Paper 2

Paper 2

Topic 1: Ives songs
-Topic 1: The 114 songs of Charles Ives, while enormously varied in their styles and texts, still display an overwhelming sense of American-ness. Choose two songs (in Blackboard and CD on reserve, M1620.I9 S6 DG52) and explore this. The first 8 links in this section relate to Topic 1.
Topic 2: The Symbolist movement
-Topic 2: The Symbolist movement in France around the end of the 19th century partners the musical style known as “Impressionism.” Choose two of Debussy’s settings of poems by Paul Verlaine or Stéphane Mallarmé (see CD 451 v.1, e.g.) and discuss the poetic and musical aspects of style exemplified by the symbolist poetry and the music.
Topic 3: Create your own song cycle plan
-Topic 3: Choose several poems by Adrienne Rich, Martha Ronk, Robert Pinsky, or Ted Hughes (all on reserve for this class). Plan a song cycle. Describe your compositional process in exhaustive detail, from choosing the poetry (how and why those particular poems, by that particular poet?) to choosing the ordering, musical style, gender of singer (if appropriate), and any other creative details to which you turn your attention as composer. Describe, or sketch in notation, a musical setting for each poem.