did for me (Bookspan, 1981, 66).

Previn studied theory with the Russian pianist, Joseph

Achron (Bookspan, 1981, 36). He also studied composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Ernst Toch. In addition to his work and studies, Previn played with the California

Youth Orchestra, performing the piano concerti of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff under the baton of Peter Meremblum.

Previn's work at MGM gradually expanded to conducting studio orchestras. His mentor, Budapest-born composer

8 Miklôs Rôzsa* urged Previn to conduct from, the full score,

rather than from piano reductions. By 1948, André Previn

was appointed music director at MGM. There he composed 60

film scores, beginning with The Sun Comes Op in 1949.

During his tenure at MGM, Previn won four Academy Awards

for his film scores, Gigi, Porgy and Bess, Irma La Douce,

and My Fair Lady. Previn's 1991 autobiography. No Minor

Chords ; My Days in Hollywood, recounts many experiences of

his work in the film industry. He worked with Gene Kelly,

Fred Astaire, Vincente Minelli, and Alan Lerner and

describes his sixteen years in Hollywood as a time of

excess in which he made quite a bit of money and sought

"tawdry glamour" (Previn, 1991, 8).

In 1950, as the Korean War commenced, André Previn

joined the National Guard and served for two years in the

United States Army (Previn, 1991, 75). Eventually he was

assigned to the Sixth Army Band in San Francisco. He

played flute and piccolo in the band and wrote arrangements

for brass band. In his book, Previn describes his compositions as "inevitable marches and completely bizarre band transcriptions of Shostakovich's First Symphony and

Chabrier's Espafia" (Previn, 1991, 82). San Francisco was also a venue with many famous jazz clubs such as the BlacJchawk. Previn began sit in at_spme of the clubs.

When he wasn't arranging or playing jazz, Previn was also

able to study with the legendary conductor of the San

Francisco Symphony, Pierre Monteux. Previn claims that

this contact changed his life.

What he taught me that year and after, is impossible to describe. Technically he was a walking textbook. As a human being he had strength and grace and he imparted knowledge without impatience. He liked cloaking his advice with indirection and irony (Previn 92) .

After leaving the National Guard in 1952, Previn

freelanced playing jazz. In high school, Previn had

learned the styles of Benny Goodman, Lester Young, Count

Basie, Woody Herman, and Duke Ellington and had even

recorded some jazz with Sunset Records, Modern, Monarch,

and RCA (Bookspan, 1981, 105). In the forties, sales of

his RCA recording reached 200,000 copies, but Previn says

that in those days his idea of jazz was "dangerously close

to the kind of music provided as inoffensive background music in bars" (Bookspan, 1981, 108-109). However, in the early 1950s, Previn was introduced to the jazz subculture in San Francisco. Soon his ideas were changed by listening to Dizzy Gillespie, Shorty Rogers, Dave Brubeck, and Oscar

Peterson. He eventually came to work closely with his own band made up of bass players Red Mitchell and Leroy Vinegar

10 and drummers Frank Capp and Shelly Manne. The André Erevin

Trio played together until 1965. Their first big hit was the recording with Contemporary Records, Shelly Manne and

His Friends Play My Fair Lady. It became the biggest- selling jazz album in history and remained so for many years (Bookspan, 1981, 128). Still, Previn describes the period of jazz and the army as only an "interlude" (Previn,

1991, 102). Not long after he had served in the National

Guard, Previn was back in Culver City composing music for

MGM again. When he retired from Hollywood in the sixties, he had written approximately 60 film scores.

In 1960 Previn began to cultivate another career aspiration - to conduct classical music. He believes that his need for music "stretched beyond the range and repertoire of one instrument"(Previn, 1991, 56). In his book. No Minor Chords, Previn explains that for him conducting is,

the healthy and sobering experience of constantly working with music that is invariably better than any performance of it can be. It keeps final goals out of reach and it means that boredom is a very rare occurrence(Previn, 1991, 241).

One of his fans - Schuyler Chapin, a vice president of

Columbia Records' Masterworks division, offered Previn a recording contract. Previn's recordings for Columbia

11 promoted his conducting^ career CMyerSt ,1998.^ 16%.

Initially Previn's association with Hollywood limited him.

"I would have been more readily forgiven for being the

Boston Strangler than for having written a film score"

(Paris, 1998, F3). Previn finally debuted as a symphonic

conductor in St. Louis in 1963. His first post was music

director of the Houston Symphony from 1967-70. He followed

this with 10 years as principal conductor of the London

Symphony Orchestra (1969-79). In London Previn also hosted

his own BBC Television series, "André Previn's Music Night"

for six years. Here, Previn's objective was to reach those

outside of London who didn't have concerts available to

them. Previn has been principal conductor of the

Pittsburgh Symphony (1976-84), the Royal Philharmonic

(1985-91), and the Los Angeles Symphony (1985-89). Previn also guest conducts for the Vienna Philharmonic, the Munich

Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Due to his reputation as a Hollywood conductor, Previn initially conducted quite a bit of Gershwin and Porter, but as conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra his discography primarily encompasses the works of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Romantic composers,

Walton, Vaughan Williams, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff

12 (Distler, 1999, 25) . Isaac Stern called Previn "one of th.e_

most underrated great conductors in the world" (Paris,

1998, F3).

Regarding his vocation as a composer, Previn states,

"I am happy to put pen to score-paper on occasion, but

always with a purpose - i.e., someone has to ask me to

write something specific" (Matheopoulos, 1982, 54).

Currently André Previn is kept busy with numerous

commissions and requests for original music. He has

written for several media including voice, guitar, cello,

piano, violin, and brass quintet. Most of these were

written for specific artists such as guitarist John

Williams and violinist Gil Shaham. Previn has remarked

that he got the "lieder bug" as a young man in Los Angeles.

He attended the concerts of Mack Harrell, Bidû Sayâo,

Eileen Farrell, and Dusolina Giannini; then he would purchase Schumann, Schubert, and Mahler scores and study them at home (Myers, 1998, 38). Previn's first endeavor writing art song was the collection Five Songs dedicated to

Dame Janet Baker in 1977. In 1991 Previn accepted a commission by Carnegie Hall to write the song cycle H o n e y a n d

Ru e for soprano Kathleen Battle. Many songs have followed since 1991. Previn writes with the voices of specific

13 singers in mind. He wrote the extended song Sally Chi sum

Remembers Billy the Kid for soprano Barbara Bonney in 1994.

In 1994 Previn also wrote P o o r So n g s for soprano Sylvia

McNair. In 1995 he composed the collection. Two

Remembrancesr and the song. The Magic Number^ for McNair.

Most recently Previn composed Three Dickinson Songs and the

scena. The Giraffes go to Hamburg, for soprano Renee

Fleming.

In 1998 the San Francisco Opera commissioned and

premiered André Previn's first opera, A Streetcar Named

Desire. The style of Streetcar was likened to that of both

Berg's Wozzeck and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (Gurewitsch,

1999, 12). His second opera. Silk, based on Alessandro

Baricco's novella, is a work in progress.

André Previn's achievements are great. He maintains

an active career as pianist, composer, and conductor. To date, his name appears on over 400 recordings. In 1998 he was honored along with Bill Cosby, Shirley Temple Black,

Willie Nelson, John Kander, and Fred Ebb as a recipient of the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996. Musical

America named him musician of the year in 1999. Previn is currently Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony

14 Orchestra and in Fall 2002 will become the Music Director_-

Designate of the Oslo Philharmonic.

15 Chapter 2

Previn'a Musical Language

When asked what features would best characterize his

distinctive musical style, André Previn is at a loss. A

composer's musical language is often so second nature that

it becomes effortless. Previn's diverse personal musical

history spans film music, musicals, jazz, classical solo

piano repertoire, and symphonic repertoire, and elements

from each of these genres appear in his music. Despite

popular opinion, Previn does not attempt to conform to an

established style when writing music.

I've played a lot of jazz in my lifetime so people are bound to say that there is a jazz influence in the harmonies or the rhythmic patterns. I like to quote Aaron Copland who replied to questions about jazz in his work by saying, 'I didn't grow up in a vacuum. I did not set out to write a jazz-influenced score, but I didn't set out not to da so either' (Gurewitsch, 1&99, 12).

The defining features of any song composer's musical language are his use of melody, vocal articulation, harmony, rhythm, accompaniment and form. Previn's music

16 contains short melodic motives that .consist, of both,

conjunct and disjunct voice leading. Although the

tessitura of his songs is primarily middle voice,

nevertheless his writing in many of the H o n e y a n d Ru e songs

tends toward the upper passaggio. The phrase contour of

Previn's vocal line is unpredictable, often asymmetrical.

According to Martin Katz, "He does manage to highlight the

specific instrument he's composing for, be it Battle or

McNair or Fleming or Gilfry" (Katz, 2001). Despite this,

some songs are not particularly idiomatic to the voice.

Previn says that his own music is tonal.

Speaking of his opera Streetcar, he says, "It isn't as

tonal as say, Susannah, not by a long shot. But on the

other hand, it's not going to keep Elliott Carter awake.

There are certain modern operas and song cycles where the

vocal line is really tortuous. I could never write that

way. I want things to be relatively singable" (Myers,

1998, 38). Previn says that while many of his

contemporaries such as his friend, John Harbison, go from dissonance to dissonance, he himself will always resolve dissonance sooner or later into consonance (Previn, 2001).

