STYLE AND COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES IN VINCENT PERSICHETTI’S TEN SONATAS FOR HARPSICHORD A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF ARTS BY MIRABELLA ANCA MINUT DISSERTATION ADVISORS: KIRBY KORIATH AND MICHAEL ORAVITZ BALL STATE UNIVERSITY MUNCIE, INDIANA DECEMBER 2009 ii Copyright © 2009 by Mirabella Anca Minut All rights reserved Music examples used in this dissertation comply with Section 107, Fair Use, of the Copyright Law, Title 17 of the United States Code. Sonata for Harpsichord, Op. 52 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1973, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Second Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 146 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1983, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Third Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 149 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1983, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Fourth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 151 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1983, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Fifth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 152 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1984, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Sixth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 154 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1977, 1984 Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Seventh Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 156 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1985, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Eighth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 158 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1987, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Ninth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 163 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1987, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. Tenth Harpsichord Sonata, [Op. 167] by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1994, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. First String Quartet, Op. 7 by Vincent Persichetti © Copyright 1977, Elkan-Vogel, Inc. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my doctoral committee members, Dr. Kirby Koriath, Dr. Michael Oravitz, Dr. Robert Palmer, Dr. Raymond Kilburn, and Dr. Annette Leitze, as well as former committee member Dr. Kristin Turner, for their continuous guidance, support and inspiration. A special thanks to my parents, my husband, our sons, Mrs. Erika Gaal, and all my friends in Muncie and Columbus, Indiana for their help, understanding, and encouragement. Thank you to my fellow musicians of our group, Mostly Baroque for their patience and continuous support for me. I am also very grateful to harpsichordists Barbara Harbach, Larry Palmer, Linda Kobler, and John Metz for taking the time to share with me their experiences when premiering Vincent Persichetti‘s harpsichord works, as well as to Elaine Comparone‘s inestimable contribution to this repertoire through performances, recordings, and writings, which constitute a great resource and inspiration to me. Last but not least, I am thankful that Vincent Persichetti created such valuable music and thus inspired me to pursue this project. I truly hope that my findings will motivate other musicians to learn this repertoire and present it to audiences throughout the world. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………….. iii I. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………….. 1 Statement of the Problem ………………………………………………………... 3 Need for the Study ………………………………………………………………. 6 Delimitation of the Study ………………………………………………………... 6 II. SHORT BIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE ………………………... 8 Biographical Data ……………………………………………………………….. 8 Review of Literature on Persichetti‘s Harpsichord Sonatas …………………… 11 III. CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE TEN HARPSICHORD SONATAS …………… 23 Sonata for Harpsichord Op. 52 ………………………………………………... 25 Second Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 146 ………………………………………….. 36 Third Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 149 …………………………………………… 47 Fourth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 151 ………………………………………….. 55 Fifth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 152 ……………………………………………. 64 Sixth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 154 ……………………………………………. 70 Seventh Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 156 …………………………………………. 76 Eighth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 158 ………………………………………….. 84 Ninth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 163 …………………………………………… 93 Tenth Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 167 ………………………………………….. 104 IV. CONCLUSIONS …………………………………………………………………. 113 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………….. 121 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….. 121 Harpsichord Music by Vincent Persichetti …………………………………… 123 Discography …………………………………………………………………... 