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Stylistic Characteristics of Randall Thompson's Choral Music

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Stylistic Characteristics of Randall Thompson's Choral Music Central Washington University ScholarWorks@CWU All Master's Theses Master's Theses 1970 Stylistic Characteristics of Randall Thompson's Choral Music Robert Hugh Creigh Central Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd Part of the Education Commons, and the Music Pedagogy Commons Recommended Citation Creigh, Robert Hugh, "Stylistic Characteristics of Randall Thompson's Choral Music" (1970). All Master's Theses. 1322. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1322 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses at ScholarWorks@CWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@CWU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1//v'" STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RANDALL THOMPSON'S CHORAL MUSIC A Research Paper Presented to the Graduate Faculty Central Washington State College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Education by Robert Hugh Creigh July 1970 SP.EGIP.l' COLU::CT!Oft 175544 ii This Study complies with the second alternative thesis requirement of the Graduate Department, Central Washington State College Catalogue, 1965. Under this plan it is a three credit thesis. APPROVED FOR THE GRADUATE FACULTY ________________________________ Joseph S. Haruda, COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN _________________________________ Ralph D. Guftafson _________________________________ Maya S. Hertz iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION. 1 Importance of the Study . 1 Limitations of the Study. .. 1 Definition of Terms Used. • • 2 II. RANDALL THOMPSON: HIS LIFE AND PHILOSOPHY •• 3 His Life • • •••• . 3 His Philosophy •••• . 4 III. STYLE CHARACTERISTICS . 6 Melodic Line •• . 6 Harmonic Line . 10 Color . 11 Prosody • a • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 23 Form •• • • • • ♦ • . 27 IV. SUMMARY . • • • . 35 BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • • • . 36 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Randall Thompson's choral music, widely performed by professional groups, colleges, and choirs from public schools, establishes this composer as one of the foremost in contemporary music. In view of such popularity, it would seem that choral directors should more fully acquaint themselves with some of the idiomatic characteristics of his style. I. IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY A choral director should have a complete under­ standing of the music he performs. The significant musical traits of Randall Thompson should be known for effective interpretation of his music; therefore, a study of these traits has value for the choral conductor who wishes to perform Thompson's music. II. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This study discusses only those style character­ istics peculiar to Thompson's choral music. No attempt has been made to present detailed harmonic or rhythmic analysis. The titles examined in the study include the 1 2 following: Alleluia, .Americana, A Feast of Praise,~ Gates of Heaven, The Last Words of David, Odes to Horas, The Peaceable Kingdom, and Requiem. III. DEFINITION OF TEEMS USED Antiphonal singing. Singing in alternating choruses (1:41). This technique is also known as poly­ chordal style (1:592-593). Augmentation. The presentation of a theme or subject in doubled values, e.g., with the quarter notes being replaced with half notes (1:62). Contrapuntal. In the style of counterpoint. The term is usually used interchangeably with polyphonic (1:183). Music written with several voices or parts being performed simultaneously, but maintaining their own indi­ viduality, to some degree (1:593). Prosody. The study of metrical structure, including poetic feet and meter, and the rhyming patterns of texts used in choral music (13:678). CHAPTER II RANDALL THOMPSON: HIS LIFE AND PHILOSOPHY I. HIS LIFE Randall Thompson was born April 21, 1899, in New York City, but grew up in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where his father, Daniel Varney Thompson, taught English. His parents encouraged him to learn to play the piano and to sing. However, he did not become serious about music until he was twelve years of age. At this time he became inspired by Schuyler Van Dyke, a mathematicisn who played chapel organ in Lawrenceville. Through Van Dyke, Thompson became acquainted with the works of Bach, Widor, Vierne, and other composers. At fifteen he succeeded Van Dyke as organist. Subsequently, Thompson started composing hymns and decided to go to Harvard for his musical training (12:8). While attending Harvard he studied with Dr. Archi­ bald T. Davidson, Edward Burlingame Hill, and other faculty members of the school of music. His development as a com­ poser at Harvard was rapid. He developed a friendship with Roger Sessions, who urged him to continue his studies in New York with Ernest Bloch. As a result of this study he won the Prix de Rome and was made a fellow of the American Academy at Rome from 1922 to 1925 (12:25). 