Previn also claims that atonal singing goes against his nature and that most singers desire a melody (Paris, 1998,

17 F3) . In terms of harmony^ there ia a. liberal use of

shifting tonalities in Previn's music. Some pieces are pandiatonic (no single pitch is heard as tonic) or highly chromatic. The features of Previn's music are attractive to today's audiences. Lofti Mansouri, general director of the San Francisco Opera, commissioned Previn to write

Streetcar. He enjoyed Previn's music and stated, "I didn't want 12-tone. I wanted a gorgeous piece of music theatre, accessible but not tacky, written for an audience, not academia" (Paris, 1998, F3) .

Soprano Renee Fleming believes that Previn's music mirrors his cultural background. "There are elements of

German Expressionism in his score (Streetcar) - the tension and concentration of it reminded me of that. One can also see that he has strong American roots. You'll hear a lot of broad harmonies" (Myers, 1998, 38). Previn's synthesis of styles in Streetcar has been identified as a cross between post-modern Strauss and neo-romanticism (Paris,

1998, F3).

Within the sets h o n e y a n d r u e and f o u r s o n g s f o r s o p r a n o , c e l l o

AND p i a n o one can identify certain "PrevinismsMartin Katz believes that a drifting atmosphere, achieved by piano arpeggiation, a lack of formal repetition of sections, and

18 shifting tonalities characterises Ere-\rin/s slow songs^

Katz hears the fast songs as a derivative of Previn's

superb jazz playing. Another common feature of the songs

in these sets is a frequent use of changing meters.

Furthermore, the rhythms in the vocal line are simple but

the pianist and other instrumentalists are often challenged

by more complicated rhythmic patterns.

Previn allows the song style to be dictated by the

poetic mood. He particularly enjoys setting prose to

music. He has collaborated with novelist Toni Morrison,

twice. He has also set the words of Michael Ondaatje, Isak

Dinesen, Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, and T.S.

Eliot. Previn prefers to have the singing cadence as close to speech as possible. "For a sentence to be sung clearly, it helps to have it sung more or less the way you would say it" (Myers, 1998, 40). He does not make use of fioritura when writing for the voice. Previn claims, "I do not do endless one syllable on six note things...if I were as good as Britten I might do it"(Previn 2001). Although Previn intends to set the text in a very speech-like manner, nevertheless there are instances in his set Fotm S o n g s in which the natural inflection of speech is obscured.

19 Previn's song forms are_unigue*. cuicL are difficult to

categorize. For example, the last song in H o n e y a n d Rü e , Take

my mother home, is essentially strophic. However, the song

is introduced by a charming recitative and broken between

the fourth and fifth verses by another recitative. In

other songs there is a modified return of the original

melody or coda-like material. The continuity within H o n e y

AND R u e is created by the text. Although the lyrics are

unrelated in theme, the way Morrison uses words and syntax

is consistent. Within Fo u r Song s continuity is created by

the use of cello throughout and Morrison's highly

individual texts.

André Previn names his operatic heroes as Samuel

Barber, Benjamin Britten, and Richard Strauss. Barber he

praises for 'nonstop lyricism,' Britten for his 'unfailing

sense of drama,' and Strauss for the glorious sound of two

sopranos singing (Gurewitsch, 1999, 12) . Despite

comparisons, André Previn's music is dissimilar to the work of these composers. Previn's music bears a greater resemblance to his contemporaries who incorporate popular music idioms and neo-romantic characteristics (more lyrical, chromatic, emotional, with special interdependence of music and poetry) into their music. As previously

20 stated, this type of art song has come under some degree of criticism. Ultimately, the historical importance of André

Previn's songs will be determined by the test of time.

21 Chapter 3

Toni Morrison

Born only one year after André Previn, Toni Morrison's beginnings could not have been more distinct. Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931. She grew up during the Great Depression in Lorain, Ohio, a steel town filled with European immigrants and Southern blacks.

Her parents, George and Ramah Wofford, were hard-working and dignified, viewing the black race as morally superior to the white race. In fact, her father taught her that the two races would never transcend bigotry (David, 2000, 8).

Despite this, Morrison believes that as a child in school, she was never regarded as inferior. She attended school with white children and excelled in her studies.

Toni Morrison grew up in a community that was an

American melting pot of sorts. The neighborhoods were not segregated and she lived alongside Greek and Italian families. Her own cultural heritage was strong.

Throughout her childhood Morrison was exposed to black folktales, myths and songs. Her mother's family included

22 passionate amateur musicians wha sang- operar jaszr and the

blues (David, 2000, 10).

At seventeen Morrison moved to Washington D.C. and

studied English at Howard University. There she performed with a university theatrical company that sought to raise black literary consciousness. Morrison then completed her graduate work at Cornell University. Her master's thesis focused on the theme of suicide in the writings of William

Faulkner and Virginia Woolf (David, 2000, 11) .

Toni Morrison started a family and pursued a teaching career in both Texas and Washington D.C. for ten years.

She was hired as an editor for Random House in 1965. As a senior editor she was influential in forwarding the careers of several black women writers such as Toni Cade Bambara,

Angela Dumas, and Gayl Jones (David, 2000, 14). After

Morrison's widely acclaimed first novel. The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970, Toni Morrison was considered an authority on black cultural issues (David, 2000, 15) . She took positions as a visiting lecturer at Yale (1975-77),

Bard College (1979-80) and accepted many speaking engagements. From 1984 to 1989 she taught as an associate professor of English at the State University of New York at

23 Purchase. Presently she teachea creative writing^ womea' &

studies, and African studies at Princeton University.

Morrison continued to write amidst her teaching and

several books followed with great success. Although her

books are not autobiographical, nevertheless they

incorporate her response to specific social pressures that

she experienced as a black woman (Gray, 1993, 86). Her

opus includes Sula (1973), The Black Book (1974), Song of

Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), Beloved (1987), Jazz

(1992), Playing in the Dark (1992) and Paradise (1998).

She has received great recognition including the Anisfield-

Wolf Book Award, the Melcher Book Award, the Chiani Ruffino

Antico Fattore International Literary Prize, and over

fourteen honorary degrees. Toni Morrison's tremendous work

finally earned her a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for Beloved and

the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Foundation

remarked that Morrison "gives life to an essential aspect

of American reality" (Robinson, 2001, 10).

Morrison's work focuses on ethics and aesthetics.

Ultimately the goal in her fiction writing is to compose beautiful literature and to broaden the vocabulary in literature so that being a woman and being African -

American are not marginalized (Morrison, 2001). Morrison's

24 literary aesthetic is to ''bear witness" by retrieviag and

interpreting the past in her novels. Morrison does this,

in part, by anchoring her fiction in the African-American

folk tradition (Furman, 1996, 4).

In Barbara Hill Rigney's book. The Voices of Toni

Morrison, she states that Morrison is extremely conscious of her own language and her theory of language; that

Morrison conjures up a language that is unique. Rigney believes that Morrison's writing is metaphysical and at the same time transcends writing itself (Rigney, 2001). In other words, Morrison's fiction work is a commentary about the art of writing. Toni Morrison extensively addressed the issue of language in her Nobel lecture on December 7, 1993.

Her speech revealed that she is indeed highly conscious of her use of language and the power of words.

The vitality of language lies in its ability to limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, and writers...Be it grand or slender, burrowing, blasting, or refusing to sanctify; whether it laughs out loud or is a cry without an alphabet, the choice word, the chosen silence, unmolested language surges toward knowledge, not destruction (Morrison).

Rigney's book also discusses Morrison's language in musical terms. "Images of music pervade her work, but also does a musical quality of language, a sound and rhythm that

25 permeate and radiate in every novel" CRigney^ 19l91^ &)..

The musical aspect of Morrison's writing extends to the singing of her characters within her books as well. The songs of the men and women in her stories are significant.

Some scholars have likened Morrison's writing to that of Faulkner. To this she responds,

I am not like James Joyce; I am not like Thomas Hardy; I am not like Faulkner...My effort is to be like something that has probably only been fully expressed in music (McKay, 1988, 1).

Morrison believes that as a writer she has the ability to express the depths of black music, spirituals and jazz, within an African-American novel. With this conviction she writes about characters that are brought to the edge of endurance, hunger, and disturbance, sentiments that are often expressed in black music.

Toni Morrison's writing has several distinctive features:

• Her prose will often have an oral quality that evokes

the tribal storytelling tradition (Furman, 1996, 3y.

• One of her objectives in writing is to teach a moral

lesson and she refers to her own writing as 'sublimely

didactic' (David, 2000, 65).

• A common theme in her writing is the concept of home

and house. This is seen in her lyrics as well and

26 exemplified in the aoags Kàose iiouse is thls2^ Take-my

mother home, and Shelter.

• Many of her novels, including Sula and Beloved, focus

on relationships between women.

Toni Morrison's collaboration with André Previn on

H o n e y a n d Rue was her first attempt at writing lyrics for art

song. Since 1992 she has written the lyrics for Previn's

F o u r So n g s . In addition, she wrote lyrics for two of Judith

Weir's songs for soprano Jessye Norman, Edge and Eve

Remembering and those for Richard Danielpour's piece. Sweet

Talk: Four Songs on Text (Kaple 2). Currently Morrison is

writing the libretto for Danielpour's opera. Beloved. Toni

Morrison believes that the challenge of writing lyrics lies

in the fact that the words don't have to make their own

music. The composer will create that. She attempts to

"let the language hold music, but not be the music"

(Morrison 2001). Furthermore, as a writer, she wanted to

provide André Previn with enough in the text to hold his

attention. In her approach to writing the lyrics for Ho n e y

AND Ru e and Fo u r S o n g s , she incorporated her ideas about important literary works such as Shakespeare's Hamlet and

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper. Morrison

27 also considered vivid themes such as ..expectation.* love^ the.

glamour of nightlife, anger at the absence of a man and the

shame of the dying.

