University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Dissertations Student Research 12-1-2011 Song Cycles for Soprano by Richard Pearson Thomas Laura Faith Bateman Follow this and additional works at: https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Bateman, Laura Faith, "Song Cycles for Soprano by Richard Pearson Thomas" (2011). Dissertations. 72. https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations/72 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado Graduate School SONG CYCLES FOR SOPRANO BY RICHARD PEARSON THOMAS A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Arts Laura Faith Bateman College of Performing and Visual Arts School of Music Voice Performance December, 2011 i This dissertation by: Laura Faith Bateman Entitled: SONG CYCLES FOR SOPRANO BY RICHARD PEARSON THOMAS has been approved as meeting the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Arts in College of Performing and Visual Arts in School of Music, Program of Voice Performance Accepted by the Doctoral Committee _____________________________________________________________ Melissa Malde, D.M.A., Research Advisor/Chair _____________________________________________________________ Brian Clay Luedloff, M.F.A., Committee Member _____________________________________________________________ Robert Ehle, Ph.D., Committee Member _____________________________________________________________ Norman Peercy, Ph.D., Faculty Representative Date of Dissertation Defense_______________________________________ Accepted by the Graduate School ____________________________________________________ Linda L. Black, Ed.D., LPC Acting Dean of the Graduate School and International Admissions ii ABSTRACT Bateman, Laura Faith. Song Cycles for Soprano by Richard Pearson Thomas. Published Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Arts, University of Northern Colorado, 2011. In his eight song cycles for soprano, American composer Richard Pearson Thomas offers soprano recitalists, their teachers and audiences a diverse palette of fresh, accessible repertoire. Mr. Thomas writes very idiomatically for both the voice and the piano, due in large part to the fact that he is an accomplished pianist who often collaborates with singers. Three of his cycles also include stringed-instruments: violin, viola and cello. Thomas‟ songs range from dark and dramatic to light and whimsical in nature; they also vary in musical complexity and technical difficulty. While some of the songs are appropriate for younger students, others, especially the chamber music cycles, are better suited for advanced performers. This dissertation explores the following cycles: A Little Nonsense, At last, to be identified!, Songs to Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Three Kisses, Race for the Sky, A Wicked Girl, Spring Rain and Twilight. These cycles include settings of poetry by Edward Lear, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sara Teasdale, Sylvia Plath, Hilary North, Alicia Vasquez and Christina Rossetti. It includes a biography of the composer, a thorough musical analysis of each cycle, a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, transcriptions of two interviews with the composer and one interview with Lisa Radakovich Holsberg, a soprano who commissioned and premiered Race for iii the Sky, a complete list of works to date and a brief guide for performers, teachers and coaches in selecting repertoire from these cycles. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my research advisor, mentor, teacher and friend, Dr. Melissa Malde, for her tireless work on my behalf not only in this huge undertaking, but in all the years I have known her. She has always effectively modeled what it takes to be a successful performer, scholar and teacher. I have learned so much and would not be who I am today without her thoughtful guidance and encouragement. Secondly, I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Brian Clay Luedloff, Dr. Robert Ehle and Dr. Norman Peercy. I appreciate all of their time, effort and encouragement in this process. I would also like to thank Dr. Craig Ralston at Clearwater Christian College and Dr. Carissa Reddick at the University of Northern Colorado for their help in the music theory analysis. Thirdly, I would like to thank Richard Pearson Thomas for helping me so much in this undertaking. I am very grateful for his music and for the opportunity to study and perform it. I would also like to thank Lisa Radakovich Holsberg for her assistance in this process. I have fallen in love even more with the cycle Race for the Sky as a result. Thank you, as well, to Hilary North, Alicia Vasquez, Oxford University Press and the Millay Society for allowing me to use their poetry. Next, I would like to thank all of my professors at the University of Northern Colorado and at Wheaton College for preparing me to go into this field as a performer and teacher. I would especially like to thank Dr. Carolyn Hart at Wheaton College for v encouraging and inspiring me to pursue graduate studies in music in order to become a professor of music. Finally, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to God, for loving me, sustaining me, guiding me and blessing me all of my life and particularly, throughout this undertaking, and to my family, most specifically, my parents, Dr. J. Keith and Sharon Bateman, for all of their prayers, encouragement, guidance, wisdom, moral support, patience and unfailing love. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem Delimitations Significance of the Problem Incidence of the Problem Review of Source Material Methodology of Study II. COMPOSER BIOGRAPHY AND COMPOSITIONAL STYLE ..... 8 Biography Compositional Style III. A LITTLE NONSENSE ....................................................................... 16 IV. AT LAST, TO BE IDENTIFIED! ........................................................ 38 V. SONGS TO POEMS OF EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY ................... 67 VI. THREE KISSES .................................................................................. 93 VII. RACE FOR THE SKY ........................................................................ 114 VIII. A WICKED GIRL ............................................................................... 135 vii IX. SPRING RAIN .................................................................................... 156 X. TWILIGHT ......................................................................................... 174 XI. CONCLUSIONS................................................................................ 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 206 APPENDIX A: TRANSCRIPTIONS OF RICHARD PEARSON THOMAS PHONE INTERVIEWS ............................................................................................. 213 APPENDIX B: TRANSCRIPTION OF LISA RADAKOVICH HOLSBERG PHONE INTERVIEW ............................................................................................... 239 APPENDIX C: COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS TO DATE .................................... 253 APPENDIX D: BRIEF REPERTOIRE GUIDE TO THE SONG CYCLES FOR SOPRANO BY RICHARD PEARSON THOMAS .................................................. 258 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 .................................................................................................................. 7 ix LIST OF EXAMPLES EXAMPLE 3.1: Note the energetic beginning, as well as the „Pobble‟ motive; The Pobble Who Has No Toes, mm. 1-4 ........................................................................... 19 EXAMPLE 3.2: Note how the meter corresponds with the Aunt Jobiska character; The Pobble Who Has No Toes, mm. 22-24 ................................................................ 21 EXAMPLE 3.3: Note the loud, defiant piano part that begins as the voice sustains a climactic high A; The Pobble Who Has No Toes, mm. 150-152 ............................ 23 EXAMPLE 3.4: Note the dissonant, inconclusive ending; The Pobble Who Has No Toes, mm. 200-203 .................................................................................................... 24 EXAMPLE 3.5: Note the sparse texture, as well as the aural picture created by the ascending line; Calico Pie, mm. 7-10 ................................................ 28 EXAMPLE 3.6: Note the melisma on “danced,” as well as the „dance‟ in the piano interlude; Calico Pie, mm. 38-45 ............................................................................... 30 EXAMPLE 3.7: Note the soft, but effective climax; Calico Pie, mm. 68-70 ........... 31 EXAMPLE 3.8: Note the changing meters in the boisterous prelude; The Owl and the Pussycat, mm. 1-3 ................................................................................................ 33 EXAMPLE 3.9: Note the opposite scalar patterns in the piano part; The Owl and the Pussycat, mm. 20-22 ............................................................................................ 33 EXAMPLE 3.10: Note the key change and the gentle serenade; The Owl and the Pussycat, mm. 23-26 .................................................................................................