A Remarkable Art Song Composer
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articles ON OTHER topics Juliana Hall: A Remarkable Art Song Composer KATHERINE EBERLE When I recall the many art songs I have lei (a setting for mezzo, horn and piano on Winter Windows (seven songs for baritone studied, performed, and taught in the past a poem by Sylvia Plath) recorded on the Vi- and piano on poems by Walter de la Mare, twenty years, only a few cycles stand out enna Modern Masters label (VMM2005); Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and as ones I find worthy of recording or per- Theme In Yellow (seven songs for soprano Percy Bysshe Shelley). forming repeatedly. I believe high quality or tenor and piano on poems by Robert Hall has received a number of com- art songs require captivating melodies, in- Frost, Amy Lowell, Edna St. Vincent Mil- missions. Two were from the Schubert teresting rhythms, excellent text setting, lay, and Carl Sandburg), excerpts of which Club of St. Paul, Minnesota for distin- and harmonic choices that accompany the I also recorded on the same label. That year guished Metropolitan Opera singers David text so that the words really speak to me Hall wrote Peacock Pie (twenty songs for Malis and Dawn Upshaw, one from the emotionally. With those criteria fulfilled, I tenor and piano on poems by Walter de la Mirror Visions Ensemble was premiered at believe I can reach my audiences most ef- Mare); Songs of Enchantment (ten songs The American Church in Paris, France; one fectively. Juliana Hall’s compositions meet for soprano and piano on poems by Walter from the Turnpike Camerata of New Jersey those requirements for me. de la Mare); Syllables of Velvet, Sentences was premiered in New York City; and one I first encountered Juliana Hall’s works of Plush (seven songs for soprano and pia- from soprano Elizabeth Dubberly was pre- in the 1990’s when a colleague heard I was no on letters of Emily Dickinson) published miered in Montevideo, Uruguay. seeking repertoire for a compact disc re- by Boosey and Hawkes (VAB313); and Last fall, I began studying Hall’s three cording and suggested I contact the gradu- ate dean at my university, as his daughter- in-law was a composer. I did, and Hall generously sent me copies of some of her music, which I then went on to perform and record. A few years later she invited me to perform her cycle Letters from Edna at Yale. She is a fabulous collaborative pianist as well, so the experience was a very pleas- ant one for us both. Years went by and we lost track of one another. When it came time for me to record another compact disc, I re- membered that my favorite work of the past twenty years was Hall’s Letters from Edna. When I contacted her again and told her I wished to record the songs and use them as part of my concert tour, she agreed to also let me interview her so that I could write ar- ticles about her during my sabbatical. If you are unfamiliar with Juliana Hall, let me introduce you. She is a pro- lific composer of classical art songs having written more than 250 individual songs. Born in 1958 and currently living in Con- necticut with her husband and son, Hall composes full time and has been a visiting guest professor at the nearby Hartt School of Music. Hall’s music has been performed in more than two dozen countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia by more than 100 performers. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fel- lowship in Music Composition in 1989, at the tender age of 30. She applied for the fel- lowship so that she could dedicate herself to composing full-time. The award offered her living expenses for a year, and as a result she wrote six major works including Lore- Juliana Hall, “To Harriet Monro,” from Letters from Edna Eberle: Juliana Hall: A Remarkable Art Song Composer 21 song cycles for mezzo-soprano so that I ers at various junctures in my life, those quite a few wonderful teachers. One of the could make some comparisons for lectures teachers always encouraged me to abandon most influential comments that continues at the Athena Festival and the University piano (or at least make it secondary) and to guide me came from Frederic Rzewski, of Hartford Women Composers Festival, as concentrate on developing my composi- who insisted that I not seek to follow any well as potential publications. Hall’s own tional ability. particular fad or trend, but that I find my words about her writing reveal her com- KE: Why specialize in art song? own inner voice and trust my own com- positional style quite clearly. Below are JH: As some of my earliest pieces positional intuition. Martin Bresnick and excerpts from an email on September 13, were songs, I very early discovered that Leon Kirchner were very helpful with myr- and my telephone interview with her on I enjoyed working with text and felt that iad technical details, which was especially September 14, 2012. song composition was “right” for me…and important in my case, since I really began KE: What led you to pursue composing? it seemed, too, that I had something of a my formal composition studies relatively JH: Although I began my musical life knack for it. Perhaps this was because I had late in life while in graduate school at Yale. as a pianist, first studying with my mother, always been drawn to literature and had Later, when I was studying in Minneapo- I always had a feeling that I might be able enjoyed both English and drama in school. lis, Dominick Argento helped me quite a to write music…I’m not even sure why. KE: What past teachers or critics bit with his vast knowledge of literature However, when I did compose pieces and shaped your compositional style? and by sharing his deep experience of writ- my music was heard by composition teach- JH: As far as teachers, I have been ing for the special qualities of the different blessed by the opportunity to study with voice types. He also helped me to “find my own voice” by convincing me of the im- portance of setting English-language texts as a native English speaker. KE: How would you characterize your songs? JH: I would characterize my songs as lyrical works written in an extended to- nality that sounds modern without giving the impression of belonging to a school of composition (atonal, romantic, etc.). One other characteristic that audiences fre- quently comment upon is that they are able to understand virtually every single word in my works—without reading printed texts—which I believe is due to the man- ner in which I set the rhythms according to the text, down to the level of individual syllables. KE: Do you write for one specific singer or voice type? JH: I have written mostly song cycles for soprano and baritone voices, because the majority of performers I’ve known have been either sopranos or baritones. How- ever, I’ve also written three mezzo cycles, three tenor cycles, and a cycle for bass. KE: What do you believe sets your songs apart from other composers? JH: Although I am perhaps better ac- quainted with song composers of past gen- erations than those closer to my own age, I think what makes my songs unique is that when I am composing I am not attempting to “comment upon” or “express my view of” the chosen text; rather, I am trying to set each poem or letter in a manner de- signed to illuminate the poet’s or writer’s point of view as I feel it to be. One concrete example of how I might do this is to very closely set my melodies to the rhythm of 22 IAWM Journal Volume 19, No. 1 2013 each individual word in the text, in a sense W.H. Auden, William Blake, Lewis Carroll, that the music can modulate freely, and ac- letting the text dictate how the music will e.e. cummings, Walter de la Mare, Thomas companiment figures that underscore and go; this is very different from a composer Hardy, Edward Lear, Henry Wadsworth support the singer, sometimes doubling the like Schubert, who might “fit” a text into Longfellow, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, voice and other times, providing harmonic a repetitive rhythmic structure of his own and William Shakespeare (among others). coloration. devising. Of course, other women whose poetry I For access to additional repertoire, KE: Who are some of your favorite enjoy setting include Emily Bronte, Emily recordings, and information, please see poets? Dickinson, Marianne Moore, and Sylvia www.JulianaHall.com. I believe Hall’s JH: In my early days as a composer Plath, but my choice is always governed art song cycles are especially persuasive I very much liked setting poems by Paul more by how an individual text fits into my for their strong rhythmic drive, lyrical Verlaine (in French), Rainer Maria Rilke plan for exploring a subject, color, or mood melodies, and superb text settings. Hall’s (in German), and Federico Garcia Lorca than by whether the author of that text is a fascinating creativity in her compositions (in Spanish). For man or woman. brings life to texts in a way that delights some time now KE: How do you choose poetry to set audiences, and thus she is worthy of more I have concen- to song? public appreciation for her extraordinary trated on setting JH: When I begin a new song cycle, I thread in the women composer’s musi- English-language usually have in mind a “subject” or a “col- cal narrative.