Morrison says that she had to learn to think and

write differently late in life in order to write the lyrics

for H o n e y a n d Ro e . As a result of her collaboration with

Previn, she was inspired to create a course called the

Princeton Atelier in 1994. The French term, atelier,

refers to an artist's studio. Students, faculty, and

visiting artists explore the collaborative process in the

visual arts, literature, dance, film, theatre, and music.

In this course, Morrison encourages experimentation and

interaction between professionals and amateurs. The first

Atelier took place in the spring semester of 1994.

Morrison invited dancer and director of the National Dance

Institute, Jacques d'Amboise, and the fiction writer, A.S.

Byatt to guide students in the composition of an original

dance inspired by Byatt's novel. Possession. In subsequent

semesters the list of guest artists at Princeton has

included André Previn, Kathleen Battle, YoYo Ma, the

American Ballet Theatre, Gabriel Garcia Mârquez, Peter

Sellars, Evelyn Glennie and many others (Kaple, 1997).

28 Toni Morrison has saidt "I. don't view art or know it as peripheral, marginal, or mere entertainment, but as a way to inhabit the world"

(http://WWW. Princeton.edu/pr/president/98/05-20-98.html).

Morrison's atelier seminars promote the creation of art, experimentation, and collaboration and effectively give her students first-hand experience in many diverse artistic endeavors.

29 Chapter 4

Commissions^ Premieres and Reviews

HONEY AND RUE

The song cycle Ho n e y a n d Rü e was commissioned for soprano

Kathleen Battle by the Carnegie Hall Corporation as part of

its centennial celebration. The cycle includes six songs:

First I'll try love, ffhose house is this?. The town is lit.

Do you know Him?, I am not seaworthy, and Take my mother

home. Ms. Battle selected both André Previn and Toni

Morrison for the collaboration. Kathleen Battle recalls.

The seed was planted more than 15 years ago when I discovered the deeply moving novel. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison. I imagined as I read subsequent works of hers how thrilling it would be to hear her words set to music. I had known and worked with the multi­ talented André Previn for nearly a decade and I thought of asking him to write a song cycle for me (Wright, 1995, 3\.

The first performance took place on January 5, 1992 at

Carnegie Hall. With André Previn on the podium, Kathleen

Battle performed the songs with the Orchestra of St.

Luke's. The recital also included Mozart's Symphony No. 35 in D Major

30 and two Rossini arias* "Vorrei_splegaz%l" and "Ah.L Se é ver. "

Kathleen Battle* born August 13* 1948 in Portsmouth*

Ohio, is a graduate of the College - Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati (LaBlanc, 1989, 5). Mentored by the principal conductor of the New York Metropolitan Opera,

James Levine, Battle rose to fame quickly. She has been recognized as "the best lyric coloratura soprano in the world" and typically sings roles such as Mozart's Susanna and Bel Canto roles, Norina and Adina. She is praised for her impeccable intonation, pure timbre, and agile voice.

Kathleen Battle concertizes and records regularly.

Morrison had never written lyrics for music that had yet to be composed, but had written words to the pre­ existing music of Jelly Roll Morton and Sidney Bechet years earlier. Morrison first wrote the lyrics for H o n e y a n d Ro e .

She had no consultation with either the composer or the singer beforehand. "I worked with images rather than a story: images of yearning, satisfaction and resolution"

(Wright, 1995, 6). Morrison believes that it was beneficial that she herself was not a musician.

If I were more deeply an amateur musician myself, the lyrics might not have been that strong or that suggestive. I wasn't overwhelmed by the concept of

31 music. I was intere^ed in the marriac[e of language and music (Wright, 1995, 8).

When Morrison sent the lyrics to André Previn they

dialogued and "wrestled" with certain words. André Previn

then took the lyrics and worked independently. In an

interview Previn recounted the process, "I said, I will set

them for you and if there's anything you don't like I'll

change or explain it to you or we'll see" (Previn, 2001).

Previn wrote straight into the orchestra and composed with

Battle's voice in mind-the silvery quality of her voice,

her high pianissimos, and her great attention to words.

When Previn finally played the music for Morrison he asked questions like, "Is this the mood you had in mind?" and

"Did you expect resolution here?" During the collaboration, Morrison elaborated on the effect that the language had on its own. Morrison notes:

The best of all possible things was to hear Kathleen sing the songs, because you don't really know...I knew something when I first heard André play the music, but there's nothing like hearing someone like Kathleen translate that, and you hear what has been done (Wright, 1995, 8).

Both Previn and Morrison found the collaboration easy and pleasant. However, in the final stages of collaboration there were some note adjustments requested by the singer for André Previn to consider. The title of the work was

32 decided together. Morrisoa. h-opecL foe somethiag^ that suggested sweetness alongside something that was astringent or painful. Hence, H o n e y a n d R o e became the title of the song cycle.

Battle was pleased with the song cycle. "It is a work of light and shadow, hope and frustration, celebration and disappointment, contemplation and resignation, faith and renewal" (Wright, 1995, 3). Battle has performed Previn's songs many times. She has performed both the orchestral version and the piano - vocal arrangement and endorses both.

Previn claims that the six songs in H o n e y a n d Ru e can be performed separately. The last song. Take my mother home, has been sung by Kathleen Battle, Barbara Hendricks and

Harolyn Blackwell out of the context of the song cycle.

Kathleen Battle recorded H o n e y a n d R o e with André Previn and the Orchestra of St. Luke's in 1995. This Deutsche

Grammaphon recording also includes Samuel Barber's

Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and two Gershwin selections, I loves you, Porgy and Summertime. There are some alternate notes heard in the vocal line of this 1995 recording of

H o n e y a n d R o e . Previn insists that these note changes are not to become performance practice.

33 Critical responae to_ HoNEK.Mn Rns. was mixed.. Most critics agreed that this custom - made cycle fit Battle well and that her singing was spectacular. Admiration over

Morrison's lyrics was also evident. However, high regard for Previn as a composer was not nearly as unanimous.

• ...Mr. Previn - a man seemingly loathe to bear his

heart too openly in public-has responded with an

elegant gentility...Ho n e y a n d R u e pulls the concert hall,

the Hollywood soundstage, the gospel meeting, and the

saloon just that much closer, all with a fastidious

modesty. - The New York Times, Bernard Holland

• The texts, about love, regret, the tug-of-war between

domesticity and the bright lights, and spirituality,

offer lots of emotional ambiguity for a composer to

explore. But Previn chose to avoid almost entirely

the possibilities for bitterness and sting...The music

recalled nothing so much as Samuel Barber in his more

elegiac moments. - Nassau and Suffolk Edition, Peter

Goodman

• Previn seems the wrong composer for the

project...there's a chilly reserve, as though he

respects Morrison's words too much to give the work

34 any more than a professix)nal*. mildly attractive

musical setting...Previn often approaches the words

almost like a film assignment, setting them in a

lyrical, conversational manner and then using the

orchestra to provide a dramatic

backdrop...occasionally, the music springs to

life...but elsewhere, Previn seems to be scoring a

film he hasn't seen or understood. - OSA Today, David

Patrick Stearns

• It has a biographical importance, maybe a biological

one. Anyone interested in tracing Mr. Previn's

distinguished if enigmatic career might discover in

these songs the creative DMA that has shaped a

lifetime. Ho n e y a n d Rü e is a model of understated

luxury, rich and plastic without the need of ornament.

Solo brass and wind instruments step forward with a

wonderful naturalness; the color and character in each

choice seem absolutely right...The word takes

precedence. Meter and rhythm, tempo and dynamics bend

to Ms. Morrison's changing poetic movement and work

hard to serve her wistful outsider's point of view.

At it's best, Mr. Previn's music practices discretion;

35 at its worst; avoidance., - Tiie We»:_ïorJc Times^ Bernard

Holland

• Something about the music and text seems to have

reached Battle's long dormant interpretive instinct;

she invests these songs with meaning and feeling.

H on e y a n d Ru e makes it possible to reconnect to the

Battle that won the world's hearts. - The Boston

Globe, Richard Dyer

• Worst new piece: Carnegie Hall commissioned composer,

André Previn and novelist, Toni Morrison to write a

new song cycle for diva Kathleen Battle, H o n e y a n d Ru e .

Unfortunately, the music sometimes sounded as if

Previn had studied with Andrew Lloyd Webber. - USA

Today

• Previn's three Bs are closer to Barber, Bernstein and

Bacharach than Bach, Beethoven and Brahms in this

cycle. - The Toronto Star, William Littler

• ...the introspective and often poignant 1991 song

cycle. H o n e y AND Ru e . . .Previn's music is cool and

unpretentious. There are whiffs of jazz, notable in

the third section, "The town is lit," during which a

piano/bass/drums trio slides in and out of the

36 orchestral fabric^ Th& H^tforcL Courant,^ St&ve-

Metcalf

• ...after Ms. Morrison's quietly compelling, almost

musical readings, Mr. Previn's music seemed inflated.

