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Chamber Orchestra: 2 Flutes DMA Option 2 Thesis and Option 3 Scholarly Essay DEPOSIT COVERSHEET University of Illinois Music and Perfonning Arts Library Date: March 4. 2021 DMA Option (circle): �r 3 [scholarly essay] Your full name: Euigun Lee Full title of Thesis or Essay: DAVID CONTE'S THE GIFT OF THE MAGI: EDUCATIONAL VALUE IN AN AMERICAN OPERA Keywords (4-8 recommended) Please supply a minimum of 4 keywords. Keywords are broad terms that relate to your thesis and allow readers to find your work through search engines. When choosing keywords consider: composer names, performers, composition names, instruments, era of study (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc.), theory, analysis. You can use important words from the title of your paper or abstract, but use additional terms as needed. 1. AMERCIAN OPERA 2. "THE GIFT OF THE MAGI" 3. David Conte 4_ 20th Century Amercian Opera s. American Opera for Education 6. Opera - short story 7. Opera - a hour running time 8. Opera - one act If you need help constructing your keywords, please contact Dr. Tharp, Director of Graduate Studies. Information about your advisors, department, and your abstract will be taken from the thesis/essay and the departmental coversheet. DAVID CONTE’S THE GIFT OF THE MAGI: EDUCATIONAL VALUE IN AN AMERICAN OPERA BY EUIGUN LEE THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music with a concentration in Performance and Literature in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Julie Gunn, Chair Professor Stephen Taylor, Director of Research Professor Nathan Gunn Professor Andrew Megill ABSTRACT This thesis serves as a guide to David Conte’s opera The Gift of the Magi to provide undergraduate students majoring in vocal performance at both large and small size music departments at universities in the United States with an opportunity to experience opera performances. Moreover, The Gift of the Magi is analyzed from the standpoint of a singer performing an opera, which is compared to other American operas of similar scale. Finally, this thesis investigates a number of performances of this opera by students in US schools of music to determine the system of opera education under which they were performing. Through all the comparisons and results, the goal of this thesis is to prove the educational value of Conte’s The Gift of the Magi. ii DEDICATION To my professors and Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign (Music School) Nathan Gunn Stephen Taylor Andrew Megill Julie Gunn Eduardo Diazmuñoz Gayle Sherwood Magee Susan Parisi Andrea Solya Bridget Sweet Heinrich Taube Michael Tilley Sarah Wigley Erik Lund Leroy Kromm Tim Bach Soungbum Kim iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I sincerely thank all the professors who have guided me so far—thank you for giving me the opportunity to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Also, I am grateful to my wife, my son and daughter, and my parents for their dedication to me. Studying in America was a monumental task that would have been untenable without the support of my professors and family. We thank the Lord for enabling us to complete this seemingly impossible challenge. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF EXAMPLES ................................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I: COMPARISON OF THE ORIGINAL STORY AND THE OPERA LIBRETTO . 3 CHAPTER II: THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR EMOTIONS ................................................. 7 CHAPTER III: COMPARISON WITH THREE REPRESENTATIVE AMERICAN OPERAS ....................................................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER IV: UNIVERSITY OPERAS PERFORMED IN THE RECENT YEARS ............. 41 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 52 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 54 v LIST OF EXAMPLES Example 1 Comparison of LocAtion Settings between O. Henry’s “The Gift of the MAgi” (Short Story) and Conte’s The Gift of the Magi (Opera) ......................................................... 3 Example 2 Comparison the Short Story and the Opera Text, Settings/Scenes II and III ............... 5 Example 3 Ranges of the Four Principle Roles in DAvid Conte’s The Gift of the Magi ................ 7 Example 4 Conte, The Gift of the Magi, Scene II (mm. 359-366) .................................................. 8 Example 5 The Text and Emotional MeAning of “Jim’s Soliloquy” (“He GAve Me His WAtch”) from Conte’s The Gift of the Magi .............................................................................. 10 Example 6 Conte, The Gift of the Magi, Scene III (mm. 282-285) .............................................. 11 Example 7 Conte, The Gift of the Magi, Scene II – 1) mm. 237-239; 2) mm. 261-268; and 30 mm. 323-327 ............................................................................................................... 12 Example 8 Conte, The Gift of the Magi, Scene III (mm. 16-18) .................................................. 13 Example 9 Ranges of the Three MAgi Roles in Conte’s The Gift of the Magi ............................. 14 Example 10 Text from the MAgi A CapellA Section in Conte’s The Gift of the Magi .................. 15 Example 11 Scene Structure of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti ....................................... 18 Example 12 Comparison of the Orchestration of Conte’s The Gift of the Magi And Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti ......................................................................................................... 20 Example 13 Comparison of Principle Role VocAl Ranges in Conte’s The Gift of the Magi And Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti ...................................................................................... 21 Example 14 Bernstein, Trouble in Tahiti, Scene V (mm. 21-29) ................................................. 22 Example 15 Bernstein, Trouble in Tahiti, Scene IV (m.20, p.84) ................................................ 23 Example 16 Different VocAl Techniques in Dinah’s AriA “Oh, What a Movie!” from Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti – 1) Accent mArks, 2) Accents in Regional DiAlects, and 3) Changing of VocAl Color ............................................................................................ 24 Example 17 Dinah’s Personality Changes in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti ................................ 25 Example 18 Scene Structure of JAck Heggie’s Three Decembers ................................................ 27 Example 19 Comparison of the Orchestration of Conte’s The Gift of the Magi And Heggie’s Three Decembers ........................................................................................................ 29 vi Example 20 StAge LAyout of Heggie’s Three Decembers ............................................................ 30 Example 21 VocAl Range of MAin Characters in Heggie’s Three Decembers ............................. 31 Example 22 Heggie, Three Decembers, Act II, Scene I (mm. 70-75) .......................................... 32 Example 23 Heggie, Three Decembers, Act II, Scene III (mm. 342-360) ................................... 33 Example 24 Recurrences of the Bridge GAme Theme in SAmuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge ..... 35 Example 25 StAge LAyout of Barber’s A Hand of Bridge ............................................................. 38 Example 26 The VocAl Range of the MAin Characters in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge ................ 39 Example 27 List of Operas PerformAnce at Schools of Music in the US ..................................... 42 Example 28 Comparison of Number of Enrolled Students in Selected Schools of Music ........... 49 Example 29 Comparison of Full StAge Opera PerformAnce per YeAr in Selected Schools of Music........................................................................................................................... 50 vii INTRODUCTION Composer David Conte, a student of Aaron Copland, has worked in various fields of musical activity and published over a hundred works during his career. The Gift of the Magi (1997), with a libretto by Nicholas Giardini, is one of his six operas. Conte was honored with the American Choral Director Association Brock Commission in 2007 and is currently on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). Giardini, originally from Chicago, also served as the librettist for Conte’s Choral Symphony and is on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School. The opera is based on the short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry—the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). The plot focuses on a young couple who sacrifice their favorite things to buy each other Christmas gifts that then, ironically, they can no longer use because of their sacrifice (alluding to the Magi from the Bible). The operatic version consists of four scenes and requires a cast of seven singers: Della (Soprano), Jim (Baritone), Maggie (Mezzo-Soprano), Henry (Bass-baritone), and three Magi (Tenor, Baritone, Bass). The running time is about 67 minutes. The premiere at SFCM was directed by Hermann LeRoux, with the Conservatory’s Cantata Singers
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