124 I INTRODUCTION The twentieth century revival of the harpsichord has generated numerous compositions for the medium. American composer and harpsichordist Vincent Persichetti is one of the composers who dedicated much of his career to performing and writing music for the harpsichord during the twentieth century. The numerous honors and awards that Persichetti received from various universities and professional associations lead us to believe that his contribution as a composer to American music was nationally recognized. He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Combs Conservatory, Bucknell University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Millikin University, the State University of Arizona, Peabody Conservatory, Drake University, and The New School of Music in Philadelphia. Many professional associations and universities commissioned works and gave him numerous awards and prizes by the 1950‘s. These honors include: three Guggenheim Fellowships, two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award (the Medal in Music, ―in recognition of a life- time of distinguished achievement‖), the first ever Kennedy Center Friedheim Award (for his Concerto for English Horn and String Orchestra Op. 137), and the Juilliard Publication award. In 1965, Persichetti became a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. With such an impressive recognition of the artistic value of his work, it 2 seems that the next natural step is to study Vincent Persichetti‘s work in its entirety and bring it to the attention of today‘s performer. Persichetti chose to give opus numbers to 167 of the works he wrote. Besides his keyboard, band and vocal music, he also wrote eight symphonies and many instrumental pieces for standard instruments as well as tuba, carillon, piccolo, and harp. He made a significant contribution to the band repertoire, even though he tried to compose for other mediums equally. Some of his most successful band works are Divertimento for Band Op. 42, Psalm for Band Op. 53, Pageant for Band Op. 59, Symphony for Band Op. 69, and Parable IX for Band Op. 121. However, Persichetti did not want his success as a band composer to represent his image as a composer in general. His contribution to the twentieth century keyboard repertoire is substantial as well through his works for piano, organ, and harpsichord. He wrote ten pieces for organ (two of these are for pedals only), and his literature for piano comprises character pieces, technical studies, four-hand pieces, music for two-pianos, and concerted works with orchestra. There are twelve sonatas for piano, Parades Op. 57, Serenade No. 2, Op. 2, and Winter Solstice Op. 165, which was written during his final year of life. With regard to the importance of Persichetti‘s music for harpsichord, Donald and Janet Patterson wrote the following: Perhaps the most valuable contribution Persichetti made to keyboard literature is the large output for harpsichord. At a time when this Baroque instrument was being rediscovered and popularized, he gave the harpsichordist a concentration of sonatas unequalled by any other composer in the twentieth century.1 1 Donald Patterson and Janet L. Patterson, Vincent Persichetti: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1988), 14. 3 He wrote ten sonatas, the Parable Op. 153, The Little Harpsichord Book Op. 155, and The Serenade Op. 161 for harpsichord. Eight of the ten sonatas were commissioned by or for certain performers and were performed shortly after they were composed. Besides his instrumental music, Persichetti composed significantly for voice and wanted to be recognized accordingly. He has numerous choral works, as well as solo music for voice. Writing choral music was his favorite, and he chose to set his music to works by Shakespeare, Millay, Dryden, Milton, Shelley, Cummings, Joyce, Sandburg, Teasdale, Belloc, Frost, and Dickinson. There were times when he wrote the text for some of his works, in which case he signed the texts as ―anonymous.‖ Persichetti‘s song cycle Harmonium was set to his good friend Wallace Stevens‘s book of poems with the same title. He composed choral pieces for mixed, men‘s and women‘s voices, a Mass, a Stabat Mater, a Te Deum, cantatas, two volumes of hymns and responses, a Magnificat, works for chorus and instruments, one opera, and the work he considered his ―magnum opus,‖ The Creation Op. 111. This latter piece was written for soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, chorus and orchestra and its text comes from a variety of religions and cultures. Vincent Persichetti‘s single opera, The Sibyl Op. 135, was written in 1976 and was premiered in 1985. The composer‘s vocal and choral works did not enjoy, however, the same acclaim and frequent performances as his instrumental, band and piano works. Statement of the Problem Already known for his piano sonatas, Vincent Persichetti also composed ten sonatas for the harpsichord. My own encounter with Persichetti‘s harpsichord music in my graduate studies revealed to me the value of this repertoire. Surprisingly enough, 4 there was not enough supporting literature to help me in my study of the music scores. This dissertation presents Persichetti‘s ten sonatas for harpsichord. I analyze their content and provide information with regard to Persichetti‘s motivation to write extensively for this medium. The findings of this analysis underline his style and compositional techniques that he uses in order