Essentially a "pops" piece with hardly an original

idea in it, the work is steeped in the styles of

Bernstein, Copland and Barber, with an undertow of

jazz and some film score-ish swellings. The musical

effects can be rather obvious...The text setting is

surprisingly flawed. Mr. Previn puts accents in the

wrong places. - The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini

• Her talent is put to good use in this wonderful

release of some of the most ingratiating music to come

from American composers...The atmosphere of the songs

ranges from jaunty to somber. Previn's sophisticated

music contains hints of blues and jazz. It engages

the emotions: He knows how to translate poetic texts

into music, and Battle knows how to sing them. - The

Houston Chronicle, Olin Chism

• The song cycle, written for Battle in 1992 and

performed for the first time in Los Angeles, is a

jewel, one of Previn's finest scores. The texts by

Toni Morrison are deep and unsettling, a black woman's

37 experiences in a sometimes. CQld.»., sometimes warm worlds

Previn's music - a little jazz, a little bittersweet

Americana — is adaptable and fits the moods. It also

elevates all that is brilliant in Battle's voice and

manner. - Los Angeles Times^ Mark Swed

FOUR SONGS FOR SOPRANO, CELLO, AND PIANO

André Previn's F o u r So n g s was first performed by Sylvia

McNair, Carter Brey, and Martin Katz at Alice Tally Hall in

New York City on November 27, 1994. McNair also programmed

Schubert's Italian Songs, a Mozart aria, two Bizet songs, and Debussy's Ariettes Oubliées on the same recital.

Sylvia McNair had recorded the album. Sure Thing with André

Previn and later asked him to write some songs for her.

Like H o n e y a n d Ru e , the texts for Fo u r S o n g s were penned by

Toni Morrison. Originally Morrison sent Previn five texts, but for artistic reasons, Previn decided not to set the last text. It contained an offensive word about which

Previn stated with amusement, "I don't know what note that goes on!" (Previn, 2001)

Fo u r S o n g s is not cyclic. There is no direct connection between the texts. The speaker in the songs is female, but not necessarily African-American and not necessarily one

38 woman. Morrison also left the ordering, of the. texta to

Previn. Unlike the collaboration for H o n e y a n d Ru e , Toni

Morrison did not work with the singer Sylvia McNair, for

Fo u r S o n g s .

Sylvia McNair, born in Mansfield, Ohio in 1956,

studied violin at Wheaton College in Illinois. With a

newfound love for singing, McNair began to study voice with

Virginia McWatters during her graduate studies at Indiana

University. While still a student, McNair was hired by

Robert Shaw to sing Bach's B minor Mass with the Atlanta

Symphony. A recording contract with Telarc followed

quickly and McNair won the National Metropolitan Opera

auditions in 1982. McNair's Metropolitan Opera debut

occurred during the 1991-92 season when she sang the role

of Marzellina in Beethoven's Fidello She is particularly

recognized for her interpretation of Mozart and oratorio

singing (Bourgoin, 1996, 144). Her repertoire spans from

early music to Broadway ballads.

Pianist Martin Katz, currently a professor of music at

the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, premiered the piece with Sylvia McNair and cellist Carter Brey. Katz studied piano at the University of Southern California with

Gwendolyn Koldofsky. He now collaborates with the finest

39 singers in perfQrmance,_and. recording,.arenas» Katz-hae

performed with the likes of Marilyn Horne, Frederica von

Stade, Kiri Te Kanawa, Kathleen Battle, Judith Blegen, Anna

Tomowa-Sintow, Tatiana Troyanos, and Hâken Hagegârd. Mr.

Katz is recognized for his expertise in Baroque and Bel

Canto music (Ellison, 1994, 48D). His editions of Rossini

opere serie and his version of Handel's Rlnaldo have been

performed by American opera companies. In addition to his

work with singers, Katz has begun to guest conduct

orchestras internationally.

Carter Brey received international public recognition

in 1981 when he won the first Rostropovich International

Cello Competition. He has been a soloist with all of

America's major orchestras and also performs chamber music with prestigious ensembles such as the Tokyo String

Quartet, the Emerson Quartet, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Brey studied at both the Peabody

Institute and Yale and is considered one of the outstanding cellists of his generation (Ellison, 1994, 48D)

Fo u r So n g s f o r So p r a n o , Ce l l o a n d P i a n o was recorded by André

Previn, Sylvia McNair, and Yo-Yo Ma in 1997. This Sony recording also includes Previn's sonata for cello and piano. Two Remembrances for soprano and alto flute, and

40 Vocalise for soprano ^aacUcella- . The-recording^ is extremely accurate. One note change exists. In the first piece,

Mercyf McNair sings measure 71 an octave lower than what is written in the score. Previn claims that this is not to become performance practice.

Previn's songs for McNair were not promoted to the degree that H o n e y a n d Ru e was publicized. Record of its reception is lacking, however the reviews that do exist are primarily favorable.

• André Previn's F o u r Song s on poems by Toni Morrison are

often dialogues between the voice and the cello. As

Ms. McNair vocalizes, one hears two instruments in

imitation. The piano part is elaborate and

aggressive. Mr. Previn uses jazz, and he is not

afraid to set it against abrasive harmony. These

sincerely felt and effective settings steer a sure

course between a popular idiom's need to please and a

tough honesty. - The New York Timesr Bernard Holland

• The so-called art song is gathering vitality now that

poets such as Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison are

involved, inspiring the inclusion of jazz and blues in

pop/classical hybrids— Much of (f o u r s o n g s ) is

41 intriguingly abatract» _t]iougiL-he. resorts to aa angrily

deranged boogie-woogie for Stones, a poem against male

repression. - USA Today, David Patrick Stearns

• But if his conducting career remains somewhat

lackluster, Previn's own music is beginning to look

special. In 1992, he wrote, with poet and novelist

Toni Morrison, a deeply moving song cycle called. H o n e y

AND RüE, for soprano Kathleen Battle. Now he has

collaborated again with Morrison, this time setting

poems for soprano Sylvia McNair...The songs, too, are

beautifully made - the powerful expression of a

complete musical personality. And the performances

are riveting, as if it had suddenly dawned on the

players that Previn has crossed a threshold as a

composer. - Los Angeles Times, Mark Swed

• The new opera by composer André Previn and librettist

Philip Littell has its world premiere September

19...The catch is there's no assurance that they (Ho n e y

AND R u e and F o o r S o n g s ) give much sense of what Previn's

operatic style might be like, and in fact there's good

reason to hope they don't; both pieces are fairly thin

and dramatically tenuous. - The San Francisco

Chronicle, Joshua Kosman

42 • Bravin.-avexwrltesr pcobôifevly qttiekly-r therv seen» ta sea

no need to edit himself. - The Vancouver Sun, Lloyd

Dykk

• Previn's Fo o r S ongs showed a range from saucy Annie-Get-

Your-Gun feminism to vulnerable confession. - Los

Angeles Times, Chris Basies

43 Chapter 5

Text and Music in BOHHEY AND BXJE

First I'll Try Love

The Text

First I'll try love. Although I've never heard the word Referred to even whispered to Me First I'll try love. So when winter comes And sundown becomes my time of day, If anybody asks, I can say, "First, I tried love."

In Morrison's eyes, this song is the proclamation of a

'pitiful little person who is going to try to fall in love.' Although the text setting is somewhat aggressive, even hopeful, Morrison intended the lyrics to reveal an underlying expectation of disappointment. The speaker doesn't really believe that her goal will be achieved

(Morrison, 2001).

44 The Maaic

Ho n e y a n d Rd e is billed as a song cycle, unified by the

words of a single poet. There is no thematic material

linking the six songs to one another. Hence, the songs can

be performed separately.

The first piece in the cycle. First I tried love, is a

quick and exuberant song. Perhaps the style is not as well

suited for a group of art songs as it wtould be for a musical. However, the tessitura and awkward voice leading call for a trained singer. While soprano Kathleen Battle sounds beautiful singing an ascending line of six notes that approach the passaggio, many other sopranos will find the vocal line uncomfortable. In addition, some of the vocal lines lack the typical contour of rise and fall that exists in standard art song. The phrases are asymmetrical and brief. (Figure 1)

Figure 1 - m.21-23

The orchestral accompaniment is well-written and provides a substantial amount of drama for the song. The 44 orchestra also supplies the. rhythmic momentuni for the

piece. The rhythms are aggressive and unpredictable.

Syncopation, triplet figures, and Previn's signature

changing meters accomplish this. (Figure 2)

Ü>cX)6) V iubkil

VWwU

VMn>

C tlh t

DoaMeHavK»

Figure 2 - m.1-5

First I'll try love begins with the strings playing lively sixteenth notes. The celli and double bass have pizzicato passages occasionally and the trumpet, horn, bassoon, oboe, trombone, and clarinet make brief interjections. In measure 36 the voice sings, 'So when winter comes and sundown becomes my time of day,' and the orchestra becomes minimal and inactive. The strings rest in measure 44 leaving the voice exposed above the woodwinds. This section sounds like a quasi-recitative. After the return of the original material a coda commences in measure 61. 45 The orchestra's syncQpated_„accompanimeatu is particularly important here. The voice sings a sustained phrase above the staff while the orchestra plays a strict, accented accompaniment. The dual texture helps to delineate the text more clearly and the accompaniment provides momentum for the song, setting the audience up for a grand ending.

{Figure 3)

Vh.1

VUkll

D,&

Figure 3 — m.63-65

There is a distinctive motive that is introduced by the strings in the first measure of the song. The motive is repeated by the voice in measure 11 and occurs four other times. (Figure 4)

46 #Ê R nt m tty love.

Figure 4 - m. 11-12

Previn alters the motive in the vocal line slightly in measure 24 but Kathleen Battle ignores the high B in the

Deutsche Grammaphon recording.