3 4 When Thompson returned to the United States he became Assistant Professor of Music at Wellesley College, a position he held from 1927 until 1929. During 1929 and 1930 he held a Guggenheim Fellowship in New York City, and in 1933 he received an honorary Doctor's degree from the University of Rochester. In 1937 he was appointed Professor of Music and Director of the University Chorus at the Uni­ versity of California at Berkeley. From 1938 through 1940 he was Director of the Curtis Institute of Music. He headed the Music Division of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Virginia from 1941 through 1946. For two years, from 1946 through 1948, he was Professor of Music at Princeton University, and in 1948 he joined the faculty of Harvard University. In 1959 he was given an award of merit by the Italian government. He is now retired and is a mem­ ber of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (10:2214). II. HIS PHILOSOPHY Randall Thompson, one of the most successful com­ posers of choral music in America (3:14), has a definite philosophy regarding his music. High among the driving forces behind Thompson's composing is his attempt to write music that "will reach and move the hearts of his listeners in his own day" (4:431). Such a goal has kept him from becoming interested in esoteric styles or intricate techniques and forms. He 5 has tried to write with sincerity, high purpose, and depth of feeling within the traditional forms. His music, characterized by economy, simplicity of means, and nobility of expression (4:431), is clearly contemporary in its con­ struction (6:110). While Thompson's music is American in spirit, com­ posed for American needs and inspired by the native artistic environment of this country, its means of expression may be traced to the sixteenth century. This, then, places him among the nationalists and the eclectics of America's com­ posers (4:431). In an Inaugural Address at Princeton University in 1946, entitled Music, Popular and Unpopular, Thompson made a statement about the relationship of the composer to his public that gives an important clue to the nature of his music and the attitudes that produce it. Regarding American composers and their source of inspiration, he stated: 11 Literal and empty imitation of European models" must be rejected in favor of that source of inspira­ tion which springs from "our own genuine heritage in its every manifestation, every inflection, and every living example" (5:2). This philosophy allowed his style to develop without the influence of the more radical tendencies of contemporary composers. It evolved along the safer and more tried prac­ tices of older masters. Unusual is the composer, in this day, who uses musical words familiar to everyone, yet is able to write music contemporary in style (9:237). CHAPTER III STYLE CHARACTERISTICS In the choral music of Randall Thompson four basic qualities of his style are found: (1) the invention of lines which, by their rise and fall and their points of rest, make the singing of them a matter of interest as well as ease; (2) the setting of every phrase of text into a texture of voice that serves not only to sound the words, but also to emphasize their meaning by particular choral color; (3). the rhythmic equivalent in music to the natural rhythm of the words when spoken; and (4) an organization of phrases, made clear by the use of passing cadences, which by their relative strength indicate the different relation­ ships existing between successive phrases (5:9). I. MELODIC LINE Thompson's melodic line is characterized by economy and simplicity in its means and nobility in its expression (4:431). These qualities are achieved through step-wise motion and intervals that are easily heard and sung. Exam­ ple 1 illustrates this point. 6 7 Example 1. The Last Words of David :pp p II _mp /A .LI j ~ ' ~ - --- ~ - - - - . - r tJ Al - le-lu - ia,-- al- le - p mp p mp ,., ~ PP " . ~ .., ~ ~ ,..: ____,. tJ ... - --- .. .. .. Al - le- lu - - - ia, al-le-lu - ia, .. p pp ·,P Mfl::::::-p mp " .u'PP. ' I - . ~ - . tJ - r Al - le-lu - - - - ia, al-le- lu - - --ia,_ al-lt:-lu - ia, p pp - mp-::::::::::-p . ~ ~ - ·, - ~ - - I - - I'.. I '-- ia, al . - le - lu - - - ia, al- le - lu - ------ - --·-·-· ·-- - --· ----·-·-------,n,p1- - -- • ' <> - ia, al le - lu tTff mp p <> - le - lu - - ia, al le - lu "!I' mp p_ <>- le - lu - - ia, al le - lu 1'lfl tTff p_ <::> ia, al le - lu - In measure five of Example 1, the soprano part skips downward an interval of a fifth from the second to the fifth degree of the G major scale. The presence of the basses, 8 also on the fifth degree of the scale, makes the downward skip by the sopranos seem natural and easy to sing. In measures five and six the tenors make a skip downward of a fifth, from the sixth degree to the second degree, and then back up a fourth to a D, which the basses have been holding.
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