Rodeo Queen of Heaven (2010): Libby Larsen's Fusion of Chants and Clarinet's Unique American Voice Wonkak Kim
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 Rodeo Queen of Heaven (2010): Libby Larsen'S Fusion of Chants and Clarinet's Unique American Voice Wonkak Kim Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC RODEO QUEEN OF HEAVEN (2010): LIBBY LARSEN'S FUSION OF CHANTS AND CLARINET’S UNIQUE AMERICAN VOICE By WONKAK KIM A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2012 Wonkak Kim defended this treatise on November 5, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: Frank Kowalsky Professor Directing Treatise Matthew Shaftel University Representative Deborah Bish Committee Member Eric Ohlsson Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies the treatise has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to many individuals who provided me invaluable advices, guidance, and support in completing this treatise. I am forever indebted to Dr. Libby Larsen who spent a great deal of her valuable time with me and who also wrote a piece worthy of more attention than this treatise could possible provide. Her insight and generosity are simply breathtaking. I feel extremely fortunate and honored to be a student of Dr. Frank Kowalsky, my major professor. I am constantly inspired by his unfathomable musicianship, intelligence, and devotion to his students. I would not have been able to complete this treatise and my doctoral studies without his unrelenting support. I am also grateful for my former teachers Professor Donald Oehler and Mr. Kenneth Lee for guiding me to find my own musical vocation and prepare for my career. I owe much to my committee members, Dr. Deborah Bish, Dr. Eric Ohlsson, and Dr. Matthew Shaftel, for their kind advice and generous time. I would like to thank Dr. Caroline Bridger for her tireless support and help with the revision process. I am especially thankful to Dr. Don Gibson, the Dean of Florida State University’s College of Music, who helped me to discover and realize some remarkable opportunities, and to Dr. Leo Welch, who spent countless number of hours with me to guide me through the commission and recording process for Rodeo Queen of Heaven. I would like to thank my colleagues of enhakē who joined me through the commissioning process, world premiere, and recording. They provided me endless support in making the entire project came to a reality. I am also grateful for their kind assistance in reviewing my treatise drafts and giving me valuation suggestions. I look forward to continued collaboration for years to come. I owe Dr. Yoomi Paick a great deal for helping me with my musical examples. Finally, I would like to express my infinite love and gratitude to my father, Yeonkwon Kim; my mother, Youngsun Cho; and my sister Hyemin Kim. You are my heroes and greatest iii advocates. And, finally, to my fiancée, Grace Eun-Hye Choi, for her confidence and patience in me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Musical Examples ...............................................................................................................vi Abstract ........................................................................................................................................viii INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 1. LIBBY LARSEN: BIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................3 1.1 Larsen’s Eclectic Musical Upbringing: From Chants to Dixieland ...............................3 1.2 Education .......................................................................................................................5 1.3 Achievements ................................................................................................................7 1.4 Music and Language ......................................................................................................8 2. CLARINET IN LARSEN’S CHAMBER MUSIC ...............................................................12 2.1 Libby Larsen and The Clarinet ....................................................................................12 2.2 Annotated Bibliography of Larsen’s Chamber Works with Clarinet ..........................14 3. RODEO QUEEN OF HEAVEN ...........................................................................................20 3.1 Background and The Commission Process .................................................................20 3.2 Musical Analysis and Performance Guide ...................................................................22 3.3 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................38 4. A CONVERSATION WITH LIBBY LARSEN ....................................................................39 A. Images of Arthur Lopez’s Rodeo Reina del Cielo .................................................................48 B. Program Note to Rodeo Queen of Heaven by Libby Larsen ................................................50 C. Authorization Letters............................................................................................................. 51 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................52 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................55 v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES 1a Excerpt from Kyrie of In Festis B. Mariae Virginis .........................................................23 1b Excerpt from Gloria of In Festis B. Mariae Virginis ........................................................23 1c Excerpt from Santus and Benedictus of In Festis B. Mariae Virginis ..............................23 1d Excerpt from Agnus Dei of In Festis B. Mariae Virginis .................................................24 2 Introduction, mm. 1-2 .......................................................................................................25 3 Introduction mm. 3-5 .......................................................................................................26 4 Clarinet and piano parts, mm. 10-16 ................................................................................27 5a Violin and cello parts, mm. 11-15 ..................................................................................... 28 5b Clarinet, violin, and cello parts, mm. 16-19 .....................................................................28 6 Score mm. 19-20 ............................................................................................................... 29 7 5-32 set sequence mm. 20-21 ...........................................................................................30 8 Piano part mm. 22-23 ......................................................................................................30 9a Clarinet, violin, and cello parts mm. 47-53 ......................................................................31 9b Score mm. 54-56 .............................................................................................................. 32 10a Violin, cello, and piano mm. 57-59 .................................................................................32 10b Clarinet, violin, and cello mm. 60-62 ..............................................................................33 11 Clarinet, violin and cello parts from the Gloria section mm.70-77 ................................. 33 12 Piano part mm. 81-87 .....................................................................................................34 13 Piano part mm. 91-93 .......................................................................................................35 vi 14 Clarinet, violin, and cello part mm. 104-109 ................................................................... 35 15a Score mm. 170-172 ........................................................................................................... 36 15b Score mm. 186-189............................................................................................................ 37 16 Clarinet, violin, and cello part mm. 205-213 .....................................................................37 vii ABSTRACT Libby Larsen is widely recognized as one of the premiere living American composers. Her lasting influence on every genre of music is constantly asserted through ongoing performances of her works throughout the world. This treatise mainly focus’s on Libby Larsen’s recent chamber Rodeo Queen of Heaven for a mixed chamber ensemble. Rodeo Queen of Heaven was commissioned by enhake, an ensemble I founded with three fellow graduate students at Florida State University College of Music: violinist M. Brent Williams, cellist Jayoung Kim, and pianist Eun-Hee Park. Upon accepting the commission, Larsen decided to write a piece inspired by her recent discovery of Arthur Lopez’s hand-carved and painted wooden Santo, “Rodeo Queen of Heaven” housed in the Denver Art Museum. In this one-movement chamber work, Larsen thoroughly and seamless fuses a melodic motif from In Festis Beatae Mariae Virginis (Mass