47 WHOSE HOUSE IS THIS?

The Text

Whose house is this? Whose night keeps out the light In here? Say, who owns this house? It's not mine. I had another, sweeter, brighter. With a view of lakes crossed in painted boats; Of fields wide as arms opened for me. This house is strange. Its shadows lie. Say, tell me, why does its lock fit my key?

Whose house is this is Toni Morrison's rendition of

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story. The Yellow Wallpaper

(Morrison, 2001). It was first published in New England

Magazine in 1892 and is considered a small literary

masterpiece. This feminist writing which deals with

nineteenth century sexual politics predates Kate Chopin's

The Awakening by seven years. The author, Gilman, was an

active feminist who lectured on socialism, women's freedom, and economics. The narrative is actually a secret journal written by a woman who has been confined to the upper room of a rented country house as a remedy for her nervous condition. Her doctor husband insists that she spend countless solitary hours in the room to rest. He forbids her to write or work. By the end of the story the woman

48 has gone mad/ having analyzed the pldt yellowed wallpaper before her to the degree that she sees an imprisoned woman creeping behind the pattern.

The Muaxc

Whose house is this severely contrasts the mood of the previous song. First I'll try love. The instrumentation is similar, yet the atmosphere is somber and demented. The madness of the woman in Morrison's poem is brought forth through the minor tonality and sparse texture of this song.

In addition the slow harmonic and rhythmic movement help to convey the endless hours of rest that the woman must spend in solitary confinement.

The text setting is dramatically justified. Whose house is this is through-composed lending to a sense of the woman's stream of consciousness. Although the text is broken up throughout the song, the sense of continuity is intact. In addition, the song's tonal ambiguity portrays the woman's instability and confusion.

In Whose house is this the horn introduces a simple motive that is heard nine additional times throughout the rest of the song. (Figure 5)

49 Figure 5 - m.2

The initial vocal line repeats the transposed motive only- after it has been passed to the English horn (Cor Anglais) and the violins. When the motive appears in the vocal line the rhythmic values are doubled. (Figure 6)

:j..T ini- j_ | j

WhoK house is this?

Figure 6 - m.15-16

Later the oboe, bassoon, and English horn echo the motive individually. The strings alternate sustained notes and the buzzing of a pianissimo- tremolo underneath the vocal line.

The dissonances in this song are subtle. There is an eerie oboe duet in the introduction in which Previn alternates tritones with tertian harmonies. (Figure 7)

50 Figure 7 - m.8-13

Later in the first entrance of the voice Previn poses a sustained F in the strings against a G half note in the voice.

The tessitura and voice leading in this song are problematic. Previn insists on a vocal line that lingers in the upper passaggio. (Figure 8)

f Î sw eet » er. brigh - ter.

V With a view o f lakes

Figure 8 - m.30-33

51 Previn' s writing complemen.ta„Katlileen. Battle's voices one

that shines between D5 and A5 at the top of the staff, but

the writing is not ideal for a soprano who has any trouble

negotiating the passaggio. (Figure 9)

Smy, tell me, why does Its

lock fit m y key?.

Figure 9 - m. 51-54

In addition, the vocal line is conjunct initially but departs from this in measure 17. Previn incorporates some awkward vocal leaps. (Figure 10)

. a .

Whoce night keeps o u c _ _ — the light In here? Say. who owns this house?

Figure 10 - m. 17-22

52 THE TOWN IS LIT

The Text

It's been suggested: well kept lawns and Fences white porch swings and toast by the fire. It's been requested: puppies, a window of blossoming Pear trees and a place for the robins to nest. But I know that somewhere, out there The town is lit The players begin To make music in all the cafes Clowns on wheels Linger to steal Foxes that click on the curb Lovers expecting The night to protect them The moon too far to disturb Trees in the park Dance after dark To music in all the cafes. It's been suggested: well kept lawns and Fences white porch swings and toast by the fire. It's been requested; puppies, a window of blossoming Pear trees and a place for the robins to nest. But I know that somewhere, out there Geminis split Sagittarians kick To the music in all the cafes Aquarians throw Gold on the floor To rival the glitter it makes Pisces swim Over the rim ECnowing they've got what it takes To cut through the dark And get to the heart Of the music in all the cafes.

Toni Morrison is partial to these lyrics. She believes that The town is lit was particularly hard to write because she was "trying to talk about the glamour of the street

53 verses domestic life „ Her imagery is. vivid.^ She

contrasts images of porch swings and puppies with a litany

nocturnal elements. The "players" who make music refer to men who are cocky, thinking themselves rich and handsome while the clowns are men looking for pretty women.

Morrison makes a number of Zodiac references in the second strophe. She takes extra care when describing the fish,

Pisces, and in an interview admitted that she was thinking of her son, a struggling artist, when writing these lyrics

(Morrison, 2001).

The Music

The town is lit is one of the more uplifting pieces in the song cycle H o n e y a n d Ru e . Like First I'll try love it ha s the character of a musical theatre number. Previn's use of the orchestra contributes to the grandness of the song.

The double bass, brass, and drums give the song a strong rhythmic identity. The piece concludes dramatically and with great flourish in a way that is uncharacteristic of art song. Measures 169-77 begin with a figure in the trumpets and horns that repeats three times underneath a repetitive marcato woodwind line. The orchestra crescendos, gaining intensity while leading into an

54 ascending chromatic scale of_ triplet, figures played by

nearly the entire orchestra. The final tonality is an E

flat major fortissimo chord. (Figure 11)

Vk.[

Figure 11 - m. 175-177

Toni Morrison's intention to contrast the features of

a domestic lifestyle with the glamour of nightlife in her

lyrics is also carried out in Previn's music. The form of

the piece, ABAB, juxtaposes a slow lyrical section with a

fast jazz waltz. The slow, rubato section, representative of domestic life, is controlled and conveys contentment.

Morrison's images are descriptions of passivity. She describes white porch swings and well-kept lawns. Previn sets the voice against a lush string accompaniment that

55 doubles the voice. While .th.e_vocal.liae^conaxats of shifting tonalities the overall sense is one of calm. Most phrases in this section end with a descending interval.

After the phrase, 'a place for the robins to nest,' there is an aimless violin solo. Later in the repeat of the slow section, Previn substitutes this with a flute cadenza. The character of the song is then transformed with the statement, 'but I know that somewhere...' The voice is accompanied only by a haunting bass line that suggests another covert existence. The energy of the nightlife bursts forward in measure 28 and later in measure 114.

Here Morrison's text describes a contrary existence. Her lyrics are full of action verbs. Clowns steal. Foxes click. Geminis split and the music reflects all of this.

There is no word painting, but the orchestration is fuller and certain instruments interject briefly between vocal statements to create a sense of excitement. There is more participation by the brass, woodwinds, and piano. There is also more rhythmic variety. Syncopation is common. Previn commences the fast section with a syncopated oboe duet.

(Figure 12) Here the dissonance of minor seconds illustrates commotion and immediately stands out.

56 Figure 12 - 114-117

While the oboes play, the horns and trumpets begin another

syncopated rhythmic motive that repeats eight times. The piano takes up the motive for five measures. The effect

sounds like a band vamping in a musical. (Figure 13)

H r . Hr-'I Tpi • t I P r %

Thu. hr--- V- 1 '-i-rrt-i' .

Wt S«*

J4>r(fan

Pno.

Figure 13 - m. 32-35 57 The vitality and momentum in The town is lit are created by

these incidents and by the syncopation found in the vocal

line. (Figure 14)

m # A - qua - nana__ throw

Figure 14 - m.131-133

The tessitura in the fast section is lower and calls for a soprano with substantial weight in the middle voice.

The dramatic atmosphere in The town is lit is created by the vivid contrast between the slow rubato section and the fast jazz waltz. The orchestra provides both a colorful texture and an essential support for the vocal line throughout the song.

S8 DO YOU KNOW HIM?

The Text

Do you know him? Easy (My God) He'3 easy to take, to mistake So easy. Do you know him? He lasts (My Lord) How long so long so long He lasts. Do you know him? I know him. He's easy.

Toni Morrison encouraged Kathleen Battle to think of these words as either a religious song or a love song. The phrases, 'My God' and 'My Lord,' are parenthetical and allow for a flexible interpretation. As a prayer, the speaker sees her God as comfortable and enduring. As a love song, the parenthetical phrases seem to be addressing

God. In this context the lover is regarded as strong and faithful (Morrison, 2001).

The Music

Although it is the fourth song in the cycle. Do you know him? was composed last. After some small musical changes worked out by the singer and composer pertaining to the first version of H o n e y a n d R d e , Kathleen Battle requested

59 that Previn and Morrison write, her, a. sixth unaccompanied^

song. It is brief, lasting only 27 measures. The piece

provides a transition between the grandness of The town is

lit and the doubtful song, I am not seaworthy.

Do you know him was written to highlight Battle's voice. It is intimate and exposed. The tune begins and ends in D major but naturally and seamlessly travels through other tonalities. The primary motive is hummed.

It is a lovely, conjunct vocal line that ends with a descending fifth. It should be sung freely.

The question, 'Do you know him?' is asked three times.

The phrase is composed with added intensity for each restatement. The question incorporates a leap of a minor tenth in its last appearance. (Figure 15, 16, 17)

. > Do you know him?—

Figure 15 - m.2-3

60 I Do you know him?— He

Figure 16 - m. 12-13

Do you know him?____

Figure 17 - m.20-21

While this piece is well-suited to the light, silvery quality of Kathleen Battle's voice, other sopranos may find the singing in the upper passaggio awkward. The phrase,

"He's easy to take, to mistake" exemplifies such an instance. (Figure 18)

He's ea-iy to take to mis- nke

Figure 18 - m.7-9

61 I A M N O T SEAWORTHY

The Text

I am not seaworthy. Look how the fish mistake my hair for home. I had a life, like you. I shouldn't be riding the sea, I am not seaworthy. Let me be earthbound, star fixed. Mixed with sun and smacking air. Give me the smile, the magic kiss To trick little boy death of my hand. I am not seaworthy. Look how the fish mistake my hair for home.

The speaker in I am not seaworthy is Shakespeare's Ophelia.

In Act IV, scene vii of the play, Hamlet, the Queen announces that Ophelia has drowned. Before dying, Ophelia appeared mermaid-like in the brook and was heard chanting

"snatches of old tunes." Toni Morrison imagined that these lyrics might be Ophelia's thoughts while in the water. In the song the girl is having second thoughts about killing herself and longs to be earthbound once again (Morrison,

2001).

The Music

The drifting, melancholy atmosphere of I am not seaworthy is reminiscent of the second song in the cycle,

Whose house is this. This is achieved by the repetitive

62 rhythmic figures in the string accompaniment and a liberal

use of shifting harmonies and changing meters. For

example, the chord progression in the first seven measures

seems random: F major, a minor, A major, A flat major

seventh, B major 7, e minor. The meters are simple,

compound, and irregular. In addition, the andante tempo is

relentlessly slow and static.

Previn composes several lengthy oboe solos in this

through-composed song. The timbre of the oboe enhances the

song a great deal. The oboe actually begins the piece and

Previn contours the oboe phrases in a lovely way. Like the vocal line, the oboe line consists of lyrical, sostenuto phrases. The first phrase is highly chromatic and contains all the pitches in a twelve-tone scale. (Figure 19)

A«4aiHe ü-caol fata

Figure 19 - m.1-7

The vocal line lies primarily in the middle voice. At times it is conjunct, but more often it is disjunct with expressive leaps. (Figure 20) 63 #if

Figure 20 - m.24-27

The singer has a recurring rhythmic pattern that helps to create continuity in the song. The pattern consists of three quarter notes followed by a half note and occurs several times. (Figure 21, 22)

r - — 1 am not sea - wor. tby._

Figure 21 - m.31-32

Give me the smile. the ma > etc kiss

Figure 22 - m. 41-42

64 Previn, is creative-.itk. portreyiag-Ophetie's second thoughts. For example, the opening vocal phrase, 'I am not seaworthy' in measure 31 is transposed down a whole step and seems to signify the drowning Ophelia sinking further into the brook. Another phrase, 'to trick little boy death of my hand' is set in an eerie way. The phrase is exposed, accompanied only partially by a solo violin playing harmonics. (Figure 23)

To trick lit - tie boy death o f my hand. l.Solo Harm.

Figure 23 - m. 43-45 TAKE MT MOTHER HOME

The Text

My lady rides a Tennessee stud with a tiny whip in her hand. The afternoon sky is kind to her and the wind is in love with her veil. Her coat is as read as her heart. The spurs on her heels glint like knives where the flesh of the stud is soft. I wish I had me a fast-footed horse; a veil to wrap my mind. I wish I had me a tiny little whip and a heart that could close like a coat. Take my mother home; take my mother on home I ain't free; never mind about me Take my mother home. Take my father home; let my father see his home I ain't free; don't worry about me Take my father home. Take my sister home; lead my sister home I ain't free; forget about me Take my sister home. Take my brother home; show him the way to get home I ain't free; it don't matter about me Take my brother home. Take my baby home; take my baby home I ain't free and I never will be Take my pretty baby on home. Home. Home. I can stay here all alone if you Take my mother home.

Toni Morrison had a spiritual in mind when writing Take my mother home. Spirituals were like folk songs. They were repetitive and unwritten. These songs were only passed on through an oral tradition. Morrison's lyrics call to mind the symbolic language used when slaves referred to escape via the Underground Railroad. The speaker in the song has

66 no hope of going home but sincerely wisiies for the welX-

being of her family (Morrison, 2001).

The Music

Take my mother home is the finest song in the cycle H o n e y

AND Rue. In terms of contemporary American art song, it is one of the most fulfilling, beautiful pieces of music written. For this reason it is the most performed song in the cycle. Barbara Hendricks and Harolyn Blackwell are among those who have sung it in recital. Both Previn and

Morrison intended the spiritual/blues aspect. Previn says that the song is very calculating.

Several things make Take my mother home an excellent song. First, the relationship between the vocal line and the orchestra is stunning. In performance a jazz ensemble consisting of piano, trumpet, trombone, jazz set, and double bass is brought to the front of the stage with the singer. These instruments are essential to the character of the song, punctuating and accompanying the soprano. As the song progresses the listener hears additional "voices" in the orchestra highlighted one by one. The homophonie texture becomes fuller and lush with time. Second, each verse is accompanied differently. For example, in the last

67 verse the siager pleads.,^. "Take-my baby-homePrevin-

chooses a more intimate quality for this verse and composes

a harp accompaniment. Third, the transitions between

verses are incredibly fluid, consisting of captivating

musical ideas.

Take my mother home is essentially strophic,

consisting of five verses. Previn adds a wonderful twist

by adding two recitatives, one which commences the song.

The second recitative is placed between the fourth and

fifth verses. The recitatives are chromatic, but both end

in D major. Most of the verses are in G major. The third

verse is the exception. It begins in G flat major. The

melody of the verses is sometimes slightly varied. The

vocal melody and instrumental accompaniment are so

appealing because of their lyric quality. Lyricism has to do with the music's memorability, symmetry of phrases,

simplicity, and how well it is suited to the voice or

instrument. In addition, lyric music impels physicality, an internal desire for movement. (Figure 24)

68 m m Tike my m^tber home;— r^t“> my m»lhmoohome_

Figure 24 - m.29-37

The vocal writing does Toni Morrison's text tremendous justice. The words are never obscured, rather the notes allow the singer to illuminate Morrison's very original discourse. The initial recitative includes a bit of word painting. The line, "and the wind is in love with her veil" is slightly melismatic. The singer can take advantage of the ritardando and expressively imitate the whistling wind. (Figure 25}

if - ter- aooa sky is kind to her and the wind. ic is love_ with her veil

Figure 25 - m.lO

69 Elsewhere, the line, "I can stay here all alone" calls for a meaningful lyricism. Here the romanticism in Previn's writing is evident. (Figure 26)

us rit

can l U y here all m - lone. yo u lake m y mo - (her

ho m e . . H o m e .

Figure 26 - m. 115-118

70 Chapter 6

Text and Music in Four Songs fox Sopxano^ Cello Piano

MERCY

The Text

I could watch Heads Turn from the traveler's look The camera's probe Bear the purity of their Shame Hear mute desolation in syllables Ancient as Death. I could do these things If Only if only I knew that when milk Spills And hearts stop Underheel Some small thing gone Chill Is right To warm toward a touch because Mercy Lies in wait Like a shore. Mercy Mercy Mercy Like a shore.

71 ToriL Morrisoa has. said. tbat-African-Amerieaiv identity'

has little or nothing to do with the "speaker" in F o u r S o n g s .

The first text in this group of songs, Mercy, is about how

the media looks at starvation, blood and misfortune in

settings such as Ethiopia. The traveler and the probing

camera, referred to in the lyrics, attempt to exploit those

who can only turn away in shame. Toni Morrison's lyrics

express embarrassment at the way the media invades the

privacy of the dying. The speaker could "bear the purity

of their shame" - the shame of the dying - if she knew that

ultimately there would be mercy for them (Morrison, 2001).

The Music

Morrison's text is beautifully written but is not

colloquial and a complicated musical texture would have

further obscured the text. Therefore Previn simply

supplied a piano accompaniment that consists of a steady

metronomic pulse and highlighted the voice and cello. The

setting is static and somber. The harmonic rhythm is

extremely slow. No single pitch is heard as tonic, but the piece does begin in C sharp major and ends in D flat major.

Although this piece is arguably the most beautiful in the set, the text setting is the poorest. The vocal line,

72 both the pitches amd. the rhythms^ obscure, tbe. t e x t in. many

places. The first occurrence of this is the word,

"traveler's." Previn sets the word syllabically to three

even quarter notes and brings out the second unaccented

syllable. The phrase, "hear mute desolation in syllables

ancient as death" includes an awkward setting of the word,

"desolation." (Figure 27)

sy|.li>bla w - dear m

Figure 27 — m.33-36

Furthermore, in this song and throughout the set f o o r songs

Previn tends to elongate the final, unaccented syllables of words. (Figure 28)

Bear the pa . li • Qr a t their

Figure 28 - m.30-31

73 Poor text setting paired wlt±L_a, disj.un.ct. vocal line make

the text difficult to understand.

The cello is undoubtedly important to the overall

effect of Mercy. The part is technically demanding

though. It is highly chromatic and contains doublestops

and high fingerboard playing. In addition, the extensive

introduction depends upon soloistic, legato playing by the cellist. The relationship between the cello and voice is a dialogue. The cello rarely sounds with the singer.

However, during the most climatic moment of the piece all three instruments play together and the effect is exciting.

(Figure 29)

cm-ljr, if o«.Jy I kanr ta w h n i odk i h am flop «.derlW .

Figure 29 — m. 42-45

74 Tha fonrL o£ this song is-essentially ABA. The original 20 measures are repeated by the cello and piano at the end of the piece. The middle section consists of a text that is broken up by six brief interludes, played by the piano and cello. Unfortunately the interludes interrupt the text too much. An additional challenge in the performance of Mercy is the tempo. The pianist has too few notes to sustain such a slow tempo beneath the cello and the voice.

75 STONE&

The Text

I don't need no man Telling me I ain't one. My trigger finger strong As his on a shot gun. ButtercaJce and roses smooth Stones in my bed. Handmade quilts cover Stones in my bed. I don't need no man Telling me I ain't one. My backbone ain't like his But least I got one. High-heeled slippers break Stones in my bed. Games played at night trick Stones in my bed. Stones. I don't need no man Telling me.

Stones is based on an old blues song. Rocks in my bed, and inspired by the singing style of blues singer Bessie

Smith. The speaker in Stones is a brash, bold woman who is angry at the absence of a man in her life. Her tone is not one of complaint, but of anger. Only stones warm her bed at night. Her trigger finger, buttercake, roses, and handmade quilts are intended to make up for the lack of a man. The sentiments in these lyrics severely contrast those in the next song. Shelter (Morrison, 2001).

76 The Music

Stones bears more resemblance to the musical material

in H o n e y a n d Ru e than it does to any other piece in F o u r S o n g s .

One can immediately hear the jazz influence in the rhythmic

aspect of the song. The syncopation, triplet figures, and

jazz licks persist throughout. The soloistic piano and

cello accompaniment sound improvised. In the second verse

the piano drops out and Previn assigns the cello an active

bass line accompaniment as one would expect from a string

bass in a jazz trio. Even the vocal style is declamatory

and earthy. (Figure 30)

mu-bgm* I abi't out

Figure 30 - m.52-55

Stones has a modified strophic form with an extensive coda. The piece begins with a piano accompaniment in measures 1-10 that repeats in measure 40. The two verses

77 are separated, by a volatile^plano interlude in wbicfcv no­ tonality or rhythmic pattern is settled upon. This creates a mood of chaos and restlessness accurately depicting the speaker's anger. (Figure 31)

-j—t

Figure 31 - m. 34-36

The original g minor vocal line is declamatory until the bright and sassy tempo gives way to a legato meno mosso section. Here the voice is showcased for a moment in a higher tessitura while the singer gives an account of the more pleasant and feminine aspects of her life. (Figure 32)

78 But • KT'Caiw and

TtapopriBM

0 3 L U T

Figure 32 - m.20-24

A new melody appears in the meno mosso section and only the cello accompanies the voice. The text is syllabic here and set more naturally than it is in the previous song.

Previn creates an interesting color with his broad use of chromaticism. Initially one hears secundal chords against a "pedal tone", D, in different octaves.

Continuing, tertian harmonies are evident with a broad use of open fifths and quartal/quintal chords. (Figure 33)

79 Figure 33 — m.23-25

After the second verse ends 27 measures of instrumental music remain. This music is somewhat developmental. The "coda" culminates with 4 repetitions of a thirty-second note pattern in octaves on the piano and doubled by the cello. The tonality seamlessly leads from D sharp minor to D, the dominant of the last a cappella phrase, 'I don't need no man telling me!' Previn adds a musical exclamation point on beat three of the last measure. The cello pizzicato sounds in unison with the piano's final chord. Both instruments play a glissando off of the last chord. (Figure 34)

80 Figure 34 - m.94-97

81 SWFLTEH

The Text

In this soft place Under your wings I will find shelter From ordinary things.

Here are the mountains I want to scale Amazon rivers I'm dying to sail.

Here the eyes of the forest I can hold in a stare And smile at the movement Of Medusa's green hair.

In this soft place Under your wings I will find shelter From ordinary things.

Toni Morrison's poem. Shelter, is about a woman who is

'having a good time in her imagination.' She thinks about

her man and all of the challenges, both mythical and

metaphorical, that she can overcome with him in her life

(Morrison, 2001).

The Muaic

Shelter possesses a beautiful, sustained melody that

is very representative of the lyrics' sentiment. While the piano accompaniment is sparse, it is harmonically

82 supportive of the vocal.line^ It conaiats of linear

arpeggiation and chordal figures. (Figure 35)

Figure 35 - m.9-12

In addition, the text interpretation is straightforward and

Previn conforms to the strophic groupings that Morrison

intended.

It is interesting to note that Previn incorporates humming in this song, something that is reminiscent of the

song Do you know Him? in the cycle Ho n e y a n d Ru e . In lieu of humming, Sylvia McNair chooses to sing on a vowel, approaching these sections as she would a vocalise. On the

1997 Sony recording of this song Sylvia McNair makes a stunning transition from the "humming" in measures 37-40 to the text, "Here are the mountains I want to scale" in measure 41. Rather than phrasing at the end of measure 40,

83 McNair crescendos through the. second and third.beats and

creates a sense of urgency in the text. As in Mercy, the

piano accompaniment in Shelter is sometimes too sparse but

McNair is able to overcome this deficiency in Previn's

music. (Figure 36)

Here

Figure 36 — m. 40-42

Previn rarely uses text painting in his art songs.

However, in the middle section of Shelter he creates dramatic intensity with this technique. The text, 'And smile at the movement of Medusa's green hair,' is a line that descends chromatically by half step. The cello and piano echo this chromatic descent. The effect is representative of the deflation of mythical Medusa and all of the other challenges that the speaker encounters.

(Figure 37)

84 F T ' t ? m

Figure 37 - m.61-67

According to pianist Martin Katz, Shelter is very

characteristic of André Previn's song style with regard to

his slow songs. "Previn is intent on a drifting

atmosphere. I also feel this in Streetcar Named Desire"

(Katz, 2001). Other Previn songs in this style include I

am not seaworthy and Take my mother home from the cycle

H o n e y a n d Ro e .

85 THE LACEM2ÜŒR

The Text

I am as you see What most becomes me: Miles skipped Cancelled trips Masters yet unmet. Lace alone is loyal, sacred, royal, in control Of crimes stopped By patterns of blood bred to best behavior. As you see I am What has become of me.

The character in The Lacemaker is hollow, regretful, and mournful. Toni Morrison's lyrics are an assessment of a spinster, a woman who has settled for less in life. Her vocation as a lacemaker has prevented her from committing

"crimes" in her life - passions that she's left unexplored.

In lieu of trips and personal adventures she has chosen to become a woman who creates lace for royalty (Morrison,

2001) .

The Music

André Previn's setting of The Lacemaker is dramatic and extremely effective. At first glance, this song holds very little interest for the singer. There are minimal technical demands and the singer is diminished in this

86 setting while the cello and piano are tiighlight-ed^

Furthermore, the vocal outbursts are brief and sporadic,

interrupted by instrumental commentary. However, Previn's

music is incredibly representative of Toni Morrison's

lyrics. The piece is about a woman who has lived an

insignificant and lackluster life. It would be

inappropriate for her voice to be dominant in this song.

In The Lacemaker, Previn makes use of brief sequences

and the repetition of motives. The first motive,

introduced by the piano in measures 1-4, is repeated by the cello in measures 10-13 and partially again by the piano in measures 49-50. This motive begins in A Major and is very deliberate, characterized by an accented sixteenth-dotted eighth note figure. The repetition illustrates the monotony of the woman's daily labor. (Figure 38)

Figure 38 — m.1-4

87 TRe second motive is introduced by the voice in measures

21-22. The lyrics are 'I am as you see what most becomes

me.' It is a melancholy sentiment that the cello later

echoes in measures 44-45. (Figure 39)

Figura 39 — m.44-45

There is also a rhythmic motive that appears seven times

throughout the song and consists of two thirty-second notes tied to a dotted eighth note. These repetitions sound narrow-minded and practiced, again representing the lacemaker's lifestyle. (Figure 40)

Figure 40 — m.5-5 88 The harmonic asgect of^Jihe aon,çt pravidea drama as

well. Previn opens the piece with a series of intervals of

a minor sixth - the interval associated with longing. This

is shown in measures 5-6. (Figure 40) At times the song is

static and lacks any tonal direction. At other moments the

momentum is created by the dissonances that eventually lead

to a momentary sense of tonality. One such instance is the

piano's chromatic ascent and arrival at f sharp minor

followed by a plagal cadence in F sharp major. (Figure 41)

I -

Figure 41 — m.7-9

The articulation of the text is more declamatory than lyric in style. The statements are brief and separated by

89 instrumental interruptions. Previa primarily sets the text

against a minimal accompaniment. 'In control of crimes

stopped by patterns of blood bred to best behavior' is sung

above simple sustained chords. (Figure 42)

Figure 42 - m.40-42

The last phrase, 'What has become of me' is a statement rather than a question. It is sung above a b minor chord.

There is a fermata and decrescendo over the last word.

'Me' fades out, exemplifying the lacemaker's insignificance.

Previn was particularly sensitive to the dramatic intent of Morrison's lyrics in the making of this final song. The music conveys intense sadness and disappointment in every aspect.

90 LIST OF REFERENCES

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92 Kosman, Joshua. ''Warming_jug_ for the opera season...^' Rev. of FOUR SONGS. San Francisco Chronicle. 30 August 1998: 62.

Kozinn, Allan. "A Weary Maestro Trudges Forward." The New York Times. 5 May 1996, late ed.: 31. LaBlanc, Michael L. Ed. Contemporary Musicians: profiles of the people in music. Volume 6. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989.

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Littler, William. "Battle brings her own music to the symphony." Rev. of HONEY AND RUE. Roy Thomson Hall. Toronto. The Toronto Star. 8 January 1993: Dll.

Matheopoulos, Helen. Maestro; Encounters with conductors of today. London: Hutchison Publishing, 1982.

McKay, Nellie Y. Editor. Critical Essays on Toni Morrison. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1988.

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93 Myerst Eric.. "Makina_Stree£..car Sing..." Qpera Nears. September 1998: 34-40.

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Previn, André. Four Songs for Soprano^ Cello and Piano. London: Chester Music, 1995.

Previn, André. Honey and Rue. London: Chester Music, 1993.

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Previn, André. No Minor Chords: My Days in Hollywood. London: Bantam, 1991.

Previn, André. Personal interview. 18 April 2001.

"Reveling in symphonic and operatic riches." Rev. of HONEY AND RUE. USA Today. 29 December 1992, final ed. : 8D.

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94 Stearns, David Patrick. ^ "Honest Erevin.__misses the. scare.»" Rev. of HONEY AND RUE. Carnegie Hall. New York City. USA Today. 7 January 1992, final ed.: 4D.

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Wagar, Jeannine. Conductors in Conversation: Fifteen contemporary conductors discuss their lives and profession. Boston: J.K. Hall, 1991.

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INTERNET RESOURCES:

http : // W W W . kennedy-Center. orq/honors/history/honoree/previn.html

http Î//web.lexis-nexls.com/universe

http://WWW.music.Indiana.edu/ddm/

95 http ; //nobel. sdsc. edu/laureate3/Xiterature-1993-Iectut&>h.tal http ; / / WWW. pbs. org/ wne t / qper f / street car/html/credi ts. html http : / / WWW. Princeton. edu/pr/president / 98/05-20-98. html http ; //WWW, schlrmer « com/compoawrs/pravin/work». html

96 APPENDIX A

STYLE SHEET

André Previn (b.l930)

GENERAL

• Highly recognized conductor, jazz pianist, classical

pianist, composer

• composer and arranger for Metro-Goldwin-Mayer for 25

years

• compositions essentially in a lyric style with popular

music influences

• early musical studies at Berlin Hochschule and Paris

Conservatory; studied composition with Mario Castelnuovo-

Tedesco and Ernst Toch in the United States

• composes songs with specific singers in mind

• quality of songs vary

• some of the vocal music includes additional

instrumentation

• MELODY

• vocal articulation ranges from lyric to recitative

• tessitura is primarily middle voice

97 • voice-leading somewhat- asymmet rieal/ at times not

idiomatic to the voice

• phrase contour is unpredictable, conjunct and disjunct

vocal lines

• short melodic motives

HABM0M7

• essentially tonal with a great deal of chromaticism

• homophonie textures which set the dramatic mood

RHYTHM

• simple rhythms in the vocal line

• changing meter in most songs, sometimes this prevents

sense of continuity with the text

• unpredictable rhythms in the accompaniment of fast songs,

accents, syncopation

• jazz/blues feel to some of Previn's fast songs

ACCOMPANIMENT

• variety of textures and accompaniment figures

• accompaniment often introduces the initial melody of the

vocal line

• interplay between voice and other instruments

• some more difficult piano accompaniments

• preludes and interludes common

98 POETS

• Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje, Emily Dickinson, Dory

Previn, Philip Larkin, Isak Denison, William Carlos

Williams, T.S. Eliot, Else Lasker-Schüler

• Word setting syllabic; natural speech inflection often obscured

• Song style dictated by poetic mood

FORM

• Previn does not try to conform to typical song forms;

songs difficult to categorize

• Use of coda or modified return of the original material

• Texts are segmented; some songs are extremely sectional

INFLUENCES

• operatic heroes are Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber,

Richard Strauss

• very diverse personal musical history spanning film

music, musicals, jazz, solo piano repertoire, and

symphonic repertoire

99 APPENDIX B

PREVIN'S CLASSICAL VOCAL WORKS

Works published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and Affiliates

OPERA

A Streetcar Named Desire (1998) Libretto by Philip Littell

Silk (in progress)

ART SONG

Five Songs (1977) for Mezzo-soprano(Janet Baker) & piano; Text by Philip Larkin

Honey and Rue (1992) 6 Songs for Soprano (Kathleen Battle)& Orchestra; Text by Toni Morrison

Four Songs (1994) for Soprano, Cello, & Piano; Text by Toni Morrison

Sally Chisum Remembers Billy the Kid (1994) for Soprano (Barbara Bonney) & Orchestra;Text adapted by Michael Ondaatje from a text by Walter Noble Burns

Vocalise (1995) for Soprano, Cello & Orchestra

100 Two fo-r Soprano- fSyivia McNair), alto flute & piano; Text by Else Lasker-Schüler (translation by Michael Gillespie) and Frau Ava (tranlation by Willis Barnstone)

The Magic Number (1995) for Soprano (Sylvia McNair) & Orchestra; Text by Dory Previn Shannon

Three Dickinson Songs (1999) for Soprano (Renee Fleming) & Piano

The Giraffes go to Hamburg (2000) for Soprano, Alto flute & piano; Text by Isak Denison from Out of Africa

101 APPENDIX C

SELECTED LIST OF PREVIN'S MQSIC

CHAMBER/SOLO INSTRUMENTAL

Two Little Serenades (1970) violin, piano

Paraphrase on a Theme of piano William Walton (1973)

Four Outings for Brass (1974) horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba

Peaches (1978) flute, piano

Matthew's Piano Book (1979) piano

Triolet for Brass (1985) horn, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba

Wedding Waltz (1986) piano, 2 oboes

Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1990) piano

Cello Sonata (1993) cello, piano

Sonata for violin, "Vineyard" (1994) violin, piano

Hoch soil Er Leben (1997) horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba

Bassoon Sonata (1997) bassoon, piano

Tango, Song, and Dance (1998) violin, piano

102 ORCHESTRA

Concerto for Celle (1960)

Concerto for Guitar (1971)

Concerto for Piano (1985)

Diversions (1999)

M0SZCALS/STA6E

Coco (1969) musical • written with Alan Lerner Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (1976) play with actors and orchestra FILMS (abridged)

Three Little Words (1950) Kiss Me Kate (1953) It's Always Fair Weather (1955) Invitation to the Dance (1956) Gigi (1958) Porgy and Bess (1959) Bells are Ringing (1960) Elmer Gantry (1960) The Four Horsemen of the i^ocolypse (1961) Two for the Seesaw (1962) Irma La Douce (1963) My Fair Lady (1964) Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

103 APPENDIX D

DISCOGRAPHY

Previn, André. From Ordinary Things. With Sylvia McNair and Yo-Yo Ma. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc, SK62004, 1997.

Previn, André. Honey and Rue. With Kathleen Battle and Orchestra of St. Luke's. Deutsche Grammophon*, 4377872, 1995.

Previn, André. Saille Chisum Remembers Billy the Kid. With Barbara Bonney and Sato Knudsen. London Records, 2894455112, 1998.

Previn, André. André Previn-composer, conductor, pianist- Diversionsr Songs. With Renee Fleming, Barbara Bonney, Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. Deutsche Grammophon, 471028, 2001.

104 DEGREE PERFORMANCES STEPHANIE MbCLURE ADRIAN, SOPRANO

Performance One: Susannah Performing the title role May 7-9,1999 Weigel Hall Auditorium The Ohio State University

Performance Two: Recital April 2, 2000 Weigel Hall Auditorium The Ohio State University

Performance Three: Recital February 5, 2001 Weigel Hall Auditorium The Ohio State University

Performance Four; Lecture - Recital October 3U, 2001 Weigel Hall Auditorium The Ohio State University

105 FOUR SONGS Music by Andre Previn Words by Toni Morrison Copyright © 1994 by Chester Music Ltd. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by permission of G. Schirmer, Inc., USA agents for Chester Music Ltd.

Excerpts: Stones- measures 20-25, 34-26,52-55,94-97 Lacemaker- measures 1-9,40-45 Mercy- measures 30-36,42-45 Shelter- measures 9-12,40-42, 61-67

HONEY AND RUE Music by Andre Previn Words by Toni Morrison Copyright © 1992 by Chester Music Ltd. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by permission of G. Schirmer, Inc., USA agents for Chester Music Ltd.

Excerpts: First I’ll try love-measures 1-5,21-23, 11-12,63-65 Whose house is this? -measures 2,15-16, 8-13,17-22,51-54 The town is lit- measures 175-177, 114-117,32-35,131-133 Do you know him-measures 2-3,7-9,12-13,20-21 I am not seaworthy-measures 1-7,24-27, 31-32,41-45 Take my mother home-measures 29-37, 10, 115-118 Hotmail Folder inbox P%e I of 2

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Air Ticket Dear Stephanie McClure: Chat Rod Firxl Frier Ms. Morrison has given her permission for you to reprint the lyrics from Honey Hear Mus and Rue and Four Songs in your dissertation.'They may not be reprinted for any Horoscop other purpose without her permission. My Photo Personals Sincerely, Send Mor Rene Boatman Stock Qui Assistant to Ms. Morrison More...

Stephanie McClure wrote:

Dear Ms. Morrison, We spoke in April about your art song collaboration with Andre Previn. I am still working on my dissertation and am writing to request permission to reprint your lyrics from Honey and Rue and Four Songs in my document. My document includes discussion on text setting and interpretation. It would be very helpful to the reader if she could read the complete lyrics at the beginning of each chapter.

Best Regards, Stephanie McClure Adrian

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Rene Boatman Assistant to Toni Morrison 609-258-1071 Princeton University Fax: 609-258-5095 111 Dickinson Hall boatxaangprinceton. edu Princeton, H<7 08544

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